TARPON SPRINGS, Fla — Almost 70 teenagers jumped in the water at Spring Bayou Monday afternoon.
They are all a part of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral.
The one who comes up with the wooden cross is promised a year of blessings.
This year, it is Lucas Boillot.
“How does it feel,” I asked moments after he got out of the water.
“Amazing,” Lucas said.
We followed the 17-year-old from the water back up Tarpon Avenue on the shoulders of his fellow divers.
They returned to the church, where the celebration continued for Lucas and his proud mother, Kathy.
“We call him Lucky Luke. And so today was his day,” she said.
“I stuck my hand down there and I got closer and it was the cross. I was trying to get up but there people on top of me so it was very hard. And I stuck my hand out of the water. It was truly an incredible feeling. It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” said Lucas.
Lucas has a special connection to the Epiphany.
His grandfather, Rev. Fr. Tryfon Theophilopoulos, was the priest at St. Nicholas for 30 years.
And his uncle Jerry Theophilopoulos retrieved the cross here too.
Jerry was one of the first to embrace Luke.
“40 years ago to the day I retrieved the cross,” Theophilopoulos told me. “Nothing in your life will surpass retrieving the cross. It is a blessing. It is meant for certain individuals. It doesn’t matter whether you are a good swimmer or who you are. There’s a purpose behind it. The young man is blessed.”
Lucas and his family live in Plantation but are still a part of this church community because of their long family connection here.
He is a high school senior heading to UCF to study engineering.
He plays bass in a band and just happens to work as a lifeguard.
“I was dreaming of it last night. It really didn’t feel real. I was entirely blessed to be in that moment at that right time,” said Lucas.
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