The Church's history, i.e., its universality, refers not only to all its faithful throughout the world, but also to the communion "with all the Saints who throughout the ages were pleasing unto the Lord." Orthodox Christians believe that which Saint Paul declares: "Love never ends" (I Corinthians 13:8); it will never cease to join with a close bond all the members of the Body of Christ, i.e., the entire Church Militant (Church on earth) with all the Saints, i.e., the Church Triumphant (Heavenly Church). For the Orthodox Church both the Christians who carry on their spiritual struggle on earth (the Church Militant), as well as those who with God's grace completed this struggle victoriously (the Church Triumphant), belong to, and together constitute, along with the Angels, the One Catholic Church.

On this day the Church of Christ observes the Indiction or proclamation of the beginning of the Ecclesiastical Year. The term derives from the practice of the Roman Emperors, who used impose a tax every year at this time for the maintenance of the army. The rate of this annual levy was fixed by proclamation every 15 years. This is why each cycle of 15 years starting from the reign of Caesar Augustus, three years before the Birth of Christ, is called an indiction.

The outcome of living according to the Spirit "is hidden now in Christ with God", and is not yet obvious to all. But when He appears (cf. col. 3:3-4), "we shall be like Him" (I John 3:2), heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:17), and shall attain to those everlasting and incorruptible good things, "which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have they entered into the heart of man" (cf. I Corinthians 2:9), for they transcend hearing, sight, and understanding. As for those who live according to the flesh, their pleasures are not just fleeting and temporary, but so slight and paltry that they can be compared to the husks eaten by pigs (cf. St. Luke 15:16).

Herod Antipas who slew the young children in Bethlehem at the time of the birth of the Lord Jesus was the ruler of Galilee when St. John the Baptist was preaching. This Herod was married to the daughter of Aretas, an Arabian prince. But Herod, an evil branch of evil stock, put away his lawful wife and took Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, to live with him while Philip was still alive. Saint John stood up against this lawlessness and strongly denounced Herod, at which Herod threw him into prison.

The Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord publicly raised the subject of the Kingdom of Heaven, affirming that it was near so that people might reckon themselves unworthy on account of the greatness of the Divine and Heavenly Kingdom and condemn themselves, which is the beginning of salvation for everyone, and an occasion for returning to God. But he also holds up an ax and fell it (cf. St. Matthew 3:10).

While the three immersions in the water are also the saving invocation of the Life-Giving Trinity, they represent the Lord's three-day burial. Following this, the person being baptized comes out of the water the same number of times, because otherwise he could not have been submerged three times, but also because this signifies the resurrection from sin of the three parts of the soul, and the return of the mind, soul and body, all three together, to incorruption.