Corfu, December 12 – On Friday morning, December 12, 2025, the Sacred Shrine in Corfu hosted an Archiepiscopal Concelebration to honor the feast day of Saint Spyridon, the patron saint and wonderworker of Corfu. The service was led by His Eminence Metropolitan Geron of Prinz Islands, Mr. Dimitrios, with co-celebrants His Eminence Metropolitan of Philadelphia, Mr. Meliton, and the local Shepherd, His Eminence Metropolitan of Corfu, Paxos, and Diapontia Islands, Mr. Nektarios. A multitude of faithful participated in the Divine Eucharist, while the Old Philharmonic, in accordance with Corfiot tradition, paid tribute to the sacred relic of Saint Spyridon, which was positioned at the ‘door’ for veneration. The celebration was preceded by an all-night vigil, also attended by many believers.
Dignitaries and Officials Attend the Concelebration
The Divine Liturgy was graced by the presence of the Minister of National Defense, Mr. Nikolaos Dendias, who, despite his demanding schedule, returned to his homeland to venerate Saint Spyridon. Other notable attendees included the Deputy Minister of Shipping and Island Policy, Mr. Stefanos Gikas; the Regional Governor of the Ionian Islands, Mr. Ioannis Trepeklis; the Mayor of Central Corfu, Mr. Stefanos Poulimenos; the Mayor of North Corfu, Mr. Giorgos Macheimaris; the Archbishop of the Roman Catholics in Corfu, Mr. Georgios; and numerous representatives from local political and military authorities.
Metropolitan Nektarios’ Address
Addressing the invited Hierarchs from the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the esteemed Minister of National Defense, Mr. Nikolaos Dendias, His Eminence Metropolitan Nektarios of Corfu, Paxos, and Diapontia Islands stated:
“Today is a joyous and celebratory day for the Church and Christianity, marking the memory of Saint Spyridon, the protector and wonderworker of our land! We remember the life and example of a Saint whose life showed us how ‘the ascent of theory becomes practice.’ For Saint Spyridon lived as a complete person, soul and body, the presence of God in his heart and mind. From his youth, he loved God. He sought Him by loving his fellow man. He did not falter in the trials of his life, in the passing of his wife and children. He did not feel weary serving the poor, the wronged, and even forgiving those who wronged him. Yet, he remained steadfast in faith. He defended it at the First Ecumenical Council, from which, by the grace of God, 1700 years have passed this year. And he showed, through the life of divine liturgy and thanksgiving, where angels co-celebrated with him, that the purpose of our existence is to live in deep gratitude to God, in communion with Him and with our fellow man in the Church, to receive an ‘incorruptible crown’ of the grace of resurrection, which our Saint pre-tastes even in his incorruptible body.
We particularly honor the memory of the Saint in our place and on our island. For every time we gaze at the Saint standing at the door of his temple, every time we fall before him, humble pilgrims, every time we hear the beautiful hymns in his honor, we feel gratitude for our island, for all that the Saint has offered, for repeated liberation from famine, from plague, from foreign enemies, from injustices, but also for his support in difficult times, both materially and spiritually. And we are convinced that he will never abandon us, even if we are often not ready to return what he asks. And that is nothing other than love for God, faith, even a small one, in our incarnate Lord, because the light of the Saint shines in the world so that people may see not only his works, but also ours as Christians, and glorify the name of God in heaven. In this way, with faith and our good deeds, the feast has meaning.
Today we have great joy because we welcome two brother bishops and concelebrate with them, as the Saint desires and the Church decrees. His Eminence Metropolitan Geron of Prinz Islands, Mr. Dimitrios, and His Eminence Metropolitan of Philadelphia, Mr. Meliton. Both come from the Queen of Cities, the Mother Church of Constantinople, the Ecumenical Patriarchate. There, Saint Spyridon remained for almost seven centuries, since his incorruptible relic was transferred from Cyprus, so as not to fall into foreign hands, and remained until the Fall of the City, to come to us, a precious and invaluable treasure. Your presence, Your Eminences, reminds us of the continuity of our Nation. You came to bring us your own memories of the Saint, who for so many centuries, in turn, protected, apart from the Champion General, the capital of Romiosini. To pray with us and to ask the Saint, in your turn, for the people of Corfu. We thank you and welcome you with great joy, as we are also connected by bonds of friendship and common journey. We will humbly ask you to convey to His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who was here exactly 11 years ago, presiding over the eucharistic gathering, our deepest respect and our filial love, as well as the wishes of the sacred clergy, the faithful people, and the rulers of the place for peace, for unity, for love, for an unwavering Orthodox testimony in the Ecumene.
