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Paul Apostolakis braved the frigid, whitecapped Hudson River Sunday in his lifeguard trunks to retrieve a gold cross thrown in by the Rev. John Romas of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.
The diving ceremony off Pier A in Battery Park was part of an annual church ritual that commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.
Whoever retrieves the cross is thought to have good luck for the year.
“Like Father tells me, I do this for God, and he’s going to be there for me,” said Apostolakis, 20, of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
The deep-freeze dive has been a tradition since St. Nicholas was founded in 1916.
The church, which was located on Cedar St. in lower Manhattan, was destroyed on 9/11.
By Richard Boudreaux and Yasser Ahmad January 12, 2009
Reporting from Jerusalem and Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip — Palestinian villagers said the shelling came from the direction of the Israeli border, less than a mile away, scattering flaming objects in their midst and burning down 20 homes and the local United Nations-run school.
“One landed in my kitchen and caused a fire,” said Zohair Mohammed abu Rejila, 35. “I went to put it out, but another one landed on Mayar, my baby daughter. It was like a block of fire, a piece of plastic on fire. When I knocked it off her, it exploded and out came this heavy white smoke with a very bad smell.”
A spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the cardinal, whose remarks appeared in an interview Wednesday, adopted the kind of language that Hamas and other Islamic militant groups have used to demonize Israel and equate it with Nazi Germany.
“It was shocking to hear the same kind of terminology from such a high-ranking member of the church,” Israeli spokesman Yigal Palmor said Saturday.
Cardinal Renato Martino, a former Vatican envoy to the United Nations and now Pope Benedict XVI’s top official on issues of peace and justice, said in the interview that Gaza now resembles a “big concentration camp.”
Commenting on Israel’s two-week military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Martino told the online newspaper Il Sussidiario.net that both sides were concerned only with their own interests.
“People trapped in zones where military operations are taking place are particularly affected,” it said in a statement from its Geneva headquarters.
The organisation, which has had to scale down its operations for security reasons, said it had received dozens of calls from people who were in zones which could not be reached and were experiencing increasing difficulty in maintaining contact with the outside world.
“Yesterday, we received a call from a family of 40 people, including 20 children, staying in a house in the Netzarim area. They told us they had not had drinking water for almost six days because the well supplying water to their house had been damaged,” the statement quoted an ICRC employee in Gaza as saying.
As I did last winter the church storm cam is up and running.
The Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Prince Albert traditionally holds all its sermons in the Ukrainian language – but that’s changed. It has recently started holding one Sunday ceremony a week in English.
“We want to open our doors to everyone,” said Rev. Michael Lomaszkiewicz. “And language is the tool of communication.”
It has been evident that younger generations have been few in attendance at all Sunday services for any faith and the Ukrainian Orthodox church realizes that.”
The expansion to English-language services will aid attendance by allowing access to those who otherwise may not understand the nuances of the service, he added.
“We want the young people we have and others to feel comfortable praying with us as well as understand us,” said Lomaszkiewcz.
The church still adheres to all its traditions but believes that a few ceremonies in English may help a few people who don’t understand Ukrainian hear and understand the words of God easier.
“It doesn’t hurt our traditions,” said Lomaszkiewcz. “The lord gave us the gift of being able to speak different languages.”
The Holy Trinity Orthodox church will also be holding their annual Epiphany Eve Service on Jan. 18 at 11 a.m. in English. The Epiphany is a traditional annual event that involves blessing members of the churches homes with holy water. The service will start with the blessing of the water then a holy supper to follow.