By Rev. George Dion. Dragas Ph.D., D.D.Read the rest here.
1. THE FEAST OF EPIPHANY. On the 6th of January Eastern Orthodox and Western Christians celebrated the great Feast of Epiphany (Western) or Theophany (Eastern). This Feast introduced a new period of liturgical celebration, which is still with us – a celebration that goes right back to Christian beginnings and opens up the meaning of the Christian faith and tradition.
Epiphany (from the Greek epiphaneia) means “manifestation from above,” that is, “divine revelation.” The Christian feast of the Epiphany primarily entails the manifestation of God in Christ, Christ being manifested as the Son of God and God as the Trinity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
What is the basis of this manifestation? Or, putting it otherwise, what is the basic event (or events) that lies at the root of this divine manifestation (Theophany)? Today’s practices of Eastern and Western Christianity appear to give different answers to the above questions. How different are they?
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2 comments:
Unfortunately here in post-Christian Italy, there is no hint of Epiphany today. There is only the "Befana", which is a distinctly Italian tradition. The Befana is a witch which comes on January 6 to bring gifts to good kids and coal to bad kids. Somewhere along the line the 3 Wise Men (let alone the Theophany) were replaced by a secular or pagan witch in the Catholic motherland. Very sad to see...
One other thought: being a linguistic type of person, I recognize the origin of the word "Befana" as being from the word "epiphania", yet most Italians I have quizzed about this origin, have been left scratching their head. *sigh*
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