Early Christian Beliefs About Epiphany

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

... should be born of the Virgin Mary for the salvation of the world. Let them rest on the festival of Epiphany, because on it there was a manifestation of the divinity of Christ. For the Father bore witness to Him at His baptism, and the Paraclete, in the form of a dove, pointed out to the bystanders the One about whom that witness was given. Let them rest on the days of the apostles, for they were appointed as your teachers to bring you to Christ and made you worthy of the Spirit. Let them rest on the day of the first martyr Stephen, and on the days of the other holy martyrs who chose Christ over their own life.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

Let them rest on the festival of Epiphany, because on it a manifestation took place of the divinity of Christ, for the Father bore testimony to Him at the baptism;

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

...irst of all, celebrate the birthday on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month. After that, let the Epiphany be the most honored among you, in which the Lord showed you His own Godhead. Let it take place on the sixth day of the tenth month. After that, you are to observe the fast of Lent, since it contains a memorial of our Lord's way of life and His legislation. But let this solemnity be observed before the fast of the Passover, beginning on the second day of the week and ending on the day of the Preparation. After these solemnities, when you have ended your fast, begin the holy week of the Passover. During it all of you are to fast with fear and trembling, praying during those days for those who are about to perish.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

after which let the Epiphany be to you the most honoured, in which the Lord made to you a display of His own Godhead, and let it take place on the sixth of the tenth month;

Hippolytus, Discourse on the Holy Theophany Direct teaching

But there is also that which is more honourable than all — the fact that Christ, the Maker of all, came down as the rain, and was known as a spring, and diffused Himself as a river, and was baptized in the Jordan.

Early Liturgies, Divine Liturgy of St. Mark Supporting witness

XVI. For truly heaven and earth are full of Your glory, through the manifestation of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Early Liturgies, Divine Liturgy of St. James Supporting witness

that descended in the form of a dove on our Lord Jesus Christ at the river Jordan, and abode on Him;

Clement of Alexandria, Fragments Supporting witness

Luke 3:22. God here assumed the likeness not of a man, but of a dove, because He wished, by a new apparition of the Spirit in the likeness of a dove, to declare His simplicity and majesty.

Hippolytus, Discourse on the Holy Theophany Supporting witness

For when Christ the Bridegroom was baptized, it was meet that the bridal-chamber of heaven should open its brilliant gates.

Hippolytus, Discourse on the Holy Theophany Supporting witness

...creature? Baptize me, the Baptist, that Your pre-eminence may be known. I, O Lord, baptize with the baptism of repentance, and I cannot baptize those who come to me unless they first confess fully their sins. Be it so then that I baptize You. What have You to confess? You are the Remover of sins, and will You be baptized with the baptism of repentance? Though I should venture to baptize You, the Jordan dares not come near You. I have need to be baptized by You, and You come to me?"

Hippolytus, Discourse on the Holy Theophany Supporting witness

He who is present everywhere, and absent nowhere — who is incomprehensible to angels and invisible to men — comes to the baptism according to His own good pleasure.

Hippolytus, Discourse on the Holy Theophany Supporting witness

4. As John says these things to the multitude, and as the people watch in eager expectation of seeing some strange spectacle with their bodily eyes, and the devil is struck with amazement at such a testimony from John, lo, the Lord appears, plain, solitary, uncovered, without escort, having on Him the body of man like a garment, and hiding the dignity of the Divinity, that He may elude the snares of the dragon.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Supporting witness

3. And then, [speaking of His] baptism, Matthew says, “The heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God, as a dove, coming upon Him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” For Christ did not at that time descend upon Jesus, neither was Christ one and Jesus another: but the Word of God—who is the Saviour of all, and the ruler of heaven and earth, who is Jesus, as I have already pointed out, who did also take upon Him flesh, and was anointed by the Spirit from the Father—was made Jesus Christ, as Esaias also says, “There shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from his root;

