Saint who is near

It took me a while to realize how much I love Saint Spyridon. It came with the silence. With the feeling that he hears , and that his care is alive , almost physical. It doesn’t matter that he is from Cyprus. Here, in Corfu, he is at home – and I am with him.

In Corfu, among the shady streets and warm stones, his name is like breathing. Sometimes it is prayerful, sometimes it is mundane: “I will go to Spyridon”, “Help me, Saint”. And he really does help . Not abstractly, not from a legend, but in detail. Precisely, softly, truly. I have felt it more than once – how he responded. Sometimes – immediately.

Now, when I stand at his relics in silence, among people who, like me, are waiting for the opening of the shrine, I feel not a celebration, but a meeting . Joy. It is amazing how his presence is felt : he is not “in the past,” he is in the moment , here. A saint with an open heart.

And he is also a protector . There is a legend that it was he who did not allow the Turks to enter the island in the 16th century: the inhabitants prayed, and he interceded. They say they saw him walking along the walls himself. And the enemy left. Then there were the Venetians, then Ushakov, who is also revered here as a saint. But there were no Turks here. And maybe that is why Corfu is so free, so bright.

The Orthodox churches here are different. In the Cathedral of St. Spyridon, there is singing with an organ. Very delicate, almost whispering. Music that does not distract from prayer, but accompanies it . As if the island itself, and its ancient walls, and the sea air are singing along - in breath.

When they open the shrine and you kiss the body that has not decayed for seventeen centuries , at that moment you can neither speak nor think. You can only stand, as the Phiacan women stood in white kerchiefs and simple tunics - the same ones who once greeted Odysseus.

And it seems that everything here continues to live by its own, very living laws : to thank for healing - with a silver plate. To ask - simply, humanly. And then to walk again along these stone streets and carry this meeting within you - as a blessing.