When can you collect Epiphany water? Is your water “boiling”? Where and when to collect water for Epiphany

When to collect water for baptism January 18 or 19, 2018
The Great Water Christmastide occurs after the entire series of January holidays on the evenings of January 18-19, 2018. Prepare for this big and happy holiday start every year on the evening of the 18th.
The festive meal on Epiphany Eve will be a large festive feast of seafood, kutia and low-fat salads. They should only be on the table Lenten dishes. In addition to the festive dinner, the Russian people have a belief - to swim in an ice hole, consecrated Orthodox cross.
Some people start collecting water right on the night of January 18th, others adhere to strict rules for collecting blessed water on the 19th. For Orthodox people Epiphany Christmas Eve remains an unknown mystery when to collect water for Epiphany on January 18 or 19, 2018.

Epiphany of Christ or Orthodox holiday Baptism
Nativity of Christ and Orthodox Easter can rightfully be compared in importance to the Great Epiphany. In the sacred chronicles that have survived to this day, there is a belief that during the Baptism of Christ the Holy Spirit descended to him and notified everyone with his presence. Therefore, in many Christian churches and monasteries after reading the divine service they are released white dove as a symbol of the Epiphany of the Lord.
If the day of Easter is set every year by the main Orthodox Church, then the date of the celebration of Epiphany always remains unchanged on the night of January 18 to 19.

The significance of Epiphany water
On January days: the 18th and 19th there are usually the most severe frosts and icy winds. Before you begin diving into an icy pool or ice hole blessed with a cross, you must attend a full church service, take communion and confess. Thus, you seem to ask the Lord for permission to dive into the blessed water and take it for the treatment of various diseases.

Church clergy assure that it is on Epiphany Day that water acquires healing properties and is able to cure even the most terminally ill people. For example, many cases have been known that after immersion in holy water, many infertile women could become pregnant, the blind had their vision restored, the deaf had their hearing restored, etc.
Epiphany water is able to cleanse a person’s spiritual and physical condition, protect one’s home from evil spirits and the evil intentions of people, and is called upon to give God’s grace to people. First of all blessed water at Epiphany helps believers who need the salvation of the Lord.
When bathing, a person is washed from his own sins in specially cut ice holes. At this moment, it is necessary to take blessings from the priest in order to swim in baptismal water. This method of obedience should be taken with the utmost responsibility and seriousness, since this sacred ritual is considered one of the most effective and efficient, capable of cleansing humanity from sinful thoughts and atrocities.

The old tradition of using Epiphany water
When to collect water for baptism on January 18 or 19 should not matter to you special significance. These days are considered the festive Epiphany, therefore any water: in an ice hole or from a tap is automatically considered sanctified.
According to tradition, in every corner of the home it is necessary to draw crosses with holy water, sprinkling your sacred abode. Epiphany water is also used as a relic when performing fortune-telling rituals on the last evening of Christmastide. It is believed that consecrated water cannot deteriorate and lose its medicinal properties. Therefore, it is advised to drink it every day on an empty stomach in the morning until your water supplies run out.

When to collect Epiphany water? Is Epiphany water different from Epiphany water? How to store it?

The rite of the Great Blessing of Water (Great Agiasma) is performed on Epiphany Eve (January 18) after Divine Liturgy and January 19 - the very day of the Epiphany. During both days, you can collect Epiphany water in any church. Both times the water is blessed with ONE rite, so there is no difference in when to collect water - on Christmas Eve or on the Feast of Epiphany itself, there is no difference between Epiphany and Epiphany water.

Every year on January 19, many people rush to the church to get blessed water, and thousands of those suffering to find health rush to swim in the ice hole, despite the Epiphany frosts.

Even in the distant past, people noticed that on the day of Epiphany, water is saturated with healing properties. For example, when swimming in it it was impossible to catch a cold; it protected a person from damage, the evil eye and disease. It is interesting that the location of the source on January 19 does not play any role, nor does it matter whether church ministers performed a ritual on it.

