Epiphany

The feast of the Epiphany (a word meaning "manifestation" and particularly used in antiquity to connote the public manifestation of a deity) is an ancient Christian festival, observed in all the major traditions on January 6. The early Eastern Christian festival (also called the Feast of Lights or Theophany) correlated Jesus' Nativity with the concept of his divine "appearance" and "announcement" among humankind: Angels proclaimed his Epiphany to the shepherds and the Magi, and the voice of God from Heaven declared his Epiphany at his baptism, thus inaugurating his public ministry of salvation (Matthew 3:17). The connection of Nativity and baptism was thus very ancient. In the fourth-century East, the feast was a major occasion for the solemn administering of the sacrament of baptism to catechumens.

In the Western church, by the third century c.e. the celebration of the Nativity on December 25 had already been established, but by the end of the following century we begin to see a crossing over of liturgical influences, with the mutual observance of two feasts: the East adopting December 25 as well, and the West adopting Epiphany. In the Western approach to Epiphany, however, elements relating to the Nativity were minimally represented, as the major focus was on three principal occasions of Jesus' Epiphany to the wider world: his baptism in the Jordan River; his revelation to the Gentiles (for so the Magi were transmuted into foreign "kings"); and his manifestation to the disciples at the wedding feast of Cana (when they "saw" his glory).

The current forms of the Christian liturgy of Epiphany still reflect this diverse historical background. In modern America the currents of both traditions have been brought together in a creative mix, not the least from the large influx of Eastern European and Slav Christians, whose popular ceremonies mingled with those of Italian and other western Mediterranean forms of Catholicity. Eastern Orthodox practice now marks Christ's baptism on January 6 with elaborate ceremonies of the "Blessing of the Water." The entrance into the Jordan by Christ symbolizes the purification of all material elements by the physical advent of the Savior. Orthodox Christians drink blessed water on that day, and it is taken home in large amounts for future use. Houses are also blessed by the priests in the week following the feast. In Greece there are large festivals: Boats and nets are blessed; even the sea itself. The village priest throws a blessing cross into the waves, and young men dive to retrieve it. In Greek-American parishes, usually with a dearth of skilled sponge-divers, the clergy take the wise precaution of attaching a line to the cross with which to retrieve it after it has been thrown into local sea or lake waters.

Eastern Christian practice was to associate this day with the giving of gifts to celebrate the Nativity. This was also a feature of many Mediterranean forms of Catholicism. In America and elsewhere, the economic and secular pressures attendant on December 25 are clearly pushing this custom aside. In Catholic custom, the crib often found in houses as well as churches during the Christmas season is "completed" on Epiphany day with the arrival into it of the wise men or kings. In some places (this is especially true for northern Italians) processions of the Magi are elaborately staged in the streets. It is often mistakenly thought that Russians celebrate Christmas on January 6. This is not so, but rather a reflection of the fact that many Russian Orthodox in America still observe the older Julian calendar, which is thirteen days behind the Gregorian calendar. The Armenian Church, however, does retain the feast of January 6 as its primary liturgical celebration of Christ's Nativity. The West has also marked the feast as its "Twelfth Night" on which Christmas festivities would be terminated and decorations removed from houses.

See alsoBaptism; Eastern Orthodoxy; Roman Catholicism; Salvation.

Bibliography

Bainton, R. H. "The Origins of the Epiphany." In Collected Papers in Church History, vol. 1. 1962.

Botte, B. Les Origines de la Noël et de l'Epiphanie. 1932.

Cobb, P. G. "The History of the Christian Year." In TheStudy of Liturgy, edited by E. C. Jones and G. Wainwright. 1978.

John Anthony McGuckin