Greensburg congregation celebrates blessing of frigid waters

A handful of Greensburg churchgoers got to walk on water Sunday.

Their walk was part of a blessing of the waters service for the Feast of Theophany, which is the day Orthodox Christians celebrate the baptism of Christ in the Jordan River.

Sunday's freezing temperatures made it possible for some of the dozen folks who braved the cold to slowly venture out onto the upper lake at Twin Lakes Park in Hempfield to cast small, cross-shaped pieces of ice into a hole carved into the frozen lake.

"It's an old, old tradition mostly done in climates that are a little more hospitable," said the Rev. John Nosal, the arch priest at St. Michael's Antiochian Orthodox Church in Greensburg.

Nosal said the service commemorates the day Christ sanctified the waters, which is why the blessing usually is held at a local water source.

He said the name of the feast refers to the manifestation of God as Jesus at the time he was baptized.

Nosal and his congregants gathered shortly after noon at the park.

Blessing of the Waters

St. Michael's Antiochian Orthodox Church of Greensburg held a Blessing of the Waters service at Twin Lakes Park on Sunday, Jan. 7.

The service had been postponed a day because temperatures did not make it out of single digits Saturday. Sunday's 12 degrees felt almost balmy, Nosal said.

"We've had everything from ice and snow to 45- and 50-degree temperatures," Nosal said, recalling some of the weather extremes the congregation has dealt with over the years.

Jim Laffin of Greensburg, who's attended all 21 blessing of the water services conducted by the church, built a raging fire in a nearby grill and brought a portable propane heater to provide relief from the cold.

"I just tried to keep people warm," Laffin said.

Laffin's duties weren't done, though. He walked out to the lake with his chain saw to carve out a small square in the ice, about 10 inches deep.

Ice frozen in the shape of a cross was supposed to be thrown into the water, but Sunday's freeze prevented it from being dislodged from it's metal mold.

Instead, smaller ice-shaped crosses were cast into lake.

Typically — in warmer weather locales — the short service would end when youngsters dive into the water to retrieve small crosses for good luck.

Sunday's freeze made that impossible.

"One year, there were fishermen out there, and they weren't catching anything," Nosal said. "When we threw our crosses in, they started catching fish."

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-830-6293 or rcholodofsky@tribweb.com.