THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN MEANING OF EPIPHANY

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

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

THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN MEANING OF EPIPHANY

Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite says that in order to reshape a vessel, the potter needs two elements: WATER FOR MOULDING A VESSEL, THE EARTH, AND FIRE TO BURN AND CAST THE MOULDED CLAY AND SO TO RESHAPE IT. And God, the Great Potter of our mould, does just the same thing. Wanting to reshape our nature, which was crushed by sin, God used fire and water. And He takes the fire from Himself, because as God He is a "CONSUMING FIRE" which consumes wickedness, and he borrows the water from the River Jordan.

The fact is that by Christ’s INCARNATION, by all the steps of the Divine Economy, and certainly by the Baptism in the River Jordan, THE HUMAN RACE IS RESHAPED. After the fall and the crushing of our nature we have RESHAPING and REBIRTH. The reshaping is possible, on the one hand because after the sin human nature did NO DISAPPEAR ALTOGETHER, AND ON THE OTHER HAND BECAUSE GOD DID NOT DISAPPEAR ALTOGETHER, AND ON THE OTHER HAND BECAUSE GOD HIMSELF IS MAN’S CREATOR AND IS HIMSELF MAN’S RECREATOR.

It is impossible for these two elements, WATER and FIRE, to exist together. For fire cannot ignite and prosper in a damp place, and water quenches fire. In the River Jordan they can exist together, because the fire is UNCREATED, while the water is CREATED. And therefore the Uncreated Fire is not influenced by the created element of the water. Indeed, on the contrary, THE CREATED WATER IS MADE HOLY BY THE FIRE OF DIVINITY.

The River Jordan has remained famous for various events in history, but chiefly, for the preaching and Baptism of Saint John the Forerunner, but also for Christ’s Baptism in it. According to Saint John Chrysostomos, the Jordan IS A SYMBOL OF THE HUMAN RACE. In the first place it is called Jordan because it comes from two sources, the Jor and the Dan. These two sources form the River Jordan, which flows into the Dead Sea. According to one reductive interpretation, THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE COMES FROM TWO SOURCES, ADAM AND EVE, and though sin it was brought to deadening, the dead sea of the present life, where there is death. By His incarnation Christ entered into this Jordan, this human race, and in this way He CONQUERED DEATH AND RESTORED MANKIND TO ITS FORMER LIFE.

The Prophet king David says prophetically: "The sea saw it and fled; Jordan turned back" (Psalm 114:3). By this he wants to indicate the surprise of the sea, of the water which spread out into a large place, and of the River Jordan, AS SINLESS CHRIST ENTERED IT. This surprise is justified in the prayer of the blessing of the waters, written by Saint Sophronios, Bishop of Jerusalem, and read at the blessing of the waters. It says, "The Jordan turned back, seeing the fire of the Godhead descending bodily and entering its stream." The FIRE OF THE GODHEAD IS THE FLESH OF CHRIST ENTERED INTO THE WATER.

This prophecy in some way and to some degree also applies to the life of the Christian. THE SEA IS MAN’S LIFE WHICH IS FULL OF HARDSHIPS, AND IS THEREFORE CALLED A SALTY SEA. AND AS WE SAW BEFORE, THE JORDAN IS HUMAN LIFE WHICH AFTER THE TRANSGRESSION OF ADAM AND EVE WAS BROUGHT TO MORTIFICATION, BOUND UP WITH DEADNESS AND DECAY. THROUGH REPENTANCE A MAN IS DELIVERED FROM THE SALTY SEA OF LIFE, WHILE HIS LIFE IS ALSO ALTERED, CHANGES, RETURNS TO ITS TRUE SOURCES, ACQUIRES A DIFFERENT MEANING. (Hesychios the Presbyter).

During Christ’s Baptism the Holy Trinity appeared. One of the purposes of the Divine Incarnation, as well as of the Baptism of Christ was THE REVELATION (APOCALYPSE) OF THE TRINITARIAN GOD, THAT ALTHOUGH GOD HAS ONE ESSENCE AND NATURE, YET HE IS OF THREE PERSONS, FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT. So the voice of the Father is heard witnessing and giving assurance that He who is in the Jordan at that moment is His Son, while the Holy Spirit also appears "like a dove," as a dove.

The same revelation (apocalypse) of the Trinitarian God and the same assurance of the Father also took place shortly before Christ’s Passion, at His Transfiguration, which took place on Mt. Tabor.

Saint Gregory Palamas also analyzes very theologically why the Trinitarian God IS MANIFESTED AT THAT TIME. He teaches that the Trinitarian God is manifested in the creation and recreation of man. The shaping of man is a common energy of the Trinitarian God, since the "Father, through the Son in the Holy Spirit MAKES ALL THINGS." Moreover, it says in Holy Scripture that the Trinitarian God decided TO CREATE MAN: "LET US MAKE MAN IN OUR IMAGE, ACCORDING TO OUR LIKENESS" (Genesis 1:26). The Father made man IN THE IMAGE OF THE LOGOS/WORD AND BREATHED LIFE INTO HIM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. And since the energy of the Trinitarian God is common to the three, THE WHOLE TRINITY TOOK PART IN MAN’S CREATION. The Trinitarian God, then, HAD TO BE MANIFESTED IN THE RESHAPING AND RECREATION OF MAN. MOREOVER, AFTER HIS BAPTISM CHRIST BEGAN HIS FORMAL WORK FOR THE SALVATION OF THE HUMAN RACE. [Resources:  The Feasts of the Lord. An Introduction to the Twelve Feasts and Orthodox Christology by Metropolitan of Nafpaktos HIEROTHEOS]

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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