Neither day nor night examples. We left early, before dawn rural chronicle
On the Internet, many believers copy the tale of the Greek miracle. Allegedly, the body of St. Spyridon of Trimifuntsky has a constant temperature: 36.6 degrees. His hair and nails are growing. And what’s most surprising is that the clothes he’s wearing are changed every six months, because they wear out, as if he’s not lying in a cancer bed, but walking. The keeper of the shrine said that there were cases when the key simply could not open the lock on the shrine. And then the priests know that there is simply no saint in cancer, he walks around the island. Scientists from all over the world tried to study the phenomenon of the incorruptible relics of St. Spyridon, and the church did not interfere with them. However, biophysicists and biochemists, having studied the relics of the saint, only threw up their hands. There is no other explanation, other than a miracle, for what any Orthodox visitor to the temple in Corfu can see. Although Saint Spyridon is an Orthodox saint, his icon is Russian churches can be seen, alas, infrequently. However, priests advise: if there is no icon of the saint in the church to whom you want to turn, then you should pray to the icon of All Saints. So, if you need help or just guidance, contact Saint Spyridon. If your intentions are pure, then he will definitely help.
***
Reading such a passage, I could not resist and croaked to myself...
Oh, people, people, why are you like children?!... Doesn’t even the smallest, even the tiniest bit of logic work for you? This tale about Spiridon is for Sunday school for children younger age, for the naive and simpletons, “Lenin’s University of Millions”, a naive but warm fairy tale...
And it’s not for nothing that atheists say about us: that simple believers are used to living in illusions, and the hierarchy is held in high esteem. That believers take their religion as an escape from reality.
However, people, think... The authors of these records about the miracle of the saint do not stutter about what the temperature was at that moment on the street of the hot Greek island when they measured the body temperature of the deceased. If Spiridon's hair and nails really grew, they would need to be trimmed periodically. In one thousand six hundred years there would be more than one glass of nails, and two bags of hair for sure.
The next point: if Saint Spyridon is alive, he rises from his shrine and walks around the Greek islands, then he should meet someone, talk to someone, communicate, at least firstly, with the priestly monks, the guardians of his relics? Or does he walk, uselessly, just to walk, wearing out clothes and shoes, like a silent ghost, a ghost, a simulacrum invisible to anyone, without saying a word to anyone? So with such success he could walk the Earth with one soul. Why carry a body too, if it is invisible to anyone? Next... If he is invisible, then the wonderfully visible clothes must be intact, new and unworn? What is the purpose of showing her tattered, worn out, not appearing to anyone; without seeing the holy one...
Now, about the irresponsibility of scientists in the face of a miracle. Pray tell me: in which peer-reviewed serious scientific journals were articles published about the mentioned studies of the relics of St. Spyridon of Trimythous? Provide the names of scientists, names of journals and links to them.
In short, questions, questions...
And, on the other hand, you will think, and having cooled a little in your revealing agility, you will say: such miracles, as well as visions and revelations, must be treated evenly and calmly. Let's put it this way: our human psychology of the miraculous is at work here. People, scorched by the heat of existence, passionately thirst for a miracle. This is how we (at least some of us) are wired. Miracles in religion are designed for symbolic, metaphorical and metaphysical reading. They are the product of collective spiritual and religious creativity of mystically moderately gifted (moderately deprived) people telling and writing. That is, visionary mystics who know how to convey their spiritual insights to other, gullible people. I understand that adults are also small children at heart and to them, in our harsh cold life, requires the warmth of a miracle, a fairy tale, wonderful, fabulous. And people are often very offended and even take revenge on those existentially sober and enlightened who deprive them important fairy tale life is a miracle, a myth.
Another important twist: belief in miracles is not exclusively the prerogative of Christianity, or only Orthodoxy in particular. Having visited representatives different religions, you will hear from them many stories about similar miracles, in different artistic forms, genres and variations. A miracle, as a religious phenomenon, is universal!
Therefore. He who believes, let him believe. It is easier for a believer to live. Moreover, the Apostle Paul once wrote:
“19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not disparage prophecies. 21 Test everything, hold on to what is good. 22 Abstain from all kinds of evil. 23 May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved completely without blemish at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 He who calls you is faithful, and he who will do this.”
(1 Thess. 5:19-24)
It is not customary in Christianity to ask for benefits related to the wallet, but those who need work and help with money have an intercessor - Saint Spyridon. They go to him in the Moscow Danilov Monastery, where his... shoe is kept.
"Business" at work
In the Intercession Church of the monastery it is almost always very quiet and calm - people come up to the icons, light candles and pray. A young man of about thirty with a laptop bag stands for a long time at one of the faces - reading in notebook prayer, then earnestly crosses himself, kisses the icon and touches the glass of the box in which lies the main relic of this temple - a velvet shoe embroidered with gold.
