About the Jordan River

Why, in addition to all the earthly rivers, does Christ perform the sacrament of baptism in the Jordan River? It is necessary to talk about the nature of the river in order to find out from here the correspondence with the established sacrament. There are two indigenous springs exclusively in the Jordan; The Jordan does not flow from one source, one source is in Paneada, the other is near Paneada; one spring is called Ior, the other Dan; flowing somewhat separately from each other, these sources in a certain place merge mutually and form one river. The ancients gave it its name from its root sources, which are first divided and finally united; Jordan is a river born of Jor and Dan. Again, unlike all rivers, this one does not flow into the living sea; It is not the living water of the sea that receives him, but the Dead Sea that receives him. Only, unlike all rivers, it connects with dead and barren waters. Jordan is the image of our mortal race, and listen how. At first our race had two roots: Adam, formed from the earth, (and) Eve, descended from a rib; not one place, and not one method of arrangement. It was formed from the earth, had its source in the earth; it was from a rib, had a rib as its root; one beginning of this, and another of this. While they were separate from each other, according to the method of formation; but they (later) came together in marriage, both became one body, and those who were born were no longer born from a rib or from the ground, but from their cohabitation: “the two will become one flesh” (“the two will become one flesh”) (Matthew 19:5). This image of us, having flowed through the sequence of nature, ended in death. Our image began from the earth and ended with death; he was received by the dead sea, the deep, the underworld, the dead abyss. What the Dead Sea is to the living waters, so is hell to the dying. Therefore Paul says: “Do not say in your heart: ... who will go down into the abyss? That is, to raise Christ from the dead” (“Do not say in your heart: ... who will go down into the abyss? That is, to raise Christ from the dead”) (Rom. 10:6–7). So, in relation to this Jordan, flowing from living springs and resolving into the dead sea, all the miracles of God were performed (so that living water would no longer flow towards death). God divided it three times, so that it would no longer flow towards the dead sea, but so that it would flow to the ancient living roots. He was cut under Joshua; He was also cut under Elijah, when he cut him with a mantle; Elisha cut him open when he returned and cut him open. The first Joshua divided the Jordan, and listen how. He did not stop the flow of the springs, but turned the water back, as the psalmist testifies with the words: “What is the matter with you, O sea, that you ran away, and [with you], Jordan, that you turned back?” (“What is the sea to you, for you ran away, and to you the Jordan, for you returned back”) (Ps. 113:5). What is behind has become sources. The Savior, freeing our race from the flow towards death, makes sure that it no longer flows towards death, but returns to the ancient living roots, and is not allowed into the Dead Sea. Thus, mortal nature is restored to its ancient form. Not a single divider of the Jordan appears without some symbol. Joshua cut him with the ark, Elijah with the mantle, Elisha again cut the teacher with the mantle. Since mortal nature was not sufficient on its own to stop the flow, Joshua (Joshua) enters first, with the name of the Master, carrying with him the ark, the symbol of the Master's body. And it turns out that Jordan did not honor Jesus, (as) only a man, I mean Joshua, nor was he ashamed of the Jews, nor did he turn before the priests. And to show that he does not yield to the people, but respects the ark, Jesus says: “Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go before you through the Jordan; and as soon as the feet of the priests, carrying the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, step into the water of the Jordan, the water of the Jordan will dry up" (“behold the ark... of the Lord of all the earth Jordan passes away: and when the feet of the priests who erect the arks rest... the Jordan... shall become impoverished") (Joshua 3:11, 13); He respects not priests, but arks. And listen to why this is so. David asks him with the words: “What is the matter with you, O sea, that you fled, and [with you], Jordan, that you turned back?” (“What is the sea to you, that you ran away, and the Jordan to you, that you returned?”) The creature responds to this with the words: “Before the face of the Lord, tremble, O earth” (“at the presence of the Lord, the earth moved”) (Ps. 114:7). The face of the Lord was like an ark. What the ark was for the law, the tablets, the stamna and the staff, the Lord’s flesh was for the immense deity, as it carried the deity in the ark. Blessed