THE collect for the Epiphany, a principal feast in Common Worship (CW), is based on a pre-Reformation prayer that commemorates the manifestation of Christ to the nations of the world. Although the magi are not mentioned, the reference to the star makes it clear that it is their visit to Bethlehem which is being celebrated.
O God, who by the leading of a star manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: mercifully grant that we, who know you now by faith, may at last behold your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ. . .
CW has, however, extended Epiphany beyond the single day (6 January) provided by the Book of Common Prayer to a period spanning four Sundays, although this year Epiphany 4 is dropped because it would fall on 2 February, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Candlemas) which takes precedence.
So, under CW’s arrangement, the commemoration of the baptism of Christ and the wedding at Cana have been restored to the liturgy. Indeed, the Baptism of Christ is observed as a festival in its own right (kept on Epiphany 1, except when 6 January falls on a Sunday, in which case it is observed on Epiphany 2). Both are events manifesting the glory of Christ’s divinity .
In Common Worship, three of the collects appointed for the four Sundays of Epiphany are taken from the Alternative Service Book 1980, and one (Epiphany 4) was composed by David Silk at the request of the Liturgical Commission. That they attain the standards of brevity and elegance laid down by ancient form is a tribute to the skill of our modern liturgists.
THE word “Epiphany” comes from the Greek word meaning “manifestation”. The use of Greek is a rare exception in the English calendar, which usually names the Christian festivals in the mother tongue: the English words Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Whitsun were originally unofficial departures from ecclesiastical Latin or Greek.
This degree of lay appropriation of the church festivals — something that surely would have gladdened the heart of our Lord — did not apply to the Epiphany, a title that remained stubbornly clerical. It belongs to the cloister, not the village. Perhaps, after the 12 days of feasting at Christmas, and before the approaching festivity of Candlemas, our ancestors needed a pause from merrymaking and were content to leave matters to the clergy.
Epiphany never caught the popular imagination. True, the three wise men were always there in our carols, but in the popular mind they have become part of Christmas, and what should be the day of their arrival — 6 January — has become the time for their departure. With the tree, the cards, the holly and the ivy, they are packed away for another year.
Another reason that the Epiphany has never attracted the attention that it deserves is that it is a complex festival, lacking a single focus. Christmas has Bethlehem; Candlemas has the aged Simeon in the Temple; Easter has the empty tomb; Whitsun has the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the upper room; but the Epiphany has no single focus. Rather, it has three: the adoration of the magi, the baptism of Christ, and the wedding at Cana: each individually a “sign” — to use John’s word — of divine grace.
THE threefold character of the festival is of ancient origin. The 13th-century liturgist William Durand referred to the triple manifestation (phania) of Christ’s glory: epiphania, theophania, and bethphania. The last (“the house-manifestation”) referred to the wedding at Cana.
By extending Epiphany to a four-week season, Common Worship has given us space to focus our attention on those three distinct signs. The first of these, the adoration of the magi, is celebrated traditionally on 6 January (though this year the CW provision to transfer it to a Sunday will be widely taken up, moving it to the 5th). There follow the remaining Sundays during which the lectionary provides collects and readings celebrating the Baptism of Christ and the wedding at Cana.
The collect for the Baptism of Christ (adapted from the ASB 1980) is:
Eternal Father, who at the baptism of Jesus revealed him to be your Son, anointing him with the Holy Spirit: grant to us, who are born again by water and the Spirit, that we may be faithful to our calling as your adopted children; through Jesus Christ. . .
All four Evangelists record the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus, accompanied by the Father’s declaration. This biblical concurrence endorses what became the Church’s Trinitarian doctrine: that God is three and God is one. By placing this statement at the beginning of their account of Christ’s ministry, the Evangelists intend us to read their narrative in the light of that belief.
THE third sign of Epiphany — Christ’s turning the water into wine — is alluded to in the collect for Epiphany 3. The words “Almighty God, whose Son revealed in signs and miracles the wonder of your saving presence” are an echo, albeit faint, of the account in John: “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory. . .” More explicit is the entire passage (John 2.1-11), which is set as the Gospel on Epiphany 2 (Year C), Epiphany 3 (Year B), and Epiphany 4 (Year A).
IT IS not clear why the Epiphany collects in Common Worship are so understated. Apart from Christ’s Baptism (mentioned in the collect for Epiphany 1), neither the magi nor the wedding at Cana are mentioned by name in any of the Sunday collects. Instead, the worshipper is offered only allusions to the threefold character of this season.
In other respects, we have been supplied with a wealth of material by which to celebrate the glory of Christ’s epiphany (Common Worship: Times and Seasons). Among this rich profusion is the following triple introduction to the blessing:
May God the Father, who led the wise men by the shining of a star to find the Christ, the Light from light, lead you also in your pilgrimage to find the Lord. Amen.
May God the Son, who turned water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana, transform your lives and make glad your hearts. Amen.
May God the Holy Spirit, who came upon the beloved Son at his baptism in the river Jordan, pour out his gifts on you who have come to the waters of new birth. Amen.
The Revd Adrian Leak is a retired priest. His most recent publication is After the Order of Melchizedek: Memoirs of an Anglican priest (Book Guild, 2022).