The Patristic
Understanding of the Mystery of Epiphany/Theophany
Father Bob Wild
My sister once invited
me to come to her class to see their Christmas play. As the Wise Men were walking up the aisle one
of them said to the other: “What is that in yonder sky?” The other boy
said—forgetting his lines said— “I don’t know!” On this feast of the Epiphany
we celebrate the gift of our faith: we are not ignorant about the star
directing the wise men to the child they were on their way to reverence.
I’m going to attempt
the impossible this morning: In a few words I will try to explain the
liturgical history and the patristic meaning
of the one feast of the Epiphany before it became several feasts. We’re
going to be talking about the one feast in the second, third, and fourth
centuries.
In the West Epiphany
basically means the feast of the Three Kings as we are celebrating today. For
the next fifteen minutes I’m going to ask you not to make this feast central in
your understanding of the epiphany. It was always central for me in my early
liturgical life, but I ask you to listen with a new kind of openness about the
meaning of this feast in what I want to meditate on with you this morning.
The word epiphany, as most
of you know, means “appearance”: when a king with his retinue came into a city
they spoke about his “epiphany.”
In the first Christian
century the only feast was Easter, and the Lenten period in preparation for
that great feast. And then, about 120 in Alexandria, Egypt, they asked the
question, “Well, when did Christ first publicly
appear?” They focused on three
events: they saw his baptism in the Jordan as the most significant public
appearance; secondly, his first public miracle of changing water into wine at
Cana; and third, his appearance to the nations in the persons of the three
kings. Liturgically, over the centuries, these three feasts have been
rearranged and celebrated at various times and sequences in the Eastern and
Western traditions.
In the East, the
Baptism of Christ has always been central; and we celebrate that tomorrow as a
separate feast. In the West, the emphasis more and more fell on Christ’s
appearance to the nations in the persons of the Kings. The celebration of the
birth of Christ, Christmas, was a much later addition to the Epiphany liturgical
season, and we will not be considering it this morning. The emphasis on his
appearance at Christmas was to individuals,
the shepherds and others. And for us too it is very much a concentration of
each one of us going to the crib ourselves. However, the emphasis in the early
celebration of Epiphany concerned the Lord’s public appearances.
The fathers drew three
appearances together to explain the depth of the epiphany mystery. I’m going to
cite two very ancient antiphons from the Divine Office of our feast today. They
are very ancient patristic meditations on the meaning of the Epiphany mystery. The
first is from second Vespers, and the second from Lauds. Both of them are very ancient
and refer to three epiphanies I’ve mentioned. First, the antiphon from second
Vespers this evening: “Three mysteries mark this holy day: today the star leads
the Magi to the infant Christ; today water is changed into wine for the wedding
feast; today Christ wills to be baptized by John in the river Jordan to bring
us salvation.” Those are the three public Epiphanies of the ancient Epiphany feast.
And note that this antiphon says, “mark this holy day,”— the antiphon refers to one
day.
The first point I’d
like to make it that these three epiphanies were all celebrated on the same day
for several centuries. The antiphon I just read you was for one feast. Having originated in the
East, the feast was called the Theophany, the manifestation of God. In the
Eastern blessing of the water you will hear in a few minutes the word “today” is
repeated over and over again, “today, today, today,” and enumerating all the
graces happening on this one feast.
I ask you now to pay
special attention to this second very ancient antiphon from a Greek hymn which
gives the deeper meaning of this one feast of the Epiphany. “Today [that is, on
this feast of the Theophany] the
Bridegroom claims his bride, the Church, since Christ has washed her sins away
in Jordan’s waters; the Magi hasten with their gifts to the royal wedding; and
the wedding guests rejoice, for Christ has change water into wine.” (Repeat)
You see what the
fathers did with the three epiphanies? They became events in the wedding of Christ to his Bride. This is the very profound essence of the understanding of the fathers
of the Epiphany mystery, and the main I want to leave with you this
morning. This antiphon in one of the most profound antiphons in our whole
Divine Office.
The center-piece of
this original feast was the baptism of Christ in the Jordan. They saw his
baptism as his most significant public appearance. Of course, we can’t know
exactly what happened between Christ and the whole human race at his baptism. The
Fathers give several explanations of its significance and importance.
Because of the revelation
of the Trinity with the anointing of the Spirit and the voice of confirmation
from the Father, and especially, as Mark says, “Jesus saw heaven torn
open,”—not partially open but wide open—the
Fathers of the Church saw in his baptism some kind of unique moment in the Incarnation. They saw it as his anointing as the Messiah by the Holy Spirit. It’s the
inauguration of his mission and his acceptance of it. CCC: “The Father’s voice
responds to the Son’s acceptance.”
