Worshippers mark Epiphany with prayer and dip in lake

Описание: (19 Jan 2023)
MACEDONIA EPIPHANY

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY

LENGTH: 3.29

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Downtown Skopje, North Macedonia, January 19, 2023

1. Various of people praying in church
2. SOUNDBITE (Macedonian) Darko Milanoski, Orthodox faithful:
“This is a great day (Epiphany) for Christianity, for all Christians, no matter where they live. If anyone has the opportunity to jump in water for the Cross, they should do so. ”

3. People praying
4. Interior of church
5. SOUNDBITE (Macedonian) Darko Milanoski:
“I think it’s a wonderful holiday, one which brings people closer together, a holiday which should be celebrated for many years, where people will have faith and a sense of closeness and to help each other.”

6. Priest blesses a woman

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Downtown Skopje, Vardar River - January 19, 2023

7. Men prepare themselves standing by river
8. Close of Cross and an icon
9. Men stand by the water
10. Close on priests walking in procession
11. Wide of priests
12. Pan on the Macedonian Orthodox Archbishop Stefan
13. Men line up prior to jumping
14. Various of believers entering river
15. Macedonian Orthodox Archbishop Stefan blessing the river
16. Men run and swim for the Cross
17. Christian Nineski holding the wooden Cross
18. Various of Christian Nineski being carried
19. Faithful washing their hands and faces
20. People watch from the riverbank
21. Woman by riverbank, makes sign of the Cross


LEADIN:

Orthodox Christians in North Macedonia have celebrated Epiphany by taking a chilly dip in the Vardar River.

Macedonian Orthodox believers celebrate Epiphany by the Julian calendar.

In a ritual stemming from the belief in the purifying powers of water, the faithful jump into a river to fish out a cruxifix.

STORYLINE:

Orthodox Christians mark the January 19 holiday with prayer and ritual in North Macedonia.

Thousands of people gather to celebrate Epiphany, the feast in honour of Christ’s baptism in the river Jordan.

Epiphany is one of the holiest days for Orthodox Christians in North Macedonia and a religious public holiday commemorated according to the Julian calendar.

Traditionally, the holiday is marked with priests blessing the waters of lakes and rivers by throwing the Holy Cross in them, while the faithful hurry to retrieve it.

It is believed that whoever retrieves the Cross will have good luck throughout the year.

The Macedonian Archbishop blesses the Vardar river in Skopje.

“This is a great day (Epiphany) for Christianity, for all Christians, no matter where they live. If anyone has an opportunity to jump in the water for the Cross, they should do so,” Says Darko Milanoski, an Orthodox Christian.

A couple of hundred believers are here today ready to jump into the cold river in Skopje, in a ritual stemming from the belief in the purifying powers of the water.

Christian Nineski is the first to reach and retrieve the cross from the Vardar river.

The water blessed by a cleric on Epiphany is considered holy and pure until next year's celebration and is believed to have special powers of protection and healing.

Some 65 present of the estimated 2,1 million population in North Macedonia is Eastern Orthodox Christian.
STORYLINE:


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