A small waterway, lost in the sands and meandering among the rocks of the spurs of the Lebanese mountains, is a natural border between the Muslim and Jewish worlds. Two thousand years ago, it became a mystical line that divided the history of mankind into "before" and "after". The name of the Palestinian river has become a household name. "Jordan" means any body of water or place where the rite of the Great Blessing of Water is performed on the Feast of Epiphany.
What does the word baptism mean
In the Slavic tradition, "baptism" means involvement in the life of Christ. In ancient times, this word was pronounced like this - baptism. This is understood as a certain mystical action related to Christ and performed with His participation. The first meaning of the term "baptism" means a church sacrament (not a rite, but a sacrament), through which a person becomes a member of the society of followers of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
In the Hellenic tradition, this action is called the word βαπτίζω (vaptiso), which means "immerse" or "dip". Where in the Slavic translation of the Gospel it is written that John the Baptist performed baptism in the Jordan River, it should be understood“immersion”: “… and all Judea was baptized (immersed, dipped), etc. The Holy Prophet John did not invent this ceremony himself, but performed these actions on the basis of the Old Testament Jewish religious rite. Similar rituals can be found in many cultures. For example, Hindus take a sacred bath in rivers.
Ancient Jewish custom
The Law of Moses prescribed ablutions for any defilement: touching a dead man, eating forbidden food, a woman after bleeding, etc. According to the rites of the ancient Jews, any person of non-Jewish blood could join the Jewish faith. Such a person was called a proselyte. In this case, a special ritual was prescribed for the acceptance of non-believers into Judaism, which also included ablution. In modern language, this can be called the baptism of proselytes.
In all cases, ablution was performed by complete, with the head, immersion in a reservoir. This was a symbolic act and had the mystical meaning of cleansing from sins. Only “water from God” had cleansing properties: flowing from a source or collected rain.
Baptism of John
Jewish rites were known to John. At a certain time, he comes to the banks of the Jordan River and proclaims that the time of God's judgment is coming. The righteous will be rewarded with perfect eternal life in God's Kingdom, while the wicked will be subject to eternal punishment. John preached that one could be saved from punishment only by repenting of vices and correcting one's life. “Come to the Jordan,” called the Baptist,− come who wants to be saved!”
John gives a new meaning to the traditional Jewish ritual. He baptizes people who come to him in the Jordan River: he immerses them in water and does not allow them to leave until the person has completely cleansed his soul. Being the chosen one of God, he had the ability to see the secrets of the inner world. The prophet demanded not a confession of his crimes, but a resolute rejection of a sinful life. Gradually, a whole community of new saved people is formed around John.
Baptism of Jesus Christ
Imbued with the prophet's formidable call to repent of sins, many people from all over Palestine came to him. One day, Christ appeared on the banks of the Jordan. This event is described in detail by all four evangelists. Jesus did not have a single sin, did not need confession and cleansing. The Evangelists write that Christ, having plunged into the Jordan, immediately immediately came out of the water. The Prophet felt the holiness of the God-man and asked a bewildered question: “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” The Savior commands him to perform the rite.
Christ's acceptance of John's baptism is very important. This confirms the truth of the Baptist's preaching that a new era of human morality is coming. After the baptism, Christ went to a secluded place in the Palestinian desert, where he spent forty days in prayer, and only after that he began to preach among the Jews.
Why Jesus was baptized
SomeProtestant denominations perceive the meaning of the event in a simplified way. According to them, Jesus was baptized in order to set an example for us. An example of what? The meaning of baptism is explained in the Gospel of Matthew. In chapter 5 Christ says of himself that he came into the world not to destroy the Old Testament law, but to fulfill it. In the original source, the meaning of this verb has a slightly different connotation. Christ came to complete the law, that is, to complete its operation by Himself.
Theologians see several mystical moments in baptism:
- The river of Christ's baptism opened new knowledge about God to people. The Evangelists testify that at the exit from the water, the Holy Spirit descended on the Savior in the form of a dove, and all those present heard a voice from Heaven calling Christ the Son and commanding them to fulfill His teachings. Christians call this event the Epiphany, since for the first time the world was witnessed to God in three persons.
- By baptism, Jesus symbolizes the spiritual state of the entire ancient Israelite people. The Jews apostatized from God, forgot His commandments and massively needed repentance. Christ, as it were, makes it clear that the entire Jewish people must make the transition to a new moral state.
- The waters of the Jordan, figuratively cleansing the vices of people immersed in them, carried the spiritual impurity of all mankind. The river in which Jesus was baptized is also a symbol of restless souls. Christ, plunging into the waters, sanctified and cleansed them.
- Christ is the sacrifice. The meaning of His ministry on earth is to offer Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. According to Jewish customthe sacrificial animal must be washed before the liturgical ritual.