At first glance, the shoe is like new, but upon closer inspection, white scuffs are visible on the fabric.
There is a belief that Spiridon still walks around the world and helps those in need, which is why the shoes from his relics are constantly worn out. Once every six months, the relics of the saint, stored on the island of Corfu, are re-shoeed, and the “worn out” shoes are donated. Danilov Monastery received its gift from the Greek Metropolitan five years ago.
– Most often people come to us with the question: “Where is your shoe and the icon of Spyridon?” - says the servant, removing the cinders from the candlestick. – Believers leave notes with requests on the icon, and after a while we burn them. Once a woman brought slippers with her, apparently their owner could not come to the temple himself, and applied them through the glass to the shoe. She said that this also helps.
Many people learn about Spyridon directly in the temple - next to his icon there is an information sign, but there are also many who come specially and who visit Spyridon regularly. A young American is often seen near the icon of the saint - he has his own business in Moscow, which his father, a businessman, suggested opening, but out of principle he did not help his son, so the guy asks Spiridon for help. They say that the American's profits have increased significantly this year.
Men in formal suits and being surrounded by bodyguards at services is not at all uncommon here. It is difficult not to notice them, or rather, not to hear them, because right during the service they are negotiating on the phone. An advertisement was posted for “business” people, but the ban is not very effective.
About three months ago, Stas Mikhailov, one of the richest, was seen in the Intercession Church Russian artists according to Forbes. No one knows what the singer asked Spiridon to do, but by coincidence, around this time, Stas bought an apartment for his family for 120 million rubles.
“There are a lot of singers and actors here,” says a mustachioed Cossack in a fur hat. For more than 20 years, the Danilov Monastery has been guarded by Cossacks. – I have a whole collection with autographs of Olga Aroseva, Evgeniy Steblov, Lenya Golubkov. I don’t know if it was Spiridon, but they went to the Intercession Church.
"You'll give it back when you can"
Despite the fact that Spiridon lived seventeen centuries ago, much is known about him. The saint was born on the island of Cyprus into a wealthy family, and he inherited a house and lands. Spiridon was elected bishop of the city of Trimifunta. The Cypriots approached their high-status but kind fellow countryman without hesitation and asked him for a loan. Spiridon did not refuse, did not demand obligations and said: “You will give it back when you can.”
The bishop's life was turned upside down by the death of his beloved wife, which he took as a sign. Spyridon sold his property, distributed the proceeds to the poor, forgave debts to borrowers and, leaving himself only clothes with a staff, went to wander.
The wanderer and shepherd Spiridon performed many miracles that were passed on from mouth to mouth. According to legend, one day a woman came to the saint and brought the body of her drowned daughter. The mother grieved so much that Spiridon decided to help her and revived the girl. Elderly woman She couldn’t stand it and died from shock. Spiridon resurrected her too. Once he turned a snake into a gold bar and gave it to a peasant so that he could take seeds for sowing as collateral from the rich man. Over time, Spiridon gained a reputation as an intercessor for the needy.
After his death, his relics ended up in the Temple of Sophia in Constantinople, and after the capture of Byzantium they were transported to greek island Corfu, where they are kept in one of the temples to this day. Over 17 centuries, pilgrims testify, Spiridon’s body has remained virtually unchanged; he has a constant temperature of 36.6 degrees. Periodically, the saint's clothes are changed because they miraculously wear out. Spiridon's shoes, along with grace, are spreading throughout the world.
Don't ask for a million
In Orthodoxy, there are many saints who are considered patrons of marriage or help with illnesses, but it’s up to you to decide financial problems they only go to Spiridon - and this is a kind of unique case.
“Firstly, in Christianity it is not customary to care about material things; you need to think about the salvation of the soul,” explains Alexander Blokhin, head of the excursion bureau of the Danilov Monastery. – Secondly, it was really noticed that Spyridon intercedes with the Lord in material matters.
Servants of the Church of the Intercession say that a year and a half ago, when the right hand of Spiridon was brought to the Danilov Monastery for worship, several miracles happened. So, two women who needed to pay off a debt for an apartment of 51 thousand rubles, way back They found an envelope containing exactly this amount. An unusual incident recently happened to the church singer Valentina Dmitrieva, a thin, lively old woman:
– A young man comes up to me after the evening service and puts something in his pocket with the words “Pray for me, grandmother, my name is Artem.” I came home, put my hand in my pocket, and there were dollars. I used this money to go to Jerusalem.
They say that through the intercession of Spiridon, people successfully exchange living space, unexpectedly receive apartments, and, after long ordeals, find employment. Good work. But in the Danilov Monastery they warn: although Spiridon helps solve complex financial questions, you need to ask him wisely. He is unlikely to give a mansion on Rublyovka or a million dollars, but if a person really really needs something and prays from the heart, he will definitely intercede.
