Theophany

Life

When the Lord Jesus had completed thirty years from His bodily birth, He began His teaching and salvific work. And Himself, the beginning of the beginning He marked by baptism in the Jordan. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says: "The beginning of the world is water, the beginning of the Gospel is the Jordan." At the baptism of the Lord in the water, that mystery was revealed to the world which had been foreshadowed in the Old Testament, about which only fables were told in ancient Egypt and India, namely the mystery of the divine Holy Trinity. The Father manifested Himself to the sense of hearing, the Spirit manifested Himself to the sense of sight, and the Son manifested Himself in addition also to the sense of touch. The Father pronounced His testimony about the Son. The Son was baptized in the water and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove hovered over the water. And when John the Baptist bore witness and said of Christ: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29) and when he immersed and baptized the Lord in the Jordan, thereby both the mission of Christ in the world and the path of our salvation were shown. Namely: the Lord took upon Himself the sins of the human race and under them died (the immersion) and came to life (the coming out of the water); and we must die as the old sinful man and come to life as purified, renewed and reborn. This is the Savior, and this is the path of salvation. The Feast of Theophany (Theophania, Greek) enlightens by showing us God as Trinity, consubstantial and undivided. That is one thing. And the second: for each of us is enlightened by baptism in water by becoming adopted by the Father of Light, through the merit of the Son and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

From the Hymn of Praise

O holy Lord, holy in creation,All that by the Word Thou createst, by the Spirit sanctifiest.O mighty Lord, mighty in suffering,For the world Thou goest unto death, for the world Thou risest.