The world is full of everyday storms and sorrows. Difficulties at work, finding housing, financial losses, illness, and often all of this together falls on a person. Who will listen kindly, help, support, advise? Of course he is. A responsive man of prayer, caring, loving - Saint Spyridon. The Christian world has known him this way for more than 1,500 years.
St. Spiridon Trimifuntsky
Brief life of the saint
During his lifetime, and the saint lived in the 4th century, many considered him a simpleton. He himself thought so too: after all, he was a simple layman, a shepherd, a family man. The life of the saint tells that while still young he experienced the loss of his wife. After this, the widower dedicated his entire life to God and his neighbors. Residents of his hometown, Trimifunt on the island of Cyprus, knew about his mercy, kindness, how responsive Spyridon is, how he gives his last to those in need. But he himself has children!
The life of a humble shepherd changes when the townspeople of Trimifunt decide to make him their bishop. Indeed:
“The bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, chaste, decent, honest, hospitable, teacher, not a drunkard, not a murderer, not quarrelsome, not covetous, but quiet, peace-loving, not money-loving, managing his house well, keeping his children in obedience with all integrity” (1 Tim. 3:1-4).
Isn’t all this about the well-known good shepherd Spiridon?
The simpleton was surprised, but out of obedience he did not refuse, since the Christians decided to place this burden on him. However, he did not change either his lifestyle or his appearance. Quiet, meek, poorly dressed. One day he was summoned to the palace to see the emperor himself, but even there the saint went in his usual form. At the entrance, a servant mistook him for a beggar and hit him in the face. Only when the humble father turned the other cheek did he understand: this is a bishop! And he fell at his feet, repenting.
Useful materials
The times of the ancient Church are amazing: the main sign of a bishop is not dignity or authority, but humility. Thanks to him, the Lord worked great miracles through the saint:
- helping people in various everyday sorrows; More than once the saint helped one merchant, who was repeatedly on the verge of ruin;
- admonishing sinners - thieves, adulterers, blasphemers, with clear signs of the power of God;
- Several times the saint happened to resurrect the dead.
Let us mention only some of his most famous miracles.
How the saint helped people during his lifetime
God's admonition
The bishop knew each of his flock well: some were poor, suffering from despair, and some were rich, but also seriously ill: love of money, stinginess. The saint loved everyone and supported everyone in the way that was beneficial to the person.
Once there was a terrible drought on the island. The heat burned the entire crop. A local poor man approached a wealthy townsman, asking for a loan of bread. But he demanded money. Meanwhile, all of Trimifunt knew: the rich man’s barns were full, he was simply waiting for desperate people to be ready to pay as much as possible for food.
The poor man went to the good bishop to complain about the miser. He had no money, there was nothing to help - except prayer. He reassured the despairing:
“The Holy Spirit tells me that tomorrow your house will be full of bread, and the rich man will beg you and give you bread for free.”
Not really believing it, the man went home. And at night a terrible rain poured down. The streets filled with water. And along them floated sacks of grain from the washed-out barns of a rich merchant. People took them for free. Thus, the saint admonished the greedy merchant, and taught the poor man to believe in God’s help, even if it seems that there is no hope.
“The Lord does whatever he wants”
The rich merchant didn't seem too impressed by what happened. Since the life of the saint contains another miracle, which the ascetic performed when they again came to him with a complaint about a rich man demanding a high price for bread. Now the bishop was able to help the farmer with gold, albeit on loan - until the new harvest. When he returned the money a few months later, the saint with a smile invited the “debtor” to personally give the gold to “the One who gave it.”
Before the eyes of the shocked man, the gold, through the prayer of the saint, turned into a snake. It turns out that the bishop, in order to help a person, turned the snake into a precious metal, and then returned this “debt” to the Creator.
“In the Name of Jesus Christ, listen!”
Another miracle was performed by the saint at the First Ecumenical Council. Here the Orthodox entered into a debate with the Arian heretics who denied the Divinity of Christ. Among those who thought this way were brilliant rhetoricians and brilliant philosophers. Jealousy for God prompted the Bishop of Trimifunt to resist them. The fathers of the cathedral tried to restrain him, knowing that the saint, of course, was a great miracle worker, but he did not receive any education at all.
Spiridon's speech addressed to the heretical philosopher was indeed brief:
“There is one God, who created heaven and earth and created man from the earth and created everything else, visible and invisible, by His Word and Spirit; and we believe that this Word is the Son of God and God, who, having mercy on us who were lost, was born of a Virgin, lived with people, suffered and died for our salvation, and was resurrected and resurrected the entire human race with Himself... So we confess and do not try to investigate these secrets with a curious mind, and you - do not dare...”
The rhetorician was silent in shock, amazed not by words, but by the strength of spirit of a poor, insignificant-looking man. And then he publicly repented of heresy.
