| The Great Feast of the Theophany of the Lord, celebrated next Monday, is rich with personal meaning for every Orthodox believer. In the Christian East, Theophany, also called Epiphany, is the oldest Feast of the Lord next to Pascha, and was always celebrated on the 6th of January. In fact, for the Church of the first three centuries, Theophany was the single feast that commemorated the Baptism of the Lord, His birth, and even events in His life such as the miracle of Cana in Galilee, all together. It was a great feast of light conveying the “blazing forth of God” (αποκ?λυψη). It was not until the fourth century that the Birth of Christ (Nativity) began to be commemorated as a separate Feast on the 25th of December.
The oldest feast, the Theophany, and the eventual celebration of the Nativity became celebrations of “unquenchable light” in the dead darkness of winter. The Christian feasts were adopted by the Church in response to the pagan winter festivals that marked the conquest of the physical darkness of nature by the invincible sun-god. Christ as “the sun of righteousness” (Mal. 4:2) and the “light of the world” (John 1:9 and 8:12), replaced the worship of the pagan sun-god and the glorification of the god-emperor was replaced by the worship of Christ. It was Christ who came as light and fire to point out the spiritually dark places within us and to make God “blaze forth” in the depth of the human soul. St. Gregory of Nyssa noted that “Those who pass through the mystical water in baptism must put to death in the water the whole phalanx of darkness and evil… … we must put to death in the water both the base movements of the mind and the acts which issue from them.”
Both St. Symeon the New Theologian and St. Gregory Palamas remind us that God is a living actuality and uncreated light is his presence. It was on the eve of Theophany, Pascha, and Pentecost that the Church began solemn occasions for the Christian “Illumination” (φωτισμ?ς) by Baptism – hearkening back to the Baptism of the Lord in the Jordan River by St. John the Forerunner. How do we appropriate the feast of the Theophany to our everyday experience and life? We can understand it as the feast of purification, illumination, and revelation.
Theophany is purification. Purification (κ?θαρσις) means taking a long, hard, look at ourselves to see what obstacles (sins) we have placed between ourselves and God – and to “shed that load” from our heart and soul. Our Baptism, our immersion in the consecrated waters of the font, symbolized dying to one life and rising to a new way of living in Jesus. It robbed sin of its power to kill us forever yet it left us with the freedom to turn away again from Divine Love. When Christ was baptized, He was not cleansed or purified because He had no sin. His immersion in the water, rather, blessed and consecrated the water for all time whereby it became a sacramental means of “cleaning our spiritual house” and restoring the Light.
St. Nectarios of Aegina powerfully describes this process: “Christians, have we understood the great responsibility that we have taken on before God through baptism? Have we come to know that we must conduct ourselves as children of God, that we must align our will with the will of God, that we must remain free from sin, that we must love God with all our hearts and always patiently await union with Him? Have we thought about the fact that our heart should be so filled with love that it should overflow to our neighbor? Do we have the feeling that we must become holy and perfect, children of God and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven? We must struggle for this, so that we may not be shown unworthy and rejected. Let none of us lose our boldness, nor neglect our duties, nor be afraid of the difficulties of spiritual struggle. For we have God as a helper, who strengthens us in the difficult path of virtue.” (The Path to Happiness) What must we clean from our hearts and souls?
Theophany is illumination. Illumination is about light – new awareness, a new consciousness about ourselves and about Christ’s place in our life. The Kontakion for the Feast of the Lord’s Theophany says: “You appeared to the world today, and Your light, O Lord, has left its mark upon us. With fuller understanding we sing to You: “You came, You were made manifest, the unapproachable light.” Christ came as light piercing the darkness. If we make a sincere effort to keep purifying our hearts and souls, transforming our passions into positive expressions of grace, getting rid of all the “spiritual trash” that piles up inside us — it will dawn on us: God loves me! He is near me. He wants me in a relationship and I want MORE of Him!
St. Paisios of the Holy Mountain put it this way: “Spiritual health equals pure thoughts, an enlightened mind, and a purified heart that unceasingly harbors Christ and the Panagia. Watchfulness over ourselves and prayer are a great help in acquiring spiritual health. Prayer is essential for the purification of the soul and making the right choices is essential for the preservation of a healthy spiritual condition.”
Theophany is revelation. The Baptism of the Lord Jesus was the revelation of God in the Trinity. The Apolytikion of the feast is: “Lord, when You were baptized in the Jordan, the veneration of the Trinity was revealed. For the voice of the Father gave witness to You, calling You Beloved, and the Spirit, in the guise of a dove, confirmed the certainty of His words. Glory to You, Christ our God, who appeared and enlightened the world.” Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the Lord’s baptism was “the blazing forth of God” to a world confused, chaotic, and wounded. God is not private, isolated, or withdrawn. He is “in your face”, involved, and “up-close” to our lives. He shows us as much of himself as we can understand. He also asks us to do the same – to reveal and show Him to others, to be an occasion of “Theophany” every day. Cleaning our spiritual house and coming to a new awareness of God means little unless we live it, show it, make it present to all the people, situations, and experiences in our lives. Such is lived faith – not simply espoused faith.
Do I share my faith with others? Can I share my faith struggles in a way that they become “light” for those who walk in spiritual darkness? Is my Orthodox Christian faith truly “good news” for me, a cause of joy, and a blueprint for my lifestyle? These are Theophany questions. Let us come to this feast with hope-filled hearts. Let us remember that in His plunge into the river Jordan Jesus gave us the way to genuine human happiness and lasting peace of heart and soul – dying to the old person and rising to the new. The questions for us are: How much do we want this newness and are we ready to do what He asks to get it? Christ is baptized in the Jordan! Glorify Him!
Faithfully in the Lord’s service:
Fr. Dimitrios |