✝️ Introduction to the Feast of Theophany (Epiphany)

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III reflects on the Feast of Theophany, also known as the Baptism of Christ, where the Holy Trinity was revealed: the Son in the water, the Holy Spirit as a dove, and the Father through His voice from heaven.

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🌿 Repentance as the Beginning of Spiritual Life

The Pope links John’s baptism of repentance with Christ’s baptism of sanctification. The first lesson from this story is the importance of repentance, which begins one’s relationship with God and leaves behind the old life. True repentance is not only abandoning sin but hating it, and this is possible only when the love of God fills the heart.

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💧 John’s Baptism and the Power of His Ministry

The Pope highlights the strength of John the Baptist’s ministry, who led many to repentance in a short time. His preaching was powerful because his life was pure, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb. His ministry exemplified zeal, courage, and truth without compromise.

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🙏 Self-Denial in Ministry

A great virtue in John was self-denial. He disappeared so that Christ might appear, saying: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” True ministry is not about personal glory but about glorifying God. The servant is only a faithful steward, not the owner of the vineyard.

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🌊 The Humility of Christ in Baptism

The Pope pauses before Christ’s humility — though sinless, He came to be baptized. He had no need of repentance, but came on behalf of humanity, offering perfect repentance to the Father and showing the image of the perfect man. To John He said: “Permit it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

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🔥 “To Fulfill All Righteousness”

Righteousness includes not only doing good but overcoming temptation and resisting sin. Christ completed all righteousness so that no fault could be found in Him, presenting to the Father the perfect human image of obedience and holiness.

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💠 The Difference Between John’s Baptism and Christ’s Baptism

John’s baptism was only of repentance, but Christ’s baptism is a sacrament of salvation and new birth through water and the Spirit, as He said: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
Through baptism, sins are forgiven, and believers “put on Christ” and become members of His Body.

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🕊️ The Divine Manifestation of the Holy Trinity

At Christ’s baptism the Trinity appeared:

• The Father proclaiming: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

• The Son humbly being baptized.

• The Holy Spirit descending like a dove.
  This is the revelation of divine love and a call for every believer to become a beloved child of the Father by obedience and holiness.

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🌅 Spiritual Conclusion

His Holiness concludes with a personal reflection:
“May each of us live so that the Father may say, ‘This is My beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.’”
He encourages believers to live faithfully, humbly, and joyfully carrying their cross.

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