# Epiphany water

*Water of the Three Kings; the Great Blessing of Waters*

**Known today as.** Water blessed at the Epiphany by a solemn rite with a long exorcism, in the East as the Great Blessing of the Waters at Theophany.

Kind: Sacramental

## 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.

## 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.

## What lore surrounds it?

In the Eastern churches the priest casts a cross into river or sea, and swimmers dive to recover it.

## 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.”

## Sources

- *The Catholic Encyclopedia* (New York, 1907–1914), “Epiphany.” newadvent.org/cathen/05504c.htm
- *The Catholic Encyclopedia* (New York, 1907–1914), “Fonts, Holy Water.” newadvent.org/cathen/07433a.htm

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*Epiphany water.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-01. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/epiphany-water

Historical description, not medical advice.