I don’t know why, but I believe in Spiridon’s help more than in state program support for young families. For us, the tormented housing issue, the Greek shepherd, may be the only chance. For now, anyway.
wonderful
Even souvenir shoes help!
Archpriest Igor Fomin, cleric of the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square:
– The legend about Spiridon’s shoes seems incredible to an unchurched person. In the consciousness of a Christian, the heavenly world closely intersects with the earthly. I saw with my own eyes the worn-out souvenir shoes from a deacon I knew, which he bought in Corfu. After the trip, he put them behind the icon of Spyridon, and when he took them out a year later, they turned out to be worn out. At the same time, his turn for housing came up.
It seemed to me that there was nothing left to be surprised at in the Church of God. But never say never.
Does everyone know the story about the incorruptible relics of St. Spyridon of Trimythous? Unlike the notorious Nicholas, Spyridon really existed and actually participated in the Council of Nicaea. Under the Venetians, his relics moved from Cyprus to Corfu, where they remain to this day. They say about Spiridon that he still secretly wanders around the island, helps the suffering, works miracles, and as proof of this amazing posthumous existence they present the well-worn slippers from his feet. Those. His relics are periodically re-shoeed into new slippers, because the old slippers turn out to be worn out. The slippers taken from the relics are then transported throughout the Orthodox world for worship by believers; they were also brought to Russia. Even very liberal priests from LiveJournal share faith in the eternally living Spiridon (I don’t name names, the reader will understand); one of them sees in this story evidence of the first resurrection predicted in ch. 20 Revelations.
I explain with my fingers. A certain family close to the diocese has had a business for many centuries: they sew slippers for Spiridon. The diocese buys slippers from this family for 600 euros, and then sells them to another simpleton for 2,000 euros. This simpleton immediately donates the slippers to the diocese and receives in return the old Spiridonov slippers. The diocese receives a net 1,400 euros from each such simpleton, it still has one more old slipper in its stash, etc.; The cycle can be rotated endlessly. Well, some important member of the diocese tramples down the previous slippers; maybe even the bishop personally. At the same time, making fun of the simpletons who are eager to receive healing from touching a slipper.
Once upon a time, at the time of my transition from PGM to cynicism, I, in principle, allowed such things in the Church: “this people are ignorant of the law, they are cursed” and so on. I now strictly condemn my former cynicism. And as proof, I formulated the following creed:
1. If our faith is true, then using deception to prove its truth is unacceptable.
2. If we cannot present anything other than deception as proof, then woe to us, and it would be better for us not to be born.
From September 15 to October 15, 2010 A great Orthodox shrine arrives in Moscow - the right hand of St. Spyridon of Trimythous.
In Moscow the relics of St. Spyridon will be from September 15 to 17, 2010 in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior; from September 17 to 19 - in the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Storozhi, (at the Nikitsky Gate); from September 19 to October 6 – in the Danilov stauropegial monastery in Moscow,
We present to our readers two films about St. Spyridon of Trimythous, the island of Corfu and miracles through the prayers of the saint. Films were made by the Glas television company for the bringing of the relics of St. Spiridon to Ukraine.
About Saint Spyridon, the people of Corfu and their friendly, if I may say so, attitude towards the saint; The director of the film, the author of the series of television films “Lives of the Saints”, Elena KARETNIK, shared with the readers of “Orthodoxy in Ukraine” about local colorful traditions and the unusual way of life there.
– Elena, you went to Kerkyra to film a film about St. Spyridon. How did you see Saint Spyridon there, in his homeland, and what struck you most?
– First of all, I would like to note that Saint Spyridon seemed to us not just a character from history Orthodox Church. He appeared before us as the closest and dear person for those people who live on the island. The islanders communicate with him as with their brother, friend; they go to him for advice and help. And, it seemed to me that no business of any resident of the island takes place without the participation of the saint.
People also ask for help, no matter how small. Children come running. I think that even with the problem of unfulfilled homework! Schoolchildren ask Spiridon for help so that they can have some success at school.
In a word, everything that happens on the island is accomplished with the help of Saint Spyridon.
What struck me right away was the kind atmosphere there, so quiet and homely. It can't just come out of nowhere. And we ourselves returned from the island a little kinder than we were. Maybe because, having been there, we felt the kindness of the people around us. Everyone there smiles at each other, always ready to help.
Of course, the rhythm of life on the island is completely different, it cannot be compared with ours. People are in no hurry, live their little joys and are happy with what they have. The local population does not have any special global needs, which particularly struck me. They are happy with the way they live: quietly, calmly, quite modestly. And they don't complain.
