Why Are Baptismal Fonts Octagonal?

Evening, then Morning…

God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed – the sixth day.

Genesis 1:31

God spoke over the chaos of the primordial waters, bringing light, life, and order. The narrative for each succeeding day ends, “Evening came, and morning followed – the Nth day.” (see Genesis 1:5,8,13,19,23,31.). “Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed…. So God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.” (Genesis 2:1,3).

Sabbath Rest

The Hebrew word for rest is shabbat, from which we get the word Sabbath. Resist the image of God sitting in a heavenly Barcalounger. Scripture instead tells us God “blessed and sanctified” the Sabbath. It is important to note that, unlike the six preceding days, “Evening” did not explicitly arrive on the Sabbath.

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and
fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea
and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves
upon the earth.”

Genesis 1:28

It is also important to note that Adam and Eve were instructed to subdue and have dominion over Creation. Just as God brought chaos into cosmos (from the Greek meaning “to arrange in an orderly fashion”), we His creatures are to pro-create, that is, to cooperate in creation. The word subdue (from the Hebrew kavash) includes the subtext “to bring under control.”

The LORD God took the man and settled him in the garden to cultivate and care for it.

Genesis 2:15

God’s Creation is our sabbath garden. Only when we properly cultivate and care for our portion can we bless and sanctify it as God intended. When we fail to do so there are chaotic consequences. Watch the evening news (Don’t, actually). Darkness surrounds us.

…And it was Night

Jesus celebrated the Passover Shabbat with his disciples. At this “Last Supper,” scripture tells us Judas “took the morsel and left at once. And it was night” (John 13:30). This passage signifies more than the darkness in Judas’ heart. It is the “Evening came” of the seventh day (see Matthew 26:20, Mark 14:17).

After the Sabbath – The Eighth Day

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them [as their God]….The one who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”

Revelation 21:3,5

“After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb” (Matthew 28:1. See also Mark 16:1-2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1). Thus, evening came, and morning followed – the eighth day, the day of the New Creation. In the waters of Baptism, we die with Christ (Romans 6:3), and rise again a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17).

This is the Day the LORD has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Psalm 118:24

St. Augustine of Hippo writes, “For we shall ourselves be the seventh day, when we shall be filled and replenished with God’s blessing and sanctification. There shall we be still, and know that He is God… [The] Sabbath shall be brought to a close, not by an evening, but by the Lord’s day, as an eighth and eternal day, consecrated by the resurrection of Christ, and prefiguring the eternal repose not only of the spirit, but also of the body. There we shall rest and see, see and love, love and praise.” (City of God, “Of the Eternal Felicity”)

Octagonal Baptismal Fonts

The octagon is raised for a sacred purpose, for which the octagonal font is also worthy, for this number 8 aptly sign the sacred baptistery, in which the people are raised to true health restored, by the light of the risen Christ who unlocks the gates of death and raised the dead from the grave.

St. Ambrose, cited in H.A. Reinhold. Speaking of Liturgical Architecture (University of Notre Dame, 1952)

Not all Baptismal fonts are octagonal. Nevertheless, an 8-sided font is entirely fitting. In Baptism, we become new creatures – Cultivating and caring for, blessing and sanctifying the first creation, prayerfully looking forward to the eighth and eternal day where, please God, we shall rest and see, see and love, love and praise.