Miracle of the Trinity
Miracle of Saint Spyridon of Trimifuntsky
The following legend has been preserved about the same Ecumenical Council. In the midst of disputes about the Divinity of the Holy Trinity, when the speakers were sophisticated in eloquence and philosophical reasoning, the simple, unlearned Bishop of Trimifunt came out in front of everyone with a simple brick. Prayerfully, he squeezed it. Suddenly a flame shot up, water flowed onto the ground, and clay remained in the right hand of the saint.
Thus the saint clearly demonstrated the Trinity of God. The disputes, says the life of the ascetic, somehow died down by themselves.
The saint died in his native Cyprus, having performed many more miracles and having seen in advance the time of his departure to God. But, living in the Kingdom of Heaven, he does not leave his help to believers even to this day.
Cloud conqueror
The island of Cyprus has always been famous for its unique climate. There are periods of heat and beneficial periods of rain. But droughts also happen. Now that international trade has been established, such disasters do not threaten famine, but in the old days, lack of rain turned into a terrible ordeal, and many people died from lack of food. Such grief befell the Cypriots in those years when Spyridon served as bishop. The country felt the effects of the drought more and more every day, and the number of starvation deaths grew rapidly. Seeing all this, the saint decided to dare to turn to God in prayer and command heaven to pour rain on the earth. The bishop went out into the outskirts and said in a secluded place:
“Lord, just as you once heard Elijah, who commanded the clouds to gather together, so hear me now.” Send rain to the earth. You see how people suffer...
A few minutes later, a strong wind blew from the sea, driving huge gray clouds towards land. A few more moments - and a life-giving downpour fell on the island, nourishing the soil exhausted by the heat. It rained for several days in a row, until Spiridon, seeing that there was already enough moisture, ordered it to stop.
Modern evidence of miracles
For a long time, the Church of St. Spiridona was the spiritual heart of Trimifunt. Here were his incorruptible relics; for 300 years, people came here for support, as if to a living person. In the 7th century the relics were transported to Constantinople: they were saved from desecration by the Arabs, who captured Cyprus. After the capture of the capital of Byzantium by the Turks (1453), Priest George Kalocheteres took the shrine to Epirus. Since 1456 the relics have remained on the island. Corfu in the city of Kerkyra. From relics, holy images, simply through prayers to the saint, many miracles continue to occur.
Shoes
Shoe of St. Spyridon of Trimifuntsky
In addition to the complete incorruption of the relics, there is another miracle known to all believers: the vestments and shoes of the saint, in which he rests in the shrine, have to be changed every six months. The shoes wear down especially quickly, as if he had been traveling tirelessly.
Interesting fact
The priests serving in the church say that sometimes the shrine containing the relics does not open. Apparently, because at this time the saint is not there - just as during his lifetime he goes off to help people.
Having re-shoeed the holy relics, the priests divide the shoes into small parts, which they distribute to everyone as a shrine. Particles of it are found in many Orthodox churches around the world. There are many such churches in Russia. They began to especially venerate St. Spyridon with the beginning of the reign of Alexander I. After all, the emperor was born on December 12, 1777 on the day of remembrance of the saint.
Many pilgrims visited Corfu, bringing pieces of shoes or even whole ones. Many such shrines have been preserved in churches even despite the persecution of the Soviet years.
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Metropolitan Nektarios of Kerkyra gave the shoe to St. Spyridon to the Moscow St. Danilov Monastery. He can be seen in a special ark.
Fisherman Rescue
Rector of the Church of St. Spyridon in Kerkyra. Justin talks about an unbelieving fisherman. One day he got caught in a storm and began to drown. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man appeared, exactly like the saint, as he is written on the icons. He pulled the fisherman ashore and disappeared. Shocked, the man rushed to the temple. Just at this time the priests tried to open the shrine, but they could not. He really went away to save a fisherman from a vain death without repentance, by the way, the same name as the saint - Spiro (Spyridon).
By prayers
An incredible incident occurred in Kerkyra: a little boy fell out of a train, carelessly leaning out of the window. As the train passed over a bridge over a canal, the child immediately drowned. They searched for the body for several days, the mother tearfully prayed to St. Spiridon. But suddenly a living, absolutely unharmed son was found right next to the relics of the saint, in the temple. This is in every way similar to the rescue of a boy from drowning in Kyiv in the 11th century. - then St. performed a miracle. Nicholas of Myra, contemporary, spiritual friend of St. Spiridon.
Oil multiplication
Z.V. from Moscow talks about an incident during his pilgrimage to Kerkyra (2000). Instead of purchasing the oil consecrated on the relics in a church shop, Russian pilgrims decided to take it from the lamp at the shrine. Women, as often happens in such cases, crowded and jostled. No one understood how it happened that someone carelessly knocked over the lamp and the oil spilled. Therefore, one of the pilgrims did not get it at all.
