Epiphany

(Newser) - Vladimir Putin is baring his chest in public again . The Russian president took a dip in icy lake waters to celebrate Epiphany, a major holiday in Orthodox Christianity marking the baptism of Jesus. Russian television stations showed the 65-year-old Putin approaching a hole cut in the ice on Lake Seliger...

(Newser) - More than 100 Russian Orthodox believers were hospitalized after drinking holy water during last week's Epiphany celebrations in the eastern city of Irkutsk. A Siberian official today said that 117 people, including 48 children, were in the hospital complaining of severe intestinal pain after drinking water from wells around a...