The Feast of the Epiphany, observed on the sixth of January, commemorates the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles in the persons of the Wise Men who came from the East to worship the newborn King of the Jews. The word epiphany means appearing or manifestation, and the feast carries a deliberately universal significance: the light that dawned in Bethlehem was always destined for all nations, not for Israel alone.

The appointed Epistle from Saint Paul to the Ephesians discloses the mystery that lay hidden from ages past but has now been revealed: that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs with Israel, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. Paul understood his own apostolic calling as a stewardship of this mystery — to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Epiphany is the feast that gives that mission its liturgical foundation.

The appointed Gospel from Saint Matthew recounts the journey of the Magi: their reading of the star, their inquiry at Herod's court, the guiding star that came to rest over Bethlehem, and the finding of the child with Mary his mother. Their offerings of gold, frankincense, and myrrh have from ancient times been read as a threefold declaration of who this child is: king, God, and the one appointed to bear our mortality in his own body. The 1928 Book of Common Prayer appoints the Epiphany Collect throughout the Octave, praying that we who know God now by faith may after this life have the fruition of his glorious Godhead.