“Local religion” in Corfu: sixteenth to nineteenth centuries

St Spyridon, the patron saint of Corfu, served as a unifying symbol for both Greek and Latin communities during the 17th and 18th centuries, reflecting civic rather than ecclesiastical authority. His veneration intensified after the 1716 Ottoman siege, where he was credited with saving Corfu and Western Christianity from invasion. However, by the late 18th century, this unity began to fray following Corfu's fall to Russian and Ottoman forces. A 1790s text by Orthodox theologian Athanassios Parios recontextualized Spyridon’s role, portraying him as a defender of Orthodoxy and an adversary of Greco-Latin rapprochement. The study analyzes shifts in religious symbolism through historical records, revealing how political changes reshaped local religious narratives.

Nikolaidis, T. (2014). “Local religion” in Corfu: sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. Mediterranean Historical Review, 29(2), 155–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518967.2014.963306