{"id":5084,"date":"2016-12-03T14:35:49","date_gmt":"2016-12-03T19:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/roadsfromemmaus\/?p=5084"},"modified":"2016-12-03T14:46:38","modified_gmt":"2016-12-03T19:46:38","slug":"christians-naturalized-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/asd\/2016\/12\/03\/christians-naturalized-citizens\/","title":{"rendered":"Christians are Naturalized Citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nT<\/span>he following is the naturalization oath<\/a> that makes someone a citizen of the United States when immigrating from another country:<\/p>\n

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Christians, who are immigrants from the world to the Kingdom of God, should have at least<\/i> this level of awareness that we are entering into an allegiance to a new nation called by the name of Christ.<\/p>\n

This recalls to mind an updated arrangement of the baptismal service which is soon going to be put into use in the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America. The translation has been fixed in a number of places, as well as the order of the service according to better manuscripts than were used in previous editions, utilizing long in-progress scholarship happening mainly in Greece. The section that interests me here is from the beginning of the service:<\/p>\n

Priest: Dost thou align thyself with Christ?<\/b><\/p>\n

(Together, each) baptizand, or if an infant, (together each) sponsor: I align myself.<\/b><\/p>\n

The above question and answer are repeated THREE times.<\/i><\/p>\n

The Symbol of Faith<\/b><\/i>
\nThe baptizand(-s as a group) then say(s) the Symbol of the Faith with their sponsors (or the sponsor for the infant):<\/i> I believe in one God…<\/b><\/p>\n

Priest: Hast thou aligned thyself with Christ?<\/b><\/p>\n

(Together, each) baptizand, or if an infant, (together each) sponsor: I have aligned myself.<\/b><\/p>\n

The above question and answer are repeated THREE times.<\/i><\/p>\n

Priest: Bow down and worship him.<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Previous iterations of this dialogue use Dost\/Hast thou united thyself to Christ<\/i> and I do\/have<\/i> (join<\/i> is also used in some translations). I am not a liturgical translator, but I am told that align<\/i> is more correct here.<\/p>\n

There is nothing theologically wrong with unite<\/i> or join<\/i>, but what is happening here is announcing a new allegiance, which makes sense, because this follows immediately from the question Hast thou renounced Satan?<\/i> with the answer I have renounced him!<\/i> And all these things are said no fewer than three times—let there be no mistake!<\/p>\n

As Christians, we should understand ourselves as naturalized citizens of the Kingdom of God. We have renounced Satan, renounced the world (that is, the fallenness of the world), renounced our citizenship in that fallen kingdom. We are now aligned with Christ. We are now giving Him our allegiance. And as part of giving that allegiance, in reciting the Symbol of Faith (the Creed), we are showing that we believe in what His Kingdom believes. We are showing that we will fulfill our part of the covenant.<\/p>\n

There is no room here for choosing only certain parts of the covenant or certain beliefs, nor for a dual citizenship between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of the evil one. We have renounced Satan and everything he stands for, and we have aligned ourselves with Christ. Let us now bow down and worship Him!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is the naturalization oath that makes someone a citizen of the United States when immigrating from another country: I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the\u2026 <\/i> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":5090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[751],"tags":[598,947],"class_list":["post-5084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-spirituality","tag-baptism","tag-citizenship"],"yoast_head":"Christians are Naturalized Citizens — Fr. 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