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Community mourns 'an extraordinary man'

Father Tryfon offered his flock a sense of family and tradition.

By ROBIN STEIN
Published October 22, 2005

[Times photos: Scott Keeler]

Pallbearers, led by the Rev. Sebastian Skordallos, archimandrite, left, carry the casket of Father Tryfon Theophilopoulos from St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Tarpon Springs after his funeral Friday.

	Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta, who led the funeral, prays in the cemetery service Friday.
	Father Tryfon's son Jerry Theophilopoulos, right, is hugged by a well wisher and family members outside Tarpon Springs' St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral during his father's funeral Friday.

TARPON SPRINGS - Mourners filled the aisles and poured out the doors of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral at Friday's funeral for Father Tryfon Theophilopoulos, the congregation's beloved spiritual leader who died Tuesday at the age of 70.

Black linen hung over the cathedral's entrance, and an intermittent drizzle fell as a thousand people crowded solemnly inside.

For three decades, Father Tryfon served as the dean of the cathedral, uniting and energizing the tight-knit Greek community here.

"He was an extraordinary man," said Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta, who presided over the two-hour service.

Even as a young priest, he radiated a "spirit, a spirit with energy," which impressed his elders and led church officials to send Father Tryfon to Tarpon Springs from New York in 1975, Metropolitan Alexios said.

Back then, his English was still spotty, Mayor Beverley Billiris told the crowd.

She asked Father Tryfon to conduct part of her wedding ceremony in English so her family, who wasn't Greek, could follow along.

"I don't know who understood him that day," she said.

But the mayor and others said his compassion and "old country" spirit transcended language and generation. Under his leadership, a new community center was constructed, a parochial school opened and the church was elevated to the status of a cathedral, the only one in Central Florida.

"We are very demanding on our priests. We expect them every time there's a saint's day - it's not just every Sunday," said Rep. Michael Bilirakis, who is a longtime congregant. "He was a sweet, sweet man."

Many said that more important than the honors and new buildings was the sense of family and tradition that Father Tryfon maintained even as the area diversified and livelihoods changed.

"I felt like I was coming home," said Georgia Teraovolas, 32, who moved to the area from Long Island, N.Y., seven years ago.

On Thursday, Demetrios, her 7-year-old son, saw his photo.

"Mommy, I'm going to miss him,' he told me," Teraovolas said. Every week, she said, Father Tryfon visited her children's preschool classes to deliver a Bible story and an important lesson.

"He used to say, "Be open and understanding of other people's differences because we are different,"' she said.

Anna M. Athanasatos, 14, said she is one of a few Greek Orthodox students at East Lake High School.

"I like telling people about my religion because I believe in it, like, all the way," she said.

As a spiritual leader, Father Tryfon showed that the way began at home as well as in the church, Metropolitan Alexios said.

"He believed to be a good priest he first had to be a good family man," the metropolitan said. "Where are we going to find another Tryfon?"

[Last modified October 22, 2005, 01:13:18]