Epiphany water

Epiphany water: what was it used for?

Drunk and sprinkled on homes, fields, and animals, and kept through the year as a stronger holy water against evil spirits and sickness.

Epiphany water: what does modern science say?

The Theophany blessing of the waters is a great feast of the Orthodox churches; the Latin solemn blessing survives in the older form of the Roman Ritual.

Epiphany water: what did the older authorities say?

The Catholic Encyclopedia

The Catholic Encyclopedia reports St. Chrysostom's account of “how the Antiochians used to take home baptismal water consecrated on the night of the festival, and that it remained for a year without corruption,” and that “to this day, the blessing of the waters by the dipping into river, sea, or lake of a crucifix, and by other complicated ritual, is a most popular ceremony. … The people consider that all ailments, spiritual and physical, can be cured by the application of the blessed water.” Paulus Silentiarius described the phiala of St. Sophia from which the people drew, “during the night of the Divine initiation,” “an incorruptible water, as no pollution reaches it, even when, having been several years removed from its source, it is enclosed in the hollow of a pitcher and kept in their houses.” Epiphanius held that at Cana's anniversary water “was then yearly by a miracle turned into wine, of which he had himself drunk.”