Tarpon Springs Will Mark 120th Epiphany Celebration With Cross Dive

Tarpon Springs will host the 120th Epiphany Day Celebration on Tuesday, Jan. 6. Thousands flock to this event each year. It stands as one of the largest such gatherings on Earth. St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral organizes the ceremony, which commemorates Jesus Christ's baptism by St. John the Baptist in the River Jordan.

The celebration kicks off Tuesday at 8 a.m. with Orthros at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral at 36 N. Pinellas Ave. The Hierarchical Divine Liturgy follows at 9 a.m. His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America will preside over these sacred rites.

After the Divine Liturgy concludes, clergy and participants process to Spring Bayou for the Blessing of the Waters ceremony. This ancient ritual includes the release of a white dove that symbolizes the Holy Spirit descending from heaven. Archbishop Elpidophoros will then cast a white cross into the bayou at 1 p.m.

Dozens of teenage boys between 16 and 18 years old in good standing with their church will plunge from boats into the water to recover the cross. The young man who emerges with it receives a blessing for the entire year ahead. Past retrievers have gone on to become war veterans, doctors, lawyers, and politicians across the nation. Nikitas Lulias retrieved the cross in 1974. Today he serves as Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain.

"It was an incredible feeling. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced," said 17-year-old Luc Boillot, who retrieved the cross in January 2025, according to Suncoast News. "When I broke the water, I went down and I didn't want to go down, but I heard a voice telling me to. And as I kept going down it was pitch black and I saw a brown figure in the water, and I stuck my hand down there and ... it was the cross."

Boillot became the latest man in his family to retrieve the cross along with two uncles and his grandfather before him. "I cried when I got the cross and then me and Jerry Theophilopoulos cried together," Boillot said. "It was an incredibly emotional and spiritual feeling."

The Epiphany Glendi will take place from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the St. Nicholas Community Center at 348 N. Pinellas Ave. Anyone can attend this festival, which features Greek food and drink, traditional dancing and music, and activities showcasing local Greek traditions passed down through generations.

The event also includes the Blessing of the Fleet on Monday, Jan. 5, at 1 p.m. on the Sponge Docks in front of the Sponge Exchange. Workers installed dinghies at Spring Bayou on Saturday, Jan. 3, at 9 a.m.