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Sunday, January 6, 2013

Orthodox believers celebrate Epiphany with icy dip

Swimmers celebrate together after Lukas Kokinis from Greece, second right, retrieved a wooden cross which was thrown into the waters by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I during a ceremony to bless the water at the Golden Horn in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013. The traditional ceremony marks the Epithany in Istanbul, Turkey, when an Orthodox priest throws a wooden cross into the water and swimmers race to be the first to retrieve it. (AP Photo)SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Thousands of young men are plunging into icy rivers and lakes across Bulgaria and Romania to retrieve crucifixes cast by priests in an old ritual marking the feast of Epiphany.



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