TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. – With warm weather and water temperatures around 70 degrees, the divers made their way to the boats.
After four boats flipped, the anxious young men waited for Archbishop Demetrios to bless and toss the cross into the water to begin the 113th annual Tarpon Springs Epiphany.
It did not take long for the one young parishioner to find the cross. Ilias Skandaliaris, 17, had it in his hand less than a minute after it was thrown, and he could not contain his emotions.
His fellow divers picked him up and physically carried him back to the church. When he was asked what it means to him to have the cross in his hands, Skandaliaris said: “Everything. More than anything. I could never experience. I could never describe the feeling.”
Skandaliaris' strategy was simple.
“I just went toward the location I saw, I had my eyes open, and I just grabbed it," he said.
His family was overcome with emotion and excitement. His mother, Katerina Skandaliaris, could hardly believe her son found the cross.
“I couldn’t stop shaking, and I’m still shaking," she said. "I wasn’t expecting it. I wanted to hear his name, I just wanted to hear his name.”
Crowds began to form near Spring Bayou around 8 a.m., more than four hours before the main event.
But that was not because this is the biggest Epiphany Celebration in the Western Hemisphere. John Titsis came all the way from Virginia Beach with his wife, just for the ceremony.
As Tarpon Springs' resident Lisa Sevastou explained, “It’s a community thing. We all get together every year and whether our sons dive or not, we support each other.”
Very quickly, that small crowd turned into one of tens of thousands. There were representatives from all the nine Greek Orthodox churches in the Tampa Bay area. Donna Trakas came with her family to support the young men from St. John’s in Tampa. When presented with the idea that one of their boys would find the cross, she exclaimed, “Oh my gosh it would be crazy. We would be excited.
"Very excited.”
It is said that whoever finds the cross receives an extra year of blessings, which is why the crowd continued to shout “áxios,” as Skandaliaris was paraded around the street. The Greek word translates to "worthy" and is a way for fellow divers and the community to congratulate the lucky and blessed diver.
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