Epiphany Through The Centuries
After Easter, Epiphany is the second oldest season in the church year and was celebrated on January 6th by churches in Asia Minor as early as the second century. Epiphany celebrated both the birth and baptism of our Lord. This date was picked because it was the festival of the sun god. Instead of celebrating the birth of the sun god, the church lifted up the birth of the Son of God. The pagan festival reveled in the lengthening light of the sun, physical light, while the Christian festival exalted in spiritual light, the light of revelation. The church took over a pagan festival and converted it to its own purposes, much in the same way that the world of commerce has taken over Christmas to promote its products. When that festival was later moved to December …