DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Isaiah 12:3-6 (01/06) Third Reading,
Blessing of the Waters at the Feast of Theophany
The Name of the Lord: Isaiah 12:3-6, especially vss. 4:
“Praise the Lord; call upon
His name. Declare His glorious
things among the Gentiles and make mention that His name is
exalted.” Saint Peter of
Scripture records that names were changed, God giving
someone a new direction in life, as in the case of Jacob being renamed
Of course, the most significant Name in Scripture,
“...the name...above every name” (Phil. 2:9), is God. Moses, desiring support for his
leadership from the people of Israel, asked God to tell him His Name, to which
God answered, I Am or The One Who Is. (Ex. 3:14). The form of this name in Hebrew
grammatically would be present tense, first and/or third person, singular, of
the verb to be; but in Hebrew the forms are not used, being understood:
“The tree tall,” for example, instead of “The tree is tall.” In our Greek, Septuagint version of Ex.
3:14, the Name of God is ὁ Ών,
or The One Who Is, which appears in icons of the Lord Jesus in the
letters on the Cross within the halo around His head. It is heard in the blessing at the end
of Vespers, “Christ our God, the Existing One, is blessed, always;
now and ever and unto ages of ages.”
Saint Maximos says that
“...the Father’s Name is not something...He has acquired.... He
does not have a beginning, so that at a certain moment
He begins to be Father or King, but He is eternal and so is eternally Father
and King.” Thus,
“...the Name of God the Father exists substantially in the eternal,
only-begotten Son,” Who teaches us to call God, Our Father.
Therefore, when Isaiah directs us to “...call upon
His Name” (Is. 12:4), the Prophet shows our dependency on God, our
incapacity and inability to save ourselves. We are to call on Him Who saves, on
Jesus our Lord, Whose Name means, Savior (Mt. 1:21). We do this pre-eminently in the Jesus
Prayer as Saint Theophan the Recluse says,
“...because it unites the soul with our Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus is
the only door to union with God.”
After all, union with Christ is the aim of the prayer and of its continual
usage among Orthodox Christians.
Isaiah tells us to “...make mention that His Name is
exalted” (Is. 12:4). Doing so
insures that God’s name is never used disrespectfully (Ex. 20:7), but is
uttered only in prayer, worship, or confession of faith: “Thank God; God
knows; Leave it to God; God forbid; Glory to God.”
How blessed to “Sing to the name of the
Lord...” (Is. 12:5), to worship and adore His Holy
Name. No wonder Orthodoxy
has such a musical tradition of a capella
singing, of lifting only the voice in praise to our Creator and Savior! It is not essential that any one of us
be a great musician, but that singing be fostered
among us - even for the tone deaf!
Saint Romanos the Melodist was illiterate,
with no musical training, and despised by certain educated clergy; but, through
the intercessions of the Theotokos, he composed more
than a thousand of our most beautiful Kontakia as a
Deacon of the
Sing unto the Lord, bless His name; proclaim from day to
day the good tidings of His salvation.
Declare among the nations His glory. (Ps. 95:2, 3)
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