wfn.org | GOAA Historic Epiphany Celebration to Air Nationally on

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA
8-10 East 79th St. New York, NY 10021
Tel: (212) 570-3530 Fax: (212) 774-0215
Web: http://www.goarch.org
Email: communications@goarch.org

Immediate Release
January 24, 2006

Historic Epiphany Celebration in Tarpon Springs to Air Nationally on 
Hallmark Channel

New York, NY - Epiphany Celebration 2006, a program celebrating the 
centennial celebration of Epiphany in Tarpon Springs, FL and the historic 
visit of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Tarpon 
Springs during the first week of January 2006, that aired LIVE throughout 
the world on January 6, 2006, will be rebroadcast as a one-hour special on 
the Hallmark Channel on Sunday, January 29, 2006 from 7am-8am ET/PT and 6am 
CT.  This program is a special production of the 2006 Patriarchal 
Centennial Epiphany Celebration Committee of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox 
Cathedral in association with Greek Orthodox Telecommunications 
(GOTelecom), the television ministry of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of 
America.

With crowds this year estimated at 60,000, Tarpon Springs, normally a city 
of 35,000, has celebrated Epiphany with great joy and pageantry. American 
and Greek flags flew in the breeze and people from many faiths and 
denominations, from practically every state in the country, came to witness 
the impressive ceremony which began at St. Nicholas Cathedral.	Following 
the Divine Liturgy and Blessing of the Waters, Ecumenical Patriarch 
Bartholomew, spiritual leader of over 250 million Orthodox Christians 
worldwide; Archbishop Demetrios of America,  Primate of the Greek Orthodox 
Church in America; Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta, clergy and dignitaries, 
school children in traditional costume, choir members, Greek Folk Dance 
groups from throughout the United States and civic officials and 
representatives of Hellenic organizations  formed an impressive procession 
to Spring Bayou. There, an invocation was recited, a young lady released a 
white dove to fly over the Bayou, and the Ecumenical Patriarch threw a 
white cross into the water.  Fifty six young men dove for the cross, but 
only one retrieved it and received a special blessing.

Epiphany or Theophany (the manifestation of God) commemorates the baptism 
of Jesus in the Jordan River by St. John the Baptist. Of all the 
observances of Epiphany throughout the world, none is more deeply religious 
in tradition and significance or more colorful, than in the Greek Orthodox 
Church; and nowhere does the observance take place on the scale witnessed 
in Tarpon Springs, Florida, the place where Greek Epiphany and its 
traditions were introduced to America 100 years ago.

Epiphany Celebration 2006 is available for purchase by calling 727-771-2099 
or by visiting www.patriarchalcentennialvisit.com.

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