(Saint) Spyridon Sainthood

ioannesAthanasius

Is (Saint) Spyridon canonised/venerated in the Coptic Orthodox Church, or by extension in Oriental Orthodoxy? My research only brought up vague results.
Thank you all.

Jojo_Hanna

Who is that?

ioannesAthanasius

@Jojo_Hanna
He was a bishop in Cyprus who fought Arius in the council of Nicea and performed many miracles both during and after his life. He was canonised pre-schisms but now people say on EO and RC venerate him, but is it possible by any chance OO venerates him?

George27

This is interesting. 

St Spyridon is most definitely a saint in the EO Church. According to the attached source he lived from 306 to 337 AD. Not only pre-Chalcedon (451 AD), but even before Constantinople in 381 AD, and he was 19 years old for the Council of Nicea in 325 AD.

Why wouldn't he be a saint in the OO Church?

mabsoota

because we never heard of him unless we spent our summer in romania...

George27

@mabsoota

St Spyridon was from Tremithius which is in Cyprus. St Epiphanius was the Bishop of Cyprus 300 years prior and is remembered by the Copts on 17 Bashons. I know that is a bit of a time gap, but the Christians in Cyprus were still in communion with Alexandria for more than another century.

If Alexandria lost recognition of Cyprus at the time of St Spyridon, that seems to mean that there were political tensions for over a century before Chalcedon.

George27

... I just realized something.

It depends a bit on when St Spyridon was canonized. If he was canonized after Chalcedon it would make perfect sense that the OO don't recognize him. that would be about 120 years after his death.

ioannesAthanasius

He was canonised pre any of the schisms but some sources claim he’s only venerated in EO and RC churches.

George27

Do you happen to know why he isn't venerated in the OO Church? Can you please share your sources?

Thanks

ioannesAthanasius

I’m not sure why he isn’t venerated in OO.
I checked Wikipedia and it said he isn’t venerated in OO. Wikipedia might have been inaccurate so I checked the Coptic synaxarium. (Saint) Spyridon’s Feast is on 14/12 in the eastern church. 14/12 is the second of Kiahk. Not only is he not mentioned in the second of Kiahk, but any of the other Kiahk entries.

minatasgeel

He might simply not be celebrated in the Coptic Church, which is totally accebtable. 

mabsoota

according to orthodoxwiki, saint epiphanius died 403AD (the source you quoted sometimes misses out the 0 in years, must be a bug on the website), not 43AD.

looks like saint spyridon is equally lovely, just less famous.

maybe he is commemorated in our church somewhere, i will look out for him.

we love saint epiphanius for this:

http://www.copticchurch.net/classes/synex.php?id=283

(this is the commemoration from 4 days ago)

basically he stole the gold and silver cups that his old friend the bishop of jerusalem was using and sold them to give the money to the poor (saint john, the bishop of jerusalem had been neglecting them and spending his time having parties with rich people instead).

when saint john got annoyed with saint epiphanius, God made him go blind to show him that he had become spiritually blind.

saint john repented of his pride and lack of compassion and asked saint epiphanius to pray for him, and God allowed him to see through one of his eyes, so that he would have a reminder of why he should not go back to his evil ways.

last year, one of our bishops died, who had the same name. he was also saintly, demonstrated by the fact that God told him in advance the day of his death, so that he could prepare for it.

may God give them all rest, and may they remember us before the throne of grace

:)

ioannesAthanasius

@mabsoota
Alright thanks. If you do find any information do please get back to me.

Thank you to everyone who has helped.