The Baptism of the Lord

And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And as He was coming out of the water, John immediately saw the heavens opening and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon Him. And there was a voice from the heavens: You are My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased (Mk 1:9-11)

What humility of the God-Man! What unquestioning obedience to the will of the heavenly Father! When John the Forerunner, knowing the greatness of the One Who was coming to his baptism and his own nothingness before Him, would not allow Him to be baptized—the Lord said to him: Let it be now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness[1]. But does not all righteousness always dwell in God? God is called the God of Righteousness, and He is the righteous Judge of all.[2] The Lord speaks these words to the Forerunner as a man: we need to fulfill all righteousness. Therefore, in our stead and for our sake He fulfilled all righteousness;—and He teaches us to fulfill God’s righteousness precisely; for us He received baptism from John, so that, not needing baptism Himself, He might show us our need of it, sanctify the waters and give them the power of consecration forever; to give us the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,[3] and to sanctify us; to drown human sin in the waters and open to us the heaven that had been shut up by Adam’s fall, and to bring down to earth the Holy Spirit, who had no place on earth where He might lay His head because of the extreme carnality and corruption of the human race; to cleanse Adam from defilement and raise him up to heaven justified.

The Church, theologizing in her hymns about such fruits of the Lord’s Baptism, proclaims: «That You might fill all things (heaven and earth) with Your glory, You emptied Your very self even to the form of a slave; now You bow Your head, servantly, into the hands of a slave (the Forerunner), mercifully cleansing my created being (sins) and granting a new regeneration. When You appeared in the body, the earth was sanctified, the waters received blessing, the heavens were made bright; the race of mankind was delivered from the bitter tyranny of the enemy. You make the earthborn anew, having become a new Adam—the Creator Himself—accomplishing by fire and Spirit and water a strange regeneration and a wondrous renewal, creating anew through God-wrought baptism without breaking and furnace;—with the Holy Spirit You give life to souls, and with water You sanctify the composite body, setting right the rational living being—man. Christ is coming to grant deliverance to all the faithful through baptism: for thereby He cleanses Adam, raises up the fallen one, puts to shame the tyrant (the devil), who laid him low, opens the heavens, brings down the Divine Spirit, and grants participation in incorruption» (December, Menaion, the 4th and 5th days)

From these sung utterances of the Holy Fathers you may discern for yourselves what a wondrous grace and power are imparted to us through the Baptism of Christ, namely: cleansing, sanctification, renewal, reconciliation with God, and adoption as His children. Glory to the Lord Jesus, who was baptized in the Jordan for the sake of our salvation, and who granted us rebirth, restoration, adoption as sons, and eternal life, and who broke down the former middle wall of enmity and of the curse and of righteous banishment from God. – Shall we be indifferent and unfeeling toward such blessings of rebirth and renewal, granted to us in baptism? Let us strive to understand and to make clear to ourselves these gifts of God, so that we may use them for our own renewal and salvation.

But I hear it from the Tolstoyans, the Pashkovites, the Stundists, and our old schismatics: we have no need of your baptism, your Chrismation, your Communion – we have no need of the Church with its Mysteries and rites: we will be saved without the Church. To this I will say to all of them: It is impossible to mock God[4]. The Lord will not come again to bring the insolent freethinkers to their senses; He will not again be baptized and crucified for them, nor will He build a new Church, but He will come to judge the living and the dead[5]. Dreadful will that judgment be for the adversaries and for the freethinkers. If we, having received the knowledge of the truth, – says the Apostle, – sin of our own accord, then no longer does any sacrifice for sins exist, but a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire ready to devour the adversaries. If the one who set aside the Law of Moses, on the testimony of two or three witnesses, is punished with death without mercy: then how much heavier a punishment, do you think, will be incurred by the one who tramples the Son of God, does not keep sacred the Blood of the Covenant with which he was sanctified, and insults the Spirit of grace? We know the One who said: Vengeance belongs to Me, I will repay, says the Lord.And again:The Lord will judge His people[6]. How dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the Living God[7]! These words apply both to the schismatics and the sectarians, and to all who bear the name of Orthodox Christians but do not live according to the faith, do not receive the Mysteries, and live without repentance.

But what does the cross procession to the Jordan mean? It is not a simple act, however splendid a ceremony. The Church entertains no one and does not busy itself with idle spectacles; it performs a holy, commemorative rite, called forth by the need of nature itself, or of the substance of the elements—water and air, which are defiled and corrupted unceasingly by human sins—and by the need of people themselves, who dwell in the airy expanse upon earth defiled by sins and have constant need of sound water. All nature and all the elements, I repeat, are constantly defiled by human sins and by the evil spirits dwelling in the air and producing in it every sort of pestilential current and disease. And so there arises an urgent need for the Church’s consecration and healing of these infected elements—and blessedly so, for in this the Church has authority and power from God. Do you not notice that especially in this present year something amiss is taking place in the world beneath the moon, that is, here on our earth? Now there is a complete lack of winter, and rains fall when they ought not to fall, or harmful fogs spread out, or deep snow comes down and winter seems to set in, when suddenly a southern wind begins to blow and melts all the snow. Again and again the phenomena of nature change in ways unsuited to the season. And from this, how many acute illnesses, how many who die suddenly or in a very short time! Weak bodily constitutions, and even strong ones, often fall in their struggle with such harmful inconstancy in nature. Of course it mirrors our own inconstancy, our unfaithfulness to God, our unsteadiness in this worldly life, and punishes us for it. Come, then, come, O Holy Church of God, which sanctifies everyone and everything, to the waters—and consecrate them together with the air by the grace given you from God, and cleanse them and restore them to health; grant us in the sprinkling and the drinking of the consecrated water purification and sanctification for ourselves and our dwellings, and health for our souls and bodies. O all-gracious and all-powerful Sanctifier and Maker of the world, O Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son, cleanse us all, sanctify us, enlighten us, strengthen us, renew us, and comfort us with Your wondrous, life-giving, holy, and most sweet overshadowing. Amen.