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Epiphany Dove Bearer Ready To be Emotional

Cheryl Bentley/SUNCOAST

Ioana Bociu has been chosen to be the dove bearer in St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church's annual Epiphany Celebration.

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By Cheryl  Bentley | The Suncoast News

Published: January 2, 2009

TARPON SPRINGS - Ioana Bociu tried to remain calm after finding out she had been accorded a great honor for a young woman of the Greek Orthodox faith in Tarpon Springs.

"I'm not one to jump up and down, but I was smiling," the 18-year-old Bociu said. "I was jumping up and down inside."

Bociu will be the dove bearer at Tarpon Springs' 102nd observance of the Feast of the Epiphany this Tuesday, Jan. 6.

Wearing a white smock, the dove bearer walks in front of the cathedral choir from St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral to Spring Bayou carrying the dove in her hands.

The dove symbolizes the Holy Spirit, which Christians believe appeared during Jesus' baptism in the River Jordan. The baptism of Jesus is the focus of Epiphany in the Greek Orthodox and other Eastern Rite churches.

During the Epiphany rites at the bayou, after the main celebrant has given his blessing, the dove bearer releases the bird. It is then time for Greek young men to do their part in the ceremony by diving into the bayou to retrieve a cross that has been tossed in. The cross symbolizes the baptism itself.

Bociu is aware of the solemnity of her task. "You're carrying the Holy Spirit when you carry the dove, and you realize it."

The choice of the dove bearer is carefully done, said Katie Faklis, who as choir director of St. Nicholas selected Bociu. The role of the selection of the dove bearer is given to the director of the cathedral's choir, Faklis explained. By tradition the dove bearer comes from the choir's ranks.

"Usually, we choose a young lady who has been very devoted," Faklis said. Faklis has been choosing the dove bearer since 1971. For a few years, she worked with Joanna Hill, former co-director of the choir, in choosing the dove bearer.

The dove Bociu will release actually is a homing pigeon raised by Walt Postma. Postma, a West Pasco resident, has been supplying the Epiphany celebration with birds since 1996.

On the night before the event, he chooses the bird, looking for a "good looking, strong bird" and drops it off at the downtown cathedral the next morning. If it can escape any hawks lurking around the bayou, the bird returns to its home after being released.

Bociu comes from a strong Greek Orthodox tradition. Her father, the Rev. Ioan Bociu, formerly served as assistant priest at St. Nicholas Cathedral and now is priest at St. Stefanos Greek Orthodox Church in St. Petersburg. Her mother is Liliana. She also has a 7-year-old brother, Adrian.

The family moved to this country from their native Romania when Ioana was 10. They settled first in Venice, south of Sarasota, and later moved to Tarpon Springs, where Ioana saw her first celebration of the Feast of the Epiphany, Tarpon style.

"It was overwhelming," she remembers. "I didn't expect there to be so many people. I really liked it."

She attends Palm Harbor University High School, where she is enrolled in the International Baccalaureate Program and has 4.0 grade point average.

Besides being active in the choir, Bociu is a member of Greek Orthodox Youth of America and the cathedral-based Levendia Dance Troupe, which performs Greek folk dances. She will attend Florida State University next year and major in international affairs, concentrating on Russian and East European studies.

Being the dove bearer has been a long dream, she noted. She is looking forward to her big role.

"I'm pretty sure it will be emotional," she says. "You're part of something so much bigger than you."

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