Happy feast! I'd like to share with you some of today's hymnography and give you a short update on how I'm doing.
The Theophany is the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Forerunner in the Jordan river. We celebrate the revealing of the Holy Trinity, where God the Son is baptized, God the Holy Spirit descends in the shape of a dove, and God the Father speaks through the clouds. The word 'theophany' means "the appearance of a deity", where God appears in space and time in front of people.
Basically the theme song for the feast, it explains the premise and what happened.
Troparion of Theophany (Obikhod tone 1)
Lesser Znamenny tone 1
Byzantine tone 1, English and Arabic (Greetz to Khouriyya Gigi Shadid!)
Byz. tone 1, Romanian and French
When Thou, O Lord, wast baptized in the Jordan,
the worship of the Trinity wast made manifest;
for the voice of the Father bore witness to Thee,
and called Thee His beloved Son.
And the Spirit in the form of a dove
confirmed the truth of His word.
O Christ our God, Who hast revealed Thyself
and enlightened the world, glory to Thee!
This is how Holy Water is made! If it's not too cold, we'll go and bless the river like in the video below.
Great Blessing of Water from 2017
The voice of the Lord is upon the waters crying:
“Come, one and all,
receive the Spirit of wisdom,
the Spirit of understanding,
the Spirit of the fear of God,
from Christ Who now has shone forth!”
Today the nature of the waters is sanctified:
The Jordan is parted in two.
It holds back the flow of its waters,
as it beholds the washing of the Master.
Thou hast come to the river as a man, O Christ the King,
hastening to be baptized like a servant by the Forerunner
on account of our sins, O good God Who lovest mankind.
To be honest, a lot. There are a lot of events going on (hence the sparse updates over the holidays) and things to arrange and organize. I've not been sleeping as well as I'd like to, but that's ok, there's always time to sleep more.
Last week I went to a conference with the college youth group. We talked about despondency, who was first: Georgia or Armenia, and different musical styles. We danced and sang; it was fun.
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To the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
“Prepare the way of the Lord,”
Thou didst come, O Lord, taking the form of servant.
Thou didst ask to be baptized though Thou hast no knowledge of sin.
The waters saw Thee and were afraid.
The Forerunner trembled and cried aloud:
“How will the Lamp illumine the Light?
How will a servant lay his hand on the Master?
Thou takest away the sin of the world, O Savior.
Sanctify both me and the waters!”
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