First prayer to Saint Spyridon of Trimifuntsky
O Great and wonderful saint of Christ and wonderworker Spyridon , Kerkyra praise, bright luminary of the whole universe, warm prayer book to God and quick intercessor to all who come running to you and pray with faith!
You gloriously expounded the Orthodox faith at the Nicene Council among the Fathers, you showed the unity of the Holy Trinity with miraculous power, and you completely put the heretics to shame. Hear us sinners, the saint of Christ, praying to you, and through your strong intercession with the Lord, deliver us from every evil situation: from famine, flood, fire and deadly plagues.
For in your temporal life you delivered your people from all these disasters: you saved your country from the invasion of the Hagarians and from famine, you delivered the king from an incurable illness and brought many sinners to repentance, you gloriously raised the dead, and for the holiness of your life the angels invisibly in the church you had those singing and serving with you.
Sitsa, therefore, glorify you, His faithful servant, Lord Christ, for you are given the gift of understanding all the secret human deeds and convicting those who live unrighteously. You zealously helped many living in poverty and lack, you nourished the poor people abundantly during famine, and you created many other signs by the power of the living Spirit of God in you.
Do not forsake us either, Saint of Christ, remember us, your children, at the Throne of the Almighty and beg the Lord to grant forgiveness for many of our sins, grant us a comfortable and peaceful life, and grant us a shameless and peaceful death and eternal bliss in the future. us, may we always send glory and thanksgiving to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.
Amen.
Life
Saint Spyridon was born on the island of Cyprus at the end of the 3rd century, around 270. Little information about his life has been preserved. It is known that he was a shepherd and had a family - a wife and children. When his wife died, he became a bishop in the city of Trimifunt, but continued to live in poverty, tending sheep and goats. For his meekness, non-covetousness, mercy and faith, the Lord rewarded Saint Spyridon with the gift of miracles during his lifetime. Caring for his people and never refusing to help the suffering, the saint with his prayers replaced long droughts with rains, and continuous rains with sunshine. Sincerely loving people, he was also endowed by the Lord with the gift of healing the sick, remission of sins, casting out demons and raising the dead.
One day Saint Spyridon entered a church in which there were no people yet to begin the Divine service. He lit lamps and candles and began to perform the service. After the exclamation of the saint, “Peace to all,” in response, many wonderful voices were heard from above, answering: “And to your spirit.” At each litany, an invisible choir sang “Lord, have mercy” and was more beautiful than any human singing. Hearing this, people began to flock to the temple, but when they went inside, they saw no one except the bishop and a few clergy.
Once, in a hurry to save a man who had been slandered and sentenced to death, Saint Spyridon’s path was blocked by a flooded stream. The saint said to the water: “Stand! This is what the Lord of the whole world commands you, so that I can cross and the husband for whose sake I am hastening may be saved.” Through the saint's prayer, the water stopped and he crossed to the other side and helped his friend in court.
Being merciful to the poor and needy, the saint was intolerant of sin. And with severity and justice he punished those who persisted in their sins. The life of the saint tells about an unrepentant harlot. Her husband was a sailor, and upon returning after a voyage that lasted many months, he found his wife pregnant. And although it was obvious that the child, according to the laws of nature, could not be from her husband, the sinner persisted and did not want to repent. Then the saint said to her: “No fruit will come out of your womb until you tell the truth, without covering with lies what even a blind man can see.” After some time, the saint’s words came true. When the time came for childbirth, the woman suffered greatly and could not give birth. However, she did not repent of her sin and died without giving birth.
One day, thieves decided to steal sheep from Saint Spyridon. Late at night they climbed into the barn, but an invisible force tied them up. In the morning, when the saint came to his flock and saw thieves tied up nearby, he untied them and began to persuade them to leave the criminal path and earn honest labor. After this, the saint gave each of them a sheep and sent them away, saying: “Let it not be in vain that you kept watch.”
Once in the city of Alexandria, the patriarch convened a council of the clergy to destroy pagan idols and temples. Through the prayers of the fathers of the cathedral, all the idols were destroyed, except for one - the most important one. In a vision, it was revealed to the patriarch that this idol remained because Saint Spyridon of Trimifuntsky had to crush it. Then the fathers of the cathedral called the saint, and as soon as his ship landed on the shore, the idol in Alexandria with all the altars collapsed by itself.
Saint Spyridon lived his entire earthly life in holiness and righteousness and reposed in prayer. This happened around 348. The relics of the saint rest in a church on the island of Corfu (Greece).
Second prayer to Saint Spyridon of Trimifuntsky
O all-blessed Saint Spyridon, great servant of Christ and glorious miracle worker!
Stand in Heaven before the Throne of God with the face of an Angel, look with your merciful eye at the people standing here and asking for your strong help. Pray to the compassion of God, the Lover of Mankind, not to judge us according to our iniquities, but to deal with us according to His mercy!
Ask us from Christ and our God for a peaceful and serene life, mental and physical health, earthly prosperity and all abundance and prosperity in everything, and may we not turn the good things given to us from the generous God into evil, but into His glory and the glorification of your intercession !
