Holy Water

Drinking Holy Water is the best and most effective medicine

The Orthodox Church frequently uses holy water in rites of blessing and exorcism, and the Church also sanctifies the water used for baptism with a special blessing. Orthodox do not normally bless themselves with holy water upon entering a church like Catholics do, but a quantity of holy water is typically kept in a font placed in the narthex (entrance) of the church, where it is available for anyone who would like to take some of it home with them. Unlike our Catholic friends, it is customary for Orthodox to drink holy water, to use it in their cooking and to sprinkle their houses with it.

Often, when objects are blessed in the church (such as the palms on Palm Sunday, Icons or sacred vessels) the blessing is completed by a triple sprinkling with holy water using the words, “This (name of item) is blessed by the sprinkling of this holy water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Holy water is sprinkled on items or people when they are blessed outside the church building as part of the prayers of blessing. It is common for Orthodox Christians to bring newly bought cars to the church for blessing. Holy water is sprinkled inside and out, as well as under the hood. Similarly, in Alaska, the fishing boats are sprinkled with holy water at the start of the fishing season as the priest prays for the crews’ safety and success.

Orthodox Christians most often bless themselves with holy water by drinking it, and many Orthodox Christians will drink a small amount daily with their morning prayers. It may also be used for informal blessings when no clergy are present, as parents might bless their children with holy water before they leave the house for school or play. It is also not unusual for pious Orthodox Christians to put a little holy water in their food as they cook their meals, and is also often taken with prayer in times of distress or temptation.

There are two rites for blessing holy water: the Great Blessing of Waters which is held on the Feast of Theophany, and the Lesser Blessing of Waters which is conducted according to need during the rest of the year. Both forms are based upon the Rite of Baptism. Certain feast days call for the blessing of Holy Water as part of their liturgical observance.

The use of holy water is based on the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the River Jordan, and the Orthodox interpretation of this event. In the view of the Church, John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance, and the people came to have their sins washed away by the water. Since Jesus had no sin, but was God incarnate, his baptism had the effect not of washing away Jesus’ sins, but of blessing the water, making it holy—and with it all of creation, so that it may be used fully for its original created purpose to be an instrument of life.

Jesus’ baptism is commemorated in the Eastern Orthodox churches at the Feast of Theophany (literally “manifestation of God”) on January 6 (for those Orthodox Christians who use the Julian Calendar, January 6 falls on the Gregorian Calendar date of January 19). At the Vespers of this feast, a font of holy water is typically blessed in the church, to provide holy water for the parish’s use in the coming year. The next morning, after the Divine Liturgy a procession goes from the church to a nearby river, lake or other body of water, to bless that water as well. This represents the redemption of all creation as part of humanity’s salvation.

In the following weeks, the priest typically visits the homes of the members of the parish and leads prayers of blessing for their families, homes (and even pets), sprinkling them with holy water. Again, this practice is meant to visibly represent God’s sanctifying work in all parts of the people’s lives.

Water is consecrated by a heartfelt invocation of the Holy Spirit, with this prayer, “That there may descend upon these waters the cleansing operation of the supersubstantional Trinity, let us pray to the Lord”. We ask the Holy Trinity to cleanse the water because only God who created water can make it holy.

The Bible says nothing about consecration of water, just as it doesn’t address many other issues confronting Christians. This is because the Bible is the word of God, and not a sort of instructional book that records the tiniest details of what happens in the Church. Just because something is not explicitly written in the Bible does not mean that it has nothing to do with church life and must be avoided.

The Holy Apostle Paul said, “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle (2 Thess. 2:15)”. The apostle urged Christians from the city of Thessalonica to stand fast in the faith, and hold fast the traditions that he taught them, whether by word (orally) or our epistle (i.e., letters of St. Paul, which made it into the biblical canon).

The Great Consecration of Waters is an element of the universal ritual of Baptism held by early Christians on the day of Theophany. Water is consecrated by praying to the Holy Spirit to descend onto the water and to sanctify it, as well as through the Life-Giving Cross of our Lord, which is dipped into the font by a priest three times. This ritual reminds us of the ancient Old Testament narrative when the bitter waters of Marah turned sweet and drinkable when Moses immersed a certain kind of wood into them, following a revelation from the Lord. A priest dips his cross into a font or a water reservoir to turn water into a source of the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Holy Water is so important to the Christian life that Saint Luke the Surgeon, Archbishop of Simfe, recommended that we should “Drink Holy Water, the more often, the better. It is the best and most effective medicine. I’m not saying this as a priest, I’m saying it as a doctor, from my medical experience.”

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Tuesday January 26, 2021 / January 13, 2021
34th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.
Martyrs Hermylus and Stratonicus at Belgrade (315).
Venerable Irinarch of Rostov (1616).
Venerable Eleazar of Anzersk Island at Solovki (1656).
Martyr Peter of Anium, at Eleutheropolis (1st c.).
Venerable James, bishop of Nisibis (350).
Venerable Maximus of Kapsokalyvia Skete, Mt. Athos (1364) (Greek).
Martyr Athanasius.
St. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers (369).
Martyrs Pachomius and Papyrinus in Greece (Greek).

The Scripture Readings

Hebrews 9:8-10

8 the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. 9 It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience— 10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.

Hebrews 9:15-23

15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

The Mediator’s Death Necessary

16 For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17 For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. 19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.” 21 Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. 22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

Greatness of Christ’s Sacrifice

23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

Mark 8:22-26

A Blind Man Healed at Bethsaida

22 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. 23 So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.

24 And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.”

25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. 26 Then He sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town.”

Romans 8:28-39

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

God’s Everlasting Love

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Luke 6:17-23
New King James Version

Jesus Heals a Great Multitude

17 And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, 18 as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. 19 And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.

The Beatitudes

20 Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said:

“Blessed are you poor,
For yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
For you shall be filled.[a]
Blessed are you who weep now,
For you shall laugh.
22 Blessed are you when men hate you,
And when they exclude you,
And revile you, and cast out your name as evil,
For the Son of Man’s sake.
23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!
For indeed your reward is great in heaven,
For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.