And so, in front of the completely shocked group, her bottle was filled with oil by itself. Thus, the great saint not only gently rebuked women who were zealously zealous for the sacred, but also showed his love and condescension.
St. Spiridon Trimifuntsky
Modern man is not rich in faith. Skepticism and adherence to the bustle of life do their job. But Saint Spyridon is not such as to reject an unbeliever and refuse help. Here are just a few cases.
- Music teacher A. barely made ends meet. They lived with the child in a communal apartment. Trouble does not come alone, and soon the woman lost her job. It was then that a friend approached her, asking her to work with her daughter. But she had nothing to pay. Perhaps through prayer - she promised to read about A.’s health. Akathist to St. Spiridon 40 days daily. The teacher agreed. Within a few days, students almost lined up to see A., and from very wealthy families. Literally miraculously, we managed to buy an apartment in a short time.
- But here is a completely ordinary story of a Russian tourist in Greece: his passport and all his money were lost, but he had already bought a plane ticket and the flight was about to take place. Knowledgeable people advise a man: go to Spiridon! Faster! A skeptic, not much of a believer, the man still went to the temple, reasoning that things couldn’t get any worse. 10 minutes before departure, the tourist’s passport was brought to him and his wallet was returned.
- And, of course, there are numerous cases of the saint helping with problems with housing, even if these are seemingly minor issues: the apartment is not for sale, a tenant for the garage is not found, documents are not drawn up.
The intervention of the saint is so frequent and effective that priests, when they complain about housing problems, often say as if it were obvious:
“We should pray to St. Spyridon of Trimifuntsky, and we would have had housing long ago!”
How to find gold? Ask the dead man!
It is unknown how many children the Trimythus shepherd had, but legends have brought to us the name of one of his daughters - Irina. There is also an unusual story associated with it.
Raised by her father in faith and piety, the girl decided to completely devote herself to God and people. She did not get married, completely devoting herself to service. There was enough work to do - to feed the hungry, to clothe the poor, to sit with the sick, and to comfort the sad. And at night, when she had a free minute, Irina prayed or read the Holy Scriptures. But one day news spread around the village - the girl had died. Apparently, her soul was so pure that the Lord decided at a young age to grant her Eternity...
One of Irina’s duties was to store the belongings of those Christians who went on a trip. On the day of the girl’s death, it turned out that she did not have time to add some gold object to the lists, which one townswoman had given her for safekeeping. He was the woman’s only value, and she, having learned about Irina’s death, decided to take him away. But since the item was not listed anywhere, it was impossible to find it. The hostess became despondent. However, Spiridon, seeing the woman’s sadness, solved the problem in an unusual way. After praying, he went to the bed of the deceased and said:
“Irina, dear, tell me, where did you put the thing that this woman is so sad about?”
The girl who had just been lying dead opened her eyes, looked at her father with a meaningful look and said:
– I hid the jewelry at our house. - And, having told where to look for the loss, she again closed her eyes and gave up the ghost...
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The Great Miracle of St. Spyridon on August 11, 1716
...Days, months, years passed. The saint was getting old. He still continued to carry out his ministry. Until the last day, he did not shy away from reaping wheat or grazing flocks. In moments of labor, he could remain alone with God and himself.
One day, while working in the field with his fellow villagers, Spiridon received a sign - dew covered his head (which is impossible in the summer heat), and his hair became multi-colored - red, black, white. He realized that the Lord was calling him to himself. The saint returned home, gathered his flock and began to instruct them in the faith. He spoke, as always, in simple peasant language, but behind these unprepossessing words hid enormous faith, and those around him felt it.
Just being near the saint was enough to establish oneself in evangelical ideals for the rest of one’s life. After spending several days in instructions, the saint gave his soul to God. He was buried in his hometown, in the temple, where all his life this man was the living embodiment of the teachings of Christ and a vessel of God's grace.
Saint Spyridon is the main saint on the island. Corfu. How he saved residents during the war
On the island of Corfu, the day of remembrance of St. Spyridon is almost a national holiday. Not only solemn services are held, but also grand religious processions, processions and concerts of sacred music.
On this island, which now belongs to Greece, the relics of the saint are kept and all the inhabitants are sure: St. Spyridon protects Corfu with his prayers.
The memory of his intercession at the beginning of the Second World War, when the island was bombed by fascist bombers, is fresh, however, the temple of St. Spyridon, where the inhabitants were hiding, remained intact. The bombs were flying and people on the ground watched with bated breath as the trajectory of the shells changed as they approached the temple - as if the saint himself, with an invisible hand, took them and threw them aside!