The shelf life of Epiphany water is quite long. It does not undergo decay processes, and therefore can stand for years. Orthodox hieromonk Seraphim Vyritsky always recommended sprinkling food and food set on the table with it. In case of illness, the ascetic blessed the sick person and ordered him to drink one tablespoon of consecrated water every hour. The wisest old man said that there is no stronger medicine in the world.

WHEN TO TAKE WATER?

You can take water from the temple after the service; you can also bring your own water for consecration, but remember that it must be ordinary pure water, not mineral and not carbonated.

If you decide to simply draw water from the tap, then you need to do this in the time period from 00.10. until 01.30. on the night of January 18th to 19th. You can store water later, but this is the best time.

Unfortunately, most of our people have a purely superstitious attitude towards Epiphany water. They take water as medicine and then try to heal with it. Firstly, it is better to collect water not thoughtlessly, but after you take part in church service. Secondly, you need to pour it into a container without any markings. Better - in a special jug or flask purchased in church shop. And certainly not in a beer bottle!

Epiphany water is believed to have healing properties. You can drink it when you are sick on an empty stomach and wash your face to stay healthy.

True, you need to drink holy water with prayer, asking the Almighty for spiritual and physical health. And it is not at all necessary to take it in reserve, in cans. There should be a lot of faith, not water.

HOW TO STORE BAPTISTIC WATER.

Epiphany water should be stored in a dark, cool and quiet place in a glass container covered with a napkin. In this case, it is advisable to place the dishes close to the icons and away from the TV. Epiphany water can be stored long years, without spoiling at all.

WHEN TO SWIM.

There has long been a tradition to perform at Epiphany swimming in an ice hole.

The “great consecration of water” takes place in all churches. According to church canons, on Epiphany Eve a believer must come to church, hold a service, light a candle, and draw blessed water. But no one demands to plunge into ice water, especially if a person is not ready for this.

Strict rules how to swim at Epiphany, No. But, according to custom, bathing involves immersing your head in water three times. At the same time, the believer is baptized and says “In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit!” Usually, long shirts are sewn for swimming, in which immersion is performed, similar to baptismal shirts. They are the same for men and women. It is believed that if parishioners wear swimsuits, then the bodies on display are dissonant with traditional Christian decency.

Immersion in ice water is very stressful. The adrenal glands react sharply and powerfully to it, releasing into the blood a large dose of potent anti-inflammatory hormones, which are normally released a little at a time. They suppress all inflammatory reactions by simply “suppressing” the immune system, helping to withstand cold, and adapting the body to withstand stress.

If you properly prepare for a dive, a person with average health can easily endure a one-time dive. But if he is even slightly weakened, in three or four days he will have to pay for his courage.

Before diving into an ice hole, you should not drink alcohol - alcohol will only help with rapid hypothermia and put extra strain on the heart. You should not swim for more than one and a half minutes, or dive headlong.

Before diving, you should definitely consult a doctor. People with diabetes, arrhythmia, kidney problems, and women with gynecological diseases should forget about the ice hole. Hypertensive patients may have a stroke.

It is also not recommended to bathe small children without preparation. At the same time, for both children and adults, the time spent in the font should be minimal, a few seconds, otherwise there is a danger of hypothermia. And in order to avoid frostbite, after the bath you must immediately stand on a dry mat, dry yourself with a towel and put on warm clothes, otherwise you risk spending the rest of the week in the hospital.

Do not drink alcohol on this day. Drinking alcoholic beverages disrupts the body's natural thermoregulation with all the consequences.
Before diving into the ice hole, you need to warm up your body; before swimming, you can go for a run, wearing a minimum of clothing, and do a warm-up.
You should approach the ice hole in comfortable, non-slip and easily removable shoes to avoid excessive hypothermia of your feet.
Before entering the water, you need to wet your face, arms, legs, chest, stomach and back and only then plunge up to your neck.
You should not plunge headlong or dive (to avoid reflex narrowing of the blood vessels in the brain).
Contact with low temperatures should be minimal, within 20-30 seconds, no more, in order to prevent serious hypothermia of the body.

