Prokimenon (Tone 4)
The sea beheld it and fled; the Jordan flowed back to its source.
What was it, O sea, that made you flee; and you, Jordan, that made you to reverse your flow?
Matins Gospel - Mark 1:9-11
"At that time, it happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth
of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. On coming up out of
the water He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a
dove, descending upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, 'You are
My beloved Son; and with You I am well pleased."
Today let all the things greatly rejoice: Christ has appeared in the Jordan!
#Hypacoi (Tone 2)
When You enlightened all things at the time of Your manifestation, the
sea of unbelief ebbed away and the Jordan River reversed its course,
flowing uphill and carrying us to Heaven. Through the prayers of Your
Mother, O Christ God, keep us in the loftiness of Your divine commands
and save us.
Orthodox Diocese of Gulu and Eastern Uganda
Uganda Orthodox Church - Holy Metropolis of Kampala
#Kontakion of #Epiphany (Tone 3)
Today You have appeared, O Lord, to the universe, and your light, O
Christ our God, has been impressed upon us who sing to You with full
knowledge. You came and appeared, O Inaccessible Light!
#Exapostilarion (Tone 3)
In the streams of the Jordan, the Savior has appeared to us, full of
grace and truth. He enlightens those who sleep in darkness and the
shadow of death; for the Light that no man can approach has come and is
made manifest. (3 times)
Neo K Neofitos
At Your Baptism in the Jordan, O Lord, the worship of the Trinity was revealed. For the Father's voice bore witness to You by calling You His beloved Son; and the Spirit in the form of a dove confirmed the truth of these words. O Christ God who have appeared to us and enlightened the world, glory to You!
Epistle Reading - Titus 2:11-14;3:4-7
Gospel Reading - Matthew 3:13-17
The Baptism of Jesus (icon from here)
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
January 7, Synaxis of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John
John 1:29-34
John Testifies About Jesus (icon from here)
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.
*****
Eglise Orthodoxe de Côte d'ivoire
Bonne Fête de la Theophanie de notre Seigneur Dieu et Sauveur Jésus
Καλή εορτή των Θεοφανίων του Κυρίου Θεού και Σωτήρος ημών Ιησού
Happy Feast of Theophany of our Lord God and Savior Jesus
С праздником Богоявления Господа нашего Бога и Спасителя Иисуса
عيد ميلاد سعيد لظهور الرب إلهنا ومخلصنا يسوع
გილოცავთ უფლისა ჩვენისა ღმერთისა და მაცხოვრისა იესოს ნათლისღების დღესასწაულს
Sărbătoare fericită a Teofaniei Domnului nostru Dumnezeu și Mântuitorului Isus
*****
In the Orthodox Church it is customary, on the day following the Great Feasts of the Lord and the Mother of God, to remember those saints who participated directly in the sacred event. So, on the day following the Theophany of the Lord, the Church honors the one who participated directly in the Baptism of Christ, placing his own hand upon the head of the Savior.
Saint John, the holy Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord, whom the Lord called the greatest of the prophets, concludes the history of the Old Testament and opens the era of the New Testament. The holy Prophet John bore witness to the Only-Begotten Son of God, incarnate in the flesh. Saint John was accounted worthy to baptize Him in the waters of the Jordan, and he was a witness of the Theophany of the Most Holy Trinity on the day of the Savior’s Baptism.
The holy Prophet John, the son of the Priest Zachariah and Righteous Elizabeth, was related to the Lord on His mother’s side. The holy Forerunner, John, was born six months before Christ. The Archangel Gabriel announced his birth in the Temple at Jerusalem, revealing to Zachariah that a son was to be born to him.
Through the prayers offered beforehand, the child was filled with the Holy Spirit. Saint John prepared himself in the wilds of the desert for his great service by a strict life, by fasting, prayer and sympathy for the fate of God’s people.
