Originally posted by alice:
Do you also do the forty day blessing for infants?
It depends on which 40 day prayers/blessings you're speaking of, although from your description, it seems you're speaking of the "churching" of the infant.
There is the prayer for the mother when she returns on the 40th day to the church (so called "purification" prayers, which also include prayers for the "child born of her"). We normally do those prayers on the 40th day in the church, or the Sunday after, or whenever the mother returns to the church, but before the date of the baptism. We do them immediately before the Divine Liturgy, normally, so that she can receive communion and attend her child's baptism.
There is also the "Churching" of the baby, which is what I think you described.
There is a difference between the Greek and Russian practice of the "Churching" of infants. If memory serves me correctly (as I get a bit older, I'm starting to have some "senior moments"!) the Greek church does the Churching of infants before the baptism, whereas in the Russian church it is always done after the baptism, but before the reception of the eucharist. So, for instance, in our church, if an infant is baptized on a Saturday, then on Sunday morning, before the liturgy, the child is churched, so that he/she may receive communion for the first time at that liturgy.
I know that in many (all?) Greek and Antiochian churches they commune the infant from the reserved sacrament at the end of the baptismal service. The OCA clergy guidelines stricly forbid this practice.
Priest Thomas
