There are various pseudo-Christian traditions associated with church holidays. One of these is the practice of collecting “holy” water on Epiphany night at springs, where the order of sanctification, wells, columns and ordinary water taps did not pass. Many people still follow this established tradition, not realizing that the real holy water on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord is only where it is sanctified.
The answer to the question of where the tradition came to draw water on the night of the Epiphany on springs, in wells and in ordinary water taps is hidden in post-revolutionary Russian times. Before the revolution of 1917, few of our pious ancestors could think of holy water as the one over which the order of sanctification did not pass. In all Orthodox churches on the feast of the Epiphany, water was consecrated, and the consecration order could also take place in springs. In this case, in an open reservoir, water was considered holy. However, with the advent of atheist power in Russia, the situation has changed. Many temples were closed; there was a lack of clergy. All this led to the fact that after 1917, water blessings on springs stopped. In addition, in many cities and villages there were no functioning temples at all, in which water could be sanctified. It so happened that believers were left completely without a great shrine on the feast of the Baptism of Jesus Christ.
This situation could not suit the Russian people. Pious Christians began to organize campaigns on springs in secret from the authorities. These campaigns for holy water were carried out on the night of Epiphany. Most often, there were no priests with believers. Therefore, pious grandparents prayed in a secular manner, sang festive Epiphany hymns and gathered water in springs in memory of the historic event of the Epiphany. However, the rank of the great baptismal blessing of water was not. For decades, this practice of going to the springs has taken root in the minds of the people so much that it became completely unnecessary to consider the presence of a priest at the blessing of water on springs.
It is generally accepted that on the night of Baptism all the water is holy. This is the main postulate for those who are collecting and now uninitiated water in springs and domestic taps. However, the Christian Church, even if it speaks of the global consecration of all water nature on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, this does not apply in any way to the holy baptismal water, which is called holy (great) hagiasma in the Orthodox tradition. Holy Agiasma is precisely that water over which the baptismal rite of great sanctification was performed. It turns out that the consecration of the whole aquatic nature and the consecration of water, like holy agiasma, are completely different things. That is why it makes no sense to talk about tap water as a holy hagiasma on the night of the Epiphany.
Currently, the clergy does not tolerate harassment by the authorities. Many temples began to operate. There is no large deficit in the clergy (such as was observed in the Soviet years). Accordingly, now it is not necessary to follow the practice of spontaneous water collection at the springs, as it was before. It is worth remembering that the uninitiated cannot be sanctified if we talk about holy baptismal water (great agiasm).
You can also give another source of the tradition of collecting water on the night of Epiphany, for example, in a water supply system. There is a practice in which baptismal water is diluted with ordinary water. The latter is then sanctified. This is done when the believer ends the holy baptismal water. There is even a saying that one drop of water sanctifies the sea. But this is precisely the saying. Some believe that on Epiphany night somewhere, for example, in Russia, river blessing was performed in the river font on the river. Thus, the whole river became holy and, accordingly, all its tributaries. And water in the water supply comes from rivers (often). So, some say, the water runs in the faucet and the saint. This point of view also has no Orthodox justification, because, in this case, we can consider holy water and the one in the toilet to be considered holy water. However, this is not acceptable to Christian consciousness. In addition, for example, in Russia, the time difference is significant. Water blessing in the river occurs at different times. However, many people count precisely from 12 o’clock in the morning. This is another logical absurdity.
The Orthodox Church says that if the water is sanctified on the river, it is in the place of the font that it becomes holy, that is, in the very place where it is sanctified. The question of the boundaries of the distribution of holy water in a river from a consecrated font no longer refers to the field of Orthodox dogma, but to a mystical philosophical imagination.
Thus, an Orthodox person should know that the main sources of the practice of recruiting water for Baptism in places where the order of blessing was not carried out are Soviet practices of people going to sources without clergy, as well as a misunderstanding of the thesis about the consecration of all water nature on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
