The Baptism of Christ
El Greco, 1608-14
Hospital of San Juan Bautista de Afuera, Toldedo
The painting was completed after the artist's death by his son Jorge Manuel
Image: sunsite:icm.edu.pl
Today
is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and the end of most of the
formal liturgical Christmastide celebrations, barring their final conclusion at Candlemas on
February 2nd.
As it is observed in the Novus Ordo the Feast, on the Sunday after Epiphany (or after the Sunday of Epiphany) dates from 1970. In the Vetus Ordo
it is assigned to January 13th, the old Octave day of Epiphany, by both
the 1955 and 1962 Missals, and indeed as a separate feast from the
traditional threefold celebration of the manifestation of Christ at
Epiphany ("Three wonders mark this day...") is a creation of Pope Pius
XII in 1955. For that reason he re-used the Epiphany propers for the
new festal observance he developed from it, and such an addition seems to me to fall
within the range of things which can and should be legitimately added to
the liturgy. This is the proper development of liturgy analogous to the
proper development of doctrine.
In
the Eastern Orthodox tradition the Great Theophany is celebrated as one
commemoration. As Kurt Sherry pointed out on the Medieval religion discussion group the other day, the western feast of Epiphany commemorates the adoration of the Magi, which the eastern
church commemorates on Christmas itself. In
the Eastern Orthodox tradition, January 6 is the feast of Theophany,
which is the Baptism of Christ. The Baptism is called Theophany because
it is the manifestation of the Holy Trinity (the Incarnate Son,
the voice of the Father, and the Holy Spirit in the likeness of a dove).
Thus, an Orthodox church named Holy Trinity should (there are
some parishes that violate the "rules" and use Rublev's Trinity or one
of the "heretical" depictions of "an old man, Christ, and a bird") have
the Baptism of Christ in the position to the left of the Theotokos when
facing the iconostasis. Another member of the list, who is Orthodox, added the point that although Pentecost is not taken to be so explicitly Trinitarian in the
West, it is celebrated as THE revelation of the Trinity among the
Orthodox. Theophany -- also called Epiphany in Orthodox circles -- and
Transfiguration are both celebrated as Trinitarian revelations that are
consummated by Pentecost.
The Eastern Fathers had much more to say, it would
appear on the basis of the magisterial and exuberant texts in the Office
of Readings for this week, about the Baptism than their Western
counterparts. So establishing a Feast of the Baptism to point out its
enormous significance and drawing direct attention to it as a distinct event rather than subsuming it in the
visit of the Magi on January 6th seems right and fitting. In so
doing the abolition of the Octave, by Pope Pius, was in part undone by
Pope Paul.
There is a history of the feast day
here.
The
painting by El Greco conveys much of the exultation of Orthodox writers
about the Baptism and its significance which the artist conveyed to the
Catholic Counter-Reformation world in his unique vision of things
heavenly and earthly bound inextricably together.
A revised and extended version of my post from this Feast last year
