A Leap of Faith: The American Religious Experience in COVID-19
On a cold January morning every year, a group of young men aged 16-18 jump into the freezing cold waters of a Florida bayou in a bid to retrieve a cross thrown into the water by an archbishop. This rite of passage is part of the Epiphany celebrations in Tarpon Springs which commemorate the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist. The young man who emerges from the water with the treasured cross is said to receive a year’s blessings
Epiphany is the largest religious event in Tarpon Springs and the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. But this deeply religious and spiritual tradition could change drastically in 2021, with COVID-19 looming over the event before divers enter the water on January 6.
Former Epiphany diver Nikolas Klimis had his last dive earlier this year, he said he has always looked forward to Epiphany and he has not missed the event his whole life.
Mr Klimis said the experience of diving in front of 20,000 people is something he looked forward to.
“It is just really amazing, I love it, it is one of the best things in Tarpon Springs,” said Mr Klimis.
The 114th Epiphany earlier this year drew in 25,000 spectators, according to the Tampa Bay Times, the city hosted Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Archbishop Elpidophoros (Image: Lawrence Jeffcoat).
Father Athanasios Haros is the Dean of St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Tarpon Springs, he said Tarpon Springs community is like a family.
“It truly is something I have never experienced before, in a good way.
“During Holy Week, without the pandemic, we are standing room only for every service,” said Fr Haros.
From mid-March to the end of May St Nicholas was closed to the public, encompassing Holy Week (the week preceding Easter Sunday) and part of Great Lent. St. Nicholas is now completely sanitised after each service, there are temperature checks and it is mandatory to wear a mask in the Cathedral which can now only take 60-100 people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DemtQSurf_c
Video 1: Spectators line the banks of the bayou watching a group of small boats as divers enter the murky waters, Greek Religious hymns can be heard in the distance flowing with the wind as it travels through the Spanish moss of the trees which line the surrounding parklands at the 2016 Epiphany Celebrations. Video 2: Inside St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Tarpon Springs, Florida (Videos: Lawrence Jeffcoat).
“To experience only lighting four candles for the resurrection service for the four people in the church, when normally we have only two blocks worth of people, that was almost I want to say a surreal experience,” said Fr Haros.
Fr Haros also said some of the Church community felt the online experience offered fewer distractions and made it easier to pay attention to the service itself. Although, the Greek Orthodox church both in the United States and Australia have continued to conduct communion with a shared spoon.
Fr Haros said Florida had exempted churches from some limitations.
Clemson University Professor of Religion and Political Science Laura Olson said the decision not to limit religious sermons in the US is due to constitutional law. She said the First Amendment of the Constitution states congress (government) shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.
When it comes to Epiphany, Fr Haros says the Church is preparing for a number of options for Epiphany depending on the state of the pandemic. He said COVID-19 case numbers are going in the right direction.
“We are quite literally preparing for everything from a normal year with 20,000 people to me going by myself with Holy Water and blessing the waters, no matter what the waters are going to be blessed,” said Fr Haros.