Epiphany

The Feast Day of The Epiphany, and the Epiphany liturgical season.

The overall theme of the Epiphany (day and season) is the revelation of who Jesus is to the Gentiles. This is an extension of him being born as a Jewish boy and coming into a Jewish world. Epiphany brings out the point that Jesus Christ is the revelation, the showing forth or the manifestation (epiphany is the Greek word for manifestation) of God to the whole word and not just to those who were in his immediate geographical environment of 1st century Palestine. This, in turn, has led to an emphasis on the Church's work of mission, to live out and tell the world that Jesus, as the demonstration of the Father's love, is the Saviour of the world.

The most popular image of the Epiphany is that of the Magi, the Wise Men who came from the east, from a Gentile setting. Other aspects of Christ's life and ministry that are featured in Epiphany are his baptism by John, and His first recorded miracle at the wedding (of turning water into wine) in Cana of Galilee

The Epiphany season begins on The Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, and ends on the day before Lent, which is known as Shrove Tuesday.

Celebrations of Christ's life and ministry are a mixture of thematically linked events, some of which also have a real-time connection. Within the Epiphany season The Presentation of Christ in the Temple on February 2 is marked in "real time." To fulfill the requirements of Leviticus 12:2-8, Mary had to present Jesus at the Temple and offer a sacrifice forty days after his birth. According to Luke 2:22-24, she did just that. If Jesus were born on December 25, then this would have occurred on February 2. (This feast day is also referred to as Candlemas.)