6 December 2015. Winter Begins in Russia on 1 December…

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In Russia, people believe that winter begins on 1 December, NOT 21 December, and it only ends on 1 April, not 21 March. The above image is of a road in Krasnoyarsk Krai in late November. Any questions?

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Russian Ice Bucket Challenge: Russians Celebrate Orthodox Epiphany

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

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

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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

28 May 2014. A Photo Essay. This is Why I Believe in Holy Rus… NOT the Roman Catholic Pretensions… Sorry,Charlie…

President Putin with Pavel Sulyandiga, a prominent indigenous politician in the Russian Far East

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Here are people from the other end of Holy Rus… Rusin people from Podkarpatskaya Rus in the Russian Far West

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The Alaska Native people are still part of Holy Rus 

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A priest rings the bells on the Dr St Luka Voino-Yasenetsky  train, which serves as a free consultative and diagnostic medical centre (it also has a chapel), Divnogorsk (Krasnoyarsk Krai) in Siberia… all aboard for Holy Rus!

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St Tikhon Russian Orthodox Monastery (St T’s) in South Canaan PA USA… yep, that’s Holy Rus, too

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A priest blessing the opolchenie fighters in Free Slavyansk… you betcha that’s Holy Rus

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The Great White North (Canada) has its part of Holy Rus in Outremont QC

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Cossacks are DEFINITELY part of Holy Rus

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There’s even a little bit of Holy Rus in Antarctica

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Blessing new recruits in Belarus… is there any question that’s Holy Rus?

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Holy Rus is still kickin’ in Harbin in Manchuria

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The Ukraine is part of Holy Rus… NOT the West… it’s OURS (our blood soaks its soil)

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There’s Holy Rus in the Merry Old Land of Oz (Australia)

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Baikonur is Holy Rus… up, up, and away!

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The Far North ain’t far from Holy Rus

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Of course, Moscow IS Holy Rus… it’s not called the Centre for nothing

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All too many Catholics in the Vatican (not so much ordinary RCs, who are just workaday Joes) denigrate us by calling us a “national church”… well, the above images prove that putdown wrong. However, there is such a thing as the Russian World… and the Vatican hates it (don’t get mad at the RCs down the  block… they don’t even know about such shit). What ticks off the Curia worse than anything else is that we refuse to kiss the Pope’s bum and become Uniates… there’s only one Head of the Church… Our Lord Christ… not some “infallible” Pope of Rome (no Pope in our town, thank you very much!). I say, let’s live in peace… but dump the condescension and do call off your Uniate attack dogs. We want to live in peace with all decent people, but we WILL fight if someone tries to drag us into the West. That’s what the present Ukrainian Civil War is all about. Shall the Ukraine remain a part of Holy Rus or shall the Vatican steal it from us? Time will tell… but I’d say, “Remember 1612, and remember Minin and Pozharsky”.

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Church Plays Down Metropolitan Panteleimon’s “Politicians in Hell” Sermon

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On Thursday, the MP played down a remark by Metropolitan Panteleimon Kutovoi of Krasnoyarsk and Achinsk, calling for lying politicians to be damned to hell, saying that he meant it as nothing more than spiritual guidance. Vladyki Panteleimon, the ruling bishop in Krasnoyarsk Krai in Siberia, made the remark during a pre-recorded television sermon broadcast this week in which he inveighed against deceptive politicians. The diocesan press office said that he didn’t direct his comments at any person in particular. Spokesman Andrei Skvortsov said, “Politicians [were] given as an example that’s understandable to ordinary people”. Skvortsov said that Metropolitan Panteleimon’s regular television slot, entitled A Word from the Metropolitan, was recorded a month or two in advance and had nothing to do with current political issues. Vladyki Panteleimon cited a common proverb asserting that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and applied it to politicians’ campaign promises, saying, “When [politicians] run in elections, what do they promise us? Then, what do we get? They will go to hell for their deception of the people. We believers must pray for them”. Metropolitan Panteleimon addressed a wide variety of religious questions, such as free will, confession, death, and angels, in short weekly addresses broadcast on a local television channel and posted on its website.

14 November 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20131114/184710213/Church-Plays-Down-Top-Clerics-Politicians-in-Hell-Sermon.html

Editor’s Note:

Panteleimon became a vicar bishop under Metropolitan Kirill Gundyaev of Smolensk and Kaliningrad (you’ve heard of him, haven’t you?) in 2000. Indeed, he served that diocese from 1986 to 2009. Thus, he’s one of Kirill’s mafia… and that means that these remarks might’ve been a slam at rightwing slimers like Prokhorov. Trust me; Panteleimon’s not a nutter like Diomid Dzyuban. Could you imagine the uproar if someone here made analogous remarks? Why, Potapov, Gan, Lyonyo, Jillions, Tosi, and Lebedeff would go into full “spin” mode! They’d be deer in the headlights, shocked that anyone (let alone a bishop) would make such… impolitic… remarks. Why, that would piss off their politician cronies… and we couldn’t have that, could we?

I’d love to see the like here…

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