photo by: Warren Scott

Clergy and members of several area Orthodox Christian churches ask for God’s blessing for the Ohio River and for all people during a service Sunday afternoon at the Steubenville Marina. Placed on the table before the clergy were three crosses, formed from ice and containing poinsettias.

Clergy and members from several area Orthodox Christian churches braved the cold on Sunday afternoon to pray for God’s blessings on the Ohio River and all people at the Steubenville Marina.

The occasion was the eighth-annual Pan-Orthodox Great Blessing on the Ohio River, which is held in conjunction with the Feast of Theophany.

Also known as Epiphany on other church calendars, it’s an observance of Jesus Christ’s baptism by John the Baptist on the Jordan River and the moment in which Christ was revealed to be one with God and the Holy Spirit.

The Rev. Andrew Nelko of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church of Weirton said it’s customary for clergy at all Orthodox churches to bless water as part of that day’s worship service, but some also conduct a short service near a local body of water.

Sunday’s service included the tossing into the river of three crosses representing the Holy Trinity, he noted.

Nelko said in many places, even in the north, the crosses are later retrieved by divers.

But there was no need for that at the local service because the crosses were formed from frozen holy water and contained only poinsettias.

The service normally is conducted on the pier created from a remnant of the Fort Steuben Bridge, which was demolished in 2012. However, the pier has been closed for repairs, so clergy and church members gathered near the river’s bank instead.

Nelko said it’s also customary on that date for Orthodox priests to visit the homes of parishioners and offer a blessing at each.

Those attending Sunday’s service were invited to gather afterward at All Saints Greek Orthodox Church for cocoa and cookies.