“Light from light, shine on the world, Christ our God”
By Lambros K. Skontzos Theologian – Professor
(Theological monograph on the meanings of the feast of Lights)
HOLY THEOPHANIA : The Epiphany, the Feast of Lights, is one of the leading despotic feasts of our Church, which has enormous salvific significance.
Our Lord and Redeemer Christ, the “deferred light as a robe,” confesses to descend into the kennels of the Jordan to receive the baptism of John, to be officially and publicly anointed the Messiah, and to announce that “the fullness of the time” has come (Gal. 4,4) for the salvation of man and of all creation, from the bondage of the devil and the filth of sin. The Sun of Righteousness came into the world, the “true light that always illuminates man in the world” (John 1: 9), the God of light, the Light from Light, as “God is light and darkness in him there is none ”(John 1: 5), as the evangelist John assures us.
If God is the light, the source of light, His sad adversary, the devil is identified with darkness, with the absence of light and for this reason he is called “lord of darkness” since his kingdom is the sunless Hades. As he is all dark, so are his works.
Motivated by unbridled hatred and envy against man, who was destined for the sake of deification by grace, he led him into rebellion against God, led him to fall, and made him subject to sin, which causes decay and inevitably leads to death, ” θανάτω αποθανείσθε ”(Gen.2,17).
Since then man, from a child of light, who reflected in his existence the light and glory of God, has been transformed into a dark being, losing the brightness of his nature and becoming a slave of the devil, master and executor of his dark works.
The whole earth had become a vast turmoil, where the darkness of sin reigned, which breeds disrespect, disrespect, lawlessness, lawlessness, hatred, and hatred, hatred, wars, rivalries, transforming society into a herd of animals.
Careful study of human history, especially pre-Christian history, clearly proves the tragic face of society, a society unworthy of human faces.
But the God of love and immeasurable compassion did not leave His creature in the throes of destruction. That is why he became a man to make man worthy of his worth again. To make him bright again.
Thus “the Word became flesh and dwelt in me” (John 1:16), to enable man to be freed from the bondage of the devil, to be cleansed from the rags of sin, to be enlightened and to become “a son and heir of God through Christ ”(Gal.4,4).
Our philanthropic Redeemer confessed to take away His divine glory for the sake of our salvation.
“The Savior, agreeing with the human race, took on the garment of swaddling clothes,”
He came to a world of genius, rising “of the world the light of knowledge”.
He Himself assured that, “I am the light of the world, that whosoever believeth in me should not abide in darkness” (John 12:46), since until His coming there was a dense darkness of ignorance.
“The people that sat in darkness saw great light, and they that sat in the earth and the shadow of death did light up” (Matt. 4:16), says the holy evangelist and in the great feast we sing: “Prominent in the world, the world you made a fiber of light for those who are sitting in darkness ”(evening vestibule).
The official and dynamic illumination of the world began with His Baptism in the namas of the Jordan, since this world-saving event, his first public appearance, is the beginning of His three-year earthly work.
The revelation of the triune God in the desert of Jordan means His assurance for the enlightenment and sanctification of the world.
That is why our holy Church celebrates with all brilliance the great feast of the Epiphanies and in fact calls it the Feast of Lights, since on this day “light from light shone in the world Christ our God the eminent God”.
The Holy Baptism, which was foreshadowed in the Baptism of Christ, is called enlightenment and the baptized neo-enlightened.
In fact, in the sequence of the Holy Sacrament of Baptism, we sing the “tunic to provide light”, to declare our transfiguration in Christ in the Holy Swimming Pool.
The baptized person is clothed in Christ (Gal. 3:27), becomes enlightened and is called to maintain this radiance throughout his life, and yet, is called to reflect his radiance on other people, so that “Thus I shine the light of you. in the presence of men, that they might see good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven ”(Matt. 5:16).
The apostle Paul commands: “Walk as children of light” (Eph. 5: 9) and urges:
Certainly this brightness is incomparably limited in relation to the splendor that the afterlife of our biological death reserves for us eternal life, if we claim to become partakers of divine glory.
There “the righteous shine forth as foster children.” The heavenly city of the endless divine kingdom, “I’s not in need of the sun nor of the moon to see it, the glorious glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp the lamb and the nations to walk in its light and the kings of the earth to carry it glorify them and their honor in it, and its pillars shall not be closed in the day, neither shall they be there any more;
Only this bright city is intended for the faithful of Christ.
For “no common man entered into it, and whose abominations and lies did not enter into the book of the life of the lamb” (Rev 21:27).
Christ is the only illuminator in the world. The many and varied people in history, who tried to enlighten the erratic world, proved to be tragically ineffective, since, according to the apostle Paul: “I do not know the world by the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:21).
Wisdom benefited the world little, unlike Christ, who transformed it.
Only He dared to proclaim: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12) and thus “the true light appeared and all enlightenment is given” (modification of aeneas), showing the wise of the world as fireflies.
But there is also the tragic side of the world, which unfortunately, in its vast majority, “lies in wickedness” (John 5:19), did not accept the enlightenment of the Redeemer Christ.
Although twenty centuries have passed since the dawn of the imaginary Sun of Righteousness, there are still sad remnants of sin and satanic rule.
Especially in our tragic and apocalyptic days, the spiritual darkness of humanity is evident, because modern people, disarmed by the way of Christ, “rather loved darkness or light, for their works were evil” (John 3:19).
The sad result of this disastrous choice is the inexplicable hatred and aversion to the Great, the Only Benefactor of mankind, Jesus Christ.
But as long as the world voluntarily stays away from His light, its wickedness will be perpetuated.
The new saint of Russian Orthodoxy and confessor, Luke the Physician, Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea wrote: which manifests the most important qualities of His essence, which are the divine light and the supreme love. By His glorious teaching, which He always confirmed by miracles, and by His commandments, the Lord Jesus Christ showed that He is the Sun of Righteousness, and by His death on the horrible cross, He revealed that He is also infinite divine love “.
So God was pleased to make His miraculous appearance in the wilderness of the Jordan, to confirm our salvation in Christ and to send us His dazzling illuminations.
To assure us that Jesus of Nazareth was not an ordinary man, a wandering rabbi, but His beloved Son, Who came into the world, became man, to seek and save His lost and lost creature.
To dispel the dense darkness of delusion and all superstitions.
The great prophet John pointed Him out to be “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He announced to the crowds gathered and astonished by the epiphany, that the coveted messianic age had arrived, the divinely inspired prophets were verified.
Mankind “changed page”, the end has begun for the state of the devil. “The Savior appeared, the grace of truth in the kennels of the Jordan and in the darkness and the shadow of death illuminated in the right way” sings the holy hymn writer of the great feast, because “the light that is inaccessible has appeared”.
The Sun of Righteousness has dissolved the sins of sin, so that now, whoever has the eyes of his soul open, can walk safely on the path of salvation.
Let us also open our psychic eyes and let us gaze at the unfathomable “Light from Light” to be enlightened!
Source: vimaorthodoxias.gr
