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Christ Was Baptized!
In the Jordan river!
Happy Council of the Saint John the Baptist!
Today's readings are dedicated to St. John. In particular, the passage I wrote about yesterday was read from the Gospel. Indeed, the Manifestation of the Holy Trinity (or rather (to be more specific) the Holy Spirit) gave John the cognition of the God's dignity of Jesus, the Son of God, to which he testified.
takes upon Himself the sins of the world
— raises and lays upon Himself the sins of the cosmos
— I would like to note that the sins here are in the form of a burden, and the clarification that the world appears as a cosmos, in Greek it is an ordered world (as opposed, for example, to chaos as mess). Nevertheless, it would be wrong to think that Christ takes upon Himself only the sins of good, decent people
(and does not take the sins of obvious sinners). Why? Because when the latter also repent, change, become good, then there is no sin that can overcome the mercy of God. And all this is also because Christ took upon Himself the sins of the whole world.
A passage was read from the Apostle that speaks of the superiority of Christian Baptism over that of John. The latter was not a Sacrament (in the modern sense), but was a rite, a sign of repentance, waiting, preparation and cleansing. The laying on of hands (in this context) is now replaced by the Sacrament of Confirmation, so it speaks of the fullness of God's gifts for salvation. Numbers 12 shows how powerful the work of God's Spirit was in Paul (numerical implicit parallel with Pentecost).
He preached boldly
— courageously, confidently, openly, bravely, fearlessly, etc.
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!