Life
Saint Nektarios of Aegina, one of the most beloved saints of the twentieth century, was born on October 1, 1846, in Silivria in Thrace, in the family of Dimos Kephalas. His secular name was Anastasios. From his earliest youth he was distinguished by an unusual depth of faith and love for God, even though his family was poor and his path to education was hard. In his youth he worked in Constantinople as a shop assistant, where his piety was evident to all who knew him.
After Constantinople he traveled to the island of Chios to work, and there he enrolled in the gymnasium. It was there that he was tonsured a monk with the name Lazaros, and later ordained a deacon with the name Nektarios. Thanks to the support of a merchant from Chios, John Chomatianos, Nektarios was able to complete his theological education in Athens and then at the University of Alexandria.
In Alexandria he was ordained a priest and quickly advanced in the Church’s hierarchy: in 1886 he was consecrated Bishop of Pentapolis in Egypt, and served at the court of Patriarch Sophronios IV of Alexandria. His life was pure, ascetic, and at the same time active in the care of others. He was beloved by the clergy and the people. However, this very success and popularity aroused the envy of several priests who began to spread slanders about him before the Patriarch. Without investigating the accusations, Patriarch Sophronios dismissed Nektarios from his diocese and prohibited him from serving as a bishop in Egypt.
This ordeal — humiliating, unjust, and painful — Nektarios accepted with humility and complete trust in God. He did not dispute, did not defend himself, did not seek revenge. He went to Greece, where for years he lived in harsh poverty, barely managing to make ends meet through preaching and various modest occupations. Not until 1894 was he appointed director of the Rizarios Ecclesiastical School in Athens, where he served with great success for fifteen years, educating generations of clergymen and scholars.
After retiring from Rizarios, Nektarios withdrew to the island of Aegina, where nuns had gathered wishing to live a monastic life under his guidance. He became their spiritual father and abbot, and on Aegina he spent the last years of his life in prayer, writing, and care for the sisters. He wrote many theological works, poetry, and liturgical texts; his veneration of the Most Holy Theotokos was particularly deep, and he composed many hymns in her honor.
He reposed on November 9, 1920, in a hospital in Athens. Even at his death a miracle occurred: nurses who wrapped the bedclothes of the departed Nektarios placed them on a paralytic man lying in the neighboring bed — and the paralytic arose healed. In 1961 the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece canonized him; his relics exude myrrh and have healed countless faithful, especially of cancer and other serious illnesses.
Nektarios is known as a “saint of our time” — a man who suffered unjust persecution, loss of position and honor, and accepted all this with meekness, never stopping to love, to work, and to pray. For this very reason he is so close to people who have experienced injustice, persecution, or illness.
Tropar (Tone 1)
O faithful champion of piety and icon of meekness, heavenly intercessor of the Church of Aegina, godly-minded Nektarios — wellspring of healings and adornment of hierarchs — we cry unto thee: intercede with Christ God that He grant us great mercy.
Kontakion (Tone 2)
Having received a heavenly gift of healing from God, and having endured earthly humiliations with wisdom, O wondrous Nektarios — thou didst shine forth from Aegina as a bright star; now having moved to a more glorious abode, thou dost freely dispense healings of both soul and body.