Does the Byzantine Church practice Baptism by Immersion? I heard that if a person is baptized and the water does not touch the skin, let us say, falls on the hair...it is invalid...any thoughts?

I have a question as well: what (if any)is the difference between Baptism by immersion and/or Baptism by submersion?

We'll, I would think we want our babies to come back out of the water rather quickly!

But seriously, it was my understanding that with the reintroduction of the full Rites of Initiation, at least in the Ruthenian Church, that Baptism by full immersion was preferred and strongly encouraged, but not fully mandated.

FWIW - my children and their cousins (all cradle Byzantines) were born just after the full Rites of Initiation were restored in the Eparchy of Passaic. Of the five, only one was baptized via full immersion - my niece and goddaughter. The funny part of the story: she was initiated by a bi-ritual priest, serving as pastor of my former home parish at that time, who went "by the book" and "dunked her head to toe" (much to the astonishment of my sister-in-law)!

Thanks for the experiences. I have an good olde Orthodox friend and he says that Baptism is always by immersion.

I have Baptized three persons by immersion/submersion. In each instance this mode of Baptism was request our of deference to a candidate's grandparent's faith tradition (Southern Baptist and Church of the Brethren).

In each case I was able to make arrangements to use the immersion-capable font of another church; in each case it was the first time that the font had been used in that manner.

The first one was of 4 year old who recited the Apostles' Creed flawlessly from memory as he stood on the edge of the Font. The second was of a pair of sisters...Baptism administered in an RC church less than two months after the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification---a beautiful end to the 20th Century!