At the age of thirty, he came forth preaching repentance. He appeared on the banks of the Jordan, to prepare the people by his preaching to accept the Savior of the world. In church hymnology, Saint John is called a “bright morning star,” whose gleaming outshone the brilliance of all the other stars, announcing the coming dawn of the day of grace, illumined with the light of the spiritual Sun, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Having baptized the sinless Lamb of God, Saint John soon died a martyr’s death, beheaded by the sword on orders of King Herod at the request of his daughter Salome. (On Saint John the Baptist, see Mt.3:1-16, 11:1-19, 14:1-12; Mark 1:2-8, 6:14-29; Luke 1:5-25, 39-80, 3:1-20, 7:18-35, 9:7-9; John 1:19-34, 3:22-26).
The Transfer of the Right Hand of the holy Forerunner from Antioch to Constantinople (956) and the Miracle of Saint John the Forerunner against the Hagarenes (Moslems) at Chios:
The body of Saint John the Baptist was buried in the Samaritan city of Sebaste. The holy Evangelist Luke, who went preaching Christ in various cities and towns, came to Sebaste, where they gave him the right hand of the holy Prophet John, the very hand with which he had baptized the Savior. The Evangelist Luke took it with him to his native city of Antioch.
When the Moslems seized Antioch centuries later, a deacon named Job brought the holy hand of the Forerunner from Antioch to Chalcedon. From there, on the eve of the Theophany of the Lord, it was transferred to Constantinople (956) and kept thereafter.
In the year 1200, the Russian pilgrim Dobrynya, who later became Saint Anthony, Archbishop of Novgorod (February 10), saw the right hand of the Forerunner in the imperial palace. From the Lives of the Saints we learn that in the year 1263, during the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders, the emperor Baldwin gave one bone from the wrist of Saint John the Baptist to Ottonus de Cichon, who then gave it to a Cistercian abbey in France.
The right hand continued to be kept in Constantinople. And at the end of the fourteenth to the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, the holy relic was seen at Constantinople in the Peribleptos monastery by the Russian pilgrims Stephen of Novgorod, the deacon Ignatius, the cantor Alexander and the deacon Zosimus. When Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453, sacred objects were gathered up at the the conqueror’s orders and kept under lock in the imperial treasury.
In the Lives of the Saints is clear testimony that in the year 1484 the right hand of the holy Forerunner was given away by the son of the Moslem sultan Bayazet to the knights of Rhodes to gain their good will, since a dangerous rival for Bayazet, his own brother, had allied himself with them. A contemporary participant, the vice-chancellor of Rhodes, Wilhelm Gaorsan Gallo, also speaks of this event. The knights of Rhodes, having established their base on the island of Malta (in the Mediterranean Sea), then transferred the sacred relic they had received to Malta.
When the Russian Tsar Paul I (1796-1801) became Grand Master of the Maltese Order in honor of the holy Prophet John, the right hand of the Baptist, part of the Life-Creating Cross and the Philermos Icon (October 12) of the Mother of God (from Mt Philermos on the island of Rhodes) were transferred in 1799 from the island of Malta to Russia [because of the Napoleonic threat], to the chapel at Gatchina (October 12). In the same year these sacred items were transferred into the church dedicated to the Icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands at the Winter Palace. A special service was composed for this Feast.
Besides the Synaxis of the honorable, glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates his memory on the following days: September 23, his Conception; June 24, his Nativity; August 29, his Beheading; February 24, the First and Second Finding of his Head; May 25, the Third Finding of his Head; October 12, the Transfer of his Right Hand from Malta to Gatchina (1799).
Please, see also
Theophany, The Baptism of Jesus Christ - When the Holy Trinity appeared clearly for the first time
Theophany – The Waters Were Afraid
“Theophany”, a manifestation of God to the world
God the Holy Trinity: ‘The Lover of Mankind’ (& the "depiction of God" in Orthodox Church)
God in Trinity - A Communion of Persons
Saint Syncletika of Alexandria, the First Great Holy Mother of the Egyprian Desert (Feast Day January 5)
The Mystery of the Forerunner
Oxford Historians Find The Bones of St John the Baptist
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