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Retrieving the cross

A teen beats out his twin and 57 others to earn a special blessing in a "mythic place" for Greeks.

By ELENA LESLEY, Times Staff Writer
Published January 7, 2008

Chris Kavouklis holds up the cross he retrieved after it was tossed in Spring Bayou by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, the spiritual head of the Greek Orthodox church in the United States, during the 102nd annual Epiphany celebration in Tarpon Springs. Photo gallery Video
	[Jim Damaske | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Bill Serne | Times] Chris Kavouklis was carried back to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral on the shoulders of other divers to receive additional blessings from His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios. [Jim Damaske | Times] Chris Kavouklis, 18, emerges from Spring Bayou with the Epiphany cross. Christopher and his twin brother Michael were just two of 59 teenage boys who dove for the cross at the annual celebration.

TARPON SPRINGS - As an arm, cross in hand, rose above the jumble of limbs Sunday, confusion rippled through the crowd crammed around Spring Bayou.

"It's Michael! It's Michael!" some shouted.

"It's Chris! It's Chris!" others called out.

"Which one is it?" dive coordinator Michael Kouskoutis frantically shouted, trying to determine which Kavouklis twin would receive this year's special blessing for retrieving the Epiphany cross.

It was Christopher Kavouklis, 18, of Tampa.

But Michael Kavouklis, who also dove for the cross, was never far from his identical twin's side. He and others laid hands on the trembling Christopher as he knelt before His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios. He proudly headed the procession for his brother - who was carried back to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral on the shoulders of other divers - and held his trophy for him as Christopher received additional blessings at the cathedral.

"Both of these boys are the epitome of morals, honesty and ethics," said the twins' grandfather, Michael Kavouklis, a retired Hillsborough County judge.

The brothers, seniors at Jesuit High School in Tampa, were just two of 59 teenage boys who dove for the cross. The Greek Orthodox tradition, part of the annual Epiphany celebration, commemorates Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River.

Sunday marked Tarpon Springs' 102nd Epiphany celebration, one of the largest in the world.

Spectators began staking out the best vantage points early.

"You've got to get your spot," said Harry Batuyios, 60, who began carefully setting out and labelling five plastic chairs at Spring Bayou a little after 8 a.m. Tarpon Springs, he said, "is a mythic place for people of Greek descent."

Callie and Nick Meta, both 49, of Tarpon Springs arrived around 7 a.m. with a large thermos of coffee, blankets and a newspaper. Callie Meta said she loves the peacefulness of the morning, and the beauty of the bayou and the service.

"I like to read, meditate and chill out," she said.

At the nearby observation platform, divers tested the 66-degree water with their feet, some calling it "not bad" and others insisting it was "freezing."

Meanwhile, the faithful crowded into St. Nicholas cathedral for an Orthros and Divine Liturgy led by the archbishop, the spiritual head of the Greek Orthodox Church in the United States. Around noon, the archbishop and divers began marching from the cathedral through downtown Tarpon Springs to the bayou, where an estimated 15,000 people waited.

After lining up on the bayou's steps according to age - 18-year-olds in the front; 16-year-olds at the back - and receiving a blessing from the archbishop, they took off. Divers raced across the observation platform and jumped into the bayou, scrambling onto 10 boats strung in a semi-circle.

Boats closest to the platform were most desirable since the 79-year-old archbishop doesn't throw very far, and the boys overloaded and overturned three boats. Some eventually forfeited their convenient spots, gliding over to less populated boats. Others remained perched on the overturned vessels, ready to leap toward the cross.

Irene Koulianos, this year's dove bearer, released her charge.

Onlookers strained for a better view. And then - what they'd all been waiting for - the archbishop dropped the cross into the murky water. Thirteen seconds of splashing and flailing followed before Christopher Kavouklis, a standout wrestler and football player for Jesuit, thrust the cross into the air triumphantly.

"I just couldn't believe it was happening," he said, still dripping, as other divers carried him to the cathedral.

Back at the cathedral, family and friends thronged the victor. Nick Kavouklis, the boys' father, teared up as he congratulated his son, and their grandfather declared the twins "axios," or Greek for "worthy."

"It was surreal," Nick Kavouklis said of the experience. Though the proud father, who dove for the cross himself as a young man, admitted, "I couldn't tell at first which one got it."

Elena Lesley can be reached at elesley@sptimes.com or 727 445-4167.

Epiphany by the numbers

66 Water temperature, in degrees, in Spring Bayou on Sunday

2-3 Visibility, in feet,underwater in the bayou

59 Number of 16- to18-year-old boys who dove for the cross this year

13 Seconds it took Christopher Kavouklis of Tampa to retrieve the cross

15,000 Estimated number of spectators crowded around Spring Bayou

102 Years that Tarpon Springs has celebrated Epiphany

[Last modified January 6, 2008, 21:29:15]