Epiphany ( ), also known as Theophany in Eastern Christian tradition, is a Christian feast day commemorating the visit of the Magi, the baptism of Jesus, and the wedding at Cana.
In Western Christianity, the feast commemorates principally (but not solely) the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child, and thus Jesus Christ's physical manifestation to the Gentiles. It is sometimes called Three Kings' Day, and in some traditions celebrated as Little Christmas. Moreover, the feast of the Epiphany, in some denominations, also initiates the liturgical season of Epiphanytide.
Eastern Christians, on the other hand, commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, seen as his manifestation to the world as the Son of God, and celebrate it as the Feast of the Epiphany or of the Theophany. The traditional site of the ministry of John the Baptist is in Al-Maghtas in Jordan, with the baptism of Jesus once marked in Byzantine times by a cross in the middle of the Jordan River, between the Jordanian site and Qasr al-Yahud in the West Bank.
The traditional date for the feast is January 6. However, since 1970 the celebration has been held in some countries on the Sunday after January 1. Those Eastern Churches that are still following the Julian calendar observe the feast on what, according to the internationally used Gregorian calendar, is 19 January, because of the current 13-day difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The Alawites and the Middle Eastern Christians also observe the feast on January 19.
In many Western Churches, the eve of the feast is celebrated as Twelfth Night (Epiphany Eve) on January 5. The Monday after Epiphany is known as Plough Monday."The Bridge" . The Diocese of Southwark. Newsletter dated December 2011/January 2012.
Popular Epiphany customs include Epiphany singing, chalking the door, having one's house blessed, consuming Three Kings Cake, winter swimming, as well as attending church services. It is customary for Christians in many localities to remove their Christmas decorations on Epiphany Eve (Twelfth Night), although those in other Christian countries historically remove them on Candlemas, the conclusion of Epiphanytide. According to one seventeenth-century tradition, it is inauspicious to remove Christmas decorations before Epiphany Eve and those who do not remove them on that date have the opportunity to take them down on Candlemas.
Etymology The word Epiphany is from Koine Greek , , meaning manifestation or appearance. It is derived from the verb , , meaning 'to appear'. In classical Greek it was used for the appearance of dawn, of an enemy in war, but especially of a manifestation of a deity to a worshipper (a theophany). In the Septuagint the word is used of a manifestation of the God of Israel (). In the New Testament the word is used in to refer either to the birth of Christ or to his appearance after his resurrection, and five times to refer to his Second Coming.
Alternative names for the feast in Greek include (; 'Theophany'; a neuter plural rather than feminine singular), (; 'The Day of the Lights'; modern Greek pronunciation), and (, 'The Lights').Cf.
In Egypt, it is called ().
History Early history
Epiphany may have originated in the Greek-speaking eastern half of the Roman Empire as a feast to honor the baptism of Jesus. Around 200, the theologian Clement of Alexandria wrote: The Egyptian dates given correspond to January 6 and 10. The followers of Basilides were a Gnostic sect.
The reference to "readings" suggests that the Basilides were reading the Gospels. In ancient gospel manuscripts, the text is arranged to indicate passages for liturgical readings. If a congregation began reading Mark at the beginning of the year, it might arrive at the story of the Baptism on January 6, thus explaining the date of the feast. If Christians read Mark in the same format the Basilides did, the two groups could have arrived at the January 6 date independently.Carrington, "The 'heretical' festival of 'Epiphany' became a universal festival throughout the whole Christian world, commemorating both the Baptism and the Nativity of Jesus. It is hard to explain this as a world-wide imitation of the Basilides; it is quite easy to explain if the 48 (49)-lection arrangement of Mark was used as a Calendar fairly widely at one time." (p. 54).
The earliest reference to Epiphany as a Christian feast was in AD 361, by Ammianus Marcellinus.Ammianus Marcellinus, XXI, ii The holiday is listed twice, which suggests a double feast of baptism and birth. The baptism of Jesus was originally assigned to the same date as the birth because was read to mean that Jesus was exactly 30 when he was baptized; it is said by many Church Fathers that Jesus was the age of 30, although not necessarily exactly that age.
Epiphanius of Salamis says that January 6 is Christ's "Birthday; that is, His Epiphany" (hemera genethlion toutestin epiphanion).Epiphanius, Panarion, li, 27, in Migne, Patrologia Graecae (P.G.), XLI, 936 (where it is called by its Latin name: Adversus Haereses) He also asserts that the Wedding at Cana occurred on the same calendar day. Epiphanius assigns the Baptism to November 6.
The scope to Epiphany expanded to include the commemoration of his birth; the visit of the Magi, all of Jesus' childhood events, up to and including the Baptism by John the Baptist; and even the miracle at the wedding at Cana in Galilee.
