The baptism of the Lord (Holy Manifestation)
Description:
All four Gospels testify to this.
And it was in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And as he came out of the water, he immediately saw the heavens open and the Spirit open like a dove descending upon him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1:9-11).
The word “baptism” means in Greek “immersion in water”. One cannot understand the meaning and importance of baptism without first understanding the symbolic and real meaning of water in the Old Testament. Water is the beginning of life. It is from the water fertilized by the life-giving Spirit that all living beings will come. Where there is no water, there is desert. But water can destroy and destroy, just as God poured down sins and destroyed human evil with the water of a great flood.
The baptism of John was symbolic and meant that just as the body is washed and cleansed with water, so the soul of a person who repents and believes in the Savior will be cleansed of all sins by Christ. John himself exclaimed, “The strongest of me is coming after me, with whom I am not worthy, and I bent down and untie the belt of his shoes; I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:7-8).
Jesus of Nazareth came to him. John, considering himself unworthy to baptize Jesus, began to restrain him, saying, “I need to be baptized of You, and do You come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Leave it now, for in this way we must fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:14-15).
After the Baptism of Christ, baptism for people is no longer just a symbol of purification. Here Jesus revealed Himself to the world as Christ, the Son of God. “I have seen, I testify, He is the chosen one of God,” John the Baptist affirms. ("Messiah" in Hebrew is the same as "Christ" in Greek, that is, "The Anointed of God"). The Epiphany revealed to us the great divine mystery of the Holy Trinity. In the words of Christ to His disciples, “Go and teach all nations, their cross in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).
Baptism is the beginning of the restoration of the original image of God in the fallen man. The great mystery performed in baptism does not reach consciousness immediately. Baptism makes us “one branch” with Christ, as if instilling us in Him. In the water of baptism, the fountain of new life, man dies to sin and rises to God. But to truly realize one’s baptism, that is, to become the image of Christ, one needs a whole life.
Baptism, or Epiphany, is celebrated by the Orthodox Church on January 19 in a new style. On the eve of the holiday, January 18, a strict fast is established.
In memory of the fact that the Savior by His Baptism sanctified water, there is water-sanctification; on the eve of the feast water is sanctified in temples, on the very feast of the Epiphany - in rivers or other places where water is taken. The procession to the Jordan is called a procession for the consecration of natural reservoirs.