Bio

 

Spyridon was born on the island of Cyprus to a family of shepherds. Though he was very intelligent and could memorize long passages he heard at church, the area in which he lived was rural with no school and no tradition of teaching children to read or write.His parents realized this and arranged for him to have at least some education from the parish priest. As he grew up, he married and had a daughter, whom he raised on his own after his wife died early on. He continued to work as a shepherd, and was known to be very generous with any one in need, soon becoming known for being able to cure the sick and perform other miracles. He joined a monastery at the same time his daughter joined a convent, and he soon after became a priest, sent to minister to another rural community like his own. He used his time in Church with the children, however, to educate them, since he knew the value of an education. He became well-known and well-loved, and was then appointed to be a bishop.

In the year 325, he participated in the First Ecumenical Council, the Council of Nicaea. There he held an important position as leader as he debated Arian philosophy and met and befriended St. Nicholas. At the Council, he was said to have been a pivotal force in ensuring balanced, peaceful reconciling of differences. He was also said to have performed a famous miracle in which he was explaining, while holding a piece of pottery, that the Trinity could exist just like this clay did, made of three distinct entities (fire, water, and dust) while existing as one. As he spoke, it burst into flame, water dripped from it, and dust remained in his hand, and the philosopher he was debating converted on the spot. 

When he returned home, he found that his daughter had died. A woman who had entrusted something important to her before her death approached Spyridon to tell him she had not been able to reclaim it, and so he was said to have gone to her grave to speak to her. He was then able to tell her where his daughter had hidden the item.
He also performed many other miracles in this time, and became known as a wonder-worker, praying and receiving rain when it was needed, restoring the life of a child, halting a flood to rescue a friend, changing a snake into gold to feed an impoverished man, and celebrating a service during which all could hear a vast heavenly choir participating. He stunned many with his personal generosity, bestowing sheep upon robbers who had tried to steal them the night before, and showing all the door to his storehouse. 

Some accounts state that Spyridon died peacefully of old age, but others believe he was subject to the Diocletian persecution, sent to prison and beaten brutally, losing the use of an eye. He was then forced to work in the mines, worn down until his death.
He was buried in Cyprus, but his remains were moved after an attack and found to be incorrupt and holding a fresh sprig of basil. He was moved to Constantinople, then the island of Corfu.

Much of his fame comes from miracles that occurred after his death. On Corfu, a procession of his relics was said to be the force that ended the plague on the island, with some even saying they had seen Spyridon chasing it, in the form of a beast, and leaving a scratch on the wall of the Old Citadel, which still remains. Then, in 1716, the attacking Ottomans had surrounded Corfu and held it under siege for 22 days. At sunrise on the morning the troops were supposedly going to attack, an image of Spyridon holding a sword appeared on the front lines. The invaders were so terrified by the sight that they fled, leaving behind many resources the islanders so desperately needed.

    Spyridon’s body is still preserved in a Church on Corfu, and he is called “Keeper of the City” and a “walking saint” because the shoes on his relics wear out and are replaced once a year.