6-го числа

Holy Epiphany of the Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ Until His thirty years of age, the God-Man did not begin preaching the Gospel to the people, because the Jews did not accept the title of public teacher or priest before this age. When the time of saving preaching had come for Him, John the Baptist, in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius, according to the word of God, foretells throughout the entire region of Jordan (Luke 3:1-3) that the Kingdom of Heaven is approaching and the long-awaited Messiah is coming; preaches repentance, necessary for worthy entry into His Kingdom, and baptizes those who confess their sins in the Jordan (Matthew 3:2). Baptism, which gave John the name Baptist, was, according to Chrysostom, only a preparation for St. sacrament, and not the sacrament itself. Desiring to sanctify the waters by touching them with His most pure nature and to establish the sacrament of baptism, which was to serve as the door to a new eternal covenant with God, Jesus Christ, before His entry into open, public service to the salvation of the world, also came to the Jordan to John to be baptized. The Forerunner never saw the Savior, but God revealed to the Baptist that this was the Messiah; Then John cried out in reverent amazement: I demand to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me? Leave it now, answered the Lord, for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:14–15). John lays his hand on the head of the Lord and immerses Him; according to the expression of church hymns, the Lord, who took upon himself the sins of the world, is covered with the waters of the Jordan. As soon as Jesus Christ, having been baptized, came out of the water: the heavens opened above Him, and John saw the Spirit of God, who descended like a dove, descending on Him, and the voice of God the Father was heard: This is My beloved Son, in Him I was well pleased (Matthew 3:17). Thus, Jesus Christ, on the day of baptism, by the descent of St. The Spirit is anointed according to His humanity more than those who are partakers of their own (Heb. 1:9; Acts 10:37–38), and from that time on, the Savior, as a man, has the name Christ, predicted by the prophets. In commemoration of the event on the Jordan, the Church established a holiday on the 6th day of January, in accordance with the legend, according to which the celebrated event took place on this day, as well as with the testimony of the Gospel, which proclaims that Jesus Christ, on the day of His baptism, was about thirty years old (Luke 3:23); therefore, he was baptized around the day of his birth. The holiday on the 6th day of January is called the feast of Epiphany and Epiphany. For at the baptism of Christ the Savior there was the appearance of the Most Holy Trinity and a particularly solemn appearance of the Divinity of the Savior, who publicly entered into His open ministry for the redemption of the world. God the Father appeared, from the open heavens, testifying with a voice about Christ who was baptized: This is My beloved Son, in Him I am well pleased. The Holy Spirit appeared from the open heavens in the form of a dove, confirming the voice of the Father, or, as the Church says, “the affirmation of your words.” Thus, the appearance of God the Father and the Holy Spirit testified to the appearance of the Son of God to men in the person of the Baptized One, as the Forerunner says about the Savior: let him appear to Israel, for this reason I came, baptizing with water (John 1:31); and St. Chrysostom writes: the purpose of the descent of the Holy Spirit was to indicate Christ. And indeed, the Divinity of the Savior was revealed at His baptism both to the people and to the Baptist. The Baptist testified about Christ: I had not seen Him, but He sent me to baptize me with water. He said to me: You will see the Spirit descending on Him and remaining on Him; He is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I saw and testified that this is the Son of God (John 1:33–34). The next day after the Savior’s baptism, having seen Him, the Baptist himself solemnly confessed Him as the Son of God and pointed to Him to others as the Lamb of God, who took upon Himself the sins of the world (John 1:32–37). In accordance with the words of the Gospel, the name of the Epiphany is explained in the Apostolic Decrees and in the Fathers of the Church. The Decrees say: “Let you have great respect for the day of the appearance on which the Lord revealed the Divinity to you, let it be on the 6th day of the month.” According to St. Ambrose of Milan, the day of the baptism of the Lord is called the Epiphany mainly because on this day the Lord appeared not so much to the eye as to the salvation of people. St. Chrysostom says: “It is not the day on which the Savior was born that should be called the appearance, but the day on which He was baptized. Through His birth He did not become known to everyone, but through Baptism; Before the day of baptism He was unknown to the people. Why is Epiphany called not the day on which (Christ) was born, but the one on which he was baptized. And that the people knew Him and did not understand who He was, listen to what John the Baptist says: John answered, saying: I baptize with water: but he stands in the midst of you, whom you do not know (John 1:26). And what wonder if others did not know, since the Baptist himself did not know Him until that day” (John 1:33). Blessed Jerome says: “at His birth the Son of God appeared to the world in secret, but in baptism He appeared completely.” In accordance with Scripture and the tradition of Rights. The Church explains the name of the Epiphany by proclaiming on the day of the Savior’s baptism: “thou hast appeared this day to the universe, and Thy light, O Lord, has come upon us: thou hast come and appeared, an unapproachable light.” So, the baptism of the Lord was the event of the appearance of the Triune God, for the revelation to the world of the Son of God, the promised Savior of men.