(By M Sophia Compton. This essay was published in our local church newsletter, Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, Overland Park KS.)
January 6, the day of Theophany or Epiphany, is—after Easter and Pentecost—the greatest feast of the Churches of the Byzantine rite. It represents more than the Baptism of Christ; it is the first manifestation of the Trinity to the world. St John Cassian, writing in the 5th century, tells us that in the ancient Church, it was celebrated on the same day as the Nativity. Eventually, the feasts became separated and Epiphany became associated, in the Latin Church, with the worship of the Three Magi. In the Armenian Church January 6 is still celebrated as a combined feast. An epiphany is a revelation, from the root “to show” or “to make known”, and Theophany is a “manifestation of God.” In the Greek Church, the feast is also called the “feast of lights” as well as the feast of waters, because the ancient Greeks saw it as a feast of illumination. It reminds us of the importance of the Spirit in the Eastern Church, for Jesus spoke not only of baptism by water, but of baptism by the Spirit.
The waters are blessed after Matins or Liturgy, followed by a procession (called a crucession) with the cross to a local body of outside waters. Bishop Kallistos Ware explains the importance of this ritual: “Christ came on earth not only to redeem man, but the entire material creation. When he entered the water, besides effecting by anticipation our rebirth in the font, he likewise effected the cleansing of the waters, their transfiguration into an organ of healing and grace.” (Festal Menaion, p.58) There is a tradition in the Orthodox Church that Theophany waters differ from regular Holy Water, in that in Theophany the very nature of the water is changed, and it becomes incorrupt, a miracle testified as far back as St John Chrysostom. (From a homily on Holy Water by St John Maximovitch).
The blessing of the outside waters reflects the deep Orthodox teaching that Christ came to renew the whole earth by “sending his Holy Spirit to cleanse and sanctify his creation.” (St John Maximovitch). As a sign of blessing (as Christ blessed the river Jordan) holy water is poured into a flowing body of water (preferably a creek or river) to flow into other waters and henceforth to all the earth. In the Ukraine, after a procession through the snow, the priest thrusts candles into the water and blows over it in remembrance of the Spirit moving over the waters at Genesis. Sometimes, if the Blessing of the Great Waters occurs outside, crosses are cut from the ice and distributed after the blessing. The most common tradition at the blessing of the outside waters is tossing a cross into the stream or lake to be returned by divers. In ice, a hole is cut into the ice and the cross plunged into the water beneath. In our recent Theophany, Father attached the cross to a string and tossed it into the creek three times, when we sung the Troparion. In the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, there is a solemn procession with the “Tabot” (which represents the Tablets of Law or the Ark) and is accompanied by joyful dancing. When they bless the waters, they pour both water and holy muron (chrism) into the water to symbolize the descent of the Holy Spirit, and they light lamps to honor Christ as the Light of the world.
“When we bless waters of lakes, rivers and streams, we ask God to send his blessings upon the waters of creation so that even though humanity has spoiled the world through sin and abused the environment over many generations, God has not forsaken the world.”
(St John Maximovitch, “On Holy Water”)