medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Tuesday, December 12, 2006, at 1:23 pm, Jim Bugslag wrote:
>
> > A seventeenth-century icon showing S. in his display coffin on
> Corfu is here:
> > http://www.templegallery.com/getfullpage.php?stockno=45
> > and here's a view of S. being carried in a recent procession:
> > http://www.greatlie.com/images/articles/AgSpyridon_sml2.jpg
>
> The poor guy has been dead for over 1500 years, and he's still on his
> feet! Is that
> posthumous asceticism, or something? I've never seen this practice
> before, as
> opposed to the more usual horizontal format. Was this common?
What I called a "display coffin" is in origin and in processional use (at least four times a year) a sedan chair. See the back view here:
http://www.travelinfo.gr/corfu/vaion.jpg
Some of the description of the Holy Saturday/Palm Sunday festivities here may be of interest:
http://www.gnto.gr/pages.php?pageID=426&langID=2
Note especially, "On the same day [Holy Saturday], at 9 a.m., the epitaphios procession of the Church of St Spyridon takes place. In 1574 the Venetians prohibited the Orthodox from holding their epitaphios procession on Good Friday, so ever since the procession from the Church of St Spyridon, which includes the sacred relics of the Saint, has taken place on this day. This is an ancient and deeply devotional procession held to commemorate a miracle performed by the Saint to save the people of Corfu from famine. The Saint, in the form of his relics, goes first and is treated as the presiding bishop in the procession.On the same day, at 9 a.m., the epitaphios procession of the Church of St Spyridon takes place. In 1574 the Venetians prohibited the Orthodox from holding their epitaphios procession on Good Friday, so ever since the procession from the Church of St Spyridon, which includes the sacred relics of the Saint, has taken place on this day. This is an ancient and deeply d
evotional procession held to commemorate a miracle performed by the Saint to save the people of Corfu from famine. The Saint, in the form of his relics, goes first and is treated as the presiding bishop in the procession."
and
"After the procession, the Saint remains at the door of his church for veneration until Easter Tuesday."
There's another account here (s.v. Corfiot Easter):
http://www.travelinfo.gr/corfu/events.htm
It's pretty clear that S. is treated as though he were a living person there on Corfu in addition to being viewed as a resident of heaven still working for his people through their prayers and through the power of whatever relics he left behind.
Best again,
John Dillon
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