Orthodox worshipers in Russia, Belarus, and elsewhere celebrated Epiphany -- marking the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist and the beginning of his ministry -- with ritual plunges in subfreezing temperatures around midnight on January 18-19. Honoring an old Russian tradition, in many places bathers dip themselves in cross-shaped holes cut in ice over lakes and rivers. (11 PHOTOS)
Orthodox Epiphany Gets Chilly Reception
1
Believers immerse themselves in a pool outside an Orthodox church in eastern Russia with temperatures around minus-20 degrees Celsius. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Epiphany on January 19 in line with the Julian calendar. (Reuters/Yuri Maltsev)
3
Russians gather to bathe in the Black Sea to mark Epiphany in the southern city of Sochi. (Reuters/Nina Zotina)
5
A plunge into near-freezing waters as an Orthodox priest blesses the bather on the eve of Epiphany in Pilnitsa, Belarus. (AFP/Viktor Drachev)
6
A man wades into an icy spring to mark Epiphany, about 45 kilometers east of Almaty, in Kazakhstan. (Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov)
7
A woman is helped into the waters of the Bazaikha River after midnight, with temperatures about minus-20 degrees Celsius, in a surburb of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. (Reuters/Ilya Naymushin)
8
A man bottles holy water from a pool under an Orthodox cross made of ice during a ceremony to celebrate Epiphany in Tyumen, Russia. (Reuters/Eduard Korniyenko)
9
A midnight dip in the Minsk region of Belarus.
11
A man reacts as he immerses himself in a pool in Minsk. (Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko)