Holy Water from the Great Blessing, 8 Rubles a Liter

DJS: I  am starting to wonder if we should have a “Rostov-on-Don” section on NFTU.

On the feast day of the Baptism of the Lord, in the main church of RPTsMP in Rostov-on-Don, for the first time in recent years parishioners were not able to obtain holy water for free, the “Rostov City Community” blog reports.

Photo Credit: Manahan

Previously, on the feast days of the Baptism of the Lord, several water taps worked in the courtyard of the cathedral. This year, even the wash basin inside the church itself was not working. Water was being sold for 40 rubles for 5 liters.

At the time when people in the line for water were cursing church “commercialization,” the blog reports, inside the cathedral Metropolitan of Rostov and Novocherkassk Merkury, the chairman of the Department of Religious Education and Catechesis of RPTsMP, was preaching the holiday sermon on love and compassion. (Orignal Source: Portal-Credo; tr. by PDS, posted 20 January 2012)