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness

...or so it was considered right to speak to the Word, and He is free. For at the moment of the Lord's baptism, a voice sounded from heaven as a testimony to the Beloved: "You are My beloved Son, today have I begotten You." Let us then ask the wise, Is Christ, begotten today, already perfect, or, what would be most monstrous, imperfect? If the latter, then there is still something He needs to add. But for Him to add anything to His knowledge is absurd, since He is God. For no one can be superior to the Word, or the teacher of the only Teacher. Will they not then admit, though unwilling, that the perfect Word, born of the perfect Father, was begotten in perfection, according to divine arrangement fore-ordination? And if He was perfect, why was He, the perfect one, baptized? It was necessary, they say, to fulfill the profession that pertained to humanity. Excellent. Well then, I say, does He become perfect at the same time as His baptism by John? Clearly. Then He did not learn anything more from him? Certainly not. But is He perfected by the washing of baptism alone, and sanctified by the descent of the Spirit? So it is. The same also takes place in our case, and Christ became our ex

Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness

...ospels. Matthew reports that when the Baptist saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, after the words of rebuke we have already studied, he went on to say, in Matthew 3:11, "I indeed baptize you with water to repentance; but He who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." This agrees with the words in John, where the Baptist declares to those sent by the Pharisees, concerning his baptizing with water. Mark, again, says in Mark 1:6-7, "John preached, saying, 'There comes after me One who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptized you with water, but He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit.'" And Luke says in Luke 3:16 that, as the people were waiting expectantly and all were reasoning in their hearts about John, whether perhaps he was the Christ, John answered them all, saying, "I indeed baptize you with water; but there comes One mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

Luke 3:22 Supporting witness

And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

Matthew 3:16 Supporting witness

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.

Mark 1:10 Supporting witness

And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

Luke 3:21 Supporting witness

Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Direct teaching

...your nation, for the Spirit in the prophets anointed and established your kings. However, after the manifestation and death of Jesus Christ in your nation, there has been no prophet, and you ceased to exist under your own king. Your land was devastated and left desolate like a shelter in a vineyard. Jacob's statement in Scripture, "And He shall be the desire of nations," symbolically referred to His two comings and that the nations would believe in Him. This is now clear, for those from all nations who are pious and righteous through faith in Christ anticipate His future appearance.

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Direct teaching

therefore Christ is God: so that with reason neither does the testimony of the Old Testament waver concerning the person of Christ, being supported by the manifestation of the New Testament;

Hippolytus, Treatise on Christ and Antichrist Direct teaching

These, then, shall come and proclaim the manifestation of Christ that is to be from heaven;

Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness

And drawing to a close still in the things of Christ, we come, as it were, to evening and night, when we arrive at the bodily features of His manifestation.

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness

...reat this subject, and, so to speak, set in motion a whole forest of passages about that showing of Christ’s divinity. But I have not so much taken up the task of speaking against this particular heresy as of explaining the rule of truth concerning the person of Christ. However, although I must hurry on to other matters, I do not think I should pass over this point. In the Gospel, the Lord declared His majesty when He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up again." Or again, in another place and on another subject, He says, "I have power to lay down my life, and to take it up again; for this commandment I have received from my Father." Now who is it that says He can lay down His life, or can Himself take up His life again, because He has received this from His Father? Or who says that He can raise up again and rebuild the destroyed temple of His body, except because He is the Word who is from the Father, who is with the Father, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made; the imitator of His Father’s works and powers; the image of the invisible God; who came down from heaven; who testified to what He had seen and heard; who came not t

Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness

...bout this subject, and, so to speak, bring forward a whole forest of passages about that showing of Christ's divinity. But I have not taken up this task mainly to speak against this particular form of heresy. Rather, I have taken it up to explain the rule of truth about the person of Christ. However, although I must move on to other matters, I do not think I should pass over this point. In the Gospel, the Lord declared His majesty by saying, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up again." In another place, and on another subject, He also says, "I have power to lay down my life, and to take it up again; for this commandment I have received from my Father." Now who is it that says He can lay down His life, or can Himself take His life back again, because He has received this from His Father? Or who says that He can raise up again and rebuild the destroyed temple of His body, except the Word who is from the Father, who is with the Father, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made; the imitator of His Father's works and powers; the image of the invisible God; who came down from heaven; who testified to the things He had seen and heard; who ca

