Epiphany Hymn 1: The Two Heralds

Refrain: Praise to you from your flock on the day of your Epiphany!

He has renewed the heavens, because fools worshiped all the lights of the sky;

he has renewed the earth, because in Adam it had been laid waste.

What he fashioned has been made new by his spittle,

and the All-Sufficient has restored bodies together with souls.

Gather yourselves again, you sheep,

and receive cleansing without labor!

For you do not need, as Elisha did,

to bathe seven times in the river, nor again to be wearied as the priests are wearied with sprinklings.

Seven times Elisha purified himself, in a mystery of the seven spirits;

and the hyssop and the blood are a mighty symbol.

There is no room for division:

he who is Son of the Lord of all is not divided from the Lord of all.

Moses sweetened the waters at Marah that were bitter,

because the People complained and grumbled.

So he gave a sign of baptism,

in which the Lord of life makes sweet those who were bitter.

The cloud overshadowed the camp and kept off the burning heat;

it showed a symbol of the Holy Spirit, who overshadows you in baptism,

tempering the flaming fire so that it does not harm your bodies.

The People passed through the sea then, and showed a symbol

of the baptism in which you were washed. The People passed through that sea and did not believe;

the Gentiles were baptized in this one, and believed, and received the Holy Spirit.

The Word sent the Voice to proclaim him before his coming,

to prepare for him the way by which he came,

and to betroth the Bride until he came,

so that she might be ready when he came and took her from the water.

The voice of prophecy stirred the son of the barren woman,

and he went out, wandering in the desert and crying,

“Look! The Son of the Kingdom is coming!

Prepare the way, so that he may enter and live in your dwellings!”

John cried, “He who comes after me is before me.

I am the Voice, but not the Word;

I am the torch, but not the Light;

the star that rises before the Sun of Righteousness.”

In the wilderness this John had cried out and said,

“Repent, you sinners, of your evils,

and offer the fruits of repentance;

for look, he is coming who winnows the wheat from the tares.”

The Lightgiver has prevailed, and by the steps he has climbed he has marked out a mystery.

Look! It is twelve days that he has been climbing,

and today is the thirteenth:

a perfect mystery of him, the Son, and his twelve!

Darkness was overcome, to make it plain that Satan was overcome;

and the Light prevailed, so that he might proclaim

that the Firstborn triumphs. Darkness was overcome

together with the Dark Spirit, and our Light prevailed together with the Lightgiver.

In the height and in the depth the Son had two heralds.

The star of light proclaimed him from above;

John, likewise, preached him from below:

two heralds, the earthly and the heavenly.

The star of light shone out suddenly, against nature,

smaller than the sun and yet greater than the sun:

smaller than it in visible light,

and greater than it in hidden might, because of its mystery.

The star of light shed its rays among those who were in darkness,

and guided them as though they were blind,

so that they came and met the great Light.

They gave offerings and received life; they worshiped and went away.

The herald from above showed that his nature was from the Most High;

likewise the one from below showed that his body was from mankind.

Mighty marvel, that his Godhead and his manhood were proclaimed by them!

So whoever reckons him to be of earth, the star of light

will convince him that he is of heaven; and whoever reckons him to be of spirit,

this John will convince him that he also has a body.

John came near with his parents and worshiped the Sun,

and brightness rested on the face of the Sun.

He did not stir as he had in the womb.

Mighty marvel, that here he worships, and there he leaped!

The whole creation became like one mouth for him and cried out about him.

The Magi cry out in their gifts;

the barren cry out with their children;

the star of light, look, cries out in the air, “Here is the Son of the King!”

The heavens are opened, the waters break forth, the dove is in glory!

The voice of the Father is stronger than thunder

as it speaks the word, “This is my Beloved”;

the Watchers brought the news, the children acclaimed him with their Hosannas.