St. Spiridon is commemorated with special solemnity in the Greek Church. The Synaxarion tells us, that “he led the peaceful life of a simple shepherd. He was a plain, unpolished countryman and yet without equal when it came to love of neighbor, meekness, acts of kindness, almsgiving and the practice of virtues.” He was a man of hospitality, who would break his ascetic fast to feed a stranger in need. He was a man of simple and plain words, who put to shame the vain eloquence of a prelate “who wanted to show off by altering certain words of the Gospel too common for his taste.” He was a perfect example of a saint, for through him the love of Christ manifested itself, raising the dead, stopping droughts, looking into the hearts of sinners and forgiving them. Because of his Christ-like virtues, he was called from being a shepherd of sheep in the field, to being the bishop pastor of Christ’s rational sheep in Tremithus. In this way, he was the fulfillment of the shepherds who came to Christ at his birth.

Because of his connection to Christmas, the Greek Church honors St. Spiridon with doxastichera in his office foreshadowing the feast of the Birth of our Lord, at Vespers, we sing, “O shepherds, keep watch and then bear witness to the awesome wonder,” and “Listen, O mountains, hills and all you regions around Judah; Christ is coming to save the human race which he created, for he loves us all.”

And so the doxasticheron of Matins proclaims, “O God-bearing Spiridon, light of the world, like Moses and David, whose calling you followed, the Spirit led you from an irrational flock to the rational one.”

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

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