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness

...d that all things were made by him. Moreover, this Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, that is, Christ the Son of God. Since we later received him as man according to the flesh, and also see that before the foundation of the world he was the Word of God, and God, we rightly, according to the teaching of the Old and New Testament, believe and hold that Christ Jesus is both God and man. What if this same Moses presents God as saying, "Let us make man after our image and likeness"; and then below, "And God made man; in the image of God He made him; male and female He made them"? If, as we have already shown, it is the Son of God by whom all things were made, then certainly it was also the Son of God by whom man was formed, for whose sake all things were made. Moreover, when God commands that man should be made, he is called God who makes man. But the Son of God makes man, that is, the Word of God, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. And this Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Therefore Christ is God. Therefore man was made by Christ as by the Son of God. But God made man in the image of God. Therefore he who made man in the image of God is God.

Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness

...d that all things were made by Him. Moreover, this Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, that is, Christ the Son of God. Since we afterward received Him as man according to the flesh, and also see that before the foundation of the world He was the Word of God and God, we rightly believe and hold, according to the teaching of the Old and New Testament, that Christ Jesus is both God and man. What if this same Moses presents God as saying, “Let us make man after our image and likeness,” and then below says, “And God made man; in the image of God He made him; male and female He made them”? If, as we have already shown, it is the Son of God by whom all things were made, then certainly it was also the Son of God by whom man was appointed, for whose sake all things were made. Moreover, when God commands that man should be made, He is said to be God who makes man. But the Son of God makes man, that is, the Word of God, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. And this Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Therefore Christ is God. Therefore man was made by Christ as by the Son of God. But God made man in the image of God. Therefore He who made man in the image

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness

And yet the heretic still shrinks from insisting that Christ is God, even though he sees that Christ is proved to be God by so many words and facts. If Christ is only man, then when He came into this world, how did He come to His own, since a man could not have made the world? If Christ was only man, how is the world said to have been made by Him, when the world was not made by man, but man was appointed after the world? If Christ was only man, how was it that Christ was not only from the seed of David, but was also the Word made flesh and dwelt among us? For although the first-formed man was not born from seed, yet the first-formed man was not made by the joining together of the Word and flesh. For he is not the Word made flesh, nor did he dwell among us. If Christ was only man, how does He who comes from heaven testify to what He has seen and heard, John 3:31, when it is clear that man cannot come from heaven, because he cannot be born there? If Christ is only man, how are visible and invisible things, thrones, powers, and dominions, said to be created by Him and in Him, when the heavenly powers could not have been made by man, since they had to exist before man? If Christ is onl

Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness

And yet the heretic still shrinks from insisting that Christ is God, even though he sees that Christ is proved to be God by so many words and facts. If Christ is only man, then when He came into this world, how did He come to His own, since a man could not have made the world? If Christ was only man, how is the world said to have been made by Him, when the world was not made by man, but man was appointed after the world? If Christ was only man, how was Christ not only from the seed of David, but also the Word made flesh who dwelt among us? For although the first man was not born from seed, neither was the first man formed from the union of the Word and the flesh. For he is not the Word made flesh, nor did he dwell among us. If Christ was only man, how does He who comes from heaven testify to what He has seen and heard, John 3:31, when it is clear that man cannot come from heaven, because he cannot be born there? If Christ is only man, how are visible and invisible things, thrones, powers, and dominions, said to have been created by Him and in Him, when the heavenly powers could not have been made by man, since they had to exist before man? If Christ is only man, how is He present w

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Supporting witness

For Christ is King, and Priest, and God, and Lord, and angel, and man, and captain, and stone, and a Son born, and first made subject to suffering, then returning to heaven, and again coming with glory, and He is preached as having the everlasting kingdom: so I prove from all the Scriptures.

Origen, Commentary on Matthew Supporting witness

and. when Christ our life shall be manifested, then along with Him Colossians 3:3-4 shall be manifested those who are worthy of being manifested with Him in glory.