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The Saint Spyridon Church is a Greek Orthodox place of worship located in Corfu, Greece. The Church is situated in the heart of Corfu town just behind the Liston. It is the most famous church in Corfu. The exterior of the church is typical of the Venetian architecture. Its distinctive red-dome bell tower is the highest point in the town. The bell tower built in 1620 is plain and squarely profiled in an Italian style.
The ceiling of the church is divided into 17 parts by golden frames painted by the artist, Panagiotis Doxaras, in 1727. However due to humidity these initial painting was destroyed and was restored in 1852 by the artist Nikolaos Aspiotis.
Saint Spyridon, who is considered the keeper of Corfu and his relics can be found in the church behind the Altar, housed in a silver shrine made in Vienna in 1867. Devout Corfiots and pilgrims visit to kiss the reliquary and pray to the saint.
His relics are carried around the town of Corfu four times a year to celebrate his miracles: Palm Sunday (plague), Good Friday (Holy Saturday ?, starvation), August 11th (siege of the Turks in 1716), first Sunday of November (plague). The litanies are accompanied by the local bands and they remain a strong tradition on Corfu. On 12 December, the memory of the saint is celebrated.
Saint Spyridon was born in 270 A.D. in Assia, a village in Cyprus and was a shepherd who married and had a daughter. After his wife’s death, his daughter entered a convent and he vowed to lead a monastic life. He studied and gained wisdom and grace in the religious virtues and participated in the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325). He reportedly converted a pagan philosopher to Christianity by using a potsherd to illustrate how one single entity (a piece of pottery) could be composed of three unique entities (fire, water and clay); a metaphor for the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. He served as a Bishop of Trimythous, a district of Larnaca Cyprus, until he died in 348 A.D. When the Arabs conquered Cyprus, his body was disinterred and taken to Constantinople but his remains were found intact with a sprig of Basil. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, his relics were moved to Corfu.

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