Epiphany – 6th January
Epiphany is a Greek term – it means ‘manifestation’ or if you prefer a striking appearance alike a revelation. In ancient Greece is described a monarch going into the country to visit his people – akin to a Tudor progress. Today It narrowly refers to the moment when the Christ-child is seen by the the kings – Caspar, Melchior and Belshazzar – who stand in for the non-Jewish or gentile world to whom the Messiah is made manifest. Thus Christ was not merely for a chosen people at a specific time in history but was made manifest to all peoples and for all times.
In the Eastern churches Epiphany has remained the major solemnity of the church after Easter and Pentecost. In the Western churches that tradition has been somewhat diminished – although in Spain, Italy, Austria, Bavaria and many other parts of Catholic Europe it is much more widely celebrated and is the proper occasion for the exchange of gifts. Its religious and social prominence was lost in other areas of Western Europe after the sixteenth century Reformation. Before those events the twelve days of Christmas feasting were leading from the Nativity towards a second even greater festival commemorating the Godhead-made-flesh being made known to the world in the person of Christ at Epiphany. The feast was always kept on 6th January – which is not, as some think itself the twelfth day of Christmas. It is rather the first day of the third liturgical season of the church year -Epiphany. Traditionally – until the new Roman calendar and missal of 1969 – the Sunday within the octave of Epiphany was kept was the Baptism of Christ. The Epiphany – the manifestation – was thus also linked to the another personal, individual symbolical manifestation of God-with-us – or Emmanuel – baptism, the sacrament marked by water and shared by all Christians of all confessions.
In the Eastern rites (Orthodox and Coptic) this special link between the Epiphany and the Baptism of Christ in the River Jordan by St John the Baptist (and in some rites also the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor) compose a single feast over many days which is known as Theophany. Part of the ceremonials associated with this time of the year include the blessing of special waters in the church and also open stretches of waters in harbours, rivers, lakes and such. People will not only bless themselves and their homes by sprinkling with Theophany Water but they also drink it.
The Orthodox Church teaches that Theophany Water differs from regular holy water in that with Theophany Water, the very nature of the water is changed and becomes incorrupt. It is an interesting doctrine – not unlike transubstantiation in the Western rite – in which a sacred action imbues profound change. The doctrine of sacred waters at Theophany was attested to by St John Chrysostom – the doctor of the Greek church nicknamed ‘golden-mouthed’ as Aquinas is the ‘angelic’. St John also remained an authority often approvingly cited by reformers in the sixteenth century when Greek texts were readily available to scholars for the first time since the end of the classical age.
The three kings themselves are lost to History if ever they belonged to it. It was held in the early church that they were Magi – rather than ‘kings’. Greek magos itself is derived from old Persian maguŝ from the Avestan magâunô, the religious caste into which Zoroaster was born – hence they may have been priests of the Zoroastrians. The role of Zoroastrians in the history of religion is itself interesting and the Masons in the eighteenth century were particularly fascinated with this ancient priesthood of knowledge. The Zoroastrians provide the model for Sarastro and his followers in Mozart’s Magic Flute.
By the fifth century the Magi have acquired their names and by the seventh century it is held that they were early Christians and early martyrs. There is no evidence for this beyond tradition. Their remains were ‘discovered’ by St Helena – mother of Emperor Constantine the Great – whose visits to the Holy Land sets off a virtual fire-storm of relic collecting. She brings back relics of the true cross, the Scala Sancta to Rome. The remains of the three kings were housed first in Constantinople in the Hagia Sofia, later in Milan and were brought finally to Cologne (Koln) by HRE Frederick I in 1169 and placed in the city’s great cathedral which still houses their relics to this day. Another tradition maintains their bodies are in Saba.
The account of the visit of the magi is found in the longest of the synoptic gospels – Matthew. This account also has the kings offering gifts to the child. The gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh were widely used in Temple rites in ancient religions as offerings to the gods – hence being understood the be the acknowledgement on behalf of all the Gentiles this Christ-child was indeed of God. It was taken by Matthew to demonstrate the fulfillment of the prophecy in Psalms: The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents; the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring him gifts: and all the kings of the earth shall adore him ( Psalms 71v 10)
The adoration of the magi became one of the favourite subjects of medieval art. Epiphany also became an occasion for mummers and children to dress up as kings and for processions in the fiesta. it was a day to exchange gifts and sugared almonds were distributed from the fourteenth century to children after mass.
The season of Epiphany forms part of the greater Christmas season which is formally brought to an end on Candlemas on 2nd February. The length of the liturgical season was variable as it depended upon the date of Easter. Epiphany ends formally on Septuagesima- the Sunday seventy days before Easter when the church entered what was known as Shrovetide leading up to Mardi Gras and the first day of Lent – Ash Wednesday.