Saint Spyridon the Miracle Worker
Saint Spyridon is honored in both the Eastern and western Churches. He was born at the end of the third century A.D. in Cyprus.He was a poor shepherd, uneducated.
Despite this,he always tried to do the will of God.He married and had one daughter called Irene. When his wife died, he entered a monastery and his daughter a convent.He became the Bishop of Trymithous near Paphos, in Cyprus.He was a strong and vocal opponent of Arianism.
His greatest miracle was to prove the existence of the Holy Trinity and thus the Godliness of the Lord Jesus.This he did at the First Synod in 325 AD in front of many heretics.He took a ceramic tile in his hand,and,after invoking the name of the Holy Trinity, the fire with which the tile had been baked rose up to the sky. The water which had been used in its creation fell to earth, and the earth used in making it remained in the Saints hand.When the Synod finished Saint Spyridon returned to Paphos. He fell into disfavour with the emperor Maximinus. He died peacefully at about 78 years old.
When Cyprus fell to the Arabs, the Saints body was removed and taken to Constantinople. On removal it was found that his body had not decayed, a sign of his holiness. In 1453 when the Turks took Constantinople, his relics were removed to Corfu by a monk called Kalohairetis.They are there to this day. He is the Patron Saint of Corfu.His relics are taken around in a procession every Palm Sunday and on other special occasions for veneration.
He has performed many miracles including expelling the plague from the island. It is believed that the plague ,on its way out of the island, in its fury at been expelled scratched one of the stones of the old citadel in fury. This stone is still shown to visitors today. The Saint also saved the island at the time of the second great siege of Corfu in 1716. The Turks laid siege to Corfu for 22 days. Many Turks said that they had seen the Saint threatening them with a lit torch. In panic they fled.
We celebrate his name day every year on 12th December. |
