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Requirements and Expectations of Godparents |
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Question: My husband and I are
Roman Catholics that have recieved all the sacarments allowable
for a married couple. A very close friend and his wife asked us
to be the godparents for their daughter. The baby is to be
baptized in a Ukrainian Orthodox Church and I was wondering if
you can please send me the requirements and expectations of the
godparents. I love this baby so very much and want to fullfill
her parents wishes and help raise her in the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church but I need some information. Any insight or information
will be very helpful. Thank you in advance for your time and
efforts. |
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Answer:
Very Rev. Ihor Kutash kutash@unicorne.org Congratulations on the honour of being chosen to be Godparent! Essentially the requirements are the same as when Godparents' are chosen in the Roman Catholic Church: i.e. to make a profession of faith in the name of the child and then to take responsibility for praying, giving good examples of Christian living, keeping in touch, in general loving this eternal being whom you are helping to escort into God's family. I suppose an important difference would be that you would in fact be pledging yourself to help her be a good member of the Orthodox Church. So it is an ecumenical responsibility. It would require that you at least respect and even celebrate the special perspective on the Christian way provided by Orthodoxy. If the parents have asked you to stand in, and the Orthodox priest has accepted you (the normal standard is that at least one of the Godparents must be Orthodox, while the other, in necessary may be a Christian of another tradition -but nonetheless baptized in the name of the Trinity) - then it must be that you are qualified to fulfil this requirement. As for the ritual duties at the Baptism it is best if you and the parents get in touch with the Priest who is to do the baptizing and so prepare properly. Different Priests may do some things a bit differently. See summary of articles on baptism on this site.
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Ukrainian Orthodoxy |
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