DISCLOSING THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST’S BAPTISM AS FAR AS POSSIBLE- THE HOLY FEAST OF THEOPHANY

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST1 HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

Disclosing the Mystery of Christ’s Baptism as Far as
Possible-THE HOLY FEAST OF THEOPHANY
By Saint Gregory Palamas

YESTERDAY WHEN I WAS IN CHURCH, celebrating with you as you kept the forefeast of the day of Lights, I spoke on such themes as the occasion demanded and said to your charity about Christian baptism, which we have been deemed worthy to receive, that it is both a recognition of God and a promise to God… But because baptism is not just the recognition of God, but also a promise to turn back to Him and to do works that please Him, that is why Christ’s Forerunner and Baptist did not merely guide people towards acknowledging Christ, but also preached repentance and sought fruits worthy of repentance: RIGHTEOUSNESS, ALMSGIVING, MODERATION, AGAPE AND THE TRUTH. And to make it clear that a promise to God is useless without deeds, and condemns a man, he held tout the threat of an axe and drew attention to the unquenchable fire, saying, "EVERY TREE WHICH BRINGETH NOT FORTH GOOD FRUIT IS HEWN DOWN, AND CAST INTO THE FIRE" (Matthew 3:10).

"…Speaking to you on that occasion we reach the point where Saint John, having been persuaded, let the Lord be baptized. There remains that part of the Gospel which has now been read in your hearing: "Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:16-17).

Saint John of Kronstadt speaking on the Holy Theophany says, "Water, being simple and accessible to all, becomes, through the invocation of the Holy Spirit, a bearer of grace and sanctification. When the Church blesses the waters, it does not merely perform a symbolic act; it call down Divine power to purify, to heal, and to drive away evil. This sanctified water enters our homes, our bodies, and our lives as a reminder that Christ came TO REDEEM ALL OF CREATION–NOT JUST SOULS, BUT THE VERY ELEMENTS OF THE WORLD. LET NO ONE NEGLECT THE POWER OF HOLY WATER, FOR THROUGH IT, WE RECEIVE STRENGTH, PROTECTION, AND THE NEARNESS OF GOD HIMSELF."

"…When the Holy Spirit was revealed through His descent from the supracelestial regions upon the Lord being baptized in the Jordan, He disclosed the mystery of the Most-sublime and All-accomplishing Trinity which is able to save reasonable creatures. Why is the mystery of the Holy Trinity shown foth when man is formed and also when he is formed ANEW? Not just because man is, on earth, the only initiate into the mystery and the only creature to venerate it, BUT BECAUSE HE ALONE IS IN THE IMAGE OF THE TRINITY. Sensible and irrational animals have only A LIVING SPIRIT, which is incapable of independent existence, and is completely devoid of mind or reason. But the perfectly suprasensible Angels and Archangels, as they are intelligent and rational, have a mind and reason, but no quickening spirit, since they also lack bodies which would need to be animated by such a spirit. Man is the only creature who, in the image of the Tri-Hypostatic Being, has A MIND, REASON, AND A SPIRIT WHICH GIVES LIFE TO HIS BODY, INASMUCH AS HE ALSO HAS BODY WHICH NEEDS TO BE INFUSED WITH LIFE. When OUR NATURE WAS RE-MADE IN THE JORDAN, THE MOST SUBLIME AND ALL-ACCOMPLISHING TRINITY WAS MADE MANIFEST, AS THE ARCHETYPE OF THE IMAGE IN OUR SOUL. Therefore those who receive Christian baptism after Christ are baptized with THREE IMMERSIONS, whereas John baptized with one immersion in the Jordan. To underline this point, Saint Matthew says, "Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water" (Matthew 3:16).

"And lo," it says, when He had just risen up from under the water, before He had stepped out, "the heavens were opened unto Him" (Matthew 3:16). Please make a mental effort, brethren, and focus your minds on what I am saying with the utmost care, that you may understand the power of the mystery of Christian baptism. For Christ’s going down into the water and His being underneath it, at the time of His baptism, FORESHADOWED HIS DESCENT INTO HADES, AND, ACCORDINGLY, HIS COMING UP FROM UNDER THE WATER PREFIGURED HIS RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD.

As a fitting consequence, when He came up from the water the heavens were immediately opened to Him. For at the time of His descent into Hades, He went under the earth for our sake, and on returning thence, He OPENED ALL THINGS BOTH TO HIMSELF AND TO US, NOT JUST THINGS ON OR AROUND THE EARTH, BUT HIGHEST HEAVEN ITSELF, TO WHICH AFTERWARDS HE ASCENDED BODILY, "WHITHER THE FORERUNNER IS FOR US ENTERED" (Hebrews 6:20). Just as He foreshowed the saving passion through the mystical bread and cup, and then on this mystery to the faithful TO PERFORM FOR THEIR SALVATION (1 Corinthians 11;25; Luke 22:17-20), so He mystically foretold His descent into Hades and His ascent from there through this baptism of His, and afterwards passed on this sacrament to believers TO PERFORM THAT THEY MAY BE SAVED. He allowed Himself what was painful and difficult, but bestowed on us communion of His sufferings right from the start through these painless means, causing us, according to the Apostle, to be "PLANTED TOGETHER IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH" (Romans 6:5), that in due time we might also be vouchsafed the promised resurrection. (Resources: The Homilies)

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
+ Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George