After ablution, you need to rub yourself with a terry towel, put on dry warm clothes and go to warm room where to warm up to normal temperature. It is advisable to drink hot tea, preferably made from herbs, berries and fruits.

Epiphany water is truly special. Epiphany holy water is called in the Orthodox Church the great Agiasma - the great Shrine. You can dial it only two days a year - January 18, on Epiphany Eve, and January 19, on the feast of Epiphany. Holy water collected on both January 18 and 19 has the same healing power.

Epiphany water is the same holy water; it has long been believed that it has even stronger properties. It can treat serious illnesses, helps in difficult times, and can create protection. If you can use holy water, knowing that it is easy to fill up another bottle at any time, then Epiphany water is usually kept for special occasions.

Also read: Epiphany water - truth and superstitions

In general, the rules for its use are the same as for holy water:

It is necessary to take Epiphany water on an empty stomach
after drinking Epiphany water, eat prosphora
Be sure to take holy water with sincere prayer.

During illness or severe moral condition, it is allowed to take Epiphany water during the day, not on an empty stomach. It is permissible to sprinkle your home with it and lubricate sore spots. If there is little water left, you can safely dilute ordinary water with it - then it will also become sanctified and receive a piece of holiness. You just need to do this also with prayer. It must be stored next to the home iconostasis, in a sacred place. Every year on the feast of Epiphany you can collect new water.

Prayer for receiving Epiphany water

“Lord my God, may Your holy gift and Your holy water be for the remission of my sins, for the enlightenment of my mind, for the strengthening of my mental and physical strength, for the health of my soul and body, for the subjugation of my passions and infirmities, according to Your boundless mercy through Your prayers "Pure Thy Mother and all Thy saints. Amen."

Epiphany water at home: does holy water flow from the tap?

If you read Holy Bible, then you can really find words there that all water on the day of the Baptism of the Lord is made holy. However, in this case we are talking more about natural sources than about running water.

It is worth remembering exactly how the water is consecrated - a prayer must be read over it, a cross must be lowered into it. The Blessing of Water for Epiphany is a special church sacrament, which, of course, cannot happen with tap water. So church ministers urge not to take the words about the universal holiness of water in Baptism too straightforwardly.

Moreover, you should not draw water from the tap and call it holy. It is much easier to go to the nearest church and get water there, over which a prayer has actually been read, because it is absolutely free and accessible, especially in big cities.

Blessing of water is a specific church tradition, and many Orthodox Christians admit that they like to come to church, draw water, and feel involved in the holiday.

Read also: Epiphany water - when to collect, how to store and how to use

What to do if Epiphany water has spoiled

Epiphany water does not spoil - all Christian believers know this. even after standing for a year, it does not change its taste and color. But in some cases, Epiphany water does not behave as usual. Should you think about the bad if Epiphany water has spoiled? Or could it be due to natural causes? And what to do with water in this case?

Most often, Epiphany water spoils for obvious reasons:

water was collected in a not very clean container,
container with Epiphany water stood in the sun for a long time,
other storage conditions were not met.

Holy water, despite everything, has the properties of ordinary water, which means it can spoil. Of course, there are cases when all storage conditions were met, but the water could not survive until the next Epiphany. Sometimes this happens in homes where there is discord, and there are often quarrels and disagreements. After all, water absorbs all human emotions and atmosphere, especially if it is consecrated.

There is nothing wrong with the spoilage of Epiphany water; you should not attribute non-existent reasons to this event. This water can no longer be used: it must be poured into the ground or into running water. It is advisable not to use the bottle from it further in the household. You can thoroughly wash the container, dry it and fill it with new Epiphany water for the next year.

On the night of January 18-19, 2019, Orthodox Christians around the world celebrate one of their most revered holidays - the Baptism of the Lord, also called Epiphany, and then the processes of renewal of nature take place.

Epiphany water has healing properties on this day. Nature is moving into a period of awakening, the beginning of the origin of life, and therefore water and all nature are renewed and charged with enormous strength and flow of energies, which are stored for a whole year and give us strength. Today we will talk about what power sacred water has, when to collect it and how to properly store it.

