{"id":272247,"date":"2018-01-19T09:10:30","date_gmt":"2018-01-19T14:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aleteia.org\/?post_type=post&p=272247"},"modified":"2018-01-19T09:10:30","modified_gmt":"2018-01-19T14:10:30","slug":"further-evidence-christianity-is-not-for-wimps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/01\/further-evidence-christianity-is-not-for-wimps\/","title":{"rendered":"Further evidence: Christianity is not for wimps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Behold, Russian President Vladimir Putin, observing Orthodox Epiphany early this morning by taking a plunge into freezing water in Russia.<\/p>\n

Some background:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

For Orthodox Christians the feast of the Epiphany (or Theophany), which takes place on January 19 and commemorates Christ\u2019s baptism in the River Jordan, is celebrated with a blessing of the waters. On this holy day, at midnight on the eve of the feast, thousands of Russian Orthodox brave below-freezing temperatures and plunge (if only briefly) into ice-cold lakes and rivers in a ritual of purification that lasts throughout the night.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read on<\/a> <\/strong>for the chilling details.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Behold, Russian President Vladimir Putin, observing Orthodox Epiphany early this morning by taking a plunge into freezing water in Russia. Some background:\u00a0 For Orthodox Christians the feast of the Epiphany (or Theophany), which takes place on January 19 and commemorates Christ\u2019s baptism in the River Jordan, is celebrated with a blessing of the waters. On […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":272249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11252],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-272247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-open-mind"],"yoast_head":"\nFurther evidence: Christianity is not for wimps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Behold, Russian President Vladimir Putin, observing Orthodox Epiphany early this morning by taking a plunge into freezing water in Russia. 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