Why does Vodokanal need a water blessing ceremony?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Physicists from St. Petersburg State University demanded that the State Unitary Enterprise "Vodokanal of St. Petersburg" prove the relevance of religious ceremonies held in public in January at the city's water treatment plant.

The editorial office of the Rosbalt news agency received a copy of the official request written by the staff of the Physics Department of St. Petersburg State University. Scientists M. V. Arkhipov and S. E. Belov, both heads of laboratories at the Faculty of Physics, wrote an official letter, certified by the seal of the university and signed by an employee of the personnel department.

In the document, candidates of physical and mathematical sciences ask questions to Felix Karmazinov, General Director of the Vodokanal of St. Petersburg State Unitary Enterprise.

"1. Please confirm with documents (by measuring the physical and chemical properties of water) that tap water after the" rite of baptism "really acquired new properties that are useful for the consumer.

2. We ask you to explain to water consumers why this technology is not used every day by Vodokanal to improve water quality, the scientists write.

Indeed, earlier the press service of the State Unitary Enterprise "Vodokanal of St. Petersburg" circulated a press release in the media, which stated the following:

“On Christmas Eve, January 18, a ritual of blessing of water took place at the Main Waterworks of the city. This rite has been held for several years now, and, as the station workers note, the water that has passed through it really acquires special properties. If you collect it in a separate vessel, then it remains clean and transparent throughout the year. Water is consecrated at one of the last stages of water treatment - in the contact clarifier shop. Water passing through the filters goes through a ceremony, after which it enters the reservoir, and from it - into the water supply network."

This information caused shock among the urban intelligentsia. Here are just a few comments on this news spread in the media:

Many townspeople also wondered why the leadership of the State Unitary Enterprise Vodokanal of St. Petersburg insults not only atheists with their superstitions, but also believers of non-Orthodox confessions - Muslims, Jews or pagans, for whom such rituals at the city waterworks are unacceptable. However, the management of the State Unitary Enterprise "Vodokanal of St. Petersburg" did not give an answer to any of these questions.

Interestingly, when preparing an official request from physicists at St. Petersburg State University to Felix Karmazinov, both scientists faced apathy or even fright on the part of their colleagues.

So, in a cover letter to Academician Evgeny Aleksandrov, a member of the RAS commission on pseudoscience, one of the authors of the request, Mikhail Arkhipov, notes, we quote:

It is noteworthy that the university physicists do have reason to fear clericalization. Last week, the presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District Nikolai Vinnichenko, during a meeting with representatives of the religious confessions of St. Petersburg, said that a theological department should appear at St. Petersburg State University.

The reaction of the State Unitary Enterprise "Vodokanal of St. Petersburg" to the request of the physicists of St. Petersburg State University is still unknown.

Evgeny Zubarev

A source