Deliver all who come to God through undoubted faith from all spiritual and physical troubles. from all yearnings and devilish slander! Be a comforter to the sad, a physician to the sick, a helper in times of adversity, a protector to the naked, a protector to widows, a protector to the orphans, a nourisher to the baby, a strengthener to the old, a guide to the wandering, a sailing helmsman, and intercede to all those who require your strong help, even useful for salvation!
For if we are guided and observed by your prayers, we will reach eternal rest and together with you we will glorify God, glorified in the Trinity of Saints, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.
Amen.
O blessed Saint Spyridon!
Beg the mercy of God, the Lover of Mankind, not to judge us for our iniquities, but to deal with us according to His mercy. Ask us, God's servants (names), from Christ and our God for a peaceful and serene life, mental and physical health.
Deliver us from all spiritual and physical troubles, from all yearnings and the devil’s slander.
Remember us at the throne of the Almighty and beg the Lord to grant us forgiveness of many of our sins, a comfortable and peaceful life, and grant us a shameless and peaceful death and eternal bliss in the future, so that we may continually send glory and thanksgiving to the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.
What is a troparion
In Orthodoxy there are many different genres of church liturgical chants, prayers and troparions. As we know historically, troparia first appeared in Byzantium. This is a church chant, in which part of the stories and life of the saint is necessarily mentioned. Of course, along with some changes in civilization, the texts of the troparia themselves changed.
Modern liturgical chants can be dedicated not only to the history of a particular saint, but also to holidays. In ancient times, chants were narrated only for the purpose of honoring the memory of one or another saint. They were written in prose. A little later they were presented in the form of a rhyme. After some time, the texts began to be accompanied by music.
The troparia differ from the psalms in that they do not have a permanently established text. They have their own authors and composers. Their texts are flexible, but the essence and meaning always remains the same.
Varieties
Like all other areas in life, troparia also developed. Along with the development of hymnography, troparia began to be divided into several types. Namely, they are divided by topic:
- holidays;
- lean.
But in addition to the above types, there are also “dismissal” troparia. They are read most often at Divine Liturgies. As a rule, they point to a specific saint or point to a church holiday.
Rules for prayer reading
It is recommended to read the prayer within the walls of the temple, within which the Holy Spirit dwells, correcting the selfish worldview. In the home iconostasis, the icon of St. Nicholas should be placed next to the faces of the Mother of God and the Savior. Having clearly concentrated on what you want, you should openly open up to the reverend elder, who will certainly unite the family with the power of his own grace, if those asking are morally pure.
Christian prayer for relatives is the most effective way to help loved ones
- Before reading the prayer service, the Church recommends going through a ritual of repentance for committed sins, as well as confessing to the priest.
- We should not forget that the power of petition is hidden in the faith of the Christian himself. When asking for help from the saints, you must yourself demonstrate moral strength and correct your individual situation in the family circle. The Lord, seeing the destruction of his own pride, sends merciful gifts to his servant and leads him to a better and calmer life with his family.
- Daily prayer practices will certainly lead to favorable consequences, because every righteous deed gives corresponding results according to the Laws of true Christianity. You should be absolutely sure that the appeal reaches the Heavenly Court.
- An Orthodox person who has received what he wants will henceforth become closer to perfection, since through personal experience he encounters the activity of the Holy Spirit, the eternal God.
- Before and after the petition, it is necessary to make a threefold gesture of the sign of the cross and bow. When reading a prayer, you should turn your gaze to a burning candle, because the flame facilitates the passage of thought impulses to the holy saints.
On a note! During his lifetime, Saint Nicholas saved the daughters of a bankrupt father from vice. The merciful righteous man did not regret giving them his savings left by his rich parents. He diverted trouble from innocent virgins, who soon found honest husbands and promised to serve true Christianity. This example of free love for one’s surroundings allows the Reverend Pleasant to perform miraculous healings and grant believers a righteous worldview.
Modern miracles
I would like to tell you about one wonderful incident, a witness, or one might even say, a participant in which I myself was. In 2000, from the Radonezh pilgrimage service, I went to the holy places of Greece. In Kerkyra, in the church of St. Spyridon, we asked the priest for a blessing to collect oil from the lamp at the shrine with the relics of the saint. The group believed that it was better than store-bought. We took the oil with a syringe and poured it into bottles we had prepared in advance.
The group was large, everyone was crowding together, trying to quickly gather, someone carelessly touched the lamp, and the remaining oil spilled. Everyone was very upset because of our awkwardness, but one woman was especially upset - she was last in line and she didn’t get a single drop
I decided that I would pour her some of mine. She was holding an empty bottle in her hands, and it suddenly began to fill up on its own! This happened in front of our entire group, so there were a lot of witnesses to this miracle. We were all literally shocked. On the bus we remembered the incident when St. Spyridon’s lamp filled itself. All things are possible for God and His saints.
I thank the Lord and Saint Spyridon for allowing me to witness this miracle!
