Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church

St. Hippolytus of Rome (+236) wrote: "What more vital gift is there than the element of water? For with water all things are washed and nourished, and cleansed and bedewed… Nor is this the only thing that proves the dignity of the water. But there is also that which is more honourable than all — the fact that Christ, the Maker of all, came down as the rain, and was known as a spring, and diffused Himself as a river, and was baptized in the Jordan."

The Holy Theophany of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, is a commemoration of His great light, which manifested itself at the Jordan River, bringing light and life to all of us who were sitting in darkness.

"Theophany" literally means the “shining forth of God.”  After Pascha and Pentecost, Theophany is considered the third greatest feast of our Orthodox Church. St. Cyril of Alexandria (+444) wrote that the beginning of the world, according to the Old Testament, was water. The beginning of the renewal or regeneration of the world, according to the Gospel, was also water, the water of the Jordan, when the Most Holy Trinity was revealed, and the Father spoke from heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Then, the Holy Spirit appeared, in the form of a dove, hovering over the waters, just as the Spirit hovered over the waters in Genesis. St. John the Forerunner bore witness saying: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."  Christ our Lord took on our flesh, and the sin of the world, so that we, His children, might recognize our need for repentance, and so doing, behold the Lamb of God.

May all of us be blessed during this New Year to behold the Lamb of God, commending ourselves, and each other, and all our lives to Him. Being illumined by the Light of the Holy Theophany, let us eagerly embrace the warm and life-giving rays of the Lord’s Divine Dispensation for us unworthy ones.

A Blessed and spiritually rewarding New Year to all, and to all: Many Years

Archpriest Basil Rhodes