Baptism is celebrated by Orthodox Christians on January 19 and is considered one of the great church holidays established in memory of the day when Jesus Christ came to the Jordan River to John the Baptist to be baptized by him. A special feature of the holiday are two great blessings of water.

One takes place on Christmas Eve (the evening before Epiphany) in the church. Another is held on the day of the holiday under open air, if possible, at a water source (river, lake, spring, spring). At the same time, if the water is frozen, an ice hole is hollowed out in it in advance.

According to the church charter, this ritual is accompanied by the reading of prayers and the triple immersion of the cross in consecrated water, after which it is endowed with a special healing power. The word "baptize" or "baptize" is from the Greek "baptizo" meaning "to immerse."

This great Christian holiday has a double name; Epiphany is also called Epiphany. Because at the Baptism of the Lord the main event was the appearance Holy Trinity. God the Father testifies from heaven: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” God the Son accepts baptism according to His human nature; The Holy Spirit descends on Him in the form of a dove. This confirms faith in the Divine Trinity and faith in the Divinity of Jesus Christ.

The healing properties of Epiphany water

Water consecrated on January 18 and 19 is called Epiphany, Epiphany or Great Agiasma (shrine), and has special beneficial properties to sanctify material objects and heal spiritual and physical ailments. It is usually stored in the holy corner near the icons, in a clean, closed container specially designated for this purpose. When the consecrated water runs out, you can add clean water to it, which does not dilute the holy water, but, on the contrary, itself also receives consecration, just as a flammable substance placed on a fire ignites.

Orthodox believers have a pious custom of annually collecting Epiphany water and sprinkling it on their homes.

Thus, we ask for God’s blessing on the home, help in a pious and godly life, and spiritually cleanse the home from the influence of demonic forces, the enemies of our salvation.

All kinds of fortune telling in " Epiphany evening"- sin, desecration of a holy day.

The beneficial properties of holy water

During the great blessing of water, they pray that the water will be sanctified by the power and action of the Holy Spirit. That she should be a gift of sanctification, deliverance from sins, healing of soul and body, that she would receive the blessing of the Jordan, and drive away all slander from visible and invisible enemies.

So that it brings us to eternal life, and through tasting this water and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit we are worthy of sanctification. Every believer has Epiphany holy water at home. For a year or more, it does not spoil, is fresh, clean and pleasant, and this is a miracle of God’s grace, which everyone can be convinced of.

Epiphany holy water has great healing power, but its effect depends on a person’s faith. Holy water is consumed in small quantities in the morning with the prayer “In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit” to sanctify the soul and body.

Epiphany water can be taken as needed (in case of strong influence of any passion, as well as in illness and sorrow). You cannot rudely push away brothers and sisters who come to the temple to fetch water. Of course, one should not treat Epiphany water without reverence.

But it also happens that Epiphany water can spoil. This happens either due to careless storage, an irreverent attitude towards the shrine, or due to some other completely natural reasons.

In this case, you need to pour holy water into an untrodden place (in churches there are special “dry wells” for this purpose).

Is it necessary to add Epiphany water to the bath in which babies are bathed so that they do not get sick?

This is also one of the superstitions. Every person can get sick. And great saints suffered from physical illnesses. For example, Venerable Seraphim Sarovsky could not straighten his back due to the injury. He was attacked by robbers and severely beaten. Saint Matrona of Moscow was blind from birth until the end of her days.

No one forbids giving holy Epiphany water to infants (it is still better to drink holy water), including during illness. But in Once again it is necessary to recall that the use of a shrine is not a mechanism, but an action that requires faith and hope.

Can a simple person sanctify water on his own by reading prayers over it?

Indeed, the prayers of the Great Blessing of Water, like all other church prayers, are performed on behalf of the entire Church. The priest, calling believers to prayer, says: “Let us pray to the Lord in peace!” (Russian translation: “In peace, that is, in a peaceful state, let us pray to the Lord!”) - we will pray, that is, all those who are at the service.

Believers are not observers of what is happening, but living participants in worship, together with the clergy, offering a single prayer to God. Therefore, we can say that each believer participates in sanctification through his own prayer, which becomes the single prayer of the entire Church.

