The Great Feast of Theophany, one of the Twelve Great Feasts, was celebrated on 19 January 2021 in the principal church of the Diocese of Tashkent, the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. On this day the head of the Central Asian Metropolitan District, Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, celebrated festal Matins and the Divine Liturgy.
Concelebrating with His Eminence were Priest Vitaly Golban, Protodeacon Alexander Nesin and Deacon Pyotr Gnatik.
After the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ and the prayer before the ambo, Metropolitan Vikenty performed the Great Blessing of Water in the water-blessing chapel and also blessed the water in an open-air font set up so that people could immerse themselves.
His Eminence then addressed the worshippers with an archpastoral word, congratulating all the faithful on the feast of Theophany:
"In the event of the Baptism of the Lord we see yet another sign of the humility of Christ the Savior: He receives Baptism from His servant, from His creature, the holy John the Forerunner, who in his humility said, 'I need to be baptized by You.' But Christ the Savior tells him: 'Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.'
God's righteousness differs from human righteousness; it consists precisely in humility and obedience to the will of God. We see that the Lord God created man, and in this act of creating man there was a special counsel of the Holy Trinity: 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.' In the work of restoring our fallen nature we see that the whole Holy Trinity takes part. At the Jordan we see that the Son of God goes down into the waters of the Jordan, the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove, and the Heavenly Father proclaims in a mighty voice: 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'
We see further that the work of re-creating our fallen nature continues to this very day. Upon everyone who desires to walk the path of God's commandments, the path of restoring our fallen nature, act the Holy Spirit, the mercy of the Son of God, and the good will of our Heavenly Father. We are surrounded by the special grace of God. The fullness of God takes part in the work of our re-creation in every individual person. This is God's mercy and His special good will toward His creation.
We must be grateful to God for such love, for this share in the restoration, regeneration and resurrection of our fallen nature. God grant that we may deeply comprehend this act of the creation of man and the act of the re-creation of fallen human nature, and how mercifully the Lord takes part in our spiritual growth in God.
Man and mankind were created for eternal good, for eternal blessedness with God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God grant that this awareness may abide with us, and that we may make use of the blessings the Lord has given us by His coming and by the act of our regeneration."
After the sermon Metropolitan Vikenty congratulated Protodeacon Alexander Nesin on a jubilee, the 30th anniversary of his ordination to the diaconate, and presented him with a congratulatory address.
