Christian world marks Epiphany with series of celebrations

VATICAN CITY — Christians astir the satellite connected Thursday marked Epiphany, known arsenic Three Kings Day for Catholics and the Baptism of Christ for the Orthodox, with a bid of celebrations.

Pope Francis utilized a Mass astatine St. Peter’s Basilica to decry consumerism, parades were held successful Spain the nighttime before, and Orthodox believers watched swimmers plunge into icy waters contempt the pandemic to retrieve crosses.

Francis encouraged radical to shingle disconnected consumeristic “tyranny” and crises of religion successful lives and societies and alternatively find the courageousness to enactment for justness and brotherhood successful societies dominated by what helium called the “sinister logic of power.”

The Catholic feast time of Epiphany recalls the sojourn of 3 Magi, oregon omniscient men, to the babe Jesus, and their consciousness of wonderment astatine the encounter.

In his homily, Francis urged radical to determination past the “barriers of habit, beyond banal consumerism, beyond a drab and dreary faith, beyond the fearfulness of becoming progressive and serving others and the communal good.”

He said that “we find ourselves surviving successful communities that crave everything, person everything, yet each excessively often consciousness thing but emptiness successful their hearts.”

Decrying what helium defined arsenic “the tyranny of needs,” Francis said: “Let america not springiness apathy and resignation the powerfulness to thrust america into a cheerless and banal existence.”

In remarks from an Apostolic Palace model overlooking St. Peter’s Square, Francis aboriginal besides noted vacation celebrations by different Christians and praised assorted Epiphany traditions.

“Today thoughts spell to the brothers and the sisters of the Eastern churches, some Catholic and Orthodox, who time observe the day of the Lord,’’ the pontiff said.

In Istanbul, the spiritual person of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, held an Epiphany Mass earlier starring a accepted Blessing of the Waters ceremonial during which swimmers competed to retrieve a floating transverse thrown into the sea.

Bartholomew, who precocious recovered from COVID-19 and underwent bosom country successful November, threw a woody transverse into the Golden Horn, earlier 10 men jumped into the waterway to retrieve it. Members of Istanbul’s tiny Greek Orthodox community, wearing masks, looked on.

This year, the transverse was recovered by 36-year-old Galip Yavuz, who said it was his 5th effort astatine retrieving it.

Bartholomew is considered archetypal among equals among Orthodox patriarchs, though lone a fewer 1000 Greeks present unrecorded successful Turkey. He besides straight controls respective Greek Orthodox churches astir the world, including the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

His patriarchate successful Istanbul dates from the Orthodox Greek Byzantine Empire, which collapsed erstwhile the Muslim Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople, today’s Istanbul, successful 1453.

Similar blessing of the waters ceremonies were held successful predominantly Orthodox Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania, with swimmers competing against each different to grasp a floating transverse thrown into seas, rivers oregon lakes.

Thousands of Orthodox Christian worshippers successful Bulgaria neglected restrictions connected wide gatherings owed to the pandemic and stuck to their centuries-old Epiphany traditions, plunging into icy rivers and lakes.

Celebrations were canceled oregon scaled backmost successful galore parts of Greece arsenic the state struggles with a immense surge successful COVID-19 infections driven by the omicron variant.

In Cyprus, spectators wherever kept disconnected the pier successful enactment with coronavirus restrictions arsenic a mates of twelve hearty souls dived into the chilly waters of Larnaca Bay connected the land nation’s confederate seashore to retrieve the transverse thrown by the person of the Greek Orthodox Church Archbishop Chrysostomos II. Most radical watched the accepted blessing of the waters ceremonial from adjacent vantage points.

In Spain, a subject set played the nationalist anthem extracurricular the royal palace successful Madrid and King Felipe VI watched a 21-gun salute earlier reviewing troops connected a wintry day. Indoors, successful the Throne Room, the monarch handed medals to 16 members of the equipped forces, successful a ceremonial that dates from 1782. Attendance astatine the lawsuit was constricted for the 2nd consecutive twelvemonth owed to pandemic restrictions connected gatherings. Royal family, dignitaries and troops each wore look masks.

The state traditionally holds “cabalgata” parades the time earlier Epiphany successful which the “Reyes Magos,” oregon Three Wise Men, thrust connected floats done large cities and towns crossed Spain. Children and adults alike permission their shoes retired the nighttime earlier and person gifts from the 3 kings connected Jan. 6.

Mehmet Guzel reported from Istanbul. Suzan Fraser successful Ankara, Turkey, Barry Hatton successful Lisbon, Portugal, Veselin Toshkov successful Sofia, Bulgaria, Menelaos Hadjicostis successful Nicosia, Cyprus, and Derek Gatopoulos successful Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.