Theophany
name, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A manifestation of a deity to a person.
"It was a bewildering theophany, since it was impossible to make out anything clearly in the stormy obscurity of thunder, lightning, smoke and wind."
- 2 a visible (but not necessarily material) manifestation of a deity to a human person wordnet
- 1 Any of various specific theophanies.
- 2 Any of various specific theophanies.; One of the Great Feasts of the Eastern Orthodox Church, commemorating the revelation of Jesus' divinity, especially in his baptism by John the Baptist.
"The Byzantine tradition concentrates all the birth narratives, including the Magi, at Christmas. Theophany is very much the feast of the Baptism of Christ, being marked by the very important ceremony of the great Blessing of Water[…]"
Example
More examples"It was a bewildering theophany, since it was impossible to make out anything clearly in the stormy obscurity of thunder, lightning, smoke and wind."
Etymology
From Late Latin theophania, corresponding to theo- + -phany, from θεός (theós, “God”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “I shine, appear”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.