It is recommended to prefer home bathing with consecrated water to Epiphany dip in the pandemic

The President in the course of the meeting of the Operational Headquarters for Prevention of the Spread of Coronavirus announced a telephone conversation with Archbishop Sawa of Tiraspol and Dubossary on the upcoming celebration of the Epiphany in quarantine conditions. The interlocutors agreed that mass bathing in open reservoirs in the pandemic is unsafe from sanitary and epidemiological point of view, since it involves a large crowd of citizens who observe this Orthodox tradition. Bathing places this year will not be landscaped as it was in previous years. At the same time, the Internal Ministry was instructed to organize patrolling of territories near the river sections traditionally used by Pridnestrovians for Epiphany bathing. Festive services will take place in the temples. Requirements related to minimizing the number of parishioners simultaneously staying in church premises, ensuring distancing, using means of individual protection, constant disinfection and limiting citizens' contacts with church utensils remain. In the courtyards of the temples, the distribution of consecrated water will be organized, which can be used for Epiphany bathing rites at home that will allow not to break the Orthodox traditions of celebrating the Epiphany.