How is Epiphany celebrated in the Assyrian Church?
Fr Emanuel. (© European Union 2016 - European Parliament)
There is a wonderful diversity in how and when the Feast of Epiphany is celebrated in the church throughout the world. In the Western Church it is celebrated on the 6th January. While in many Orthodox traditions it falls on 19th.
Our friend Fr Emanuel, Archimandrite of the Assyrian Church of the East in Iraq, and Director of our partner in Northern Iraq CAPNI, tells us what Epiphany is like in his church - including their tradition of ‘The Best Man of Christ.’
THE HISTORY OF THE CELEBRATION OF EPIHPANY
The Assyrian Church of the East celebrates the feast of Epiphany on 6th January with church rituals distinct in their components, rich in their contents and wonderful in their melody. According to the heritage and ritual of the Church of the East, Epiphany is one of the seven divine feasts. The seven feasts are Christmas, Epiphany, Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost, Transfiguration and Holy Cross, all of which reflect God’s Plan for salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ and linked to important moments in His life.
The number seven, we know, is one of the numbers of perfection in the Eastern heritage, as well as in the Old Testament.
In the beginning, the Church of the East, like other Eastern churches, did not celebrate Christmas as an independent holiday, but rather celebrated Epiphany as the first feast. However, by the fourth century, like many churches, December 25 was adopted as the feast of the Nativity of Christ.
For the Church of the East, Epiphany includes the celebration of Christ’s baptism and the start of His Gospel and His work of salvation. In Syriac (the language of the sons of the Church of the East, and the Church of the East liturgy), Epiphany is called ‘Dinkha’ (ܕܢܚܐ), which means ‘to appear’ or ‘sunrise’.
THE LITURGY OF EPIPHANY
The festive prayers begin with the evening prayer, held at sunset on 5th January. According to the rituals of the Church of the East and depending on the biblical text, the day begins with sunset and ends with sunset the next day, so the evening prayer is, in fact, the first prayer of the day.
The evening prayer of Epiphany dates back more than 1,400 years and is characterized by a festive (sung) prayer, a group performance, distinct melodies and theological and doctrinal contents. Unlike evening prayers for other days, Epiphany evening prayers, as well as other divine feasts, end with a Eucharist service.
Until 20 years ago, the believers of the Church of the East, according to its canons, refrained from eating and drinking before partaking of the Holy Communion. So the celebrants of Epiphany fasted throughout the day of 5th January to be spiritually prepared to participate in the Epiphany prayers and to receive the Eucharist. (More recently, the Church of the East allows fasting to be for three hours before the Mass when it is held in the late afternoon.)
The rituals of Epiphany are enriched by the night and dawn prayers. The night prayer is a long vigil in which all the psalms are recited. The liturgy also includes a distinct passage that the Church Fathers put together that they called the Water Psalm. It contains all the sentences of the psalms that include the word water or its equivalent (rain, river, sea, etc.) and it is sung in the Epiphany night prayer.
After the dawn prayer, the Blessed Eucharist is celebrated, which, like other divine feasts, includes texts and passages specific to the feast.
CULTURAL PRACTICES
BAPTISMS
Popularly, the tradition among families is to wait for Epiphany to baptize their newly born babies. Usually in the Church of the East, newborns receive baptism in the first three months after birth and in a timing that suits the family. However due to the peculiarity of Epiphany and its association with the baptism of the Lord, many families may wait for up to six months, and perhaps more, to baptize their children on this feast.
All Church of the East parishes hold the service of the Holy Baptism on Epiphany and after the conclusion of the Eucharist.
The special position of the Lord's feasts among the faithful of the Church of the East is also reflected in the fact that the names of five of these seven holidays are often chosen as personal names. It is very common to be called Yalda (meaning Christmas), Dinkha (Feast of Epiphany), Sulaqa (Feast of the Ascension), Gelyana (Feast of the Transfiguration), Sliwa (Feast of the Holy Cross).
THE BEST MAN OF CHRIST
One of the popular traditions associated with Epiphany, which is common among the Assyrians and members of the Church of the East in Iran, is that of the ‘Best Man of Christ’.
Before the service of the Holy Mass, water is placed in a small vessel in which a cross is placed. After the end of the Mass and before partaking of the Eucharist, the priest blesses this water with a special prayer called the prayer of blessing the water.
The faithful present donate money to the church, and then a lottery is held between the names of the donors. Whoever wins the lottery becomes the Best-Man of Christ.
The Best Man of Christ lifts the cross from the water, dries it and holds it in his hand. The believers present in the church then come to kiss the cross and be blessed by it. Many also bring up small bottles of water (filled before the service), which are also blessed with the vessel and the cross. These they take home with them after the service. The Best Man of Christ gets to keep the cross in his house until the feast of the next year.
The term Best Man of Christ comes from our baptism services. In our church (and most of the churches), there is a person who spiritually adopt a child – their God father. During baptism he is the one who takes the child in his arms and hands him over to the priest for baptism. In the Syriac language he is ‘Shaushwina’ (Best Man). So, in Epiphany the one who wins/gets the cross is called Shaushwina (i.e. best man) of Jesus.
The family of this person also prepares a gathering on a later day, where they cook and serve a specific food called Harissa (Wheat, Meat and Water). A hall is prepared for this special occasion and all in the parish are invited to this open meal.
We wish you a blessed Epiphany (Dinkha),
And a blessed baptism for your children,
And peace and love among all, for all and with all.
Fr Emanuel
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