Dear friends, today we recall the great manifestation before the people of the Holy Trinity of God - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
This happened during the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist in the waters of the Jordan River.
John baptized people with water for repentance for the forgiveness of sins and preached about the Son of God:
I baptize you with water for repentance, but the One who comes after me is stronger than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to put on. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The spade is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn, and the chaff will burn up with unquenchable fire.
The Holy Gospel from Matthew 3:11-12
Jesus also went to John to be baptized.
Jesus had no sins, yet he humbled himself and was baptized by John.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him.
And John restrained Him, saying: "I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?"
And Jesus answered him: "Leave Me now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all that is right."
Then John left him.
And when Jesus was baptized, he immediately came up out of the water. And behold, the heavens were opened to Him and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him.
And here was a voice from heaven that said: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
The Holy Gospel from Matthew 3:13-17
The three Persons of One God - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit - are the same in their essence, power and eternity. God the Father was not begotten or created, nor did He come forth from anyone. The Son is eternally only begotten of the Father. The Holy Spirit is eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.
Jesus Christ promised His disciples:
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, to be with you forever. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides in you and will be in you.... And the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and remind you of all that I have told you.
The Holy Gospel of John 14:16-17, 26
And when the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.
The Holy Gospel of John 15:26
After His resurrection and before His ascension, the Lord Jesus Christ gave His disciples the great commission about the gospel:
Go, therefore, teach all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the age. Amen.
The Holy Gospel from Matthew 28:19-20
On today's holy Christian holiday, I address to you the good words that the Apostle Paul wrote in a letter to the believers in Corinth:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
The Second Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians 13:14
All the photo moments here were taken on Epiphany morning!