Holy Hierarch St. Spyridon of Tremithus was born at the
close of the 3rd Century on the island of Cyprus. Little
information about his life has survived. We know that he
was a shepherd, and had a wife and children. He would give
away all of his possessions to help his neighbors and
pilgrims; in return for this, the Lord awarded him with
the gift of working miracles. He would heal those with
incurable diseases, and would drive out demons. After his
wife’s death, during the reign of Emperor
Constantine the Great (306-337), he was chosen to be
bishop of the city of Tremithus. As a bishop, the Holy
Hierarch did not alter his manner of life, combining
pastoral care with acts of charity. According to church
historians, in the year 325, Holy Hierarch Spyridon took
part in the work of the First Ecumenical Council. At the
Council, the Hierarch debated a Greek philosopher who
defended the Arian heresy. St. Spyridon’s simple
words showed everyone the impotence of human wisdom before
the True Wisdom of God: “Listen, philosopher, to
what I tell you. We believe that with His Word and Spirit,
Almighty God created the heavens and the earth, man, and
the entire visible and invisible world out of nothing. The
Word is the Son of God, who came down to earth on account
of our sins, was born of the Virgin, lived among people,
suffered, died for our salvation, and then was
resurrected, having atoned for original sin by His
passion, and with Himself resurrected the human race. We
believe that He is of One Essence with, and is equal in
honor to, the Father, and we believe this without any evil
fabrication, for this mystery is beyond comprehension to
human reason.”
As the result of their talk, this enemy of Christianity
became its staunch defender, and accepted Holy Baptism.
After his talk with St. Spyridon, the philosopher
addressed his friends and said, “Listen! As long as
debate with me rested on proofs, I would counter one proof
with another, and through my proficiency in debate could
rebut everything posed to me. However, when instead of
logical proofs, from the lips of this Elder there came
some special power, my proofs became powerless against it,
for man cannot stand up against God. If any of you is able
to think as I do, let him believe on Christ and together
with me follow after this Elder, through whose lips God
Himself spoke.”
At the same Council, Holy Hierarch St. Spyridon gave the
Arians a graphic proof of the Unity within the Holy
Trinity. He took a brick into his hands, and squeezed it.
Immediately, flame shot up from it, water poured down from
it, and clay remained in the hands of the miracle worker.
Then St. Spyridon said, “Here are three elements,
but the plinth (the brick) is one. So it is with the Most
Holy Trinity: Three Faces, but One Divinity.”
The Holy Hierarch very lovingly cared for his flock. By
his prayers, a drought was replaced by abundant rainfall,
and with the constant rains, coming down in buckets, the
sick would be healed, and demons cast out.
On one occasion a woman came to him with a dead child in
her arms, and asked for his intercession. Praying, he
returned life to the child. The mother, overcome with joy,
fell dead. However, the Saint’s prayers brought her
back to life as well.
It so happened that while the Holy Hierarch was rushing to
save a friend who had been slandered and condemned to
death, his way was blocked by a stream formed by a flash
flood. The Saint ordered the flood, “Stop! So
commands the Lord of the entire world, so that I might
cross and save the man to whom I am rushing.” The
flood obeyed, and the Saint successfully crossed to the
other shore. The judge, apprised of the miracle that had
taken place, greeted St. Spyridon with due honor, and
released his friend to go in peace.
Another incident from the Saint’s life is known to
us: He happened to enter an empty church, and, ordering
the candles and vigil lamps to be lit, began the Divine
Service. Having said “Peace be unto all,” he
and his deacon heard in response from above a great
multitude of voices exclaiming “And to thy
spirit.” That choir was great and more melodious
than any human choir. At every litany, the invisible choir
sang “Lord have mercy.” Attracted by the sound
of chanting coming from the church, people from the
surrounding area rushed to the church. The closer they
came to the church, the more the marvelous chanting filled
their ears and touched their hearts. However, upon
entering the church, the could see no one other than the
bishop and a few Altar servers, and to their utter
amazement, they could no longer hear the heavenly chant.
St. Symeon Metaphrastes, the author of the Life of St.
Symeon, compared him in terms of hospitality to Patriarch
Abraham. “You should know how he received
pilgrims,” wrote Sozomen, a man who was familiar
with monastic communities, and who in his “Church
History” presented an amazing example from the life
of the Holy Hierarch. It happened that during Great Lent a
pilgrim knocked on the door of his house. Seeing that that
the traveler was quite exhausted, St. Spyridon said to his
daughter, “Wash this man’s feet and offer him
something to eat.” But as it was Lent, there was no
food stockpiled, for the Holy Hierarch “ate food
only on a certain day, and remained without food on the
others.” Therefore the daughter replied that there
was neither bread nor flour in the house. Then St.
Spyridon asked forgiveness of his guest, and ordered his
daughter to fry some salt pork that was in their larder.
Seating the pilgrim at the table, he began to eat,
“persuading the man to follow his example.”
When the man refused, saying that he was a Christian, the
Saint added “All the less reason to refuse, for the
Word of God says: “unto the pure, all things are
pure.” (Titus 1:15)
Another account, related by Sozomen, is likewise typical
of the Holy Hierarch. It was the Saint’s custom to
give a portion of the harvest to the poor, and another to
those in need of a loan. He would not personally hand
anything out, but would merely show them the way to the
storehouse, where each person could take as much as he
needed, and later return the loan in the same way, without
any formal accounting.
There is an account by Socrates Sholasticus about how
thieves decided to steal St. Spyridon’s sheep. Late
in the night, they got into the sheepfold, but immediately
found themselves bound by some unseen force. In the
morning, the Saint came to tend his flock, and seeing the
bound thieves, prayed, untied them, and spent a long time
persuading them to abandon their criminal path and to earn
their food through honest labor. Then, giving
each of them a sheep and releasing them, he tenderly
added, “May your audacity not have been in
vain.”
Quite often, St. Spyridon is compared to the Prophet
Elijah, for like him, by his prayers in time of drought,
which often threatened the isle of Cyprus, rain would
fall. “We behold Spyridon, like an
Angel, the great Wonderworker. At one time, the land
greatly suffered from drought: there was famine and
plague, and a great many people died, but by the prayers
of the Holy Hierarch rain came down from the heavens to
the earth, and the people, spared misfortune, cried out in
thanks, “Rejoice, thou who art like unto the
Prophet, and who hast timely brought down the rains to
take away famine and sickness.”
Throughout the entire story of the Holy Hierarch’s
life, one is amazed by the remarkable simple directness
and power of the miracles granted him by the Lord. At the
Holy Hierarch’s word, the dead would awaken, the
elements would be tamed, and the idols would be smashed.
By the prayers of the Church Fathers at a Council convened
in Alexandria to crush the idols and pagan temples, all of
the idols fell except one, the most revered idol. It was
revealed to the Patriarch in a vision that that idol
remained so that it might be smashed by Holy Hierarch St.
Spyridon of Tremithus. Summoned by the Council, the Holy
Hierarch boarded a ship, and the moment the ship reached
shore and the Saint stepped upon the land, the Alexandria
idol, together with all of the pagan priests, turned to
dust. By that sign, the Patriarch and all of the bishops
knew that Holy Hierarch St. Spyridon was approaching.
St Spyridon lived his earthly life in righteousness and
holiness, and while praying, surrendered his soul to the
Lord, ca. 348. In the history of the Church, the Holy
Hierarch is revered on a par with Holy Hierarch St.
Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia.
Except for his right hand, which is in Rome, his relics
are kept in the Church of St. Spyridon on the island of
Corfu.
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