Therefore, in order to participate in the Great Blessing of Water, each of us can come to the church service on January 19.

Prayer for accepting prosphora and holy water

Lord my God, may Your holy gift and Your holy water be for the enlightenment of my mind, for the strengthening of my mental and physical strength, for the health of my soul and body, for the subjugation of my passions and infirmities, according to Your infinite mercy through the prayers of Your Most Pure Mother and all the saints Yours. Amen.

When to collect Epiphany water

You can take water from the temple after the service; you can also bring your own water for consecration, but remember that it should be ordinary clean water, not mineral or carbonated.

Unfortunately, most of our people have a purely superstitious attitude towards Epiphany water. They take water as medicine and then try to heal with it.

Firstly, it is better to collect water not thoughtlessly, but after you take part in a church service.
Secondly, you need to pour it into a container without any markings. It’s better to put it in a special jug or flask purchased at a church store. And certainly not in a beer bottle!

Epiphany water is believed to have healing properties. You can drink it when you are sick on an empty stomach and wash your face to stay healthy.

True, you need to drink holy water with prayer, asking the Almighty for spiritual and physical health.

And it is not at all necessary to take it in reserve, in cans. There should be a lot of faith, not water.

Where to get Epiphany water

It is believed that water collected at Epiphany midnight from any source (even from the tap) has healing properties. Speaking modern language, Epiphany water is structured.

If such water is stored away from human eyes and empty conversations - in a quiet and dark place - (believers keep it near the home iconostasis), then it retains its healing properties all year round.

Researchers believe that every year, starting from fifteen minutes past midnight on January 19, a person can draw water from the tap at any time during the day for subsequent storage and use as bioactive throughout the year.

How to use Epiphany water

For those who managed to stock up on the most active Epiphany water, and it doesn’t matter where you got it - from a water supply, from an open source, or brought from a church - scientists remind that you need to drink it regularly, preferably every day and on an empty stomach. It perfectly boosts immunity and makes a person resistant to many infections.

For example, if you regularly give your child this water, he will catch colds less often. By the way, it is useful not only to drink Epiphany water, but also to wash your face with it in the morning and at night.

It would also be a good idea to give baptismal water to the living creatures and water the plants.

Epiphany water is a psychotherapeutic remedy for relieving increased anxiety, irritability, so after a hard, nervous day, drink half a glass of holy water - and you will feel the tension go away, peace and tranquility come.

What do scientists think about Epiphany water?

Studies have shown that the optical density of Epiphany water is higher than water from the same sources on ordinary days. Moreover, it is close to the optical density of water from the Jordan River. Some scientists explain the healing properties of Epiphany water by its peculiarities magnetic field Earth. On this day it deviates from the norm and all the water on the planet becomes magnetized. What causes these changes is not yet fully understood.

Professor Anton Belsky, a Russian experimental physicist, once on the night of January 19, took water samples in plastic bottles from a nearby pond. They stood in his laboratory for many years. The water in them remained clear, odorless and sediment-free.

At one of the scientific conferences, he told about this experiment to a professor he knew from the Research Institute of Nuclear Physics at Moscow State University, who was studying neutron fluxes from space and from the Earth. He promised to look at his experimental data for last years.

Soon A. Belsky received e-mail very interesting information. According to him, before January 19, intense bursts of neutron flux were recorded for a number of years, exceeding background levels by 100-200 times. There was no strict connection to January 19: the maximums fell on both the 18th and 17th, but sometimes exactly on the 19th.

Unique studies of Epiphany water taken from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, carried out several years ago at the Moscow Institute of Information Wave Technologies, showed that the frequency spectrum of the Epiphany water radiation is similar to the electromagnetic radiation of healthy human organs.

That is, it turned out that in Epiphany church water a certain information program is laid down in the form of an ordered set of healthy frequencies human body.

If the healing properties of Epiphany water in church are known to everyone, then few people know that ordinary tap water on Epiphany night it can also become bioactive and then retain its special qualities not only for a whole year, but also for much longer.