Another understanding
of this unique moment is in the theology of the Eastern Church that sees
Christ’s baptism as the lowest point of his kenosis, of his identification with
the human race. Why? Because he who was
sinless allowed himself to be baptized, which was a public act that ostensibly
says that the person is in need of conversion and forgiveness. CCC: “He allows himself to be numbered among
sinners.” That’s why John was aghast at Christ’s approaching to be baptized!
The Orthodox liturgy
especially emphasizes this marvel. Again, you will hear it in the blessing of
the water: John the Baptist cries: “How
do you, O Lord, who have no stain, come to me your servant?”
When Christ reached
this deepest point of his identification with the human race, the fathers of
the church saw the whole human race
present in Christ when he went into the Jordan. When he descended into the purifying waters he
raised all of humanity to participation in his divinity. CCC: “He became the
source of the Holy Spirit for all mankind.”
And the Preface for today’s feast says: “When he appeared in our mortal nature,
you made us new by the glory of his immortal nature.” In the blessing of the
water you will hear the Eastern prayer: “The Lord comes to be baptized so that mankind may be lifted up.”
In the fourth century
St. Gregory said: “Jesus rises from the waters; the world rises with him.” (repeat) In the fifth century St. Peter
Chrysologus said: “Today Christ enters the Jordan to wash away the sin of the world.” (repeat) And the Eastern
liturgy sings: “In the Jordan River you washed away the sins of the world”; “Today the sins
of mankind are blotted out by the waters of the Jordan river.”
And in the first
reading Paul alludes to this universality: “In former generations this mystery
was not made known to humankind as it has now been revealed to his holy
apostles and Prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow
heirs, members of the same body and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus
through the gospel.”
You see, then, that the
Fathers understood the baptism of Christ as the wedding of the human race
with Christ. Listen again to the antiphon I want to emphasize this morning:
“Today the Bridegroom claims his bride, the Church, since Christ has washed her
sins away in Jordan’s waters; the Magi hasten with their gifts to the royal
wedding; and the wedding guests rejoice, for Christ has change water into
wine.”
Another Father of the
Church interprets the opening of the heavens in bridal imagery: “The heavens
were opened to Him on account of three wonders. For when Christ the Bridegroom
was baptized, it was meet that the bridal-chamber of heaven should open its
brilliant gates.”
Today, on our feast of one of the epiphanies, the wise men are
coming to this wedding, representing all the nations of the world. In the fifth
century Pope Leo said: In the persons of the Magi let all people adore the
Creator of the universe.” But they are now coming to the wedding of the nations
with the Son of God.
In a sixth century
homily on the wedding at Cana, a Western bishop said this: “What wedding can this
be but the joyful marriage of man’s salvation, a marriage celebrated by
confessing the trinity or by faith in the resurrection.”
At his first miracle at
Cana Christ is now seen as fashioning a great deal of wine for this wedding of
himself with the human race.
And so, my sisters and
brothers, the original one feast of the Theophany tied together the three
public Epiphanies of the Lord into the one mystery of his wedding with the human race. And however you want to think of the
gold, incense, and myrrh you personally are bringing to Christ in your hearts
today, you are bringing them to Christ the Bridegroom and to the bride, the
human race his spouse, that is, to us. This is the deepest mystery that
pervades the whole epiphany season—the
wedding of the human race with Christ—Christ in the Jordan wedding the whole
human race to himself, and the magi coming to celebrate this wedding. After the
Resurrection, this is the next grace of the Incarnation celebrated by the early
church: the wedding of God in Christ with the human race.
This feast is the
fulfillment of the Old Testament theme of God choosing Israel as his bride. As
Isaiah said, “As a young man rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.” (62, 5) This future promise has now
happened. The Epiphany season celebrates the fulfillment of this prophecy.
The feast of the
Epiphany (as I said) originated in Alexandria, Egypt. There was a pagan feast
there and on the god’s feast day the waters of the Nile turned into wine. It
was this pagan myth that reminded the Christians of the Cana miracle. When we
throw the cross into the river in a few moments, we can think of it, yes, as
Christ blessing all the waters of the earth. But in the context of this deeper patristic
meaning of the epiphany season, I like to think of Christ changing all the
waters of the earth into wine to
celebrate his wedding with all the nations of the world! GKC?
In a few moments you
will hear this: “For in this present feast we have seen you as a perfect man;
today we have attained the time of feasting, and the ranks of saints have
joined us, and the angels celebrate together with men.” “The rule of prayer is
the rule of faith.” In this ancient understanding of Epiphany we are
celebrating that in Christ, the whole human race has been wedded to God. Yes,
let us rejoice and be glad!
