January 19, 2003

It had been a while since we had attended Sunday worship at the Orthodox church, so we went there this morning. With all the calendar switching, we were unaware that today is the Eastern celebration of Epiphany, the feast of the divine appearance which celebrates Christ's baptism by John. Even though the Orthodox community celebrates Christmas on December 25, the liturgical calendar is not changed - Fr. Thomas is beholden to his Patriarch in Jerusalem for such decisions. As a result, the Christmas liturgy is read on Eastern Christmas, and the rest of the calendar complies, about two weeks later than the Western calendar.

The congregation turns to renounce Satan.

In his sermon, Fr. Thomas reminded us of our baptismal vows, then invited us to join in the ritual renunciation of Satan which precedes the sacrament. We all turned and faced the West (the back of the church) in the Orthodox fashion, and Fr. Thomas led us in a call-and response renunciation of Satan ("Do you renounce Satan?!" "Yes! We renounce him!" - like an Orthodox tent revival). We then put our hands to our mouth and blew - as symbolic of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Orthodox icon of the Baptism of Christ.

At the end of the service, Fr. Thomas took a tub full of water and blessed it. Then, with his hand-held cross wrapped with branches of mint and sage, he blessed the congregation, sprinkling them with water, and coming forward for people to be touched by the water and to kiss the cross. Then parishioners came forward to fill plastic coke bottles and drink small glasses of the blessed, slightly-herbed water - all of it a remembering of our baptismal vows and blessings.

In years past, the whole congregation would've taken a couple of busses down to the Jordan River to celebrate the liturgy at the Church of St. John the Baptist. Some are even baptized then, though a bone-chilling cold day like today makes you wonder. But those days are gone - hopefully to return soon.