A new video popping
up across the blogosphere provides an interesting conundrum
involving Russia. The video itself is footage of a boy, seemingly no
older than five or six years of age, being plunged into an ice hole
in Siberia by a priest. As if this was not enough to shock the
public, it seems as though this is becoming an increasingly common
practice.
This particular
instance took place back on the 19th
of January, the Russian Orthodox festival of
Epiphany: the day the baptism of Christ is commemorated. The people
seem to think that following in the footsteps of Christ’s baptism
is the way to go, as the priest dunking the boy in this video did so
three times, conducting a baptism ceremony as he did.
Since the fall of
Communism religion in Russia, the Russian Orthodox has made its comeback. There are now
increasing numbers of people who dive into the icy water as a way of
cleansing themselves of “sin.” Some people have even opted to do
so as a weekly activity, and find it to be an enjoyable pastime. But
is it actually a pastime? The fact is that it is not. In reality, the
idea of jumping into ice holes on Epiphany only became a widely
spread act in the 1990s. It did not start growing steam at all until
the October Revolution of 1917, but even then only a few people would
think to do it. The number has just spiked recently as a way of
creating an idea of a past, not reconnecting with one that actually
existed.
As a matter of
fact, the Orthodox Church does not actually endorse this practice of
dipping into an ice hole thrice on Epiphany. It is actually the
general belief that a christening does not have to be done outside at
all, or done on Epiphany, for that matter. Father Yakov Krotov of
Moscow tried to make this as clear as possible by saying that,
"christening, while being beneficial for the soul, does not have
to be harmful for the body."
That is exactly
what dipping people, particularly children, into icy water is, after
all: harmful to the body. According to medical professionals,
changing temperature so drastically in such a quick manner is
incredibly difficult for the body to handle. Newborns especially have
issue with this as their thermoregulation systems are not fully
developed. They have even less of an ability to cope with the
temperature shift, but it is even a problem for older children. To go
from being fully clothed to being submerged at least partially naked
into ice cold water within a minute places immense amounts of stress
on all of the body systems, particularly the heart. While there can
be temporary side effects such as the common cold or loss of
consciousness, much more serious side effects can also occur. The
heart can actually stop beating completely just from this, even if
the child is only submerged for a matter of seconds.
So, while it may be
an attempt at creating a sort of new past for Russian religion, this
new trend of taking a dunk in icy holes is one that needs to be
heavily considered. It is all fine and dandy to want to purge the
body of “sin,” but how worth it is that when there is the
possibility of the body being purged of life as a side effect?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12806831