A Noon-Time Epiphany

Are you religious? Or as least Biblically learned? Then, do you know what a “epiphany” is? I had no clue until noon today. That’s when I found out it was a Macedonian Orthodox Christian celebration in memory of the day Jesus was baptized.

In Macedonian its called “Bogojavlenie Vodici” and there was an entire procession from the city’s main Orthodox Christian church to the Stone Bridge over the River Vardar where the cold, muddy waters were blessed by the priest for at least an hour.

Now, ordinarily, I would’ve passed such a service right by without a thought, and so would many other Skopje citizens. But this was no ordinary blessing. At the conclusion of the oration, the high priest tossed the blessing cross into the rushing river.

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