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Immersed In Blessings

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By NICOLA M. WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 7, 2008

Updated: 01/06/2008 11:33 pm

TARPON SPRINGS - Nick Kavouklis recognized the fist as it emerged from the murky bayou and knew right away his son had won one of the highest honors in the Greek Orthodox community.

He just couldn't tell which son.

His identical 18-year-old twins, Chris and Michael, had dived into the Spring Bayou to retrieve a blessed cross Sunday afternoon in the community's 102nd annual Epiphany celebration, which commemorates Jesus Christ's baptism in the Jordan River. In Tarpon Springs, the dive to catch the cross is considered a sacred rite of passage for young Greek Orthodox men.

It was Chris Kavouklis who pulled the cross out of the water Sunday. To believers, this means the Jesuit High School senior will be blessed for the rest of the year.

"I can't even describe it; it's incredible," Chris Kavouklis said, as fellow divers, barefoot and dripping, hoisted him on their shoulders and carried him the half-mile from the bayou to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral.

Epiphany Day is celebrated each Jan. 6 and is one of three major holy days in the Greek Orthodox religion, along with Christmas and Easter. The celebration in Tarpon Springs, which drew about 15,000 spectators, is said to be among the largest in the world.

Generations of men have participated in the dive for the cross, including Nick Kavouklis, when he was a boy.

"Time stood still for a second," he said of seeing his son emerge with the cross.

Chris Kavouklis ran and jumped feet-first into the bayou with 58 other teenage boys, including his brother, when Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, signaled the divers to go. Kavouklis swam to one of several rowboats roped around the dive platform and plunged into the water when 17-year-old Irene Koulianos released a dove representing the Holy Spirit and the archbishop heaved the weighted cross.

Chris Kavouklis caught the cross on his third and last dive; to be eligible, divers must be between 16 and 18.

"I couldn't even believe it was happening," Kavouklis said. "I saw it. It was blurry and white, and I went for it."

Seconds later, he surfaced, gasping for air, his hand clutching the cross. His brother swam over, grabbed his shoulder and held onto him.

The two emerged, shivering and overcome with emotion. The Kavouklis brothers knelt in front of the archbishop on the diving platform, with the other boys kneeling behind. The boys slapped Chris' back and hugged him as the archbishop blessed them all.

Both brothers are altar boys at St. John Greek Orthodox Church in Tampa. They also wrestle and play football.

Athletic prowess, though, is not the point of the competition. The boys prepare themselves spiritually for the dive. Chris Kavouklis spent Saturday night at church and lit a candle. Then he sat outside and prayed quietly, he said.

Later Sunday, in a brief ceremony in the cathedral, the archbishop gave Chris Kavouklis a special blessing and fastened a gold cross necklace around his neck, a replica of the cross he had plucked from the bayou.

"From the time the children can understand, they want to catch the cross," said Sylvia Danapas, 47, whose son, Angelo, 17, dove Sunday.

In years past, her two older sons dove, and her father caught the cross when he was a teenager.

Before the dive Sunday morning, the divers, who all wore swim trunks and Epiphany 2008 T-shirts, paced in front of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, where Greek prayers and chants were broadcast outside through giant speakers.

The boys, most of whom are the sons and grandsons of Greek immigrants, said besides knowing how to swim, there is no way to prepare for the dive.

"We believe someone's already chosen. Today's just the day we find out who it is," said Nicholas Saroukos, 17.

Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or nwhite1@tampatrib.com.

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