Priest: "Christ is baptized."

Response: "In the Jordan."

            So begins the Great Blessing of Waters for the Feast of the Theophany, celebrated on January 19 at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, across the river from Ottawa.

            This celebration is the Eastern Rites' equivalent of Epiphany, celebrated on January 6 in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, and the baptism of Jesus. The difference in the dates of the celebration is a reflection of the 13-day difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars.

            For the past four years, the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Ottawa has celebrated the Feast of the Theophany in St. Onuphrius Church, which is housed in the Canada Hall of the Museum of Civilization. The parish community of Smoky Lake, Alberta, donated this Ukrainian-Greco church, in use from 1915 to 1963, to the museum in the 1990s. The church was meticulously taken apart and reconstructed inside the Canada Hall of the museum under the condition that it continue to be used for prayer services instead of becoming simply a museum exhibit.

            The church itself is very small, measuring about 40 x 24 feet with a small choir loft. The worship space is divided almost equally between the chancel and the nave by an ornate rood screen. That this ceremony takes place in a church dedicated to St. Onuphrius is appropriate as this Saint imitated the solitude of St. John the Baptist.

            The ceremony began inside the church with a homily from Father Andriy Chirovsky where the meaning of Theophany - the manifestation of God - was emphasized through the revelation that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, a triune God, a revelation confirmed by the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, and by the words from God the Father, "This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased."

            A procession took place from the church, through the Canada and Grand Halls of the museum, outside to a patio about 100 feet from the Ottawa River. The congregation of seven celebrants, two cantors, and about 50 attendees gathered around a ten-foot three-bar cross. The main celebrant, Father Andrew Onuferko, and three helpers, carved the cross out of blocks of ice the previous night. The horizontal bar above the member where Jesus' arms are outstretched symbolizes the sign placed above his head that bore the inscription "King of the Jews." The lower bar symbolizes the footstool where Jesus' feet were placed.

            Sometimes the lower bar of the three-bar cross is twisted at an angle for a three-fold reason.  First, St. Andrew, who blessed the hills of Kyiv and foretold of a city of many churches being built there, was crucified on an X-shaped cross.  It is reminiscent of the scales of justice being tipped in favour of the humble, repentant thief who was crucified on one side of Jesus, and tipped against the mocking, unrepentant thief on the other side.  Third, the twist serves as a reminder of the reality of the pain and suffering that Jesus endured for our salvation on the cross.

            The entire liturgical service was sung in the shadow of Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River. The singing was accompanied by the low hum of passing vehicles' tires on the steel gratings of the nearby Alexandria Bridge. The dual spires of Notre Dame Cathedral were barely visible through the falling snow.

      The Rite for the Great Sanctification of Water opened with a prayer, followed by three readings from Isaiah, and a reading from Corinthians I. The Gospel reading from Mark of course recounts Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Intentions were sung, followed by prayers, the lighting of candles, and the blessing of the water.

            The service is traditionally conducted on the bank of a river or lake, but the snow, ice, and downhill slope to the Ottawa River necessitate that the service take place primarily over a container of water near the museum. However, two priests made the trek down to the frozen water's edge to bless the river, and leave a crucifix on the icy surface, so that the blessed water may travel its course to the St. Lawrence River, and out to the oceans of the world.

            After closing prayers, members of the gathered congregation were invited to fill their own vessels with the blessed water and to drink some of it from small cups.

            The ceremony has a long tradition, dating back to the 4th century, taking on its present shape by the 7th century, and was entrenched in the Byzantine tradition by the time the Ukrainians accepted Christianity in 988 A.D.  All of the Eastern Rite Catholic churches conduct this service, with the possible exception of the Assyrian Rite in Iraq.

            Father Chirovsky is the Founder of the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, and Father Onuferko is the Acting Director. The Institute is a centre of higher learning, research, ecumenical understanding, and prayer.