Greece is a European country. She, like everyone else, was affected by the global crisis, but people do not complain about life. They rejoice in the sun, sky, sea, and the fact that they live in this world. Perhaps this is the Orthodoxy that the Greeks have in their blood.
- In the photographs that are yours film crew brought it from the island, it’s clear that you asked people on the streets. And what, you can approach anyone like this, ask about St. Spyridon, and the person will immediately start talking about him? Was it ever that people had nothing to say?
– You know, there were only those who were embarrassed by the camera... And so everyone responded, rushing to talk about the saint, because this is the most precious thing they have. And everyone has their own story. Some told about a healed hand, some about a leg, some about a heart. Saint Spyridon saved even from clinical death. Our translator told how, while she was standing in prayer near the relics of St. Spyridon, her father came out of a coma. He was in the hospital and they said he had already died. They stood and prayed, and he came out of this state and lived for another 30 years.
There are a lot of people different stories told. Even, perhaps, at first glance, completely incredible! One grandfather told the story that all his life he was very bad person, swore obscenely. His wife had an icon of St. Spyridon hanging on the wall in her room. And then the image began to cry! His wife said to him: “You see, you swear so much that St. Spyridon is crying!” “And from then on,” he said, “I stopped using foul language.”
Another elderly man said that his leg was treated, and, according to forecasts, he should no longer walk at all. But now he rides a bicycle. We just stopped him while he was driving. Different stories great multitude!
There is such a tradition in the Greek Church in principle, but here on the island we saw it very clearly. At the service, which was headed by the Metropolitan of Kerkyra, a boy of about eight kept hovering near the priest. He behaved so inappropriately that children in our churches are kicked out and punished for this. But then we found out that this child was mentally ill, and he was specially kept next to the priest in the church of St. Spyridon in the hope that the saint would help the child and he would recover.
Also, children with Down syndrome are constantly served there and act as sextons. This may seem a bit unexpected to us. But this is such a tradition: the people of Corfu hope that Saint Spyridon will even overcome Down’s disease.
- God bless! Elena, if the help of St. Spyridon is so obvious, maybe he “managed” to help you with something?
– I don’t like to talk about my illnesses, but I went to the island with such a not very pleasant diagnosis as myocarditis - inflammation of the heart muscle. But I drove, knowing for sure that a triple flight and a difficult road would not harm me, because my path lay to Saint Spyridon. I was ready and really believed that everything would be fine with my heart. And you know, not once on the island did I feel heartache. The first thing I asked Saint Spyridon was for him to help me with my sick heart. I returned home and so far I don’t feel any discomfort.
I also arrived on the island with a temperature of 390C. And I was very worried that my filming fell through, I would have to sit in three blankets and drink aspirin and analgin with hot tea. But immediately upon arrival, I went to church and venerated the relics of St. Spyridon. And such an amazing feeling - the next morning I woke up completely healthy! I didn’t have a fever, although I usually have it for a week. And then once - and that’s it.
I've been on my feet all week. I think that it could not have happened without the saint.
Having visited the island, I can safely say that Saint Spyridon really helps, these are not fairy tales local residents and not mythology. Many people don't believe in miracles. After all, we are people from a rather tough world. For example, our cameraman Igor Krivonos is a nuclear physicist by his first specialty. And for him, too, it was probably difficult to immediately believe that Spiridon was helping. But he saw real help people, saw these people who come and tell amazing incidents from their lives, saw their eyes and left the island, completely changing my attitude towards miracles.
“When the key does not turn, it is believed that St. Spyridon is “away”: he is helping someone”
– Did you manage to find any Interesting Facts from the life of the saint or the tradition of his veneration?
– As I already said, the relics are opened twice a day. The saint's feet are shod in velvet boots or shoes, and you can venerate them. Those who want recovery ask for something, leave small medallions - an offering or thanksgiving for having received healing, for example, a leg or an eye. And so a silver leg or a silver eye with a red ribbon is tied and left right on the relics of Spiridon.
– Are there many such offerings there?
- An incredible amount! They hang around, and on the walls, and directly lie on the relics! These are memorial signs in gratitude that Spiridon is helping.
– There is information that the saint’s boots are changed because they wear out...
– We asked this question. Both the local clergy, and the rector of the temple, and the caretaker of the relics, whom we met there and who is always at the shrine, claim that the boots really get worn out.
The reliquary with relics has two locks, which can be opened with two keys at the same time. Only two people can open a cancer. And when the key does not turn, it means that Saint Spyridon is “absent” on the island: he is helping someone. This story is retold from mouth to mouth.
They also say that slippers wear out because people constantly touch them. But I think that a miracle is a miracle because there is no simple explanation for it from a material, physical point of view.
The conversation was conducted by Yulia Kominko, published with abbreviations