It turns out that tap water annually on January 19 changes its structure many times over the course of a day and a half.

The studies carried out included measurements of the biofield of water, acid-base balance, hydrogen potential, specific electrical conductivity, as well as the result of its impact on humans during internal and external use (using gas-discharge visualization methods, dowsing, laboratory studies).

To do this, starting from the evening of January 18, samples of water flowing from the tap were taken at short intervals and measurements were taken. For control purposes, samples were left in storage for a long time.

Specialists of the drinking water supply laboratory of the Institute named after. Sysina also conducted serious scientific research. As Candidate of Technical Sciences Anatoly STEKHIN said, the main task was to record the phase of transition of water into an unusual state; for this, they began to monitor the water from January 15. The water collected from the tap was settled and the amount of radical ions in it was measured.

During the study, the number of radical ions in water increased from January 17th. At the same time, the water became softer, its pH value (pH level) increased, which made the liquid less acidic. The water reached its peak activity on January 18th, in the evening. Due to the large number of radical ions, its electrical conductivity was really like that of an artificially created catholyte (water saturated with electrons). At the same time, the pH value of water jumped over neutral (7 pH) by 1.5 points.

The degree of structure of Epiphany water was also studied. The researchers froze several samples - from a tap, from a church spring, from the Moscow River. So, even tap water, which is usually far from ideal, when frozen, presented a harmonious spectacle under a microscope. The curve of electromagnetic activity of water began to decline in the morning of January 19 and by the 20th it had reached its normal look.

Scientists believe that the reason for such a sharp increase in the electromagnetic activity of water at Epiphany was a large accumulation of radical ions in the Earth’s lithosphere. On normal days, the amount of energy in the water varies depending on the time of day.

From 7 pm to 9 am the water is most active (but not to the same extent as Epiphany). Exactly this good time in order to wash and make supplies for household needs.

When the sun rises, a large number of radical ions “fly away” from the water into the upper layers of the atmosphere. Such channels through which energy “escapes” from us are all vortex processes in the atmosphere. It is not without reason that many people feel worse during cyclone activity. We simply don't have enough aquatic electromagnetic energy. But the most extreme phenomenon, which literally devastates the Earth energetically, is an earthquake.

As for the three Epiphany days, this, according to Stekhin, is an “anomalous” period when an anticyclone always dominates on Earth. And the electrons, obeying some kind of cosmic influence, quietly “sit” in the lithosphere and water and saturate us with healing powers.

The only explanation for this can be a special redistribution of the poles of the magnetic field that exists between the Sun and the Earth. It is the cosmic forces that hold the energy on Earth during Baptism.

Doctor of Sciences, professor of the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University Vladimir VOEYKOV believes that water is affected by all kinds of magnetic and neutron storms. In particular, scientists have proven that the properties of water are greatly changed by a solar eclipse. And everywhere, regardless of the degree of darkness in one or another part of the globe. As for the processes that affect water at Epiphany, they have not yet been fully studied.

Perhaps during this period there really is a restructuring of interplanetary magnetic fields and the electrons of water are somehow “magnetized” to the Earth. But this is just a hypothesis.

The phenomenon of Epiphany water has not been fully studied, and researchers, it seems, will not soon be able to unravel its secret. Epiphany water did not pass Scientific research to which they are subjected medicines, and there are no medical reports on the properties of Epiphany water yet. But there is centuries of experience huge amount of people. And, probably, it is not so important what heals - water or a person’s firm belief that it will help him.

Video: Why Epiphany water is healing

On the eighteenth of January, all Christians around the world celebrate one of the main holidays of humanity -

When and where to collect Epiphany water?

One two-liter bottle will last the whole family for a year.

According to the Church, the consecration of water occurs on the eve of Epiphany. A special procedure, called liturgy, is performed on Epiphany Eve. From this moment on, the water can be considered blessed, but historically, water is blessed twice.

There are no problems with this in the Church. And on January 18 and 19, after the rite of blessing of water, you can come and draw baptismal water. For those who collect Epiphany water from the tap at home, the rule is simple: after midnight (00:00) on the night of January 18-19.

