My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ God,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN HYMNS REVEAL THE DIVINE INCARNATION
AND BAPTISM OF THE SON OF GOD.
Kathisma 1. Mode 3.
At Your Epiphany at River Jordan, O Christ,
when by the Forerunner, O Savior, You were
baptized, the voice from heaven testified that
You are the Beloved Son.
Therefore You were shown to be with the Father
beginningless, and the Holy Spirit came down
as a dove and alighted on You.
In Him, we are illumined and cry out, Glory to
God in Trinity.
Kathisma III. Mode 4.
You hallowed the waters of the Jordan River,
O Lord; and by Your Own might You shattered sin’s
dominion, O Christ our God.
You bowed Yourself, O Savior, beneath the
hand of the Baptist, and saved the human race.
Ode v. Katavasias of Epiphany I and II
He is Jesus, the Author of life. He has
come to loose the condemnation of first-
created Adam. Being God, and thus not
needing to be purified, in the Jordan He
purifies the one who has fallen. He put
to death the enmity, and therefore He
grants the peace that passes all under-
standing.
Iambic.
The Spirit’s cleansing has washed away
from us now the dark and dirty enemy’s
poison venom. Therefore we have landed
on a new unerring path, which leads to
happiness that has no access, save to them
whom God to Himself reconciled.
Troparia.
Wash yourselves and be clean, says the
Prophet Isaiah, and put away your evildoing
from before the Lord’s eyes. All you who are
thirsty go now to the Living Water. For Christ
will sprinkle those who believing run to Him
with water that renews, and He baptizes them
with the Spirit unto undecaying life.
We have come to know the Wonders shown
to Moses in the Bush by some strange laws
are here accomplished: preserved uninjured
was the Fire-bearing Virgin when she brought
forth the Light-bringing Benefactor, as were
Jordan’s streams when they received the
Master.
Exapostelarion. Mode 3.
Our Savior, Grace, and Truth, appeared in
His Epiphany in the streams of the Jordan;
and those who lay once in the dark and
shadow He illumined now. He has come and
appeared, the Light Unapproachable.
Stichera for the Feast. Mode I.
Light from Light, Christ our God, has
shone upon the world. He is God and He
appeared to us. O peoples, let us worship
Him.
Idiomelon. Mode I.
The True Light has appeared and bestows
illumination on all. Christ is baptized with us,
even though He is above all purity; and thus
He infuses sanctification into the water,
which then becomes the purifying agent of
our souls. What is seen belongs to earth, but
what is understood transcends the heavens.
By means of a bath comes salvation; by means
of water comes the Spirit; by means of immersion
does our ascent to God come to pass. How
wonderful are Your works, O Lord!
Glory to You.
Mode 2.
Today Christ came to be baptized in the Jordan.
Today John touches the head of the Master. The
Hosts of Heaven were astounded seeing the
paradoxical mystery. The sea beheld it and fled;
when the Jordan saw, it retreated. And we who are
now illumined cry aloud, "Glory be to God Who
appeared, and Who was seen on earth, and Who
illumined the world.
Hymns from the Synaxis of the Glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John
Glory. For the Forerunner.
Mode 2.
The memory of the just is observed with hymns of praise; for
you suffices the testimony of the Lord, O Forerunner, You have
proved to be truly more venerable than the Prophets, since you
were granted to baptize in the river the One Whom they
proclaimed. Therefore, when for the truth you had contested,
rejoicing, to those in Hades you preached the Gospel, that God
was manifested in the flesh, and takes away the sin of the world,
and grants to us great mercy.
For the Forerunner. Mode 2.
Coming from the desert, the Forerunner’s voice to all points out
the Logos/Word Who for our sake has visited us bodily; full of
joy he prepares himself to baptize Him Who has arrived, the One
Who purifies our souls from the Ancestral sin through faith in
Him.
Both now. Theotokion
Exceeding compassion, the Savior and Redeemer of the
the universe becomes a man and accepts to be born in the flesh,
in His love for the human race, since He by nature is humane;
He came forth from your virgin womb, All-Blessed Maiden
who gave birth to God.
Glory. Mode pl. 2.
You emerged from a barren woman’s labor as an Angel, O
Baptist, and you dwelt in the wilderness from the time you were
in swaddling clothes. You were shown to be the Seal of the
Prophets all; for you were counted worthy to baptize in the
Jordan Him Whom they beheld in various ways and proclaimed
enigmatically. You heard the Father’s voice from heaven bearing
witness to His Sonship. And you saw the Spirit in the form of a
dove showing that the voice was directed towards the One being
baptized. And you, who are superior to all the Prophets, never
cease interceding on our behalf, as we loyally observe your
memorial.
Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn of the Feast. Mode 1.
As You were baptized in the Jordan, O Lord, then the worship
of the Trinity became manifest, for the voice of the Father bore
witness to You, naming You the Beloved Son, and the Spirit, in
the form of a dove confirmed the certainty of the word. O Christ God,
Who appeared and illumined the world, Glory to You.
CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM! ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΓΕΝΝΑΤΑΙ! ΔΟΞΑΣΑΤΕ!
____________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in His Glorious Appearance and Baptism,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 