A great feast of the Lord

The Theophany of the Lord

Also called The Baptism of the Lord

Theophany is the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan, when the Holy Trinity was revealed: the voice of the Father was heard, and the Spirit descended as a dove. The Church keeps the feast with the sanctification of the waters.

The dates

Kept on: 6 January (19 January on the Old Calendar)
Next, New Calendar: 6 January 2027
Next, Old Calendar: 19 January 2027

The New Calendar (the Greek, Antiochian, Romanian and Bulgarian churches, the OCA and most converts) keeps fixed feasts on the church date; the Old Calendar (the Russian, Serbian and Georgian churches, Jerusalem and Mount Athos) keeps them 13 days later. Pascha and the feasts that follow it are kept on the same day by both.

How the day is kept

The waters are sanctified in church on the feast, and the faithful take holy water home. They keep it by the icons through the year, sprinkle the rooms with it, and the sick drink a little of it each morning.

After the feast the priest visits the homes of the faithful and sprinkles each house with holy water. The family has the icon corner ready, with a lit lamp, a candle, a bowl for the holy water and the names of everyone in the house, the living and the departed.

Greek custom keeps the names of light and of the Jordan on this feast, such as Fotios, Fotini and Iordanis.