1. “What should you think about on Epiphany Eve and Epiphany?” Let’s decipher the question more correctly: What day is Epiphany Eve? What is it dedicated to?
On January 18, Orthodox Christians celebrate the day preceding the feast of the Epiphany. Epiphany is the popular name for the holiday; in the Church, January 19 is called the Feast of Epiphany. And Epiphany Christmas Eve is called “The Eve of Epiphany” (the word “forever” means the day preceding the holiday).
Although the media mainly write about Epiphany bathing both on Epiphany Eve and on the feast of the Epiphany itself, the feast of Epiphany is not at all about winter extreme sports, nor is it about water, even though it is holy. It’s about God. Therefore, the main name of the day is the holiday of Epiphany, a holiday in honor of the event when all Three Persons, Three Hypostases of the Triune God were revealed to humanity – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And everything happened when the prophet John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ in the Jordan River. During this Baptism, it was clearly, visibly revealed to those present (in the Church they say “revealed”) that Jesus Christ is the long-awaited Messiah, Savior, Son of God. And, at the same time, the secret of the nature of God, the trinity of His Persons (Hypostases) was revealed to people.
The moment of such openness, such closeness of God to people, according to one theologian, is an event of universal scale. This is what they celebrate on January 19, they don’t just think about it, they even talk out loud and pray in churches – both on Epiphany Eve and on Epiphany.
Photo: Viktor Tolochko/RIA Novosti
2. “What to put on the table on Epiphany Eve so that there is no sin?” It would be more correct to ask: How do believers fast on Epiphany Eve? What can you eat? What’s not allowed? From what time can you eat?
The event of Epiphany is so significant that in order for believers to be able to truly feel it and participate in it, a special day of strict fasting was established before the holiday (January 18). He helps us concentrate on the spiritual, subordinating the demands of our body to the higher. As on Christmas Eve, on January 18 it is not customary to “eat food until the first star”, and then they eat only juicy grains of wheat or rice boiled with honey. Since believers try to get to the service on this day, and during the service the “first star” is symbolized by the candle taken out after the liturgy, then in actual practice the fast should have ended after the morning liturgy. But due to the fact that on the day of Epiphany Eve, after the Divine Liturgy, the great consecration of water is performed, at which believers are also present, fasting lasts from the evening of January 17 (in the Church the day begins the evening before) until the end of the prayer service for the consecration of water.
From the name of the day it is easy to guess what kind of dish will be on the table of believers on the afternoon of January 18th. That’s right, juicy – boiled wheat, barley or rice with honey. But this is a pious tradition, and if you do not put it on the table on January 18, it will not be any sin. The strict fast of Epiphany Eve is a voluntary sacrifice of believers in honor of the joy of Epiphany. Voluntary! And no media can declare it mandatory! And even more so, strict fasting does not apply to the sick or weakened after illness. Or those who work hard and selflessly – military, police, firefighters, doctors…
That’s all you need to know about food on Epiphany Eve, all the other “journalists’ instructions” about how many plates should be put on the table on this day, which shoulder not to look over (or spit?) and so on are the fruit of the imagination of the writers and no has nothing to do with the church calendar, since it is wild paganism.
Photo: Alexander Kryazhev/RIA Novosti
3. “How to correctly tell fortunes on Epiphany Eve and Epiphany?”
There is no need to reformulate here. There is only one answer: “No way!” You can’t make fortunes either on Epiphany Eve or on Epiphany. And neither day nor night. Any fortune-telling or divination is a great sin, and on the days dedicated to the Epiphany it is a special blasphemy. The Bible calls soothsayers and fortune-tellers of all kinds “abominable to the Lord,” and it also says that they will be “put to death and driven out by God from before Him.”
If fortune telling was considered a crazy thing in past centuries, then in the 21st century peering at cards, trying to understand what awaits you, is completely ridiculous.
Here, of course, one can recall numerous young ladies from Russian villages and even noble houses, in defiance of the Church, peering “on Epiphany evening” into the darkness of the mirror, trying to see their betrothed there… Yes, it happened. Yes, the poets sang. But since then, both young girls and poets have the opportunity to receive a good education, so it is a shame to fall into deep ignorance.
Photo: Konstantin Mikhalchevsky/RIA Novosti
4. What is absolutely forbidden to do on Epiphany Eve? What absolutely needs to be done?
It is strictly forbidden to guess, and in general to break all God’s Commandments – as on all other days of the year. There are no other special restrictions on January 18th.
What should be done on the day of the Epiphany? In 2025, Epiphany Eve is a day off. Therefore, it is worth coming to the temple in the morning. And not only for the consecration of water (blessing of water), but also for the Divine Liturgy itself, which on this day is especially solemn, poetic and beautiful. And after the liturgy and blessing of water, it is worth collecting holy water.
As for the custom of plunging into an ice hole on the night from January 18 to January 19, or on the day of Epiphany itself, it has not church, but folk roots: since ancient times there was a belief that such bathing brings health for the year ahead. I think the point here is that the people who ventured into the Epiphany extreme initially had remarkable health. Today, the fashion for Epiphany bathing is spurred on by the media: since the current information space is based on sensationalism, the story of crowds of people jumping into an ice hole in the bitter cold seems to the press more spectacular than a calm narrative about the essence of the Gospel event. Hence the distorted idea of the feast of the Epiphany as a day when believers must climb into the ice hole. No, they shouldn’t, and plunging into the Epiphany Jordan three times (in honor of the Trinity) is a person’s personal choice.
Photo: Alexander Kryazhev/RIA Novosti
5. “When is it better to collect holy water? On Epiphany Eve or on Epiphany?”
In memory of the Baptism of Jesus Christ, water is blessed both on Epiphany Eve and on the feast of Epiphany itself. Moreover, regardless of the day of consecration, all this water is called Epiphany water and has the same properties.
During the blessing of water, the priest reads a prayer in which he asks the Lord to come “and through the influx of the Holy Spirit, sanctify this water, give it the grace of deliverance, the gift of sanctification, resolution of sins, healing of ailments, create it as a source of incorruption, make it destructive for demons, unapproachable for the spells of enemies of the human race.” and filled with angelic strength.” And the prayer at the great consecration of the water ends with the request: “Grant to all who touch it and partake of it and those who are anointed with it sanctification, health, purification and blessing.”
Source: rg.ru