In the absence of such an opportunity, you can absolutely safely collect Epiphany water in the morning and even throughout the entire month of January 19th. The time for Epiphany water has not yet passed.

Greed is a sin

There is no need to stand at the temple to fill 20 liter canisters, one bottle will be enough. You can increase the volume of Epiphany water at home: just add a few drops of Epiphany water to regular water.

Healing properties

Holy Epiphany water has many healing powers. It gives not only spiritual, but also physical healing. All Christians have firmly believed in this since the Baptism of Jesus Christ. This point of view is supported by many doctors and even some scientists.

The following unusual properties are attributed to Epiphany water:

ability for long-term storage;
miraculous healing;
getting rid of negative energy and evil;
body rejuvenation;
broadcast healing properties ordinary water(lighting through touch);
spiritual cleansing and protection through sprinkling and ingestion.

All these properties are preserved in Epiphany water for many days, until the next Christmas Eve. However, remember, if the water has spoiled, and this may happen, you should not use it internally.

When to swim in an ice hole and is it necessary?

Swimming is not necessary, but many people like it

Self Epiphany bathing takes place on the same Epiphany night from January 18 to 19. However, no one forbids doing this during the day. Before swimming, it would be a good idea to get a blessing from the priest.

It is not at all necessary to take an Epiphany swim in the ice hole called “Jordan”. The very fact of bathing does not make you better or worse.

The basis of everything - internal state person and sincere repentance. How you do this in an ice hole or a warm bed matters little.

For me, these dips are just fun, extreme. Our people love something unusual: diving into an ice hole, and then drinking vodka and talking about piety. For most, this is akin to fist fights on Maslenitsa. Archpriest Alexy Uminsky

What can’t be done with Epiphany water?

Many people are concerned about whether Epiphany water can be used in one way or another. You can drink Epiphany water with prayer as you like, even making healing and good wishes during this.

The rule here is simple: remember that Epiphany water is a shrine and treat it accordingly, then it won’t even occur to you to do anything inappropriate with water. All this applies to water received in temples, and of course, does not apply to tap water. At the same time, churchmen claim that all the water on the planet becomes sanctified, including that which comes from the tap.

Misconceptions

Many folk beliefs about Epiphany water from the evil one

The Great Blessing of Waters was overgrown with many folk signs and superstitions, which not only have no logical basis, but are also far from church traditions.

Epiphany water never spoils

If stored carelessly, anything can be ruined. You should not use water that is clearly rotten, although it is baptismal. But shouldn't it be poured down the drain? That's right, you can water the plants, or take them to the temple and pour them into appropriate place(dry well).

This is “Epiphany” water, and this is “Epiphany” water

It is believed that there are two types of water: “Epiphany” water blessed on January 19 and “Epiphany” water blessed on Epiphany Eve on January 18. Any intelligent priest will confirm to you that this Epiphany water is no different from Epiphany water. Moreover, in both cases the same sequence of prayers is used.

I’ll take a swim in the ice hole and become baptized

Without repentance it is impossible to accept the Sacrament of Baptism. Bathing in Epiphany water and Baptism are not directly related to each other.

I’ll dive into the hole and get rid of all diseases and problems

There are people who actually testify to this. But the majority do not get rid of their life’s troubles after bathing in Epiphany water.

Epiphany water protects against the evil eye and curses

Christians believe in God, and such phenomena as damage or the evil eye are considered nothing more than superstition. Priests recommend praying to God asking for protection from the evil of others and your own. And all kinds of witchcraft are considered nothing more than charlatanism.

On this day, planets and stars are arranged in a special way.

The Great Blessing of Water occurs through the prayers of the Church. According to Christian tradition, after prayers, the Lord God sanctifies the water and gives it his grace-filled power.

It is not necessary to go to church - all the water on Earth is Epiphany

Indeed, all waters are sanctified. But water itself should not be an end in itself. The entire holiday is dedicated to glorifying God in gratitude for the benefits of His Son, and not to simply collecting healing water.

Alternative opinions from the evil one