The sermon of a greek
orthodox priest Fr. Richard Demetrius Andrews, from Greek Orthodox Metropolis
Of Chicago.
Today we celebrate
the liturgical feast of the Sunday before Theophany. Because is also the Eve of
Theophany the Typikon directs all parishes to conduct the Great Agiasmos. I
have just used a few words that one might not be familiar with. So let’s go back
with and explain a little further. ‘Liturgical’ comes from the word ‘liturgy’
but it is broader than liturgy and means ‘worship’ in general. ‘Theophany’
literally means the ‘manifestation of God’ and refers specifically to the feast
of Christ’s Baptism, which we celebrate every January 6th, tomorrow. ‘Typikon’
literally means ‘ritual’ and in the context of the Church refers to the pattern
of rituals in conducting worship. The Orthodox Church has numerous books filled
with readings, hymns, prayers and worship services. However, there is one book,
titled the ‘Typikon’, that prescribes what readings, hymns, prayers and worship
services are to be combined and used on any particular day of any year. There
are very few people in the world who know the Typikon well enough to understand
and use it. Therefore, the Ecumenical Patriarchate publishes an ‘Hemerologion’
that distills the intricacies of the Typikon into a simple guidebook for
conducting worship services.
Pardon my tangent
on the Typikon. Returning to our lexicon. Ah, there I did it again. I
introduced a new word that I assume everyone knows. ‘Lexi’ is Latin for ‘word.’
Many of us know that ‘lexicon’ is another word for ‘dictionary.’ It is also the
root of another word we use in church circles: ‘lectionary’ which means a set
of readings. Ok, let’s focus on our last word of the day, which is the subject
of my sermon, which I hope to get to any second now. ‘Agiasmos’ comes from the
word ‘agios/agia’ that means holy. ‘Agiasma’ means ‘sanctification’ or ‘to make
holy.’ ‘Agiasmos’ means the sanctified or holy water. As I said before, today
we get to celebrate the ‘Mega Agiasmos’ or Great Holy Water Blessing service.
So, let’s talk about what is and what it means for us.
Theophany is the
Feast of Christ’s Baptism. We hear in today’s Gospel reading (Mark 1:1-8) that
John the Forerunner “came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism
of repentance for the remission of sins…and everyone from Judea and Jerusalem
went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan River confessing their
sins” (vv.4-5). Later in the same passage John speaks, “There comes One after
me who is mightier than I…I indeed baptize you with water, but He will baptize
you with the Holy Spirit” (vv.7-8). John, of course, is referring to Jesus
Christ. And we know that immediately after he says this, Jesus comes to John
and asks John to baptize Him. John is resistant. Why? Because he knows that
Jesus is the coming Messiah who is without sin. That’s why John wants Jesus to
baptize him instead. Why would Jesus need to be baptized if baptism is for
repentance and remission of sins? Well we can ask that question about nearly
everything that Jesus experienced. For example, why was Jesus circumcised if
circumcision was going to be done away with less than twenty years after His
Resurrection?
Jesus was baptized
for four reasons and these two reasons generally apply to everything Jesus did.
Number one: Jesus is the only person who perfectly fulfills the Law of Moses.
This illuminates Jesus words to John when he does not want to baptize Him.
“Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all
righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). Because Jesus is the only person who perfectly
fulfills the Law, He shows Himself to be the Giver of the Law but also reveals
His authority to critique the Law and those hypocrites who emphasize the letter
of the Law and not the spirit of the Law.
Number two: Jesus
was baptized in order to be revealed as the true Son of God, as witnessed by
God the Father in the voice that came from heaven saying, “This is My beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt.3:17). At the same instance, Jesus is
revealed as the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, because the Holy Spirit
of God descends upon Him in the form of a dove.
Number three: Jesus
was baptized in order to change the nature of baptism itself. At that time,
baptism was like the Sacrament of Confession is for us today--an expression of
repentance, the sorrow for sins and desire to change one’s life. Likewise, baptism
then and confession now are for the forgiveness and remission of sins. However,
after Jesus is baptized, baptism becomes the supreme and unique liturgical
ritual by which believers are joined to Jesus Christ, drowning to their sin and
the fallen human nature and then being resurrected to new life.
Number four: Jesus
was baptized to sanctify all of creation. In other words, Jesus did not need to
be baptized because He was without sin. Rather, creation itself needed to be
baptized by Him. Thus, when He, the Divine Son of God descends into the river
Jordan, instead of being washed and cleansed by its waters, Jesus, along with
the Holy Spirit, cleanses and sanctifies the waters of the Jordan River and
through the waters, sanctifies and cleanses all the rest of creation. In one of
the prayers that will follow in the Holy Water Blessing service the priest
says, “You sanctified the streams of Jordan by sending down from heaven Your
All-holy Spirit and You smashed the heads of the dragons that lurked there.”
So, every year at
Theophany, we not only commemorate the event of Christ’s baptism but more
importantly, we invite Christ and the Holy Spirit to descend again into the
waters of creation, especially this water offered to God in His house/temple.
And then we take that newly sanctified holy water and we sprinkle it upon the
floor, the walls, the icons, the altar, and upon all of us so that we can be
sanctified by it also. To further underline the point, we drink the water into
ourselves to be sure that God’s holiness penetrates into every fiber of our
being. And then we take the Holy Water home with us and sprinkle the floor,
walls, icons and altars of our homes, even our cars and our businesses, so that
everything can be dedicated or re-dedicated to God. Many invite the priest to
their homes to celebrate the Mikro Agiasmos or Small Holy Water Blessing
service, a much shorter service but one in which the priest repeats the ritual
that began in God’s house in the home of the faithful.
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Holy Water Bottle
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As we conclude
today, let’s go to a deeper level, the ritual of the Holy Water is a renewal of
our baptism. Some people say “everything is the same in the Orthodox Church.
Nothing ever changes.” On one hand that’s not true at all because if you look
closely at the Typikon we mentioned above, very few liturgical services are the
same. Each one has a unique combination of hymns, prayers and readings. On the
other hand it is true, because a majority of the services and rituals are the
same week to week, month to month and year to year. Why is that? Why do things
stay the same so much? It’s because we are the ones who are supposed to be
changing, repenting, growing, and maturing. That’s one of the biggest
criticisms of modern styles of worship, they change so much that they become like
entertainment which distracts the worshippers from their own need to change.
The Book of Hebrews, says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and
forever (13:8). If we remain the same, then we are not renewing our baptism.
The water that we sprinkle and drink today cannot magically change us into holy
people unless we are repenting and confessing our sins in an Orthodox manner
and ritual every day. Therefore, I invite you to invite me to your homes to
bless you and your families with the Holy Water of Theophany. In addition, I
invite your to renew your baptism through the Sacrament of Confession in order
to receive cleansing and forgiveness of sins, in order to be guided into an
ever deepening relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ by the power of His Holy
Spirit, in order to continually become sons and daughters of God the Father. Blessed
Theophany and New Year! Amen!
http://www.stgeorgegoc.org/pastors-corner/fr-ricks-sermons/blessing-the-waters
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CONVERSATION