Corfu, Greece, August 12, 2026
Photo: Orthodoxia News Agency
Every August, the Orthodox faithful gather in Corfu to celebrate the great St. Spyridon of Tremithus, one of the most beloved saints not only of the Church in Greece, but of the entire Orthodox Church.
There are four annual processions with the relics of St. Spyridon. The first is on Palm Sunday, in remembrance of when St. Spyridon saved Corfu from a plague in 1630; the second is on Holy Saturday morning, in remembrance of when he saved Corfu from famine in 1550; the third is on the first Sunday of November, in remembrance of when he saved Corfu from the plague in 1673.
The fourth is on August 11, in remembrance of when he saved Corfu from the Turks in 1716.
This year’s procession was carried out with the customary grandeur of Corfiot tradition. The local hierarch, His Eminence Metropolitan Nektarios of Corfu, was joined by four hierarchs of the Greek Orthodox Church and a host of clergy and laymen, reports the Orthodoxia News Agency.
The procession was preceded by a supplication service at the church in Corfu where St. Spyridon’s holy relics are kept, and two short prayer services were offered along the route: the first at the entrance to the old fortress, in remembrance of the saint’s miracle, and the second at the Palace of Sts. Michael and George.
There, Metropolitan Nektarios addressed those gathered, saying:
The saint, in similarly difficult times, resisted alongside his people the enslavement of their homeland. From that time on, he has been the one who encourages us to spiritually resist every enslavement that targets our faith, our Church, our homeland, our education, and all the values and institutions of our local tradition. If we fail to grasp the message of spiritual resistance, we’ll fall into an enslavement that won’t come from the Hagarenes, but will be spiritual—and that’s the most difficult and most abhorrent kind.
Metropolitan Nektarios prayed to St. Spyridon to intercede with the Lord and our God to keep the spirit of our faith unenslaved, to strengthen the people, and to bring our homeland back from the derailment from our traditions and history that it has unfortunately drifted into in our times.
Photo: Orthodoxia News Agency
The services continued with the celebration of Vespers and the Holy Vigil, while St. Spyridon remained at the church entrance, standing upright, so that the many faithful and pilgrims can venerate him and address their petitions to him.
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A 40-day confrontation with the Turkish army in the summer of 1716 wore down the strength of the local inhabitants. Hoping for Divine intercession, the helpless people gathered in the Church of St. Spyridon and tearfully lifted up prayers to the saint. Suddenly, on the night of August 10 there erupted a terrible storm on the sea. Preparing themselves for the decisive battle, the island inhabitants learned of the great miracle that occurred in the night: eyewitnesses said that St. Sypridon, with an innumerable host of angels and a flaming sword, banished the multitudinous Turkish army from the island.
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