David spoke about this holy ark: “Become, O Lord, to the place of Your rest, You and the ark of Your power” (“Rise up, O Lord, into Your rest, You and the ark of Your holiness”) (Ps. 132:8). And look what he does: the Jordan dried up, not losing its streams, but retreating to its ancient roots. Jesus took twelve great stones from the Jordan and placed them on the other side of the river; instead he placed “[other] twelve stones ... in the middle of the Jordan” (“another twelve stones in the river”) (Joshua 4:9). What does he want by taking twelve stones in a row and putting another twelve in their place? As I said before, he liberates mortal nature; or better, he wants to show that he pulls humanity out of the depths and lifts it to heaven. He brought to light stones that had never seen the rays of the sun, that had never received light; they were pulled out of the depths onto the ground. Why did he take twelve stones from there? Because with the twelve apostles (the Lord) intended to free humanity from mortal nature. And so: he took stones from below in order to reveal them before the sun and light, and for future people to clearly contemplate how they crossed the Jordan; This is precisely the reason he outlined: “When your sons ask you at a later time and say: “Why do you have these stones?” (“When... your son asks you, saying: “What are these stones?”) - tell him that we crossed the Jordan on dry land when God held back the water before our face (Joshua 4:6–7). And so: the stones that were taken out were laid down so that they would be obvious to future (generations); (but) why were (others) put in place of them? He took from the depths those immersed in the depths, and again gave to the depths a guarantee of salvation. Placed stones are a guarantee, taken stones are constancy. It is important to examine this: why are the stones laid down, and why are the stones taken away? Christ both takes and gives. He came into the world: He took our body, gave us His strength. Through the apostles He puts back twelve stones in the river, a pledge of salvation and a deposit of the future. Whoever gives something to someone for a cause gives him a security for the future. Since this name (Jesus) was to be reserved for Him in the future, when He intended to be baptized by John, He took it in advance, laid down a pledge of the coming, and set up (also) the stones that He took from there, (i.e.) the patriarchs whom He resurrected then; (the stones) which he laid in their place are (these) the apostles whom he gave for them: “In place of thy fathers, thy sons shall be” (“instead of thy fathers were thy sons”) (Ps. 45:17). So he (Joshua) crossed the Jordan, and for Joshua the Jordan became the beginning of his possession of the land. Until he crossed the Jordan, he did not inherit the promised land; until Christ entered the Jordan, he did not begin preaching about the kingdom. Jordan - the beginning of the possession of the land; Jordan is the beginning of the possession of the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, the prophet says: “I will remember You, O Lord, from the land of Jordan” (Ps. 41:7), (this is) an uninterrupted memory. So Jesus crossed the Jordan, showing the ark before him. Elijah cut with mantle, dead skin, and the living waters obeyed the dead mantle; Elijah cut the Jordan with a mantle, and with that he crossed over to ascend to heaven. Blessed Elisha returned with the mantle of a teacher, after asking him: “let the spirit that is in you be doubly upon me” (“the spirit that is in you, let him be... more in me”), he says to him: “You are asking something difficult. If you see me taken away from you, then it will be so for you” (“you have hardened your request: if you see me taken away from you, it will be done for you”) (2 Kings 2:9–10), i.e. you will be rewarded with a double action of the Holy Spirit. Then he was taken; the mantle was lifted into the air and fell to the student; he took the pledge and hurried to the river, tried to cut the Jordan, but the water did not obey; in difficulty, Elisha says: “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah, He Himself?” (“Where is the God of Affo”) (2 Kings 2:14), and after these words he struck the water a second time, and the Jordan was divided. Why didn't the water listen to him the first time? So that he would not think that she obeyed him because of the former dignity that he had; and therefore he called on God and said: “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah, He Himself?” (“Where is God iliin Affo”)? Why did he say: where is God? Didn’t the prophet know that God is in heaven, and on earth, and everywhere? But since Ilya told him: “If you see how I am taken from you, then it will be so for you” (“if you see me on the ground, you will be like this”)... (here he is completely interrupted). The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: