In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!

Today we recall the Gospel lesson when the Lord on going into the waters of the Jordan, was baptized by Prophet John the Forerunner. At that moment when the heavens opened and the voice of God the Father was heard that the baptized one was His beloved Son, the Holy Spirit as a dove descended upon the Saviour of the world.  Thus, the Holy Trinity was clearly made manifest and was revealed to humanity. This mystery has been living for ages through the tradition of the Church and personifies any man who touches it by his mind and heart.

The appearances of God were in the Old Testament. But the revelation of God to people in all its fullness was the appearance of the Son of God about whom the Apostle says, “Great is the mystery of godliness: God was revealed in the flesh (1Tim.3,16). And in today’s Apostolic epistle the same Apostle addressing Titus says, “The kindness of God our Saviour for us appeared” (Tit. 3,4). In the New Testament God appeared not the same way He did in the Old Testament: according to the Apostle John “No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known”. (John 1,18). The Son of God – the Lord Jesus Christ – revealed God to us, and this appearance was unusual. God wished not only to reveal Himself to people; He wanted to be in the closest fellowship with people.  For this He Himself becomes a man, unites with man’s flesh and blood and through the glory of His Risen Son and His Ascension, God unites our human body, human nature with the entire Eternal Trinity.

With advent of the Saviour to the world the Divine and human nature are inseparable. We have been left not simply the sacred commemoration of the saviour service, His life and His mission, as God wanted the union of the Divine and human nature to be imprinted forever in the life of humanity. After Christ we found the Holy Spirit. By the vicarious suffering of the Saviour, His death and His Resurrection God gives us the Holy Spirit through His Son.

It is no mere chance that today on the Epiphany all waters are sanctified. The church has been performing this Divine Sacrament since ancient times and the Lord by prayers of the Church gives special grace to this water: water remains the same. The laws of existence towards this water are the same as they were towards the flesh of the Son of Man, His body.  But at the same time God’s grace by mysterious, incomprehensible for us manner penetrates this nature giving it the great power filling in our weakness, diseases, shortcomings and healing our sins.

We must remember that it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that our sins are forgiven and this forgiveness is not a juridical act.  Forgiveness from God is forgiveness of power of the Holy Spirit. We receive this forgiveness in the sacrament of baptism, and then sinning again, because of our weakness, we receive it in the sacrament of the Holy Communion which is granted to us for forgiveness and absolution of our sins for the sake of the eternal life.

Through by His advent to the world the Lord didn’t stop the action of devil and for the time being didn’t drive out evil spirits from human history, but granting the power of the Holy Spirit to humanity, He gives us ability and opportunity to resist devil and sin, gives us ability and opportunity to overcome this sin through repentance and partaking of the Holy Communion.

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself overcame evil on the Cross, and so that people could follow Him and be co-participants of this victory, He granted the power of the Holy Spirit to us. Being equipped with it, we become His warriors. Such warrior despite his weakness and sickness will find salvation and eternal life in God. Amen.

By Rev.George Sergeev