A Christophany is an appearance, or non-physical manifestation, of Christ.

Traditionally the term refers to visions of Christ after his ascension such as the bright light of the Damascus Christophany.

Also, following the example of Justin Martyr

Justin Martyr

Justin Martyr, also known as just Saint Justin , was an early Christian apologist. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and a dialogue survive. He is considered a saint by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church....

 who identified the Angel of the Lord

Angel of the Lord

The Angel of the Lord is one of many terms in the Hebrew Bible used for an angel. The Biblical name for angel, מלאך mal'ach, which translates simply as "messenger," obtained the further signification of "angel" only through the addition of God's name, as The Angel of the Lord (or the Angel of...

 with the Logos

Logos

' is an important term in philosophy, psychology, rhetoric and religion. Originally a word meaning "a ground", "a plea", "an opinion", "an expectation", "word," "speech," "account," "reason," it became a technical term in philosophy, beginning with Heraclitus ' is an important term in...

 some appearances of angels in the Hebrew Bible are also identified by some Evangelicals as preincarnate

Pre-existence of Christ

The pre-existence of Christ refers to the doctrine of the ontological or personal existence of Christ before his conception. One of the relevant Bible passages is where, in the Trinitarian view, Christ is identified with a pre-existent divine hypostasis called the Logos or Word...

 appearances of Christ, using the term "Christophanies" - by comparison with Theophanies - appearances of God.

Use of the term

The etymology

Etymology

Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...

 is from the Greek noun Christos- "Christ, Anointed", and the Greek ending "phany" from the verb phaneroō, to be revealed or to manifest. This noun is derived by direct comparison with the term theophany

Theophany

Theophany, from the Ancient Greek , meaning "appearance of God"), refers to the appearance of a deity to a human or other being, or to a divine disclosure....

 (theo-phaneia).

• Academics generally use the term solely in relation to the documented New Testament visions of Christ.
• George Balderston Kidd
  George Balderston Kidd
  Rev. George Balderston Kidd was a Dissenting Minister and theological writer.He was the eldest son of the Rev. Anthony Kidd, Nonconformist minister. Kidd is mainly remembered for his posthumous book Christophaneia: The Doctrine of the Manifestations of the Son of God under the Economy of the Old...
  
   (1852) popularised the term in relation to the identification of angels in the Old Testament as Christ.
• Since the work of James Borland (1978) usage of the term in conservative Christian publications related to Old Testament appearances of Christ has multiplied exponentially.
• The term was used by Albert Joseph Edmunds (1857–1941) in relation to the revealing of Christ in Christianity and Buddhism.

New Testament

• A New Testament
  New Testament
  The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
  
   Christophany is Paul
  Paul of Tarsus
  Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
  
  's vision of Christ on the road to Damascus, and the subsequent one of Ananias
  Ananias of Damascus
  Ananias , was a disciple of Jesus at Damascus mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible, which describes how he was sent by Jesus to restore the sight of "Saul, of Tarsus" and provide him with additional instruction in the way of the...
  
  .
• Another New Testament example is the vision of St. John the Divine, recounted in Revelation 1:12-18.

Claimed examples of Christophanies in the Hebrew Bible

Some Christian commentators have seen appearances by the pre-existent Christ in the Hebrew Bible:

• Jonathan Edwards (theologian) (1835) identified an example in Daniel
  Book of Daniel
  The Book of Daniel is a book in the Hebrew Bible. The book tells of how Daniel, and his Judean companions, were inducted into Babylon during Jewish exile, and how their positions elevated in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. The court tales span events that occur during the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar,...
  
   3:25, when the fourth man in the furnace is described as "like a son of the gods."

Visions of Christ after the New Testament

A vision is not usually described as a Christophany.

• Saint Jerome is believed to have had a precise vision of the Blessed Trinity, as is illustrated by Andrea del Castagno
  Andrea del Castagno
  Andrea del Castagno was an Italian painter from Florence, influenced chiefly by Tommaso Masaccio and Giotto di Bondone. His works include frescoes in Sant'Apollonia in Florence and the painted equestrian monument of Niccolò da Tolentino in the Cathedral in Florence...
  
  . http://www.myartprints.co.uk/a/del-castagno-andrea/holy-trinity-with-st-jero.html
• Magdalena de Pazzi
  Magdalena de Pazzi
  Saint Maria Magdalene de Pazzi is an Italian saint of the Roman Catholic Church.- Life :...
  
   was a deep mystic who claimed several christophanies about the Trinity.
• Lúcia dos Santos of Fatima claimed to have seen Jesus in the Trinity in Tuy in 1926.
• Mary Faustina Kowalska
  Mary Faustina Kowalska
  Maria Faustina Kowalska, commonly known as Saint Faustina, born Helenka Kowalska was a Polish nun, mystic and visionary...
  
   claimed to have had recorded her visions of Jesus. http://www.mercyimages.com/
• According to the Book of Mormon
  Book of Mormon
  The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
  
  , Jesus Christ appeared to a group of people living in the Americas.