Russian Ice Bucket Challenge: Russians Celebrate Orthodox Epiphany

******

Epiphany in Moscow (Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF

******

******

Epiphany in Vorkuta (Komi Republic. Northwestern Federal District) RF… that be above the Arctic Circle, kids… that’s FAR North

******

______________________________

On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of Christians across Russia marked Orthodox Epiphany, immersing themselves into freezing waters on a cold January night. Epiphany is on 19 January according to the Orthodox Church tradition. The Church teaches that St John the Baptist baptised Jesus Christ in the Jordan River on this day, so, Orthodox Christians mark the occasion by jumping into frozen rivers or ponds.

More than 150,000 Muscovites took part in the tradition this year. Russia’s capital offers A-one conditions for believers by constructing specifically designed areas for plunging. The authorities built 60 ice-dipping spots across Moscow, with medical personnel and volunteers present and ready to provide assistance at all specifically designated areas for the cold plunge. For those who truly believe in the holy powers of healing and blessing of the water on Epiphany, even extremely low temperatures in Arctic Siberia didn’t stop them from making the plunge. With temperatures being below -40 degrees in Norilsk (Krasnoyarsk Krai. Siberian Federal District), one of Russia’s most northern cities, hundreds of people showed up to test their faith, Norilsk TV reports. In Vorkuta, situated north of the Arctic Circle, where visibility was less than ten metres (33 feet) because of freezing fog, hundreds of people lined up for the plunge. As they walked out of the ice-hole cut out on the surface of the frozen Usa River, water droplets turned into ice a split second after reaching the ground.

Prior to Epiphany, the Orthodox Church holds a series of religious services that conclude with a blessing of the water. Those who didn’t jump into the icy waters took blessed water home with them. Epiphany concludes the traditional Christmas holiday season in Russia. Russian authorities built more than 3,000 plunging spots across the country. Last year, over 1.3 million people across Russia celebrated Orthodox Epiphany.

19 January 2015

Sputnik International

http://sputniknews.com/russia/20150119/1017076077.html

12 January 2015. The Russian Holiday Season is Still Goin’ Strong!

______________________________

Today, Monday 12 January, will be the first day back to work for most Russians after the New Year Holiday Break. Therefore, if you read anything in the Western Corporate Media about supposed rules taking effect in Russia… well, there was no one in the offices to put them into effect! What can you say of people so dense and idiotic that they didn’t know that all of Russia was on holiday and that no one was in any office processing ANY applications for ANYTHING? As you well know, it takes awhile to get back up to speed… so, take some reports with a BLOCK of salt.

Even though people are going back to work, the holiday season isn’t over yet. It starts with St Nicholas Day on 19 December and it ends with Theophany on 19 January. Mind you, in Old Russian peasant culture, the holidays began with the three feastdays of Ss Barbara, Sava, and Nicholas… 4-5 December OS, 17-19 December on the Gregorian calendar. This ushered in the holidays, with Christmas on 25 December OS, New Year on 1 January OS, and Epiphany on 6 January OS (the Svyatki, or “Holy Days” are the period between Christmas and Epiphany, party time after fasting time)… a bit longer than the contemporary celebration. Some country areas still begin with Vavarin Dyen… but not many. Today, some even keep “Old New Year” on 14 January, but these are people who don’t keep the secular celebration on 1 January.

So… the holidays in Russia are going to continue for another week (but folks will be going back to work today)… if you will, pass me the selyodka pod shuboi… I’ll have seconds, if you please…

BMD

John Richard Daeuenhauer. Easter Matins

______________________________

Easter Matins

In redness, the votive lamp

glows red. The altar is the still

centre of the world. We stand

in midnight darkness, semi-

circling the altar, and become

an icon, standing as the halo

spelling out “I AM

WHO I AM”, bearing

salvation history in icons

of the prophets, Annunciation,

Nativity, Theophany,

and Lazarus, about to light

the candles, chant

the resurrection, and proceed

around the church. This circling

becomes at once the first, and yet

the farthest, the once and yet most recent

ring of ever expanding con-

centric circles, both the splash

and ripple, the candles tracers

captured in a time exposure

of the timeless moment. We circle

stillness at the empty

centre of creation: a cosmic

gyroscope of time and space

balancing the world, as the church itself

becomes the empty tomb.

John Richard Daeuenhauer

21 January 2014. Now, For Something Entirely Different… It Was Epiphany in Tver

______________________________

The above isn’t Photoshop… it’s an actual Epiphany (and here) icehole in Tver. The only question for me is, “Is the coloured guy an African convert or is he a lifelong Ethiopian Orthodox in Russia for university studies or military training (they be part of the Orthosphere, dontcha know!)?” If the latter, it’s proof of the ties that bind Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, despite the lack of communion (we Russians are close to our Oriental brethren, much more so than the Greeks are… we’re particularly chummy with the Armenians… HH and Catholicos Karekin are big-time pals). Remember, Orthodoxy‘s the “Party for Everybody“.

The Orthosphere is REAL…

BMD