Where did the name "Jordan" come from
According to conventional wisdom, the river where Jesus was baptized has a Jewish name. There is no consensus in the scientific community on this matter.
- The most logical was to assume the Semitic origin of the toponym. In this case, Jordan comes from the Hebrew word "yered" ("descends", "falls"), and the name of the source Dan is the name of one of the 12 tribes of ancient Israel.
- There is a version of the Indo-European origin of the word. Since ancient times, Indo-Iranians, the ancestors of the Philistines, lived in these Middle Eastern territories. The Indo-European root danu means "moisture", "water", "river".
- Russian religious philosopher Dmitry Sergeevich Merezhkovsky saw lines in Homer's Odyssey that speak of a certain tribe of Kidons who lived off the coast of Yardan. He concluded that the river of Jesus' baptism was called the Jordan by people from Crete.
Holy waters of the Jordan
Already 1000 years before our era, the waters of the Jordan River were revered as sacred. The chroniclers have preserved a lot of evidence that leprosy patients were healed after bathing in the river. Other zealots descended into the water in burial shrouds. Pieces of fabric were kept until the day of death, believing that this would help resurrect.
After the baptism of Jesus, the river began to be considered a great shrine even without additional rites. Early Christians used water asits miraculous and healing properties. When Christianity became the state religion in Byzantium, believers were able to freely move around the empire. The River of Christ's Baptism has become a longed-for destination for pilgrims.
Many pilgrims rushed to the banks of the Jordan, not only to bow to sacred places. In addition to reverent veneration, superstitions also appeared. The sick began to be immersed in the waters of the river in anticipation of a miracle of healing and old age of people with faith in rejuvenation. Water began to be used to sprinkle farmland, hoping that this would bring a bountiful harvest. Shipowners took on large vessels of water in an attempt to prevent shipwreck and ensure a safe voyage.
Jordan these days
The flow of pilgrims does not stop even today. According to ancient testimonies, the place on the banks of the Jordan, where John the Baptist performed his mission, is located on the territory of modern Israel. The river of baptism of Christ in this area flows through the Palestinian Authority and access to it after the 1967 war is impossible.
Fulfilling the wishes of Christians, the Israeli government allocated a small section of the coast at the exit of the Jordan from Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). With the participation of the Ministry of Tourism, a whole complex of structures was built. This pilgrimage center is not considered a historical place for evangelistic events, but for numerous believers from all over the world, it is the only opportunity to immerse themselves in sacred waters.
Miracles for the Feast of Epiphany
On the feast of the Epiphany on January 19, the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem performs a festive prayer service and a great blessing of water. The culmination of this service is the threefold immersion of the cross in water. Many who are present testify to the yearly recurring miracle. At the moment the cross is immersed, the river of Jesus' baptism stops its course, and the waters begin to move in the opposite direction. This phenomenon was captured on video by many eyewitnesses. The Jordan has a rather strong current, and it is not possible to explain this phenomenon by a natural factor. Believers believe that in this way God shows his power.
Authentic place where the Savior was baptized
If the question in which river Jesus was baptized is already considered resolved, then the location of the event itself can be argued with. For twenty centuries, the riverbed has changed more than once, the states and peoples that existed in biblical times have sunk into oblivion.
In the Jordanian city of Madaba, an ancient temple from the heyday of the Byzantine Empire has been preserved. The Church of St. George the Victorious was built in the middle of the 6th century. Its floor is decorated with a mosaic geographical map of Palestine. The surviving fragment of this document measures 15 by 6 meters. Among other things, the place of the baptism of the Savior is depicted in great detail on the map. This gave scientists the idea to find archaeological evidence of the gospel events.
Onterritory of Jordan, not far from the place where the river flows into the Dead Sea, in 1996, forty meters east of the modern channel, a group of archaeologists discovered the true place of the Savior's baptism. For almost a year now, from the Israeli side, the river of Christ's baptism in this place has been available for visiting pilgrims. Anyone can get to the water and take a bath or dive.
River of the Baptism of Russia
Kyiv Prince Vladimir decided to make Orthodox Christianity the official religion. In the historiography, both ecclesiastical and secular, sanctifying these events, it is customary to mention the survey arranged by Prince Vladimir of the envoys of different religions. The Greek preacher was the most convincing. In 988 Russia was baptized. The Dnieper River became the Jordan of the state of Kyiv.
Vladimir himself was baptized in the Greek colony of Crimea - the city of Chersonese. Upon arrival in Kyiv, he ordered all his court to be baptized. After that, under fear of being classified as a personal enemy, he committed the baptism of Russia. In which river the mass sacrament will take place, there was no doubt. The wooden statue of the most revered pagan god Perun was thrown into the river, and the people of Kiev were gathered on the banks of the Dnieper and its tributary Pochaina. The clergy who arrived with Vladimir from Chersonesus performed the sacrament, and a new era of our state began.
