Bible Readings:
Epistle: Acts 19: 1-8
Gospel: St. John 1:29-34
Liturgical Services:
The true Light has appeared and grants enlightenment to all. Christ, who is above all purity is baptized with us; He brings sanctification to the water and it becomes cleansing for our souls. That which is outward and visible is earthly; that which is inwardly understood is higher than heaven. Salvation comes through washing, and through water the Spirit. By descending into the water, we ascend to God. Wonderful are Your works. O Lord: glory to You! -Orthros Service
The Mother of God:
O my soul, magnify her higher in honor and glory than the heavenly Powers. All tongues are at a loss to praise you properly, and every intelligence, even supernatural, is rapt in wonder when it comes to honor you, O Mother of God. But in your graciousness accept our faith, knowing our holy longing. Intercessor of Christians, we extol you. -Vesper Service
Scripture Verse:
“I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit'” (St. John 1:33).
Meditation: The Voice!
For three hundred years the voice of the prophecy had been silent in Israel. ‘There is no longer any prophet” lamented the Psalmist (74:9). Was God silent? Was He not to speak to His people anymore?
After three hundred years God finally breaks the silence. He sends another prophet: John the Baptizer. In him God spoke again through “the voice or one crying in the wilderness.” In John people recognized once again the voice and the authority of a prophet. So they came. “There went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem.” He came as the last and the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. He came out to point out Him whom all of Israel expected: the Messiah, the Savior, the light of the World. Of all the prophets to proclaim the Messiah, John was the only one privileged to point to Him and say, “Behold, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” That is why St. John’s icon is given a position of honor next to Christ on the icon screen of the Orthodox Church. In him the entire Old Testament bears witness to Christ as the promised Savior. Grunewald has painted a picture in which he depicts John the Baptist with an unnaturally elongated forefinger pointing to Christ. This same type of finger is used in some Byzantine icons of John the Baptist to express the main purpose of his ministry: the pointing out of Christ as the expected Savior.
Through the Great Commission (Matt. 28: 18-20) Jesus has given us the same privilege and responsibility, i.e., that of witnessing for Christ, pointing to Him as the Savior of the world through a Christ-centered life.
~ Presbytera Emily Harakas & Fr. Anthony Coniaris, DAILY MEDITATIONS and Prayers for the CHRISTMAS ADVENT Fast and Epiphany: Living the Days of Advent and Epiphany according to the Orthodox Church Calendar
