The Origins of the Epiphany

THE ORIGINS OF THE EPIPHANY

“… but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

- 2 Timothy 1:10-1:10

“O Great One who became a babe, by your birth again you begot me; O Pure One who was baptised, let your washing wash us of impurity” - St. Ephrem the Syrian

Epiphany finds its roots as a term in Koine Greek, the “Common Greek” of the Hellenistic world created by the conquests of Alexander the Great, and further spread by the Greco-Roman culture of Imperial Rome.  With influence from Hebrew and Syriac thought and language patterns, Koine Greek became the language of the New Testament.  Epiphany from “epiphaneia” means “to appear,” also “manifestation,” or “appearance”; the Ancient Greek term Theophany (theophaneia) is used to express the same concept, the manifestation of God.  In the Syriac Churches the term Denho or Denha, refers to “the Light”, Jesus Christ the Light who reveals the Triune God.  This term in Greek, “photo”, also came to be used in the Byzantine Churches along with the previously mentioned “epiphaneia”, and “theophaneia”.  

 
The origin of the Feast of the Epiphany seems to have begun to take shape in the fourth century, or possibly even earlier in the Syriac and Alexandrian Churches.  Ammianus Marcellinus (born c. 325–330 died c. 391–400) a Roman soldier and historian, believed to have been from Syria or Phoenicia, has left us with a reference to the celebration of Epiphany he experienced in 361A.D. (Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae XXI, ii).  Saint Epiphanius (born c.310-310 died 403) who was known to have mastered Hebrew, Syriac, Coptic, Greek, and Latin, and was labeled by Saint Jerome as the “Pentaglossis”, meaning five-tongued; he remarked that on the sixth of January there is “Christ’s Birthday, that is, His Epiphany” along with the Miracle of Cana (Epiphanius, Panarion, Ii, 27 in Migne, Patrologia Graecae).  Saint Gregory of Nazianzus (also known in the East as St. Gregory the Theologian) who lived from 329 until 390, is one of the first Fathers of the Church to document the development of Christmas and Epiphany as separate Feast Days.  On the twenty-fifth of December in the year 380, he proclaimed that the Church was celebrating the Theophany - “the holy nativity of Christ” (St. Gregory Nazianzus, Orations xxxviii, Patrologia Graecae).  Then in a sermon from the sixth of January in 381, he preached that the Liturgies of the Nativity and the Visitation of the Magi having now been done, the Baptism of the Lord would now be celebrated (Nazianzus, Orations xxxix and xl).  Saint John Cassian (born c.360 died c.435), famous for his contributions to the development of monasticism, wrote that in Egypt the monks celebrate the Nativity and the Baptism of the Lord on the sixth of January (St. John Cassian, Conferences, X, Migne, Patrologia Latina). 

These references and others from Christian antiquity, leave us with the question of what was the central focus of the Feast of Epiphany as it relates to the life of Christ as seen in the Gospels.  Hieromonk Nicholas Pokhilko writes that: 

 
The substance of the celebration of Epiphany varied in different traditions. There were two major trends: Eastern and Western. The birth of Christ, the story of the Magi, Christ’s baptism, His divine manifestation, miracle at Cana, and the feeding of the crowds formed the festival of Epiphany on January 6 as indicated in earlier Alexandrian and Syrian traditions. The theme of the Nativity or the birth of Christ was dominant in the western feast of Epiphany with the baptism being less significant. December 25 (winter solstice) was the initial date of the Nativity festival in Roman tradition. It seems that Christians in the East hearing about this tradition decided to adopt it. It is also possible that certain Eastern customs may have influenced the West. The Western pattern was adopted by Constantinople, Cappadocia, Antioch and Syria. The representatives of these local traditions segregate the variety of Epiphany themes into two festivals: the Nativity of Christ on December 25, also called Theophania, and the Epiphany (the Lights) on January 6. The latter feast was dedicated to the baptism of Christ and His divine manifestation and was an occasion for mass baptism (Nicholas Pokhilko, History of Epiphany, https://sites.google.com/site/historyofepiphany/). 

 
Interestingly, the dates for the celebrations of Christmas and Epiphany reveal to us the process of Christian evangelization of the late ancient pagan world.  As the Church grew in numbers and geography it needed to address the previous beleifs and morals of those it encountered.  It needed to affirm what was good, denounce what was contrary to the Gospel, and give Christian meaning to the fabric of ancient cultures.  In the East, the choosing of the sixth of January was to replace the pagan feast of the god of light Aeon, which had been popular in Alexandrian Egypt.  In the West the twenty-fifth of December was choosen to offset the pagan celebration of Solis Invictus, the Undefeated Sun, whose cult even the Emperor Constantine had been a member of before accepting the Christian faith.  

 
While today there exists a plethora of liturgical forms and Scriptural themes as regards the celebration of Epiphany; within the various Churches of the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox, the Nestorian Church of the East, the Anglican Communion, and the various Protestant denominations. What remains is the common thread of Epiphany, Theophany, Light - Jesus Christ is the true light of the world, the light of the nations.

 
Rev. David A. Fisher,
Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles (Syriac-Maronite Catholic Church)