Why is water blessed?
Water plays an important role in our daily lives. However, it also has a higher meaning: it is characterized by healing power, which is repeatedly stated in the Holy Scriptures.
In New Testament times, water serves the spiritual rebirth of a person into a new, grace-filled life, cleansing from sins. In a conversation with Nicodemus, Christ the Savior says At the beginning of His ministry, Christ Himself received Baptism from the prophet John the Baptist in the waters of the Jordan River. The chants of the service for this holiday say that the Lord “grants cleansing with water to the human race” ; “Thou hast sanctified the streams of the Jordan, thou hast crushed the sinful power, O Christ our God...”
Water is not medicine
I have heard more than once that you need to add Epiphany water to the bath in which babies are bathed so that they do not get sick. This is also one of the superstitions. Every person can get sick. And great saints suffered from physical illnesses. For example, the Monk Seraphim of Sarov could not straighten his back due to the injury he received: he was attacked by robbers and severely beaten. Saint Matrona of Moscow was blind from birth until the end of her days. No one forbids giving holy Epiphany water to infants (it is still better to drink holy water), including during illness. But once again we need to be reminded that the use of a shrine is not a mechanism, but an action that requires faith and hope in God.
There is a tradition: to sprinkle houses, plots and everything that is there with water taken from the temple on the day of the Epiphany. Therefore, it is quite possible to sprinkle your home and household items with Epiphany water. At the same time, you can sing or read the troparion (the main hymn) of the holiday: “I am baptized in the Jordan, O Lord...”.
How is water blessed?
The blessing of water can be small and great: the small is performed several times throughout the year (during prayers, the Sacrament of Baptism), and the great - only on the feast of the Epiphany (Epiphany). The blessing of water is called great because of the special solemnity of the rite, imbued with the memory of the gospel event, which became not only the prototype of the mysterious washing of sins, but also the actual sanctification of the very nature of water through the immersion of God in the flesh.
The Great Blessing of Water is performed according to the Charter at the end of the liturgy, after the prayer behind the pulpit, on the very day of Epiphany (January 6/19), as well as on the eve of Epiphany (January 5/18). On the very day of Epiphany, the blessing of water takes place with a solemn religious procession to the water sources, known as the “procession to the Jordan.”
Only the Great Agiasma
There is a widespread belief that there is “Epiphany” water, and there is “Epiphany” water. These “waters” differ in the date of consecration - January 18 (on Epiphany Eve) and January 19 (on the day of Epiphany). But this opinion is a fallacy.
Indeed, the Great Blessing of Water is performed twice. The first blessing of water is on the eve of the feast of Epiphany, January 18, the second - on the day of the holiday itself. But there is no difference in this water, because on both January 18 and 19 the same rite (that is, sequence of prayers) of water blessing is used. Water consecrated according to this rite is called the Great Agiasma, that is, the Great Shrine. There is no separate “Epiphany” and separate “Epiphany” water, but only the Great Hagiasma.
It is difficult to accurately answer the question of what the practice of two water blessings is connected with. It is known that already in the 6th century in Palestine there was a tradition of consecrating water in the Jordan River on the eve and on the day of the feast of Epiphany. In Ancient Rus' there was a custom, which is still preserved in some places, to perform the Great Blessing of Water on January 18 in the temple, and on January 19 outside the temple, organizing a religious procession to a specially prepared ice hole - the Jordan.
Will unusual weather conditions in Russia affect the course of the Epiphany holiday and the blessing of the waters?
In any church holiday, it is necessary to distinguish between its meaning and the traditions that have developed around it. The main thing in the feast of the Epiphany is the Epiphany, the Baptism of Christ by John the Baptist, the voice of God the Father from heaven “This is my beloved Son” and the Holy Spirit descending on Christ. The main thing for a Christian on this day is presence at church services, confession and Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, and communion of baptismal water.
The established traditions of swimming in cold ice holes are not directly related to the Feast of the Epiphany itself, are not mandatory and, most importantly, do not cleanse a person of sins, which, unfortunately, is discussed a lot in the media.
Such traditions should not be treated as magical rites - the holiday of the Epiphany is celebrated by Orthodox Christians in hot Africa, America, and Australia. After all, the palm branches of the feast of the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem were replaced by willows in Russia, and the consecration of grapevines on the Transfiguration of the Lord was replaced by the blessing of the apple harvest. Also, on the day of the Epiphany of the Lord, all waters will be sanctified, regardless of their temperature.
