Great water consecration
The Great Water Consecration ( Middle Greek Μεγάλος Ἀγιασμός , Russian Великое освящение воды ) is a Christian worship service that takes place on one of the most important holidays in the church year of the Orthodox Church and other Eastern Churches. This is celebrated to commemorate the baptism of Jesus on the day of the Lord's apparition on January 6th. The bishop or priest says a great blessing prayer (Μέγας εἶ κύριε ..., Great are you, Lord ... ) and dips the cross three times in water, with which he not only the water, but through the water the entire creation bless. The water can be in a container (pot, basin) or it can be a spring, a river, lake or the sea. This article mainly describes the ceremony on a body of water.
history
The worship of the Great Water Consecration is to commemorate the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist on the day of the Epiphany (Epiphany, medium Greek Ἐπιφάνεια , Russian праздник Крещения / Богоявления celebrated), which in the Christian East as Theophany ( medium Greek Θεοφάνια , Russian Богоявление hereinafter) . The Great Water Consecration has its origins in early Christian church practice, although at that time there were no fixed rules as to when and where exactly it was to be carried out on which occasions, but for the process, which always provided for certain prayers and the immersion of the cross in the water .
Today the Great Consecration of Water is celebrated on January 6th (falls on January 19th of the Gregorian where it is celebrated according to the Julian calendar). Jesus' baptism in the Jordan blessed the waters of that river and of every river. That is why all of nature and creation are consecrated with the Great Water Consecration to this day, while with the Small Water Consecration ( Middle Greek Μικρός Ἀγιασμός , Russian Малое освящение воды ) in the church or in a household only the believers or objects sprinkled with it are blessed.
Geographical distribution
The Great Consecration of Water came from the Middle East via Constantinople to Eastern Europe , and over the centuries even to southern Italy, which lived for a long time under the rule of Constantinople. While the Jordan in the Middle East has warm water all year round and a baptism in January is quite understandable, the festive day in the countries of the Russian-speaking Orthodox believers falls in the middle of the harshest winter. In Russia , a hole has to be made in the ice so that the Orthodox priest can bless the water with the cross.
In Moscow , around 150,000 people attend the solemn services the evening before, 36,000 take part in the nightly services. Afterwards, around 3,000 police officers and rescue teams from the civil defense at the 15 specially set up swimming areas in the Russian capital ensure the safety of the faithful.
Orthodox believers also celebrate the Great Consecration of Water in many places in German-speaking countries .
- The public Great Water Consecration has been taking place in Austria since 2007. The service is organized by the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Austria (Ecumenical Patriarchate) on the Vienna Danube Canal near the Trinity Cathedral. The Romanian Orthodox and Bulgarian Orthodox Churches also take part.
- In Switzerland in 2002 around 1,000 believers celebrated a Greek Orthodox blessing of the Limmat and Lake Zurich for the first time . In January 2004, the first ecumenical Orthodox water consecration took place, which has since been celebrated annually on the Zürichhorn under the direction of the Russian Orthodox Church .
Course of the celebration
The great water consecration is part of the Orthodox worship service and the subsequent human immersion in flowing waters is a pious part of this ritual.
The congregation gathers with procession flags, with the holiday icon , the cross and the gospel book by a river or lake. The priest places the cross and the Gospel book on an analogy , then candles are distributed to the believers and lit. The priest smokes the table, the holiday icon and all the believers while the liturgy is sung. Then the priest dips the cross three times in the water that consecrates all creation with its water that day. The adult believers often dive into the water one after the other. In Russian-speaking countries, mothers often dip their babies in the ice-cold water.
In the more southern countries the priest finally throws an Orthodox cross into the river or the sea, after which the young people dive. Whoever finds the cross in deep water receives the separate blessing and then visits all households with the cross. There he receives Christmas cookies and a few coins.
Orthodox believers in all countries take home the bottled water that was blessed during the Great Consecration of Water. They bless their homes, pets and special goods. The blessed water should not spoil, even if it is in the bottle next to the icon in the house for a year. It is used in times of great need, illness or fear.
Individual evidence
- ^ G. Khouri-Sarkis - A. du Boullay: La bénédiction de l'eau, la nuit de l'Épiphanie, dans le rite syrien d'Antioche . In: L'Orient Syrien 4 (1959) 211-232; Jean-Marie Sauget: Bénédiction de l'eau dans la nuit de l'Épiphanie selon l'ancienne tradition de l'Église maronite . In: L'Orient Syrien 4 (1959) 319-378; Giuseppe Munarini: Canone della benedizione delle acque [nel giorno de Natale-Epifania di Nostro Signor Gesù Cristo nella Chiesa Armena (6 Gennaio)] . In: Bazmavep 163 (2005) 227-265; A. Baumstark, The consecration of water on epiphany according to the Coptic rite . In: Church music. At the same time, communications from the Diöcesan-Cecilia Association Paderborn 10, 1 (1909) 1-5.
- ↑ On the content and age of this early church “ prayer ” cf. Albert Gerhards : The Greek Gregoriosanaphora [liturgical scientific sources and research 65]. Aschendorff, Münster 1984, 202-210.
- ↑ Epiphany Festival: mass bathing in the icy water in Moscow - the military take part . RIA Novosti. January 19, 2009. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
- ^ First consecration of water in Vienna . ORF. January 6, 2007. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
- ^ HG: Orthodox consecration of waters on the Limmat . Neue Zürcher Zeitung . January 7, 2002. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
- ^ A b c Karl-Heinrich Bieritz : The church year. Celebrations, memorials and holidays in the past and present. Berlin 1986, pp. 204f.
literature
- Nicholas E. Denysenko: The Blessing of Waters and Epiphany. The Eastern Liturgical Tradition . Routledge, London-New York 2012 (2016) (dissertation on liturgical history).