The “matter” of baptism (i.e. water), according to Alexander Schmemann, represents: (1) life, (2) death and destruction, and (3) purification. To participate in a baptismal liturgy, then, is to communally rehearse the biblical story of creation, fall, and redemption. Says Schmemann[1]:
“Baptism proper begins with the blessing of the water. To understand, however, the meaning of water here, one must stop thinking of it as an isolated ‘matter’ of the sacrament. Or rather, one must realize that water is the ‘matter’ of sacrament, because it stands for the whole of matter, which the biblical ‘mythological’ world view—which incidentally is more meaningful and philosophically consistent than the one offered by some ‘demythologizers’ –water is the natural symbol of life, for there is no life without water, but it is also the symbol of destruction and death, and finally, it is the symbol of purification, for there is no cleanliness without it. In the Book of Genesis creation of life is a victory of the Spirit of God over the waters—the chaos of nonexistence. In a way, then, creation is a transformation of water into life.
What is important for us, however, is that the baptismal water represents the matter of the cosmos, the world as life of man. And its blessing at the beginning of the baptismal rite acquires thus a truly cosmic and redemptive significance. God created the world and blessed it and gave it to man as his food and life, as the means of communion with Him. The blessing of water signifies the return or redemption of matter in this initial and essential meaning. By accepting the baptism of John, Christ sanctified the water—made it the water of purification and reconciliation with God. It was then, as Christ was coming out of the water, that the Epiphany—the new and redemptive manifestation of God—took place, and the Spirit of God, who at the beginning of creation ‘moved upon the face of the waters,’ made water—that is, the world—again into what He made it at the beginning.
To bless, as we already know, is to give thanks. In and through thanksgiving, man acknowledges the true nature of things he receives from God, and thus makes them to be what they are. We bless and sanctify things when we offer them to God in a eucharistic movement of our whole being. And as we stand before the water—before the cosmos, the matter given to us by God—it is an all-embracing eucharistic movement which gives the baptismal liturgy its true beginning.”
