Here in Northern California, the months of December and January are when new green grass starts to sprout. By now, the golden hay of midsummer has long since retreated back into the earth and become grayish wet straw. Frogs lay their eggs in seasonal ponds formed by the rains. Some trees (oaks and buckeyes) lose their leaves to reveal capillary-like networks of branches and twigs, while others (redwoods and pines) bear witness to life in a more obvious way by keeping their needles all year long. The rain may be a nuisance when it causes roads to close, or even dangerous in cases of flash flooding. Yet it is necessary, especially here in this drought-ridden state, to replenish the unseen underground aquifers, as well as all the life forms we see on the surface.
Deciduous trees in winter: an icon of death and life all at once.
During this wettest time of the year, the Orthodox Church sanctifies water. We commemorate the baptism of Christ on January 6th, known as Theophany (God-revealing).
theo • phany
from the Greek θεός (theos)—God; φαίνειν (phanein)—to cause to appear, bring to light; to show, uncover, reveal; to make known, disclose, expound; to shine, give light
This feast in Western Christendom is known as Epiphany, and is sometimes referred to as such by Orthodox Christians living in the West. However, the Roman Catholic Church now celebrates the Baptism of Christ on the Sunday after January 6th, while January 6th commemorates the coming of the Wise Men to worship the infant Christ. In the East, the Wise Men are commemorated on December 25th.
Many may find it interesting to learn that in both East and West, on different dates (January 6th in the East and December 25th in the West), several events were celebrated all together: the birth of Christ, the adoration of the Magi, the baptism of Christ, and the miracle at the wedding in Cana. These celebrations date back to at least the 4th century.1 Over time, these commemorations were separated out into different days—except today in the Armenian Apostolic Church2, which still commemorates them all on January 6th and does not celebrate anything on December 25th.3
Theophany, as well as Christmas, and the Meeting of the Lord on February 2nd (known in the West as the Presentation, or Candlemas—ending the Christmas season, forty days after Christ’s birth) are all known as Feasts of Light. The vestments and liturgical cloths are white or gold for all of these feasts. It is clear in each instance why each feast day is associated with light and revelation. For Christmas, we immediately think of the Star of Bethlehem which led the Magi to worship Christ, as well as the revelation of Christ Himself (“the Sun of Righteousness and Dayspring from on high”4). On the Meeting of the Lord, in both East and West we bless candles in commemoration of St. Simeon the God-receiver, who upon taking the infant Christ in his arms, sang: “mine eyes have seen Thy salvation…a light to enlighten the Gentiles” (Luke 2:30-32). And for Theophany, the Dismissal Hymn ends: “O Christ God who hast revealed Thyself and hast enlightened the world, glory to Thee.” On this day, Jesus was revealed for the first time as God. Until now, His divinity had been relatively unknown, but at the moment of His baptism, the voice of the Father spoke from heaven, calling Him His Beloved Son. The Spirit in the form of a dove also descended upon Christ, thus revealing the Trinity.
This image is in the public domain. It is a late 13th century or early 14th century Russian icon of the Theophany.
When Christ stepped into the river Jordan to be baptized by John, He sanctified all of water and by extension all of creation5. All water is connected. Scientists will tell you that, since new water has never been created or formed for almost 5 billion years (the age of the earth), dinosaurs drank the very same water we drink now. For all we know, the very molecules falling on our heads were those which touched the body of Jesus when He was baptized. Therefore, even the rainwater through which my daughter goes splashing in her boots, wetting her dress’s hem, and even the water coming through our taps in which we bathe her afterward, have all been sanctified.
Who knew puddles were holy?
That is why, on Theophany, most Orthodox churches commemorate this event in the life of Christ by walking or driving to a local body of water, which they bless by throwing a crucifix into it (or drawing the shape of a cross in it with three lit candles, as in the photograph below). They also bless a large pot of drinkable water in the church, which parishioners then drink from and take home in bottles. At home, the holy water is usually kept in the fridge and drunk a little at a time, or even added to a glass of regular water to make it last longer. The holy water is also used by the priest to conduct house blessings for the new year. The house blessing itself only takes several minutes, but is often followed by a celebratory meal, to which friends or extended family are sometimes invited, along with the priest and any chanters he may have brought with him. As in all feast days and sacraments, we offer back to God what He has given us for the sustenance of our life—in this case, water—and He returns it to us, connecting us to Him6.