In the Latin-speaking West, the holiday emphasized the visit of the Magi. The Magi represented the non-Jewish peoples of the world, so this was considered a "revelation to the gentiles".Keener, Matthew, 1997, (InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, USA), , page 65. In this event, Christian writers also inferred a revelation to the Israelites. John Chrysostom identified the significance of the meeting between the Magi and Herod's court:
Even before 354, the Western Church had separated the celebration of the Nativity of Christ as the feast of Christmas and set its date as December 25; it reserved January 6 as a commemoration of the manifestation of Christ, especially to the Magi, but also at his baptism and at the wedding feast of Cana."Today the Church has been joined to her heavenly bridegroom, since Christ has purified her of her sins in the river Jordan: the Magi hasten to the royal wedding and offer gifts: the wedding guests rejoice since Christ has changed water into wine, alleluia" (Benedictus antiphon, Liturgy of the Hours, Roman Rite). "Three wonders mark this day we celebrate: today the star led the Magi to the manger; today water was changed into wine at the marriage feast; today Christ desired to be baptized by John in the river Jordan to bring us salvation, alleluia" (Magnificat antiphon at Second Vespers, Liturgy of the Hours, Roman Rite).
In 385, the pilgrim Egeria (also known as Silvia) described a celebration in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, which she called Epiphany that commemorated the Nativity. Even at this early date, there was an octave associated with the feast. The Georgian Chantbook of Jerusalem compiled in the mid 6th century contains hymns for this feast that were likely written between the time of Egeria and the turn of the 6th century.
In a sermon delivered on December 25, 380, St. Gregory of Nazianzus referred to the day as the Theophany (ta theophania, formerly the name of a pagan festival at Delphi),Liddell & Scott saying expressly that it is a day commemorating "the holy nativity of Christ" and told his listeners that they would soon be celebrating the baptism of Christ. Then, on January 6 and 7, he preached two more sermons, in which he declared that the celebration of the birth of Christ and the visitation of the Magi had already taken place, and that they would now commemorate his Baptism. At this time, celebration of the two events was beginning to be observed on separate occasions, at least in Cappadocia.
St. John Cassian says that even in his time (beginning of the 5th century), Egyptian monasteries celebrated the Nativity and the Baptism together on January 6.St. John Cassian, Conferences, X, 2, in Migne, Patrologia Latina (P.L.), XLIX; 820 The Armenian Apostolic Church continues to celebrate January 6 as the only commemoration of the Nativity.
Modern period
In the Latin Church, Epiphany is traditionally celebrated with an octave, beginning on January 6 and ending on January 13. From 1893 until 1955 the Sunday within that octave had been the feast of the Holy Family, and Christmastide was reckoned as the twelve days ending on January 5, followed by the January 6–13 octave. Before the 1969 revision of its liturgy, the Sundays following the Octave of Epiphany or, when this was abolished, following the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which was instituted to take the place of the Octave of Epiphany were named as the "Second (etc., up to Sixth) Sunday after Epiphany", as the at least 24 Sundays following Pentecost Sunday and Trinity Sunday were known as the "Second (etc.) Sunday after Pentecost". (If a year had more than 24 Sundays after Pentecost, up to four unused post-Epiphany Sundays were inserted between the 23rd and the 24th Sunday after Pentecost.) The Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices, which received the imprimatur of John Michael D'Arcy, with reference to Epiphanytide, thus states that "the Epiphany season extends from January 6 to Septuagesima Sunday, and has from one to six Sundays, according to the date of Easter. White is the color for the octave; green is the liturgical color for the season."
In 1955, Pope Pius XII abolished all but three liturgical octaves, thus deleting that of Epiphany, and the 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar instituted the current system which makes the date variable to some extent. It also made the Feast of the Epiphany part of Christmastide, which it defined as extending from the First Vespers of Christmas (the evening of December 24) up to and including the Sunday after Epiphany (the Sunday after January 6). In 1955 a separate feast of the Baptism of the Lord was also instituted, thus weakening further the connection in the West between the feast of the Epiphany and the commemoration of the baptism of Christ. (Hungarians, in an apparent reference to baptism, refer to the January 6 celebration as Vízkereszt, a term that recalls the words víz ('water') and kereszt or kereszt-ség ('baptism').)
Prior to 1976, Anglican churches also observed an octave beginning on January 6.
Epiphany by Christian tradition
Epiphany is celebrated by both the Eastern and Western Churches, but a major difference between them is precisely which events the feast commemorates. For Western Christians, the feast primarily commemorates the coming of the Magi, with only a minor reference to the baptism of Jesus and the miracle at the wedding at Cana. Eastern churches celebrate the baptism of Christ in the Jordan. In both traditions, the essence of the feast is the same: the manifestation of Christ to the world (whether as an infant or in the Jordan), and the Mystery of the Incarnation. The miracle at the wedding at Cana is also celebrated during Epiphany as a first manifestation of Christ's public life.
In some Churches, the feast of the Epiphany initiates the Epiphany season, also known as Epiphanytide.
Catholic Church
In the Catholic Church, Epiphany is either observed on the traditional fixed date of January 6, or it is transferred to the Sunday between January 2 and January 8. Most dioceses in the United States observe the latter. In each system, the date of Epiphany affects the dates of other feasts:
Where Epiphany is always celebrated on January 6, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated the following Sunday. During years where there are two Sundays between Christmas and Epiphany, the second is known as the "Second Sunday after Christmas".