The Miracle of Saint Spyridon

Approximately thirteen hundred years after his repose, Saint Spiridon’s body remains incorrupt on the island of Corfu generating an untold number of miracles. What is significant about this extraordinary miracle and possibly shocking to some of our Christians is the fact that God or His Saints do not necessarily accept the offerings or the prayers of heretical and deluded Christians.

In 1716 the Turks had the island of Corfu under a tight siege. They had 50.000 troops and a good number of ships surrounding the island, cutting its lifeline from land and sea.

The barbarian armies were concentrated at the far walls of the city. Pizani, a general of the forces of the Venetian Republic, was anxiously anticipating the oncoming enemy attack (Corfu and the nearby islands were occupied by Italy at the time). At daybreak on August 11, 1716, St. Spyridon the patron Saint of the island, appeared in front of the enemy lines holding a glistening sword in his right hand. His austere and grandiose appearance horrified the aggressors who began to recede. The Agarenes, panic- stricken by the most awesome presence and fearless attack of the Saint, abandoned weapons, machinery and animals running for their lives. This great miracle became known throughout the island. The Turks had left behind 120 cannons, a good amount of weapons, ammunition, animals and food. After this powerful, surprising and most obvious miracle, the Venetian ruler Andrew Pizani, a Papist, wanted to erect a Papist altar in the Orthodox Church of St. Spyridon (forever pushing for this was also the Papist Cardinal of the island). However, St. Spyridon appeared to Pizani in a dream saying, “Why are you bothering me? The altar of your faith is unacceptable in my Temple!”  Naturally Pizani reported this to the Papist Cardinal who answered, that it was nothing but an evil fantasy of the devil who wanted to nullify the noble deed. After this Pizani was very much encouraged, so he ordered the necessary materials to commence construction of the altar. The materials were piled up outside of the temple of St. Spyridon. When the Orthodox priests of the temple and the Greek leaders of the island realized this, they were cut to the heart. They asked to meet with Pizani to beg him to put a stop to this. Pizani’s response was quite disheartening. He bluntly said: “As the ruler, I will do whatever I please!”  At that moment, the Orthodox community of the island turned their eyes to their Saint beseeching him to put a stop to this abomination.

The same night, St. Spyridon appeared to Pizani as a monk and told him: “I told you not to bother me. If you dare to go through with your decision, you will surely regret it, but by then it will be too late”.

The next morning Pizani reported all this to the Papist Cardinal who now accused him of being not only faithless but “yellow”. Again, after this, the ruler mustered up enough courage to order the construction of the altar.

The Papists of the island were celebrating their triumph while the Orthodox were deeply grieved. Their grief could not be comforted and with tears they begged for the Saint’s intervention to save them from the Papist abomination. The Saint heard their prayers and intervened dynamically. That evening, a terrible storm broke out unleashing a barrage of thunderbolts on Fort Casteli, the base of Pizani and his ammunition barracks. The entire fort ended up in a holocaust. Nine hundred Papist soldiers and civilians were instantly killed from the explosion, but not a single Orthodox – who were not allowed in the fort after dark – was harmed. Pizani was found dead with his neck wedged between two wooden beams. The body of the Papist Cardinal was found thrown a great distance from the fort. But the most amazing fact is that the same night and at the same hour another thunderbolt struck in Venice targeting the compound of Pizani, burning his portrait that hung on the wall. Strangely enough nothing else was damaged. Also, the guard of the ammunition barracks saw the Saint draw near him with a lit torch. He was carried by the Saint near the church of the Crucified without a single scratch.