No, this is not Isaiah, but it is part of the Christmas season in the Orthodox tradition, so I thought I'd write a small blurb.
Theophany is the celebration of Jesus's baptism in the Jordan. It is important for two main reasons: firstly, Jesus carried out God's will. His baptism was, in a way, his acceptance of God's plan. It was also the first time that the Trinity was explicitly revealed to mankind: the Son in the Jordan, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, and the Father in heaven.
I am particularly attached to the story of Jesus's baptism because it was the first story out of the Bible that really struck me. I read it in 3rd grade out of one of those little gold-leafed Gideon New Testaments that I had stolen out of my father's room (it was a shiny book). I hid it in my bedroom, and then actually started to read Matthew one night. The dove descending and the voice from heaven completely awed me, and I still feel awed when I hear about the baptism, esp. now that I know more about it and it's significance.
Anywho, the Orthodox have a "Blessing of the Waters" on Theophany, an indoor and an outdoor one. What I found interesting were the verses that are chosen for this occasion:
Isaiah 35:1-10, 55:1-13, and 12:3-6
I Corinthians 10:1-4
Mark 1:9-11
These verses are read out loud to the congregation, the priest(s) bless a giant bowl of water, and then use the water to bless the whole church and the people. They use a very strong-smelling branch of something (it looked like part of a Christmas tree, but smelled nuclear strength), they dip the branch in the blessed water, and then proceed to fling it everywhere while singing about Jesus's baptism in the Jordan. It was quite exciting.
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3 comments:
I love that story, too. My favourite heroes used to be John the Baptist and Elijah, because they were so fierce and strange, so close to God and yet they seemed to be alone in a crowd of humanity. Fiery chariots and diets of locusts don't hurt, either.
I didn't realise about the Trinity first being revealed explicitly here, but I suppose I should have.
I like shiny books.
I never thought about the Trinity first being revealed here, either. It's a little fact that we take for granted, I think.
Orthodox church has much apology to make in Western World: protocommunist massacres by Palamite Zealotes under Hesychast hyperventilatory halucinations, Cantacuzene taxation driving farmers to embrace Turks, Komyakoviac Obshchina giving birth to soviet communism as reactionary casuistry opposing Napoleon's defeudalization, Cosmus Aitalius being patron originator of of modern genocide as seen by the massacre of Turks in Crete by Venizelos. And their hypnotic brainwashing incantations are designed to make theirf locks into terrorists. Is all masochistic because reject Original Sin.
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