Sacrament - Confirmation
So, in Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant, or bond, created in baptism. By baptism a natural person is incorporated into the church and is constituted as a person in the same. All the validly baptized, called Christifideles, have the status of physical persons under Catholic canon law. This law superseded all others, a kind of blanket coverage or "supreme" law. In Catholic theology, it is the sacrament, or first step, of baptism that confers membership, while "reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace".
This sounds confusing but basically, confirmation was step two on your spiritual journey, where you affirm your commitment to God. In the case of infants, not in danger of death, it is administered by a bishop but only when the child reaches the age of reason or early adolescence. However, in the early Church and through the Middle Ages, confirmation was closely linked with baptism and it was often performed on infants before their first birthday, but in some churches, the minimal age of 10 years is required in certain communities or churches.
So, why is this step important? Well, many children died in infancy, before age 7, during the early church period, and for a long time after. This step ensures infants their rescue from purgatory, as infants or innocents cannot be sent to Hell. This is an odd practice and belief for Syres, a formal practice for something so sad and final. He also admires the grace in it, a gentle assurance for those left behind.
Syres knows these laws from his time in Constantinople, with Constantine VII and his books and discussions. However, after the schism in the 11th century, Syres sees the split and change in western Christianity and eastern or Orthodox Christianity. He finds this somewhat funny as he found the unity between Christian belief to be the one thing that was redeemable about the religion. He's a skeptical guy so his pleasure in this is part anger and part jealousy.
He is familiar with the Byzantine/Eastern laws very well but the western styles and mannerisms were foreign to him. He learns them while in Normandy and again when he is sent from Denmark, a still pagan-dominated kingdom, to The Holy Roman Empire of Germany, Austria, and N. Italy. It is here that he puts his knowledge of the Eastern law to good use, guiding the council of the Pope during and after the East-West Schism and the events leading up to the Councils of Piacenza and Clermont. This last church council kicked off the First Crusade!
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