Archpriest Igor Pchelintsev, press secretary of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese
Did you drink water and everything is fine?
There is such a judgment: by swimming in an ice hole on Epiphany night, you can get rid of all diseases, sins and the evil eye, and if you get sick during the year, you need to drink Epiphany water for healing.
It is necessary to place emphasis: separately - illness and sin, separately - the evil eye. The evil eye, damage and the like are superstitions. And you need to get rid of only one thing - belief in superstitions. Christians believe in God, and not in evil eyes, damage, love spells, etc. When we turn to God in prayer, we ask God to protect us from evil. For example, in the prayer “Our Father” there are the words: “Deliver us from the evil one,” that is, from the devil. The devil is a fallen angel who opposes God and wants to turn people away from God, which is why we ask God to deliver us from the devil and all the evil that he tries to sow in people. If a person sincerely believes in God, in the fact that the Lord God protects believers from all evil, then at the same time it is impossible to believe in damage, the evil eye, and the like.
By accepting Epiphany water (like any other shrine, for example, prosphora or blessed oil), a person can pray to the Lord that this shrine would serve him as a means of healing from illnesses. In the rite of the Great Blessing of Water there are the following words: “Let us pray to the Lord for the gift of this water of consecration, for the removal of sins, for the healing of soul and body, and for every good benefit” (Russian translation: “So that this water of consecration may become a gift, deliverance from sins, for healing of soul and body and fit for every useful work, let us pray to the Lord." We ask that through the use of agiasma a person receives the grace of God, cleansing sins and healing mental and physical infirmities. But all this is not some kind of mechanical or automatic action: I drank water and everything immediately became fine. What is needed here is faith and hope in God.
How to use holy water?
The use of holy water in the daily life of an Orthodox Christian is quite varied. For example, it is consumed on an empty stomach in small quantities, usually together with a piece of prosphora (this especially applies to the great agiasma ( water blessed on the eve and on the very day of the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord), sprinkled on your home.
A special property of holy water is that, added even in small quantities to ordinary water, it imparts beneficial properties to it, therefore, in case of a shortage of holy water, it can be diluted with plain water.
We must not forget that consecrated water is a church shrine, which has been touched by the grace of God, and which requires a reverent attitude.
It is customary to use holy water with the prayer: “Lord my God, may Your holy gift and Your holy water be for the remission of my sins, for the enlightenment of my mind, for the strengthening of my mental and physical strength, for the health of my soul and body, for the subjugation of passions and my infirmities according to Thy boundless mercy through the prayers of Thy Most Pure Mother and all Thy saints. Amen".
Although it is advisable - out of reverence for the shrine - to take Epiphany water on an empty stomach, if there is a special need for God's help - during illnesses or attacks by evil forces - you can and should drink it without hesitation, at any time. With reverent attitude, holy water remains fresh and pleasant to the taste for a long time. It
Holy water in the house should be stored in a specially prepared container.
As Archpriest Alexy Kulberg noted, it does indeed happen that the holy water stored in the house has spoiled and turned green.
If a person truly believes, this water will still remain sacred for him, even if its color has changed, some flakes or sediment have appeared, the smell of the water has changed, or it has ceased to be transparent.
The reason for all these unwanted changes could be that the water was not stored correctly. The first rule for storing a shrine is a reverent attitude towards it and sincere belief in its holiness.
Before collecting holy water in one container or another, the dishes must be thoroughly washed. It is best to use a glass container, preferably dark and with a lid that can be screwed on tightly. The container with holy water should be kept at home next to the icons or behind them.
Is the water consecrated on the day of Epiphany and on Epiphany Eve different in its properties?
– There is absolutely no difference! Let's go back to the time of Patriarch Nikon: he specifically asked the Patriarch of Antioch whether it was necessary to consecrate the water on the very day of the Epiphany: after all, the day before, on Christmas Eve, the water had already been consecrated. And I received the answer that there would be no sin in that, it could be done again so that everyone could take water. But today they come for one kind of water, and the next day for another - they say, the water is stronger here. Why is she stronger? So we see that people do not even listen to the prayers that are read at the consecration. And they don’t know that the water is blessed by the same rite, the same prayers are read.
