Known as the 12th day of Christmas, επιφάνεια in Greek, Epiphany literally means miraculous phenomenon. It is a Christian feast intended to celebrate the 'shining forth' or revelation of God to mankind in human form, in the person of Jesus. Also called the called the Feast of the Theophany (In Greek Θεοφάνεια, "God shining forth"), it is one of the great feasts of the liturgical year.
This holiday is also much noted for the "blessing of the water" which is conducted by Eastern Orthodox churches and is very common within the Greek Orthodox faith. After a divine litergy, people meet at the nearest body of water ( whether it be a lake, river, ocean or pond and in modern days even pools are used), and a priest throws a cross into the water. Young men jump into the body of water to retrieve the cross and who ever finds it gets himself and his family blessed for a full year.
In the diaspora, Tarpon Springs has become one of the largest celebrations of Epiphany outside of Greece and Cyprus, where thousands of Greek Americans converge for the annual ceremony. Also starting last year, the event was brougth back to the waters of the Bosporus in Constantinopol.
DF: The Festival of Epiphany, or 'The Blessing of the Waters', is held every year on January 6 throughout all of Greece.
Athens Accomodation
posted on Friday, January 5
orthodoxy
patty gountanis/ chicago... ...I witnessed the Epiphany in Tarpon Springs this past weekend and was very touched by this blessed and traditional event. I highly recommend anyone of our faith to witness this at some point, as you will feel very spiritual and proud to have a close tie with our strong heritage and greek orthodox religion .
cookie... ...Today in Turkey... Greek Orthodox Christians in Istanbul and the Princes Islands celebrate their religious holiday Ta Fota on the shores of the Bosporus by throwing a wooden cross into the sea..For the last two years the winner in the Fener parish has been Karlos Tarinas,and the champion of the Princes Islands has been Savas Panayiotidis for seven consecutive years.
Dog... ...When thou wast baptized in the Jordan the worship of the trinity was made manifest; for the voice of the Father bear wittness unto thee, saying this is my beloved Son, and the Spirit in the form if a dove decended onto thee , O Christ, Thou giver of life , You have brought life unto the world, glory to thee.. Glory to the Father and to the Son , and to the Holy Spirit, now and unto ages of ages, Amen.
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