Directions to Orthodoxy - Many Russian priests and several hierarchs support open air Epiphany dipping

Patriarch Alexi II holds a cross as he blesses believers during the Epiphany service at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, Friday, Jan. 18, 2008. This post has been viewed 440 times.

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Many Russian priests and several hierarchs support open air Epiphany dipping
Posted on Fri Jan 18 2008

Interfax

Moscow, January 18, Interfax – Many clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church together with their flock take a dip in an ice-hole on the Epiphany.

According to the head of the Moscow Patrairchate Department for External Church Relations' press-service Fr. Mikhail Prokopenko there are many clergymen among his friends who take a dip on the Epiphany every year, most of them are young healthy people. He noted that he even knows several hierarchs, who keep up the old tradition with their personal example.

‘There are no set rules obliging priests to take a dip in ice-holes on the Epiphany. It is not obligatory especially in our climate’, Fr. Mikhail said to Interfax.

The rector of the Moscow Apostle Thomas church in the Kantemirovskaya street priest Daniil Sysoyev says there are minimum 40-50 people among his friends-priests who take a dip on the Epiphany.

Fr. Daniil has taken a dip every year for the last 30 years. The priest usually goes to holy springs, and when he does not manage to get there, he fill his home bath with cold water, asperses it with holy water and dips into it.

‘Dipping of all people including clergy on the Epiphany is justified and is deeply rooted in the Christian tradition’, he believes.

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