Holy water is absolutely the same on both days - both on the day of Epiphany and on Epiphany Christmas Eve.
priest Mikhail Mikhailov
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The Church advises: in order not to be the last in the Kingdom of Heaven, you do not need to be the first to rush to containers with holy water
On Monday, January 19, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Holy Epiphany, Epiphany. Every year on this day, thousands of people with water containers flock to Orthodox churches. But, unfortunately, many of them have little understanding of how to properly use water, how to store it, and what absolutely cannot be done with it.
The rector of the cathedral in the name of the Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky, Archpriest Alexander Novopashin, told Vecherny Novosibirsk correspondent Valery Melnikov about the rules for using Epiphany water.
— Father Alexander, why is the feast of Epiphany also called Epiphany and what is the difference between the water of Epiphany and Epiphany?
— The holiday of Epiphany is based on the Gospel story of how the Savior was baptized in the waters of the Jordan. During baptism, the Holy Spirit descended on Christ in the form of a dove, and the voice of God the Father was heard from Heaven: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” That is, at baptism, three faces of the Holy Trinity appeared to people: God the Father (in a voice from heaven), God the Holy Spirit (in the form of a dove) and God the Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, this holiday is also called Epiphany. Since water-blessing prayers are performed twice: on Epiphany Eve and on the feast of Epiphany itself, there is a belief that the water blessed on these days is different. This is not true, since the rite of the Great Blessing of Water on these days is the same. And the water blessed on Christmas Eve and the feast of Epiphany is the same and is called Epiphany or Epiphany.
— Is it true that silver is used to consecrate water?
“Very often we observe how people look into containers with holy water and try to see a silver cross there, but when blessing water, no silver is used - the water is blessed by prayer, and the crosses that are dipped into water during the blessing of water are often made of wood.
— Some people are confused by the fact that water from a hose is constantly added to containers with holy water.
“This should not confuse anyone - when combined with holy water, simple water is also sanctified; it’s not for nothing that there is a saying: “A drop of holy water sanctifies the sea.” For the same reason, it is not necessary to fill full containers; you can add plain water to holy water at home in the same way. It is advisable to come for water with cans; glassware often breaks in the commotion. Plastic bottles slow down the release of water, but if there are no other dishes, then the bottles must be rinsed in advance to remove beer sediments and residues of flavored drinks. Labels on plastic bottles must be washed off. At home, holy water is usually poured from plastic bottles into glass containers and covered with a loose lid. To ensure that holy water is not confused with anything else, the dishes are signed or special stickers are placed on them. Holy water should be stored in an appropriate place. For example, you cannot place it next to alcoholic beverages. To ensure that Epiphany water is always available throughout the year, regular water is added to the container as it is consumed. Some people prefer to pour holy water from a container in small doses and add it to a bowl of plain water.
— Often people take water, but they themselves don’t really know what to do with it.
— On the day of Epiphany, when holy water is brought home, it is customary to sprinkle the room with it, so that the Lord, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, will sanctify the home of believers. The walls in each room and all utility rooms are sprinkled with holy water with the prayer “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen,” and whoever knows, sings the troparion (short prayer) for the feast of Epiphany. During the year, they usually drink holy water in the morning, after reading a special prayer “For receiving prosphora and holy water.” If you do not have prosphora, then in the prayer the word “prosphora” is omitted.
They drink Epiphany water strictly on an empty stomach. There are two exceptions to this rule: you can drink water not on an empty stomach on the day of the holiday, when water is taken in the church, and in case of serious illness. Some housewives specially prepare water for Epiphany so that they can then pickle cucumbers in it, since they believe that cucumbers pickle better in the water collected on the day of Epiphany. As they say, according to your faith, it will be for you: pickling cucumbers in water blessed in the church is a sin.
— Is it possible to bathe sick children in holy water?
“This is strictly forbidden, since the holy water will mix with dirt, and after bathing it will flow into the sewer. If a child is sick, then you need to give him holy water to drink, and you can also wet your face with it.
— What to do if holy water blooms for some reason?
