A ritual that, even in times of war, remains inescapable. This Thursday, in Russia and Ukraine, the Orthodox Epiphany was celebrated, a religious festival during which believers immerse themselves in icy water to celebrate the baptism of Christ. A tradition that also allows you to be absolved of your sins and receive a divine blessing.
“God will help us stop the aggressor”
With the sound of missiles falling nearby and a reminder that conflict is never far away, several Ukrainian soldiers went to the Holy Dormition Lavra monastery in Svyatohirsk, Donetsk Oblast, to take part in the celebration.
After the priests blessed the Donets River, which served as a natural dividing line between the positions of the Russian and Ukrainian forces when Moscow occupied the city until September 2022, several soldiers head towards the river which does not exceed eight degrees in this winter season.
The rule is “simple”, for the prayer to be admissible, the faithful must sign and immerse themselves three times in this cold water. An immersion that, in addition to its ecumenical dimension, would have physiological virtues. “We sleep in trenches and bunkers, so getting used to the cold will make life less difficult for us,” explains Stanislav, a Ukrainian infantryman, on camera with the BFTMV.
“I would not say that it washes away my sins, it is quite the opposite, this water is blessed, it means that God will help us stop the aggressor, to stop these demons,” he adds.
social tensions
This year in Sviatohirsk, Epiphany necessarily has a special flavor and the ravages of war have left their mark on the monastery. The vast shrine still bears the scars of fighting, the walls scarred by shrapnel and the domes stripped of their traditional gold lining.
“I used to do this with my family. Now I can’t anymore, I’m alone,” government investigator Oleksandre, 34, told AFP as he dressed after diving into the water.
A time of gathering, the Orthodox Epiphany of 2023 is also marked by tensions that are gradually eroding the local social fabric, with some residents celebrating the Russian takeover of the city at the start of the conflict.
The head of the monastery is an outspoken supporter of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and his community’s loyalty to the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is in question.
“It’s our land, it’s our river,” counterattacks Ievguen, 41, accompanied by a small group of his army comrades who came to submerge.
“Those who were blessed here before are their business, it’s on their conscience, but we are the ones who live here,” he adds, referring to murky loyalties at the Holy Dormition Lavra monastery.
“War is a terrible word”
A tradition that is not reserved for the military. Found by AFP Valentyna Roudyk, 86, she has lived in the monastery for more than six months, her apartment was destroyed during the fighting.
One of her sons walks her to the water’s edge before she reaches down and squirts cold water into his face with force. Another son “fights to defend our homeland,” she says, but she won’t say which homeland it is, Ukraine or Russia.
“War is a terrible word, I would even like to forget it,” he told BFMTV.
Despite the excitement, Dmytro, a resident of the region, notices the differences from the previous year.
Last year, “there were thousands of people from different villages,” he says, but with movement restrictions in the area and destroyed infrastructure, including the bombed-out bridge next to the monastery, “it’s almost impossible to come.” This year “there are almost no people,” he laments to AFP.
The thorny religious question
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022, the religious question and the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church are often questioned in Ukraine. From the beginning of the conflict, the Russian authorities tried to give a religious and sacred dimension to their offensive against Ukraine under the blessing of the Patriarch of the Moscow Orthodox Church, Kirill.
In response, many Ukrainians celebrated Christmas on December 25 instead of January 7, the Orthodox Christmas date, to undo the Russian tradition and loosen Moscow’s grip. However, many Ukrainians still celebrate Christmas in January, when Russia demanded a ceasefire that it did not respect.
Source: BFM TV
