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Clearwater boy, 16, gets the cross

Jack Vasilaros, 16, came up from the chilly waters with the cross about 10 seconds after the toss today.

By ROBIN STEIN
Published January 6, 2006

	[Times photo: Carrie Pratt]
	Jack Vasilaros is a sophomore at Calvary Christian High School.
	[Times photo: Scott Keeler]
	After retrieving the cross, Vasilaros said: "This is going to change my life forever."
	Full coverage

TARPON SPRINGS - To retrieve the Epiphany cross in any year is considered a great honor, but to come up with a cross thrown by the Orthodox patriarch is especially blessed.

Today that honor belonged to Jack Vasilaros, 16, of Clearwater who retrieved the cross during the 100th annual celebration of Epiphany in Tarpon Springs.

"Today all is sanctified," His All Holiness Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of 250-million Orthodox Christians worldwide, said before he threw the cross into Spring Bayou. The town's Epiphany celebration is among the largest in the world.

More than 50 local teens from 16 to 18 churned madly through the water before Vasilaros emerged with the cross about 10 seconds after the throw.

The dive came on a sunny day when the outside temperature was 59 degrees and the water in Spring Bayou was about 64 degrees.

"This is going to change my life forever," Vasilaros said after retrieving the cross.

Vasilaros, a sophomore at Calvary Christian High School, was one of the smallest and youngest of the divers and ended up with several other boys in a boat that overturned and swamped.

It was tricky to clamber aboard the dinghy, get his balance and ignore the biting chill before the patriarch threw the cross, he said.

"It was so, so, so cold," he said. "I was frozen."

Once in the water, he nearly swam completely past the cross, but looked down and saw it below, he said.

Vasilaros, an avid fisherman and free-diver, is the son of Jack and Sophia Vasilaros.

"I didn't expect it, but I have a lot of faith in Jack," his mother said. "He's a very determinted young man. Whatever he sets his mind to, he accomplishes."

Two police divers had scoured the silty, rocky bottom of the bayou early this morning to clear the water of dangerous objects.

They found nothing, not even the manatees that often congregate at the bayou during winter, but reported that visibility in the water, even with a swim mask, was perhaps two feet.

The crowd, which organizers thought could reach 80,000, began arriving early.

Ally Cunningham, 18, was among a group of seven who came at 6:30 a.m. - and they were the second group there. She lives eight houses from the bayou and came prepared, with blankets and coolers. She comes every year because "it is a very spiritual and unique experience."

Her mother, 42-year-old Lisa Weiser, said she always roots for the underdogs among the divers. She waits until they jump in the bayou and looks for the one who has some trouble getting into the boats.

By about 10:30 a.m., police estimated that about 8,000 people had turned out so far.

To accommodate the extra people and high-profile visitors, organizers built a new platform at Spring Bayou and put law enforcement spotters on rooftops. At one point, a suspicious package was found in a dumpster behind a hotel, and a bomb squad detonated it, just to be sure.

Organizers also put in a new sound system and huge video screen, which at one point this morning was broadcasting NFL highlights. And an anchor desk was created for two broadcasters from the Orthodox church. Visiting clergy included 13 metropolitans, five bishops and six deacons, organizers said.

Among the dignitaries was U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Maryland, who is making his third trip to see Epiphany in Tarpon Springs.

"This is a major event," Sarbanes said during an interview this week. "For the Ecumenical Patriarch is a tremendous recognition of this community's importance. He's a man of great stature and great importance."

The dive, however, was not the most amazing thing to His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios. A few moments in the water is nothing compared to the long, wet walk back to the cathedral, where every year the shivering boys endure another ceremony, their wet clothes clinging to their skin.

"They are remarkable boys," the archbishop said Thursday. But, he added, "if you have a warm heart you cannot feel the cold."

Frankie Giallourakis, 5, and a friend, Ava Zitis, 6, were both dressed in folk costumes for the procession leading from St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral to Spring Bayou.

Frankie's parents took him to St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport Wednesday to greet the patriarch. When he emerged from the jet with his distinctive full white beard, Frankie said, "Here comes Santa, Mommy."

His mother, Arty Giallourakis said the 100th Epiphany is "really special for us because my husband (Michael's) family was one of the pioneer families of Tarpon Springs."

For many Tarpon Springs residents, the day was also bittersweet because it did not include two Greek Orthodox clerics long associated with Epiphany.

Father Tryfon Theophilopoulos, for three decades the dean of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, and Archbishop Iakovos, who shepherded the Greek Orthodox Church in America for four decades, both died last year.

Before the cross dive, one of Father Tryfon's sons said the day was "very difficult."

"It's very sad," said neonatologist Dean T. Theophilopoulos, 39, of Tarpon Springs. "We all have heavy hearts, but we all know that he's here.

"It's very nice that the patriarch mentioned Father Tryfon today," he added. "He'd be very proud of seeing all this. You have to hold back the tears.

"I can't tell you how many people came up to me and said they wish Father Tryfon was here, and that's when I tell them that he is here."

-- Staff writers Tamara El-Khoury and Katherine K. Lee contributed to this report.

[Last modified January 6, 2006, 13:56:16]