***
I, sinful and unworthy of r. Elena of God, in 2002, she tried for a long time to exchange a one-room apartment for a two-room apartment. There were many problems, because... they offered places that were far from the metro or expensive. One day my sister (she serves in the temple) called me and asked how I was doing. I replied that nothing was working out. Then she advised me to order a water-blessing prayer service to St. Spyridon of Trimifunt, which I did. Literally a week later we were offered an excellent option at a reasonable price. The move was scheduled for December 25, the saint’s feast day. Through the prayers of St. Spyridon, everything worked out for us. I think about this often and am very grateful to him. Thank God for everything!
Saint Spyridon of Trimifuntsky, pray to God for us.
In 2007, the relics of St. Spyridon were brought to the Danilovsky Monastery in Moscow. More than 1,300,000 Russians came to venerate the relics of the saint. Here are the stories of some of them, published in the book “Saint Spyridon of Trimifuntsky” published by the Danilovsky Monastery.
A pregnant woman came to the right hand of Saint Spyridon at the Danilov Monastery. She said that she and her husband dreamed of a child, she visited many doctors, but for seven years their marriage remained fruitless. They prayed to St. Spyridon and other saints, and, contrary to the predictions of doctors, a miracle happened.
The woman came to thank the saint.
***
One financial structure bought a non-operating sanatorium in the Moscow region. On its territory there is a temple and the abbot’s house. Unexpectedly, the new owner decided to build a parking lot on the site of the priest’s house. He did not make concessions and did not even want to discuss this issue. The priest’s large family was faced with a fact: the house would be demolished and a parking lot would be built. The priest turned to Saint Spyridon with prayer, and the saint did not leave him.
Arriving at the Danilov Monastery to the relics of St. Spyridon, the priest met a man who turned out to be a friend of the new owner of the sanatorium; this man was very surprised by the behavior of his friend and promised to help. After some time, he and the owner of the territory came to the priest for a conversation to resolve the current situation.
***
On Sunday, April 22, I went to the Danilov Monastery for the Feast of the Myrrh-Bearing Women. And when approaching the monastery, by chance (although there is nothing accidental in this world) I find out that the relics of Spyridon of Trimythous were brought to the monastery (I rarely watch TV and didn’t know about this). What a blessing it is that I visited the monastery that day and venerated the relics!
And the next day, Monday, April 23, our youngest son called us, and I joyfully told him that the relics of St. Spyridon had been brought to Moscow and I was in the Danilov Monastery on Sunday. My son says to me in such a tired, sick voice: “Pray, mom, for my salvation.” It turns out they were on the water and capsized. God bless! Everyone floated out, everyone was alive and well.
And I, not knowing about it, went to the monastery the day before, when something led me there. Indeed, the ways of the Lord are mysterious!
On Tuesday, April 24, I went to the monastery again. I ordered a prayer service of thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ for saving my son’s life and a prayer service to Saint Spyridon of Trimifunt from my parents.
Saint's Help in Our Time
During his lifetime, the saint was noted for miracles of resurrecting people, healing from serious illnesses, and so on.
After his death, he also continues to amaze us. The help of Spyridon of Trimifuntsky in our days lies in answers to the requests that believers send to him. There are a large number of such examples. One such case involves housing for a poor family. One of the parishioners of the temple said that a family with three children came to them. They lived in a communal apartment. And then one day a room became available on the site, but they didn’t have the money to buy it. Parents came with their children to the temple when they brought the relics of the saint. They really asked the children to pray, because a child’s prayer would be heard faster. They were let ahead. After a short period of time, they received a letter notifying them that they had been given an apartment. Their joy knew no bounds.
Another example would be this story. For 9 years the family lived in a church-sanctified marriage, but there were no children. All possible tests were taken, all doctors were visited, but the cause was never determined. They turned to many priests and visited a large number of churches. They even went to Mount Athos, but the Lord still delayed. And then they visited the island of Corfu and the temple of Spyridon of Trimifuntsky. They went to pray every day and soon learned about the long-awaited pregnancy.
Watch also the video about the holy wonderworker:
Prayer text
The prayer “Living Help” is the common name of the 90th Psalm, so nicknamed after its first line: “Living in the help of the Most High...”. The psalm belongs to the hand of the prophet David and was written on the occasion of salvation from a pestilence. Verses from this psalm are mentioned by the Lord himself as a response to Satan during the 40-day temptation. These passages can be read in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke in 4 chapters.
It is recommended to read the text in Church Slavonic, since the modern translation does not convey the full depth of meaning and content. It is still recommended to read it in Russian in order to understand the meaning of unusual words.
Psalm 90:
The prayer “Living Help” is one of the most effective prayers, along with “Our Father” and “Virgin Mother of God”. The key meaning of the psalm is about the special and incomprehensible providence of God for man. The Almighty is our Protector and the “fortress of salvation” for all who believe in him. The psalmist convinces that a believer who trusts in God in everything should not be afraid of any danger. Psalm 90 says that faith in the Lord overcomes the laws of nature and works miracles. This hymn also contains a prophecy - “with long days (eternal life) I will satisfy him, and I will show him My salvation” - this verse speaks of Christ.
