The Orthodox Church baptizes infants because this is the will of God. Evidence of this can be gleaned from the Great Commission our Lord gave to His Apostles: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). Christ also instructed His Apostles, “Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them” (Matt. 19:14). And because one cannot truly come to Christ except through Baptism (Rom. 6:34), we routinely read of how the Apostles baptized “all the people” (Luke 3:21) and “whole households” (Acts 16:15, 1 Cor. 1:16). Certainly all people and whole households also included infants!
In addition to the Scriptural texts, our Church also relies upon Holy Tradition: the sacred customs and traditions which have been orally handed down and practiced un-broken since the time of Christ. The Early Christian Communities, who actually had firsthand knowledge of Christ’s Will, routinely practiced the baptism of infants. In the ancient catacombs of Rome, inscriptions on the tombs of infants make mention of their having been baptized. One in particular reads: “Here rests Archillia, a newly-baptized; she was one year and five months old; died February 23rd.”
Obviously Archillia was not old enough to understand her baptism, but because of it she died in Christ!