Image courtesy of Silar via Wikimedia Commons. This photograph is entitled “Great Blessing of Waters at Theophany.”
We also recall our own baptism on this day. If you were to step outside during a rainstorm, whatever makeup you might be wearing would be washed off, revealing a pristine face. The rain gets in your eyes, making it hard to see very far or focus on anything else. Walking in rain can be an intense and cleansing experience, much like our baptism. As the fulfillment of Jewish ritual washing from the Old Testament7, baptism is a symbol of cleansing, but it is also more than that. The prayers for the blessing of water show that water represents death as well as new life. In an excerpt from the letter to the Romans, which is read at the Great Blessing of Water on Theophany, St. Paul himself writes that “all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death[.] We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3-4). We drown our old sinful selves, and emerge a new, resurrected self. When we inevitably sin following our baptism, the Church has also given us Confession8, with which we can regain that initial purity. And all of this is symbolized by every rain, every bath or shower that we take, every time we wash our hands or our clothes or dishes.
And so for now I’ll think of these things as my daughter casts ripples through puddles with her tiny rain boots, as I observe the bright green of the ivy vines climbing the bare buckeye tree, and feel wind batting my face like angel wings. God is with us, we sang on Christmas9: and now on Theophany He joins us in the rain, in the puddles, and in every sip of water with which He daily sustains our life.
I’d love to hear from you . . .
How do you use holy water? Did this post give you any new ideas on how it can be used?
What traditions do you have for blessing your home at the beginning of a new year?
For further reading on Theophany, please see Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick's memorable sermon comparing Theophany with "Twelfth Night" celebrations.
See https://orthodoxchristianity101.com/understanding-theophany-a-key-feast-in-orthodoxy-11f9184ade9e.
The oldest “national” church! The Kingdom of Armenia accepted Christianity as its official religion in the early 4th century, just before Constantine did the same for the Roman Empire.
See Antony Bassoline, “Origin of the Feast of Christmas.” http://ww1.antiochian.org/midwest/Articles/Origin_Of_The_Feast_Of_ChristmasNB.htm
From the Troparion for the Nativity.
This idea is fleshed out in all the Theophany hymnography. For example, at the conclusion of the Great Blessing of Waters on Theophany, we sing:
You faithful, let us praise the greatness of God's dispensation for us,
For he who became man because of our transgressions and who alone is clean and undefiled
For our cleansing was cleansed in Jordan,
That he might sanctify me and the waters and crush the heads of the dragons in the water.
Let us then draw water in gladness O brethren,
For upon those that draw in faith,
The grace of the Spirit is invisibly bestowed by Christ
The God and Savior of our souls.
For more on this basic idea of all of life as sacrament, see For the Life of the World by Fr. Alexander Schmemann. Here's a snippet from the book to illustrate the idea further (it's clear contextually that here, "man" means "human being"):
The first, the basic definition of man is that he is the priest. He stands in the center of the world and unifies it in his act of blessing God, of both receiving the world from God and offering it to God--and by filling the world with this eucharist, he transforms his life, the one that he receives from the world, into life in God, into communion with Him.
See “The Jewish Roots of Baptism.” https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/was-baptism-originally-jewish/
I started praying the Catholic Divine Office from 100 year old books last year, and discovered the hymns and antiphons cover the Magi, the Baptism of the Lord and the changing of water into wine at Cana. This is a marvellous thing, thanks for sharing Orthodox practice.
Catie, this is just stunning - I've always sighed with delight over the beauty of the term Theophany, and now I feel like I have a better grasp of the beauty of the celebration, too. Blessing the candles in the water!! My heart!! What a gorgeous connection with our daily lives during these rainy winter months.
We usually chalk our doors sometime around Epiphany, but now I'm thinking more about holy water.