About the beginning of our Lord's thirtieth year, John the
Forerunner, who was some six months older than Our Saviour
according to the flesh, and had lived in the wilderness
since his childhood, received a command from God and came
into the parts of the Jordan, preaching the baptism of
repentance unto the remission of sins. Then our Saviour also
came from Galilee to the Jordan, and sought and received
baptism though He was the Master and John was but a servant.
Whereupon, there came to pass those marvellous deeds, great
and beyond nature: the Heavens were opened, the Spirit
descended in the form of a dove upon Him that was being
baptized and the voice was heard from the Heavens hearing
witness that this was the beloved Son of God, now baptized
as a man (Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:1-22). From
these events the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ and the
great mystery of the Trinity were demonstrated. It is also
from this that the present feast is called "Theophany," that
is, the divine manifestation, God's appearance among men. On
this venerable day the sacred mystery of Christian baptism
was inaugurated; henceforth also began the saving preaching
of the Kingdom of the Heavens.
