Orthodox Christians across Russia and the former Soviet republics braved frigid temperatures to take icy swims to mark Epiphany. The January 19 event symbolizes the baptism of Christ and the cleansing of the soul at the start of a new year.
From Minsk To Vladivostok, People Plunge Into Icy Waters To Mark Orthodox Epiphany
- By RFE/RL
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A man takes a dip in the settlement of Moskalenki in Russia's Omsk region.
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A girl is helped by Cossacks while taking a dip in the village of Leninskoye, Kyrgyzstan.
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A man takes a chilly, outdoor dip in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
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Emergency Situations Ministry workers and Cossacks watch over bathers in Almaty.
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Believers in the Far Eastern Russian city of Vladivostok plunge into the icy waters of the Amur Bay on the Sea of Japan.
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A priest blesses the water in Minsk, Belarus.
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A man plunges a boy into frigid water in St. Petersburg, Russia.
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Russian Orthodox believers cut a cross-shaped Epiphany ice hole in the village of Velyaminovo outside Moscow.
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A man swims in the Izhora River at St. Trinity Cathedral in Kolpino, near St. Petersburg, Russia, on the eve of Epiphany.
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A Lithuanian Orthodox believer bathes in icy waters shortly after midnight in a lake near the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.
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Women bathe in the Lena River as the temperature dropped to about minus 56 degrees Celsius in Yakutsk, Russia.
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A woman takes a dip near the village of Kosmos, Kazakhstan.
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An Orthodox believer plunges into the waters of a portable pool set up outside a church in Simferopol, Crimea.
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Colorful lights illuminate the icy waters of the Istra River near Moscow.
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Women walk to take a night swim in the village of Kormilovka in Russia's Omsk region.
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Almaty, Kazakhstan
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A priest blesses the water in Minsk, Belarus.
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A believer plunges into the icy waters of the Amur Bay on the Sea of Japan in the Far Eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.
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A man takes a dip near Minsk, Belarus.
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A man stands guard over the holes in the ice in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
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