When Thou wast baptized in the Jordan, O Lord, the worship of the Trinity was made manifest. For the voice of the Father bare witness to Thee, calling Thee the Beloved Son. And the Spirit, in the form of a dove, confirmed the certainty of the word. O Christ our God, Who has appeared and hast enlightened the world, glory be to Thee!
The Apolytikion for the Theophany of the Lord
Our Divine Savior's Baptism, which we celebrate every year on 6/19 January, reveals to us both the mystery of the Holy Trinity and the mystery of our own baptism into Christ. As the hymn above states, at the time of Jesus' baptism, the voice of the Father spoke from heaven, the Son was visibly present in the flesh, and the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove. Thus the Holy Trinity was openly manifested in the world, not in symbols or foreshadowing, as in the Old Testament, but manifestly and clearly.
By descending into the waters of the Jordan, Our Lord also sanctified all the waters of the world, making water the medium of our regeneration through Holy Baptism. As the new year begins, it is a good time to remember our own baptism: From what we were freed, what promises we made, and that to which God has called us.
By our baptism, the Lord Jesus Christ has freed us from slavery to the devil and from eternal death. It has been forgotten today, even by the majority of Christians, that every man is born into the world estranged from God and in communion with evil spirits. Without faith and baptism, no one can enter the Kingdom of God. This is not only true of obviously evil people, but of everyone without exception. When Orthodox Christians really believe this, they make every effort to offer the Faith to those around them, desiring their salvation, desiring earnestly that they be freed from the prospect of eternal torment and be enabled to live in Christ forever. When the conviction of man's inheritance of the sin of Adam and his consequent condemnation weakens, then the zeal for missionary work and the conversion of souls also weakens. It is not "mean" or "cruel" to believe in original sin, it is just reality. If you love people, you will tell them the truth.
At baptism, we made promises to renounce Satan to unite ourselves to Christ. This union with Christ must not be simply formal but active and living, through a life of prayer, cleansing of the soul, and obedience to God's commandments. Let us examine ourselves daily, as St. Paul says, to see if we "be of the Faith," that is, not only in believing firmly in the dogmas, but also practicing the Gospel in our lives.
To what has God called us through our baptism? St. Peter says that He desires to make us "partakers of the divine nature"! (II Peter 1: 3-4). This means that we must not be content merely with avoiding sin, but rather must grow in holiness. If someone is not striving to grow in his Faith, he will not remain static, but rather will fall back into his old sins and grow worse – we are either going up or down, we can't stay the same!
Now, then, at the beginning of the year, let us perform a "reality check" on how we are living our Faith, and promise Christ anew that we will follow Him through obedience to His commandments.
Homily on Our Helplessness Without Christ the Lord
"Without Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)
Our Lord is not in the habit of exaggerating in His speech. There are no words in this world that are more carefully weighed than His. So when He says that we can, without Him, do nothing, He quite literally means just that. He speaks here of good, not of evil; we can do no sort of good without Christ, dissociated from Christ or contrary to Christ. He is the owner, giver, and inspirer of each and every thing that is good. There is no sort of good that remains outside Him, and there is no sort of evil that dwells within Him. "I am the Vine, ye are the branches," He said. What can the branches do without the vine? Can they grow and bear fruit? They are good for nothing but firewood.
Man may apply himself endlessly to thought, but he can never imagine one single, real good that is not in Christ and which does not spring from Christ. If anyone claims to perform good and humane works outside Christ, know that these works of his are corrupt at the core, fragmented either by vanity or a concealed self-centeredness. A man without Christ is exactly like a branch without a vine. He Himself has said this to us. The vine is hidden, unseen, but the branches are seen. The grapes, then, depend on the branches and the branches themselves on the vine. The vine of every sort of good grows from the heart of our God and Father and is watered with the sweetness of the Holy Spirit.
O Triune Lord God, have mercy upon us and save us. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
From The Prologue from Ochrid, entry for January 5th, by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic
