Epiphany

This morning we had services for the eve of Epiphany, and tomorrow we will celebrate the feast itself, also with liturgy and the blessing of the water. As Fr. Dean pointed out in his sermon this morning, there is absolutely no difference in the two blessing services (although we omit one of the prayers the day before but include it in the service on the day of the feast). Epiphany is celebrated like Christmas - two services are offered (one in the evening and one in the morning) in order to allow more people to attend. Somehow through the years at the Cathedral we started doing the evening service the morning before. Fr. Dean and I discussed restoring today's vesperal liturgy to an appropriate evening setting next year - stay tuned.

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So this morning we did vespers, the liturgy of St. Basil and the blessing of the water service. Tomorrow we will do orthros, the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and the blessing service. Several weeks ago our sexton Sam painstakingly filled 1000 small bottles with water, all of which will be blessed and given out by the end of tomorrow's service (we usually keep a reserve as well). In addition people can draw from the two fonts as well as the drinking stations in the narthex. (I should add that I carried the five baskets filled with bottles into the altar from the kitchen - it was a full workout!). Epiphany is a huge feast in the Orthodox church, and we do celebrate it appropriately at the Cathedral. We will also have liturgy Thursday for the synaxis of John the Baptist, when a large number of parishioners celebrate their feast day. A special shout-out to Presbytera Joanna - Chronia polla!