“This sometimes happens, and most often not because of improper storage, but for spiritual reasons, and such a situation is a reason to go to confession. And the blooming water should be poured either into indoor flowers, or outside the city under a bush, or into running water (river, stream). You also need to handle the water you use to rinse the container from last year’s holy water. There is another way - water is poured into small containers, placed on a heating radiator and gradually evaporates.
— Father Alexander, the tradition of stocking up on holy water for the feast of Epiphany was preserved even during the times of militant atheism, but the very sight of people literally fighting to the death near water containers is upsetting.
“It’s really sad to see such scenes.” If you have come for holy water, then you need to be worthy of it. If it is difficult to stand in a long line, you can come another day. To do this, you need to find out in advance the water distribution schedule, which varies in different temples. For example, in our cathedral, in addition to January 19, holy water will be poured on the 20th and 21st. The main thing you need to remember is that holy water taken with scandal is unlikely to provide the desired benefit. There is no need to be the first to rush to containers with holy water, for, as the Savior said: those who are first here may be the last in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Source
Does it happen that holy water “doesn’t help”?
Saint Theophan the Recluse writes those who are worthy of this grace through prayers of repentance, repentance, humility, service to people, works of mercy and the manifestation of other Christian virtues. But if they are not there, then this grace will not save, it does not act automatically, like a talisman, and is useless for the wicked and imaginary Christians (without virtues).”
Miracles of healing still occur today, and they are countless. But only those who accept it with living faith in the promises of God and the power of prayer of the Holy Church, those who have a pure and sincere desire to change their lives, repentance, and salvation, are rewarded with the miraculous effects of holy water. God does not create miracles where people want to see them only out of curiosity, without a sincere intention to use them for their salvation. “An evil and adulterous generation,” the Savior said about his unbelieving contemporaries, “ seeks a sign; and no sign will be given to him.” In order for holy water to benefit us, we will take care of the purity of our souls and the high dignity of our thoughts and actions.
Communion is irreplaceable
Someone believes that the Great Hagiasma can replace the Holy Mysteries of Christ. No, he can not.
This superstition is probably also due to a misunderstanding of church traditions. The water consecrated on the feast of Epiphany, even being a great shrine, as has already been said, still cannot replace the communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Although, for example, there are certain similarities in the practice of Communion and drinking agiasma - you need to take communion and drink agiasma on an empty stomach. This emphasizes the special attitude towards water blessed for Epiphany.
According to the rules of the Church, the Great Hagiasma was recommended to be used as spiritual consolation for people who, for various reasons, were excommunicated from the Sacrament of Communion, that is, it was not a question of a complete and equivalent replacement, but only of spiritual consolation.
Why can holy water spoil?
That happens. Water must be collected in clean containers in which the water should not spoil. Therefore, if we previously stored something in these bottles, if they are not very clean, there is no need to collect holy water in them. I remember in the summer one woman began pouring holy water into a beer bottle...
Often parishioners like to make comments: for example, they began to explain to one of our priests that he was consecrating the water incorrectly - he did not reach the bottom of the tank... Because of this, they say, the water will not be consecrated... Well, should the priest be a diver? Or that the cross is not silver... There is no need to reach to the bottom and the cross can be wooden. There is no need to make a cult out of holy water, but you also need to treat it piously! One priest I know, in 1988, had a bottle of water that he had kept since 1953 or 1954...
You need to treat water piously and carefully and lead a pious life yourself.
Priest Mikhail Mikhailov
Holy water... from the tap?
Many people sometimes authoritatively declare that water at Epiphany becomes holy everywhere, and there is no need to go to church to get it, you can get it from the tap at home.
If we understand some words (for example, “today - that is, today, now - the waters are sanctified by nature ...") from the rite of the Great Blessing of Waters in a broad sense, then we can say that the consecration of all waters actually occurs. But again, it is important to understand that this does not happen on its own, but through the prayers of the Church. The Church asks that the Lord God sanctify the waters, give His grace-filled power to cleanse and sanctify the nature of the water. Unfortunately, it often happens that many come to the temple specifically for water, without participating in the service of the feast of the Epiphany. It turns out that Epiphany water becomes an end in itself. And this is wrong. First of all, we must glorify God for his good deeds to the human race, which He revealed through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who took upon Himself the sins of the whole world, because it is in memory of the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan that the consecration of water is carried out.
