Holy Land's Miracle: Patriarch of Jerusalem Metropolitan Theophilos prays with white doves during the Epiphany ceremony

   

The event of Theophany focuses on the awesome synthesis of Jesus Christ’s divine and human natures.  Popularly referred to as Epiphany, the Theophania is, literally, the visible manifestation of God as man, with the public revelation, for the first time, of the Divine nature of Jesus as God, the Christ and Co-Eternal Son. 

     

Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Metropolitan Theophilos prays with white doves as he is surrounded by priests and pilgrims during the Epiphany ceremony January 18, at the Qaser al-Yahud baptismal site near Jericho, West Bank.

On January 18th of every year (the Julian Calendar equivalent to the Gregorian Calendar date of January 6^th) according to the New Calendar, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem and all Palestine, along with a delegation from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, including thousands of Christian pilgrims, travels to the Jordan River, where an agiasmos (a service of sanctification of the waters) service is celebrated.  For those able to participate in the Theophany blessing of the waters of the Jordan River, the energy of the moment is palpable and enlivening, a combination of humility, joy, and hope.