The Eve of the Epiphany of the Lord. Epiphany Christmas Eve

January 18, 2024 – Eve of the Epiphany (Epiphany Christmas Eve); day of remembrance of the martyr Joseph Bespalov and with him the 37 martyrs in Talgar who suffered for Christ (1921), the martyr Evgenia Domozhirova killed in Alma-Ata (1933).

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan performed a festive service at the Ascension Cathedral of Almaty - Great Vespers in conjunction with the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil, Archbishop of Caesarea of Cappadocia and the rite of the Great Blessing of Water.

The head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan was concelebrated by: the confessor of the Alma-Ata diocese, Archimandrite John (Sazonov), Archpriest Vyacheslav Churbanov, the head of the Metropolitan District's public relations department, the keynote of the Ascension Cathedral, Archpriest Alexander Suvorov, Archpriest Alexander Ievlev, the head of the Metropolitan's personal secretariat, Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky ), head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District, Priest Georgy Sidorov; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, head of the Metropolitan Protocol Service, Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky, Deacon Andrey Pleten, Deacon Vitaly Bystrushkin, Hierodeacon Zephaniah (Mazurenko), Deacon Alexander Piven, Deacon Sergiy Slesarchuk.

Liturgical chants were performed by the choir of the Ascension Cathedral under the direction of N. Zubrevich.

After entering with the Gospel, the proverbs of the Feast of Epiphany were read - Old Testament prophecies about the Baptism of the Savior with special refrains alternately sung by the clergy and choir: “O lover of mankind, glory to Thee” and “Only to those who sit in darkness, glory to Thee.”

By reading the Apostle and the Gospel on the Eve of Epiphany, the Church proclaims the Baptist and Forerunner of the Lord John, who testified to the eternal and Divine greatness of Christ and calls for repentance.

The sermon on the sacramental verse was delivered by Priest Georgy Sidorov.

At the end of the Liturgy, Metropolitan Alexander, co-served by the clergy, performed the rite of the Great Blessing of Water.

After sprinkling the temple and the worshipers with the great agiasma (Epiphany holy water), the clergy and singers performed the troparion and kontakion of the holiday in front of the icon of Baptism and candles, symbolizing the light of Christ’s teaching, the Divine enlightenment given in the Epiphany.

At the end of the service, the Head of the Metropolitan District congratulated the clergy and believers on the Vespers of the Feast of the Epiphany and addressed those gathered with a word of teaching.

“Today is a special day in the church calendar, which is called the Eve of Epiphany. This is the eve of the great triumph of the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ in the streams of the Jordan for our salvation. Today is a day of strict fasting and, at the same time, the beginning of spiritual joy - the good news of the Savior’s appearance to humanity is heard in hymns, troparions and stichera. According to the fulfilled word of the prophet Isaiah, the people walking in darkness have seen a great light, on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. (See Isa. 9:2). Today we, called by the Baptist John to repentance, grieve for sins and ask God for healing of our infirmities, forgiveness of mistakes and correction of life according to the Gospel commandments and triumph over the grace that has abundantly filled the world thanks to the coming of Christ. There is a call to the Holy Church to go “to the waters”, to draw grace-filled power “from the wells of salvation” (see Isa. 55:1, 12:3). Now again, by the grace of God, we have become participants in a majestic divine service - the consecration of the watery nature. Through the incarnation of the Son of God, through the appearance of Christ the Giver of Life, we are given a special, incomparable mercy from the Heavenly Father. Every Christian can not only perceive the Creator and Creator with his mind, heart and will, but actually unite with God, mysteriously partake of the Divine power. Through the deed of the Savior, His condescension to the human race, Birth, Death and Resurrection, Divine grace was revealed to us as a great gift from Above. This is the living and active power of the Almighty, which is capable of freeing a person from sin, overcoming the imperfections of human nature, healing mental and physical ailments, raising people to the moral heights of the Gospel and transforming the world. According to the oldest tradition, dating back to apostolic times, on the day of Epiphany, a great consecration of water is performed. By invoking the Life-Giving Trinity, reading the Holy Scriptures and special prayers, immersing the altar Cross, the water is sanctified - without changing its physical nature, it is filled with Divine power, becoming a great agiasma, that is, a great shrine. This service, extraordinary in beauty and inner spiritual content, and the gift acceptable to us - the great agiasma - raises us from the earthly to the Heavenly, from the temporary to the eternal, gives us the confidence that God, by His grace, abides with all of us who believe in Him, and that by His power He cleanses and renews all creation.” From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.