From the Head of the UGCC on the 329th day of the war: “God immerses himself in the waters of the Jordan to immerse a person in the life of the Holy Trinity”
God not only comes for man, but He also raises him to Himself. He clothes himself with the streams of the Jordan to clothe a man with his deity, reforming him to his original glory. So the Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, said in his daily address on the 329th day of the war.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav drew attention to the symbolism of water because the Jordan water blessing is held in churches on the eve of the Epiphany. Water becomes a symbol of purification and sanctification and rebirth of man and the world.
“Our immersion in baptismal waters on the day of receiving the Sacrament of Baptism is immersion in the death and resurrection of Christ,” conveyed the archbishop.
The blessing of water is a symbol of the new creation of the world, he noted. The Son of God descends into the water and emerges as a new Adam. And because of that renewal, renewed touching by the Creator of his creation, everything is transformed. The Patriarch compared the moment of Christ’s descent into the Jordan and his ascent from it with a tremendous explosion experienced by all creation, an explosion of enlightenment and sanctification.
“We see the Spirit of God hovering over the waters and ask Him: Holy Spirit, come! As the dove was once the precursor of the end of the flood, death, and destruction of the original world and humanity, be you our announcer of peace!” asked the archbishop.
The UGCC Department for Information
