‘All good blessings’ as Tarpon Springs celebrates Epiphany 2023
TARPON SPRINGS — George Stamas jumped into Spring Bayou at midnight on Friday and swam to the dinghy where he’d stand hours later and try, as tradition goes, to be the one to earn a year of blessings.
It was practice for Stamas, 16, but also a chance to pray for the strength and power to be the one to find the cross tossed into the water by His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. The dive is a highlight of Tarpon Springs’ annual Epiphany celebration commemorating the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.
Shortly after noon Friday, 65 boys leapt from their dinghies into the 62-degree bayou during the 117th annual celebration.
When he emerged from the water clutching the white cross, Stamas, the Tarpon Springs High School football quarterback, said he was in disbelief.
“Everyone, I think, dreams of catching the cross, but I mean it’s coming to reality now,” Stamas said.
This year’s Epiphany continued a family tradition for Stamas, whose cousin retrieved the cross in 2018 and great grandfather found the cross in 1938. It also marked the true return of the community’s tradition back to pre-pandemic days, following the attendance restrictions in 2021 and a celebration without the signature Glendi festival with food and dancing last year.
The largest Epiphany celebration in the Western Hemisphere brought more than 20,000 people to downtown Tarpon Springs, according to the event’s spokesperson Johanna Kossifidis.
The Greek Orthodox holiday has a special meaning for Tarpon Springs, a community with the nation’s largest per-capita population of Greeks.
“As a mayor it’s a proud day,” said Mayor Costa Vatikiotis, 74, who dove for the cross himself as a teenager. “It’s the longest observance in the U.S. It started with our grandfathers in 1905. Their blood runs through us here.”
But many of the spectators who laid their blankets and lawn chairs around the bayou beginning around 7 a.m. awaiting the cross dive were not Greek or even Greek Orthodox at all.
“It’s just part of the culture of Tarpon Springs and it’s wonderful to see the tradition,” said Robert Grace, a resident of the city and a Presbyterian.
Like every year, the day began with an 8 a.m. Orthos and Divine Liturgy at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral that lasts almost four hours.
Emmanouela Kavouklis, 11, was waiting on the church steps with a bountiful bouquet in her hands. Dressed in traditional Greek garb, with a bright yellow veil over her head, she handed the flowers to the archbishop when he arrived.
Worshipers entered the Narthex of the cathedral and kiss icons of St. Nicholas and another showing the baptism. They lit candles to represent their prayers and honor those who’ve died.
“It’s like greeting your heavenly family,” said Dale Terrell, the church caretaker.
After the service, thousands of spectators lined up around the block between the church and the bayou to watch the procession of clergy, parishioners and choir members with children dressed in traditional Greek garb.
At the head of the procession was Alexander Makris, who retrieved the cross in 2022, and Elena Gonatos, this year’s dove bearer.
St. Nicholas is one of the few, if only, Greek Orthodox churches to reserve the cross dive only for boys ages 16 to 18. But one girl from the choir is selected to release a white dove to represent the Holy Spirit over the water.
“It’s just a really big honor,” Gonatos, 17, said in an interview earlier this week.
They reached Spring Bayou and the 65 divers jumped in and swam to their respective dinghies. The archbishop prayed over the bayou and Gonatos released the dove. He tossed the cross, and the boys jumped from their boats.
Stamas said he felt like he couldn’t breathe underwater. But he pushed through.
“I had no good luck, all good blessings,” he said.
When Chris Stamas, saw his son emerge with the cross, he said he knew his intuition had been right.
“I had a feeling for the past week and I’ve told everybody,” Chris Stamas said. “I truly had a feeling in my heart — not a hope, not a wish — but I had a feeling that the boy was going to get it. He’s so special, and he’s just got the most unbelievable heart.”
Each of the 64 other divers, one by one, kissed the cross as Stamas held it on the bayou platform. They hugged him, kissed his cheek, ruffled his hair. They hoisted Stamas on their shoulders and carried him back to the cathedral, where the archbishop returned for more prayer.
The day ended with the Glendi at Panos Pappas Community Center for live music and food like gyros, spanakopita egg rolls and lamb chops.
Karen Ward, 63, has lived in Tarpon Springs for 26 years, and she’s attended the Epiphany celebration all but one of those years .
”I take off every year for the Epiphany because it is the most exciting, spiritual experience that I have,” Ward said.
Ward and friend, Stacey Wellington, 53, from New York, got to the bayou before sunrise. The pair said the empty bayou gave them time to reflect on the day.
”For me, it gave me time to just focus and connect,” Wellington said. “We were just feeling the experience.”
