The Symbols of the Icon of the Theophany
The account of the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ is found in the three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22.
The name of the feast
The feast is called “Theophany” (Θεοφάνεια), or the feast of Lights (Φῶτα), or “Ghtas”. The name Theophany (manifestation of God) is used for Christ’s baptism because, when he was baptized by John in the Jordan, Jesus was manifested to the world as the only Son of God, one of the Holy Trinity, as the voice of the Father and the Spirit descending on him in the form of a dove bore witness. John says: “I myself did not know him; but for this I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel” (John 1:31). At the same time, Christ’s baptism was the first manifestation of the Holy Trinity, as the troparion of the feast says: “the worship of the Trinity was made manifest”.
In this Theophany God is revealed as a loving Father: he does not remain isolated in the fullness of his divinity, but is communion by nature, and has an eternal, divine Son. In it the only-begotten Son of God, the beloved Son, is also revealed. And the Holy Spirit of God is revealed as a unique divine Person. There is good reason for the Lord’s public manifestation to the world at his baptism: baptism is the symbol of death and resurrection, and Christ came to earth to die and then rise again. Baptism is also the symbol of repentance from sin, and Christ came as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and saves it from sin. In the fourth century this feast became linked with the baptism of catechumens, which is why it was given another name, the feast of Lights.
As for the liturgical celebration, until the fourth century the Nativity and the Theophany were celebrated on the same day. The main reason for celebrating both events on one day rests on what the evangelist Luke reports when he speaks of Christ coming to be baptized by John when he was “about thirty years of age”: it was thought that Jesus came to be baptized by John on his thirtieth birthday, and that he then began his preaching. Later, however, the feast of the Nativity was separated from the Theophany.
The icon of the feast of the Theophany
The Lord. Christ is painted at the centre of the icon, standing in the river Jordan, covered by the waters. He blesses the water with his right hand, sanctifies it and makes it water of purification. Christ’s face is painted with a majestic and solemn expression, showing the great mystery taking place. The icon shows him naked, like Adam at creation, or girded with a white cloth, as if showing the world the radiant garment of paradise. We see Christ baptized in order to bury the old man in the water. And when Christ comes up out of the water, he brings the whole world up with him, and sees the heavens opened that Adam had closed to himself and his descendants. Christ’s descent into the depths of the Jordan prefigures his descent into Hades. Christ, innocent of all sin, appears as a penitent, for John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The Lord Jesus had no need of repentance, but his baptism was “to fulfil all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15), to share the fallen condition of his creatures and to re-create them for life in the Kingdom of God. Mark says in his account of Christ’s baptism: “He was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened…” (Mark 1:9-10). The word “immediately” shows that Jesus, unlike the others being baptized, who confessed their sins while in the water, came up at once, having no sins to confess.
The open heaven. At the top of the icon a semicircle is painted, symbolizing the opened heavens, from which rays of light stream towards Christ.
The Spirit in the form of a dove. The Spirit is shown in the icon in the midst of the rays going from the Father to the Son: he descends upon Christ and points out to John and the others the Son of God, about whom the voice was heard: “This is my beloved Son.” The dove is a symbol of gentleness and innocence and, according to Saint John Chrysostom, of purity. That is why the Spirit, the Spirit of gentleness, appears in the form of a dove. The Spirit’s appearance as a dove is also linked to Noah’s flood, where a dove carrying an olive branch announced the end of the flood. In the same way, the Spirit’s descent now in the form of a dove signifies the end of sin and the beginning of a new age for humanity, gathering the Church and guiding her “into all the truth” (John 16:13).
John the Forerunner. Saint John the Baptist is painted standing on the riverbank with the utmost reverence and humility; he stretches one hand over Christ’s head while raising the other in supplication, or holding a scroll that symbolizes his preaching. Saint John Chrysostom says of John the Baptist: “He did not till the ground, he did not plough a furrow, he did not eat his bread by the sweat of his brow. His table was simple, his clothing simpler still, and his dwelling simplest of all. He needed neither roof nor bed nor table, but showed in his very body the signs of an angelic life.” John came out of the desert after thirty years; his appearance and clothing symbolized freedom from human concerns, and repentance, which summed up all his preaching: “Bear fruits that befit repentance” (Luke 3:8). John was afraid to baptize Christ, who by coming to be baptized by him seemed to reverse the roles: the Master comes with the servants to ask a servant for baptism. As Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says: “John was great, but what is he to the Lord? Loud was the voice, but what is it compared with the Word? Noble was the herald, but what is he compared with the King? Good was he who baptized with water, but what comparison is there with him who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire?”
Angels serving the event. The icon also shows two or three angels standing on the other bank of the river, heads bowed and hands covered with cloths, ready to receive the Lord.
The river Jordan. In the middle of the icon the Jordan is painted between high rocks on both sides. The water is dark, choppy and fast, yet it seems not to touch the most pure body of Christ. Naaman the Syrian was cleansed of his leprosy when he washed in the Jordan; this event was a figure of Christ’s baptism, which cleanses us of our sins, and a sign of the salvation that would be given through Christ to all peoples, not to Israel alone (2 Kings 5:10-14).
The axe and the tree. Behind John a tree is painted with an axe, a reference to the words John addressed to the Pharisees and Sadducees: “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Luke 3:9; Matthew 3:7-10). It is a symbol of the cutting edge of the Word, which will separate evil from good and believer from unbeliever; with it John wanted to remind the Jews of the loss of their inherited privilege and of the double punishment: the cutting down and the fire. In this way the icon speaks to us of the meaning of the feast, and brings to mind the words of Saint Gregory the Theologian in his oration on the Theophany: “Christ is illumined: let us shine forth with him. Christ is baptized: let us go down with him into the river, that we may also rise with him.”
Fr. Gerard Abi Saab
