The early church provides us with a wonderful example of the rich use of symbolism and of the importance that they placed on baptism. Here is a narrative describing what it might have been like for them.

Demetrius was convinced that Jesus was the only path to salvation three years ago. Since then, he has gone through a long series of instruction and questions, and now at last at the age of twenty he is ready to enter the full and final stage of his spiritual journey. He has been attending the service of the Word faithfully for that whole time, and has proven his sincerity and change of heart by doing good to the poor, the fatherless, and the widow. And he has entered into the last phase of his pre-baptismal training, culminating now on Easter Sunday.

Demetrius and his sponsor have fasted since Thursday, and now on Saturday night they join with all the others who will be baptized to begin the all-night vigil. Women sit on right side of the room, and the men on the left. The bishop reads to them from the Holy Scriptures and explains what the procedure will be on Sunday morning. They all pray, recite the Creed, and shiver in the early morning hours.

Since before sunrise, the church has already gathered to join in the vigil for these who are being baptized. They are gathered in the main church room, worshiping and interceding while here in another room the bishop, sponsors, deacons, deaconesses and catechumens are preparing for God’s work of washing of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit.

Now, shortly before sunrise, a large sheet goes up, and the bishop raises a hood over his head and says simply, "Remove your clothes." Silently Demetrius and the others comply; they know that they come to Christ with nothing of their own.

As the faint light of dawn begins to appear in the small windows above them, the door is opened to the baptistery, and for the first time, Demetrius and the others see the inside of the circular room. It is brightly lit with the golden illumination of lamps and candles, and the walls are ornately decorated in gold, in mosaic, and with illustrations and symbols depicting what is about to happen. Saints look upon these who will soon join their ranks, alternating with images of doves and flames, with jewels embedded in gold, which cover the brilliantly glowing walls. Demetrius looks up and sees stars painted on the domed ceiling, and an image of Jesus being baptized by John in the center of the top. You can see the Lord most clearly when you are laying down, and Demetrius knows that that he will be doing just that when he becomes like his Lord in His own holy burial.

First the children, and then the women, and then the older men are immersed in order, one at a time. In the meantime, a deacon is covering Demetrius with oil, which will be washed off in the water momentarily.

At last the moment has arrived, and Demetrius, like those before him, steps forward toward the west side of the baptismal pool. For one final time, he is invited to turn around and face behind himself. As he was instructed to do, he raises his finger and points, as if looking an enemy in the face, and says with a loud voice, "I renounce you, Satan!" He spits on the ground and turns around to enter the font.

The pool is built into the ground, so Demetrius walks down a set of tile steps to enter it. Another set of steps leads up the other side. Demetrius will never again go back from the way he came in here. Gladly he notices that the water has been warmed, and the robed deacon smiles and reaches out a helping hand to bring him to the center. Oil from Demetrius’ skin spreads across the surface of the water as he enters. The pool itself is in the shape of a cross, and Demetrius now stands in the center of it, the deacon facing him in the nook on his right. To Demetrius’s left, water flows from a lion’s mouth and into the font. The bishop, hooded and robed, stands on the dry floor above and behind the deacon to Demetrius’ right, and they both are facing toward the east. The sun has nearly risen as the bishop begins a set of three questions.

"Do you believe in God the Father, Maker of heaven and earth?"

"I do!" shouts Demetrius, and he is grabbed and plunged backwards under the water.

The process is repeated after the questions, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son?" and "Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, who came from the Father?"

As Demetrius comes out of the water for the third time, the sun has risen and begins to break through the window high on the eastern wall. The room lights up with the brilliance of the sunshine on the gold western wall. Demetrius is helped up the steps and draped in a new white robe. Perfumed oil is poured generously over his head, running down his hair and his face and soaking into the robe, filling the room with the rich scent of the promised Holy Spirit.

Back in the main room, the church is standing and singing loudly a joyful "Alleluia!" of the resurrection hymn. The doors are opened from the baptistery and the side room, and all of the newly baptized are escorted into the midst with the Loaf and Cup at the head of their procession, and all sing together, "He is Risen! Alleluia!" This is the part of the assembly to which Demetrius and this group of neophytes has never been a witness. Until this morning, they had been dismissed before the kiss of peace and the Holy Feast, but now they are practically mobbed with kisses and tearful embraces and greetings of "The peace of the Lord be with you!"

And now they join in on the prayers that they had only studied about but never seen in person. The loaf is elevated and broken and offered up as the Body of Christ. Water is poured into the cup, with wine, and is blessed with thanksgiving to be the Blood of the Lamb. And first in line to receive the gifts are the newly baptized. Demetrius is given bread, and reminded that it is "The body of Christ, Bread of Heaven, which takes away the sins of the world." This is the first morsel of food Demetrius has had for four days, and he relishes the depth of how Christ has fed his long-hungry soul. He drinks from the chalice, reminded that it is "The Blood of Christ, blood of the New Covenant, which is for your forgiveness." The fruit of the vine flows down deeply, warming and quenching his long-parched thirst.

Demetrius is now given a second chalice; this one of water. And then a third, of milk mixed with honey. Truly he is now washed clean and is dwelling in the Promised Land. And the young disciples’ long-awaited Sabbath rest in the Kingdom of heaven has only begun.