Archbishop, Prime Minister To Be On Hand For Epiphany Celebration

TARPON SPRINGS, FL — While 57 divers prepared for the annual Holy Epiphany celebration at Spring Bayou in Tarpon Springs Saturday, school children, clergy and members of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral headed to Tampa International Airport for the arrival of His Emminence Archbishop Elpidophoros, newly enthroned primate of the Greek Orhodox Church in America.

Joining Archbishop Elpidophoros, who will attend his first Epiphany celebration since being enthroned as the spiritual leader of 1.6 million Greek Orthodox Christians in America in June, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to be the first national head of state to attend the Tarpon Springs Epiphany celebration, according to the Greek Reporter.

The Reporter said the prime minister will be on hand for Monday's Epiphany events before heading to the White House to meet with President Donald Trump Tuesday.

Both the prime minister and archbishop were scheduled to speak at a dinner Sunday night sponsored by the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association at Innisbrook Golf Resort in Palm Harbor.

About 20,000 people will gather in Tarpon Springs for the 114th annual Feast of the Epiphany, the largest Epiphany celebration in the country. Held on Jan. 6 each year, the celebration commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. Tarpon Springs has been hosting the celebration since 1906.

The highlight of the festival will take place Monday at 1 p.m. when dozens of teen boys will dive into Spring Bayou to retrieve the wooden Epiphany Cross, tossed into the bayou by Archbishop Elpidophoros. The ceremony symbolizes Jesus' baptism and the teen who retrieves the cross will receive “divine beneficence” throughout the year.

St. Nicholas

Following the dive for the cross, Orthodox Christians will celebrate Epiphany Glendi at Craig Park, 5 Beekman Way. The festival will feature live music, traditional dancing and Greek foods.

Monday's Epiphany Schedule:

Orthros – 8 a.m.
Archierarchical Liturgy – 9:30 a.m.
Greater Blessing of Waters at St. Nichols Greek Orthodox Cathedral – 11:30 a.m.
Procession to Spring Bayou – 12:15 p.m.
Blessing of the Bayou and Casting of the Cross – 1 p.m.
Epiphany Glendi - 1:30 p.m.

Road Closures

The City of Tarpon Springs has announced the following road closures:

• Portions of Tarpon Avenue and Orange Street will be closed from Ring Avenue to Spring Boulevard intermittently on Sunday from 6 p.m.until approximately 10 p.m.
• A portion of Pinellas Avenue (Alternate U.S. 19) will be closed for a brief period (approximately 15 minutes) during this time.
• Sunday and Monday, Hibiscus Street from Tarpon Avenue to Orange Street will be closed beginning at 6 p.m. and will remain closed until Monday at approximately 3 p.m.
• South Spring Boulevard will be closed Monday at 4 a.m. from Banana Street to West Lemon Street.
• Pinellas Avenue (Alt. U.S. 19) will close Monday at 10 a.m. from Lemon Street to Pine Street
• Orange Street will close Monday at 10 a.m. from Spring Boulevard to Ring Avenue
• Tarpon Avenue will close Monday at 10 a.m. from Grosse Avenue to Spring Boulevard
• Court Street will close Monday at 10 a.m. from Pinellas Avenue to Safford Avenue
• North Spring Boulevard will close Monday at 10 a.m. from Read Street to Tarpon Avenue
• South Spring Boulevard will close Monday at 10 a.m. from Tarpon Avenue to West Lemon Street
• Shaddock Street will close Monday at 10 a.m. from Lemon Street to South Spring Boulevard
• Dodecanese Boulevard (Sponge Docks) will close Monday from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. from Athens Street to Hope Street

Suggested Detours:

East – West: Martin Luther King Jr. Drive or Spruce Street
North – South: U.S. 19

No Parking Zones:

No parking will be permitted on Tarpon Avenue from Ring Avenue to Spring Boulevard after 6 p.m. on Sunday until approximately 3 p.m. on Monday

No parking will be permitted in the City Parking Lot at Pinellas Avenue and Tarpon Avenue from 11 p.m. on Sunday until approximately 5 p.m. on Monday.

Dove Bearer

This year's Dove Bearer who will release the white dove before the dive for the cross is 25-year-old Cynthia Tsaoussis. Born and raised in Chicago, Tsaoussis moved to Tarpon Springs in August 2018. She is the daughter of Solon and Patricia Tsaoussis, the fraternal twin sister of Julia Tsaoussis and the niece of George Pappas.

Now an active member of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Tsaoussis sings in the choir and volunteers weekly for the St. Nicholas Bookstore. She has been a member of Philoptochos, the dance troupe Levendia and volunteers at the St. Nicholas Summer Camp.

She is a student at St. Petersburg College, where she is pursuing an associate's degree in education. She also works as an after-care counselor at Mother Teresa Catholic School in Lutz.

St. Nicholas

About His Eminence

His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros (Lambriniadis) of America, Most Honorable Exarch of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, was born in 1967 in Bakirköy, Istanbul. He studied at the Department of Pastoral Theology, Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, from which he graduated in 1991.

In 1993, he finished his postgraduate studies at the Philosophical School of the University of Bonn, Germany, submitting a dissertation entitled, “The Brothers Nicholas and John Mesarites.” He was ordained a deacon in 1994 at the Patriarchal Cathedral and was appointed as the Codecographer of the Holy and Sacred Synod.

He was enthroned as the spiritual leader at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York City on Saturday, June 22, 2019. He is the seventh Archbishop of America since the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese was established in 1922.