TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — As special an event as Epiphany is, this year’s edition will be an even more welcomed happening.
The 119th annual Epiphany is taking place Monday in Tarpon Springs.
What You Need To Know
- 119th annual Epiphany taking place Monday in Tarpon Springs
- After back-to-back storms left damage and debris across the area, including Tarpon Springs, community looking forward to its big event
- Schedule of Events
- PODCAST: Stories of retrieving the cross
- EPIPHANY 2025: Background, parking, history, cross retrievers and dove bearers
- Officials are excited and prepared for a safe Epiphany 2025
- 2024 Epiphany cross retriever reflects on year of blessings
- Tarpon Springs: A celebration of Greek culture right in Tampa Bay
Like much of the Bay area, the community took a blow from the back-to-back storms last year. In fact, though most of the city is up and running, some areas of Tarpon Springs are still rebuilding.
Now, the largest Greek Orthodox celebration in the Western Hemisphere has arrived and the community couldn’t be more excited.
“Everyone coming together, the celebration of the event, having each other, it’s just a joyous time for the community as a whole,” said John Hittos, who retrieved the cross in 2024. “I think it will revive the hopes and spirits of everyone.”
Epiphany is celebrated worldwide but the famous celebration in Tarpon Springs turns the small town known for its quaint sponge docks into a unique festival that sees 20,000 people descend on the area.
Crowds turn out at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral and at Spring Bayou every year during the first week of January for the traditional throwing of the cross during Epiphany celebrations.
They did a few years ago during the Covid pandemic and they will this year following destructive hurricanes.
SPECIAL DAY THROUGHOUT THE COMMUNITY
The event includes a blessing of the fleet on Friday, and an Orthros and Liturgy services at St. Nicholas Cathedral, which includes visits from His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas of the Greek Orthodox Achdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain and Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta.
After a procession from the Cathedral to the bayou, about 60 young men will take their places in the usually chilly waters of the Bayou in hopes of retrieving the cross from the water and the yearlong blessing that is said to come with it.
On Saturday, the community will celebrate at 7 p.m. with the Epiphany Ball, featuring live music from Endasi st. Nicholas Community Center at 348 N. Pinellas Ave. On Sunday, the Blessing of the Fleet takes place on the sponge docks at 1 p.m.
MONDAY SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
8 a.m. – Orthros and Divine Liturgy, St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 17 E. Tarpon Ave.
9 a.m. – Litany - Procession to Spring Bayou with clergy, altar servers, visiting dignitaries, school children dressed in traditional Greek costumes, bands, choir, teen divers and the dove bearer
1 p.m. -2 p.m. Blessing of Tarpon Springs – Dove Release – Dive for the Cross
2 p.m. – 6 p.m. Epiphany Glendi-Festival
Following the ceremony and cross throw, the Epiphany Glendi (festival) at the St. Nicholas Community Center with food, drink, live music and dancing.
ROAD CLOSURES
Locations: Area bounded by Spring Boulevard, Pine Street, Levis Avenue and Lemon Street.
Major thoroughfares of Alternate US Highway 19 (from Pine Street to Lemon Street) and Tarpon Avenue (from Levis Avenue to Spring Boulevard) will be closed as well as many smaller roads within the area of the procession.
Time Period: January 6, 2025, from approximately 10:45 am until 3:00 pm
Please observe posted detours, expect heavy traffic and yield to pedestrians. There will be NO overnight parking Thursday night or during the event within the procession area (Pinellas Avenue between Orange Street and Tarpon Avenue; Tarpon Avenue between Grosse Avenue and the Bayou; Orange Street between Pinellas Avenue and Ring Avenue).
ORIGINS
The Orthodox Christian Church celebrates Epiphany on Jan. 6 of each year, in remembrance of the baptism of Jesus Christ in the water of the Jordan River 2000 ago.
The observance spread to the new world and eventually to Tarpon Springs, which boasts the largest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the U.S.
Tarpon Springs’ Epiphany began as a simple affair in 1903 and has grown in size ever since.
The local ceremonies are identical to those taken place in and around Greece.
A SPECIAL YEAR
Most young men growing up in Tarpon Springs dream of retrieving the cross when it comes their time to dive.
And most, if not all, have a relative in the small, tight-knit community that grabbed the cross from the murky waters.
John Hittos retrieved the holy cross from Spring Bayou. He was 16 years old at the time and it was his first time diving for the cross. In the Greek orthodox community, it's believed that whoever retrieves the cross will have extra blessings in the year ahead.
"It was truly amazing to be the one to emerge from the water with the cross," he said.
John Hittos celebrates after retrieving the cross during the 2024 Epiphany at Spring Bayou in Tarpon Springs. (Associated Press via Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times)