With due ecclesiastical splendour and majesty, the Great Festal Hierarchical Vespers in honour of Saint Spyridon, Bishop of Trimythous, the Wonderworker, was celebrated on the evening of Thursday, 11 December, at the celebrating Church of St Spyridon in the suburb of Kingsford, Sydney. His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia presided at the Service, concelebrating with Their Graces Bishop Elpidios of Perth, Bishop Athinagoras of Canberra, and Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Saint George, Yellow Rock. Participating also were the Parish Priest, Fr Steven Scoutas, his assistant priest, Fr Stavros Ivanos, and a host of other clergy from across the city of Sydney.
At the conclusion of the Feast Day Vespers, His Eminence Archbishop Makarios preached the homily before the numerous faithful who had gathered devoutly to honour the memory of Saint Spyridon. As an introduction, he focused on the verse, “I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me diligently shall find grace” (Prov. 8:17), which had been read during the Service, noting that this is manifestly fulfilled in the life of the great Hierarch and Saint of the Orthodox Church: “Saint Spyridon did not go to school, he did not study, he had no academic degrees. He was a simple shepherd, born of humble and uneducated parents. Yet this man possessed that which we heard tonight: he loved God and sought His grace, and he received it.”
His Eminence then briefly referred to the decisive role of Saint Spyridon at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea and recounted the Miracle of the Roof Tile, through which the Saint confounded the heretical teaching of Arius.
Finally, the Archbishop placed particular emphasis on the virtue of discernment, one of the greatest Christian virtues, which adorned the character of the Saint. Recalling the incident in which Saint Spyridon, during a fasting period, offered meat to a weary traveller, he highlighted the importance of seeking the essence of things, rather than limiting ourselves to superficial judgments. He noted that discernment is a God-inspired virtue which allows a person to act for the salvation and well-being of the other, transcending hypocritical attachment to rules and stubborn insistence on one’s own will. “It is the virtue that enables you to give the other person comfort and freedom,” he observed.
In conclusion, His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia offered heartfelt paternal blessings to the faithful and urged them to imitate the example of Saint Spyridon, both in his love for God and his seeking of divine grace, and in the cultivation of the virtue of discernment.
