Post-feast of Theophany; Our Venerable Father Theodosius, Founder of the Cenoebitic Monastic Life (529)
Polyeleos Feast.
2 Corinthians 4:6-15; Matthew 11:27-30.
Read 2 Corinthians 4:6-15
Christ is born! Glorify Him!
For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Recently, I listened to a podcast on Ancient Faith Radio by Fr. Thomas Hopko of thrice-blessed memory in which he shares a meditation on the Feast of the Theophany of Our Lord which we continue to celebrate in these days. I was very struck by the title of this podcast, which is: Theophany – The Radiant Shining Forth! While we most frequently associate this Feast with Jesus’ baptism and the Great Blessing of Water in church, the essential event of this Feast is the manifestation of God, the theophania, in which Jesus Christ is revealed as the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, as the Son of God. This manifestation is what we sing about in the Kontakion:
Today, You have appeared to the world* and Your light, O Lord, has been signed on us,* who with knowledge sing Your praises.* You have come, You have appeared, O unapproachable Light.
This light of Christ, brothers and sisters, is the light we have received in our baptism. Through baptism, we become bearers of Christ’s light in this world, called to carry it into the darkness of this world in order to illuminate it. And we do so by living our vocation in life with Christ at the centre. For St. Theodosius, whom we commemorate today, it meant living as a monk, first as a solitary and later in a cenobium (community) which is why he is the founder of cenobitic monasticism.
Whatever our vocation in life, may we live it with Christ at the centre. May we always be the bearers of His light in every part of our life and in every encounter with others. May we bring that light into the dark places of our own life and into the darkness of this world.