Terms in the Holy Bible – Water

🔹 First: Water as a Symbol of Life

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III explains that water in the Bible symbolizes life because no living being can exist without it. Therefore, the righteous person is likened to a tree planted by streams of water, showing spiritual stability and continual growth.

🔹 Second: God and Christ as the Source of Living Water

Scripture shows that God is the fountain of living water, as written in Jeremiah, and Christ deepened this meaning in His conversation with the Samaritan woman, speaking of the water that grants eternal life—referring to the Holy Spirit who flows within the believer’s heart.

🔹 Third: Fresh Water and Salt Water

His Holiness distinguishes between:

• Fresh water: symbolizing springs of life, the ministry of the apostles, and the spread of the Word of God.

• Salt or abundant waters: symbolizing evil or turmoil, such as opposing nations or philosophical forces resisting the truth.

He points to verses describing the pride of the sea and how the Lord rules over it, clarifying the difference between waters that give life and those that are unfit.

🔹 Fourth: Water in Creation and Baptism

From the Book of Genesis, God separated the waters, symbolically distinguishing good from evil. In the new life, a person is born “of water and the Spirit,” entering the life of grace through the sacrament of Baptism.

🔹 Fifth: Water as a Symbol of Purification

Just as water symbolizes life, it also symbolizes purification:

• Christ washed the disciples’ feet as a sign of cleansing.

• The Book of Ezekiel mentions: “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean.”

🔹 Sixth: Water in Church Rituals

His Holiness refers to the water symbols in the rites:

• The water of the Lakan.

• The blessed water for new homes.

• Sprinkling water upon the believers at the end of the liturgy.

• The priest washing his hands as a sign of purity.

He concludes by encouraging reading what was written in the book Covenant Thursday about the symbolism of water.

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