Russell Brand has been pictured hugging Bear Grylls in the River Thames after the scandal-hit comic revealed he’d been baptised.
Brand, 49, announced that he had been baptised last month and saw it as ‘an opportunity to leave the past behind’ and ‘leave behind the sins’.
The ceremony happened with his high profile friend Bear Grylls, 49, in attendance and a newly released photograph shows the pair embracing in a group hug.
Brand, Bear Grylls and an unknown person can be seen pictured stood in the River Thames after the comic’s baptism.
He posted the image on social media with the caption: ‘Me, Bear Grylls, The River Thames and of course, The Holy Spirit.’
Brand, Bear Grylls and an unknown person can be seen pictured stood in the River Thames after the comic’s baptism
Russell Brand pictured with Bear Grylls on Running Wild with Bear Grylls television show
The survival expert and comedian had become friends through their television work.
Last year, Brand ventured across the Hebrides with Grylls in the former SAS trooper’s Apple TV+ show, Running Wild with Bear Grylls.
Brand had told his four million Instagram followers that his baptism was an ‘incredible and profound experience’.
He said: ‘This is my path now. And I already feel incredibly blessed, relieved, nourished, held.’
Brand had previously confirmed on social media Grylls, who is a Chief Scout, ‘and my mate Joe’ joined him for the traditional ceremony which dates back to the seventh century.
Christian baptisms are first recorded in the ‘holy’ River Swale nearly fourteen hundred years ago.
Nowadays, most churches baptise only at the font with a sprinkling of water over someone’s head.
Grylls previously told the Daily Mail: ‘Faith and spiritual moments in our lives are really personal, but it is a privilege to stand beside anyone when they express a humble need for forgiveness and strength from above.
‘Friendships when we go through tough times are worth so much.’
Grylls is one of Britain’s most prominent Christians and has appeared in marketing material for the Alpha course, an evangelical introduction to Christianity that is said to have recruited 29 million to the faith.
It was created by the Anglican priest Nicky Gumbel, of Holy Trinity Brompton, just across the road from Harrods in London’s Knightsbridge.
Grylls has spoken about the difference between faith and religion, as he sees it. ‘I meet so many people who don’t want ‘religion’ as such,’ he said.
‘I get it. I feel the same. And, in fact, so did Jesus, the heart of all Christian faith. Faith and religion are not the same thing.
The duo are pictured here during the comedian’s appearance on Grylls’ Running Wild show
Brand had told his four million Instagram followers that his baptism was an ‘incredible and profound experience’
‘The Jesus I read about in the Bible was fun, free and wild. He loved a party and he always hung out with the non-religious folk. The only people he ever got angry with were the overly religious types.’
The controversial comedian’s turn to Christianty comes amid allegations of rape and sexual assault.
He has retreated to his countryside Oxfordshire bolthole in recent months after being questioned by police twice in relation to allegations of rape.
The comedian has strenuously denied wrongdoing, and says he has evidence to refute allegations.
Since December he has posted a number of videos and pictures on social media in which he has discussed his relationship with Christianity.
In his baptism announcement, Brand said: ‘What’s been explained to me is, it’s an opportunity to die and be reborn. An opportunity to leave the past behind and be reborn in Christ’s name.’
He then referenced a verse from scripture, adding: ‘Like it says in Galatians: that you can live as an enlightened and awakened person’, before saying that the prospect of baptism was ‘so inviting and beautiful.’