EPIPHANY SUNDAY 2025

 EPIPHANY SUNDAY 2025
John 1: 6-10 "There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him."

If you look out of the window of the house and you can see the daylight then you can be sure that there is darkness outside because that is the reason why the angels of heaven switched on the light. If at night time you look out of the window of the house and you can see the night time and darkness outside then you might understand that both daylight and night time there is darkness out there unless the angels switch on the lamp.

Similarly if you look through the window looking at the inside of the house and you will see the light inside you can be sure that there must be a profound darkness inside that is why, out of necessity, God switched on the lamp inside. Also if you look through the window looking at the inside of the house and you will see nothing but darkness you can understand that there is a profound darkness inside unless God switches on the lamp.
Nonetheless, when God switches the LAMPS in the physical Darkness, and we call them stars, until the stars live they must shine, and give away their light to anyone who can see.

In the same way, when God switches on the light in our souls, we must shine as stars or shiny diamonds, just as Jesus said:
“You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden. Neither do you light a lamp and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house. Even so, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

We have to shine to light which is inside, not only because this light would be similar to the stars, who must shine in the darkness, but because our light is given by God to us, in order to overcome darkness with the light of God.
AS it is written in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 60: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the Lord’s glory has risen on you.
The inner light shines as a candle light inside our hearts. Every human person has this light though some people ignore it completely, not only its sight, but also when this light is talking to your heart.

There is a famous, almost modern day prophet or some say just a soothsayer, Michel de Nostredame, who started his book regarding the fate of the future world, with the following statement:  
“ Sitting alone at night in secret study; it is placed on the brass tripod. A slight flame comes out of the emptiness and makes successful that which should not be believed in vain. … A voice, fear: he trembles in his robes. Divine splendor; the God sits nearby.”

Jesus warns us, that we have to be aware of the presence of God’s light inside of our heart, in order to tend it, not to distinguish it, as he said in the Gospel of Matthew:
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how big is the darkness!

The God, who gave a sparkling light to us, one by one, is the same who created not only Heaven and Earth, but the whole Universe, even the parallel Universes, if they exist. And HE is our God, and is also completely almighty, all-knowing, eternal, omnipresent and also having all superior and supernatural qualities we are not even able to understand.
However, one thing looks like certain according to the holy scriptures, that God is one and not two or more, God is indivisible, who never changes, and not surprisingly he is also called, the Father of Light, as it is written in the letter of James:

" in the letter of James, chapter one: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights,with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow."
In the yearly recurring January 6, when World Christianity celebrates the holiday, called Epiphany, the division between the Christianity of the West and the East is tangible.

The religious tradition of the East is older than the the tradition of the West, thus the Eastern tradition is closer to the original practice of the early church, which held an early notion of the so called adoptism, when they said that Jesus became the adopted Son of God, on the very they when he was baptized, as it is very characteristic that during the baptism at the river Jordan by the hand of John the Baptizer, the heaven opened for the declaration made by God :
“This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased,” as it is also written in the Second Psalm: The LORD GOD said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your father. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.”

In the Eastern Churches, like the Armenian, the Syriac, the Chaldean, the Egyptian Coptic Church and so on, they celebrate the Birth and the Baptism of Jesus on the same day, usually around on the 6th of January. January the 6th is the old tradition about the birthday of Jesus, December 25, as a celebration Day of His Birth, came around only in the 4th century on the orders of the Roman Emperor Theodosius.

HOWEVER, the actual day or even the month or even the year do not really matter, because what it matters, was foretold in the book of Isaiah chapter nine:  “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.”
And moreover, the light has a nature, even the physical one, that it can not be idle. Even the physical one speeds with lightspeed, and nothing is faster in the physical world, we can be certain the the spiritual light can not be idle either, but must be busy with dispersing darkness, just as Jesus said: Even so, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Because before everything one of the major message and commandment of Jesus are that : You shall follow me. The metaphoric dove of the Holy Spirit will not fall from Heaven into our laps as a ripe fruit. As Jesus followers we must make efforts in prayer, in contemplation, in charity, in self-sacrifice in order to shine the light. That is the way.

We have to love God with all of our hearts minds and with our all strength and efforts, which means that we have to give everything what we got.  And there will be forgiveness and heavenly joy, for the greater glory of God, by the merit of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

AMEN