Our joy, however, is multiplied, because the Honorable Minister of National Defense, our own, the Corfiot Mr. Nikolaos Dendias, is with us. We know and deeply appreciate, Mr. Minister, your deep faith. We know your love and respect for Saint Spyridon. But we also know your love and your unwavering service to our homeland. You serve in a vital ministry, one that makes us all feel safe about our borders, about dealing with external dangers, about maintaining our national pride due to the fact that the armed forces are those that guarantee the preservation of the history, tradition, and freedom of our people, and you are consumed daily in the struggle to keep them modern, to inspire respect, to operate with the integration of new technologies, with balance, with dynamism, but also inspiring security.
We are glad that you are with us today, despite your very busy schedule. This says a lot to us in an era in which our people want their leadership to be imbued with respect for tradition, to be aware of responsibility, to stand by people, to uphold the values that brought us here, to inspire unity and dynamism, but also to show that they believe in the God of our fathers, in the God of the Saints, in the God of truth who became man so that we might be deified. Welcome, Mr. Minister! Every time we see you, our heart rests humanly and we rejoice because we see you as a friend, a close one, and a true leader!”
Sermon by Metropolitan Geron Dimitrios
The sermon was delivered by His Eminence Metropolitan Geron of Prinz Islands, Mr. Dimitrios, who shared a humble personal experience from fourteen days prior in Nicaea of Bithynia, during recent events commemorating 1700 years since the First Ecumenical Council. The experience was inspired by the explicit will of God, as reflected in the words of Saint James the Brother of God: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Gazing at the fertile land on the shores of Lake Nicaea, he felt a rare emotion from the historically recorded miracle of God’s grace, which was bestowed upon Saint Spyridon, who participated in the First Ecumenical Council. “Adorned with true simplicity,” he contributed decisively and miraculously to the eternal prevalence of the Orthodox dogmatic formulation concerning the consubstantial trinity of God in our Creed. The God-loving humility of the holy man, initially married and a father, and originating from shepherds, was sufficient for God to lavish upon the blessed bishop of the Church to fulfill His Will for the edification and stability of our Church, then troubled by the Arian heresy. The deeply pious and miraculous intervention of Saint Spyridon took place before hundreds of bishops who were theologically perplexed, but could not definitively decide until the simple but God-loving and God-moved mind of the Bishop of Trimythous was deemed worthy, through humble intention, to transcend the limits of human perception and touch the supra-rational will of God.
The Metropolitan of Prinz Islands emphasized that this most sacred and spiritually inspiring event, with emotion and awe, brings to mind the narrative of the miracle of the bleeding woman, where a touch, a brush of Christ’s garment out of deep humility, was enough to heal her after twelve years of trial. Christ asked: “Who touched me?” Many touched him, but the touch of the faithful and humble bleeding woman activated divine power, just as the prayerful touch of His omnipotence and His mercy for the Church by the humble Spyridon in the 4th century did.
Whatever is written and analyzed to highlight the greatness of the Saint’s humble soul will be insufficient and will not be what he would want to feel, whose spirit hovers in the domes of the churches, especially in Corfu. What would please the Saint is our spiritual effort in the short duration of our human life, in order to adapt it to the values of his way of life. Spiritual values are the virtues of the soul, which are cultivated primarily and mainly by our self-knowledge, because this gradually frees us from our egocentric passions, which have as their basis the cultivation of the special talents that God gives us, such as health, education, abundance of wealth and honors. And when these special characteristics and gifts are thankfully attributed to God and do not feed arrogance, conceit, contempt for our neighbor, humility dawns in the soul, the crown of the evangelical virtues.
We must accept the difficulty of this spiritual achievement in the daily life of interests, greed, stress and passions, of various forms of violence even among children. Nevertheless, there is no more important effort in life than the renewal of ourselves, of the hidden man of the heart. This sacred and saving event in the life of a Christian, by combating self-love, frees us from the psychopathy of egoism and endows us with inner contrition, which no school can teach experientially, no wealth can buy, no concoction can infuse into our being. It is a gift from God, and our Church particularly invokes it during the days leading up to Christmas, when the kenosis of God through the incarnation of Christ is announced, which is the all of life, as Saint Porphyrios the Kafsokalyvite taught. Without Christ, man today falters, despite his achievements. We are in the 21st century, and the rich and powerful man prepares self-destructive wars. The devout man rejoices because he knows that he is an image of God with whom he can become like Him. This word of imitation is not a casual or supplicatory word, but an evangelical and divine word.
Finally, the Metropolitan of Prinz Islands conveyed to the Metropolitan of Corfu and the fullness of the local Church the venerable wishes of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the precious blessing of the Mother Church of Constantinople, which was, is, and will be “a ransom for many,” co-praying for the joy of God and the comfort of His presence in the hearts of all!
Source: https://www.startmediacorfu.gr/kerkyra-archieratiko-sylleitourgo-gia-tin-eorti-tou-agiou-spyridonos/
