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Celebration: Great celebration today. Don’t forget to wish them happy birthday!
Today, December 12, our Church pays tribute to Saint Spyridon, an important figure of Christianity, especially associated with the city and island of Corfu, of which he is the patron.
According to ecclesiastical tradition, Saint Spyridon was born around 270 in Askia, today Assia Famagusta, located in the Occupied Territories of the Republic of Cyprus. He came from a humble family and was quite rich by the measures of the time, since he owned farmland and flocks of sheep. At the urging of his parents, he married a virtuous villager, with whom he had a daughter, named Irene. His grammatical knowledge was limited, but thanks to his virtue and his perfect Christian life, he was elected Bishop of Trimythountos (today Tremetousia, Larnaca).
Spyridon, as bishop of Trimithus, participated in the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea (325), which formed Christian doctrine, and distinguished himself as a staunch critic of Areios. In fact, he performed miracles, trying to refute the heretic Arius, who propagated that Christ is not the Son of God, but a creation of God, challenging the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, fundamental to Christianity.
To prove the groundlessness of Areios’ beliefs, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a tile. Showing it to those present at the Synod, he made the sign of the cross with his right hand and said:
– “In the name of the Father”. Parents who see the scene are literally shocked. Because with Spyridon’s words, the fire that the tile was baked with rose.
“And of the Son,” he added. Then the water with which the tile was kneaded ran.
– “And of the Holy Spirit” he completed and the earth remained in his hand.
And immediately afterwards, addressing the synods present, he said:
– My brothers and parents, as the tile is a thing of one essence and one nature, but it is triple – fire, water, earth – this is the Holy God. Although we must not compare this Uncreated and Supernatural Nature with a created and perishable creation, nevertheless, to make the incomprehensible understandable, – may his infinite mercy forgive us – we say and emphasize: God is one in essence and nature. . But according to people or beings it is Triune: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is the so-called “Miracle of Keramos”, which is attributed to Saint Spyridon.
Spyridon died peacefully in 348 and because of his virtuous life and the miracles he performed, he was classified among the saints. His remains were transported to Constantinople in the 7th century to protect themselves from invasions by non-religious Arabs in Cyprus. After the fall of the city in 1453 he was transferred for safety to Venetian-occupied Corfu, which has since been closely associated with the Saint and its inhabitants invoke his name in all difficult circumstances.
In memory of the Saint’s miracles at decisive moments in Corfu’s history, four processions of his relic have been established every year, which are performed with great brilliance and over time have acquired a tourist character:
- The first Sunday of November (“First weekend”), for the relief of the plague of the island. It was established in 1673.
- On Palm Sunday, to rid the island of the plague. It was established in 1630.
- On Holy Saturday for the relief of the island from hunger, due to wheat. It is an older litany and dates from 1553.
- On August 11 for the rescue of the island from the Turks in 1716.
Saint Spyridon is the patron saint of ceramics and the famous Russian Tolstoy family.
Source: sansimera.gr
