Saint Nektarios, known for his countless miracles of healing, and as,
"A Saint for our Time," was born in 1846 in Selybria, Thrace. When he
was fourteen, he left his home and traveled to Constantinople in search of work
and study. There, St. Nektarios lived a very modest life constantly praying to
Christ and believing that He would provide everything he needed to live. Many
acts of kindness were shown to St. Nektarios by his neighbors and townspeople,
and it was through them, and by the grace of God, that St. Nektarios became an
accomplished academic at the age of twenty-one. By this time, too, St.
Nektarios was considered a theological scholar and a devout Christian. Upon
completing his studies, he left Constantinople and entered a monastery in
Chios.
Some time later, the Patriarch Sophronios of Alexandria, Egypt, offered St.
Nektarios a scholarship to study theology at the University of Athens. Upon
completing studies at the university, St. Nektarios was ordained to the
priesthood to serve in Cairo, Egypt, where he became quite popular as a
preacher and confessor. Within five months of his ordination, the Metropolitan
of Nubia blessed St. Nektarios with the title of archimandrite, and two months
later he was appointed to the high position of Patriarchal Trustee.
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It was in January of 1889 that the Metroplitan Nilos suddenly passed away.
As the seat was under the Patriarchate of Alexandria, Patriarch Sophronios
nominated St. Nektarios to fill the vacancy. Therefore, on January 15, 1889,
St. Nektarios was ordained a bishop and began to serve his congregation with
humility and an oath to never succumb to the temptations of this world. He
served as bishop until countless rumors and false accusations were brought up
against him. Patriarch Sophronios became subjected to unbearable pressure
regarding the rumors circulating about Metropolitan Nektarios, and he soon
stripped Metropolitan Nektarios of his authority and duty as bishop. Upon this
humbling and confusing experience, St. Nektarios returned to Athens where he
continued to serve God by preaching and teaching in its many churches.
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His popularity among the people in Athens again gained him popularity, and led to
his appointment as dean of Rizarios Ecclesiastical School in Athens, where he
dedicated fourteen years of his wisdom and loving care, until his body forced
him to retire on March 24, 1908. Once a new dean was found and instated as his
replacement, St. Nektarios retreated to the island of Aegina, to the monastery
that he helped to establish years before.
With his return to Aegina, the monastery began to receive countless visitors
who sought to be in the presence of St. Nektarios’ pious and loving nature.
While there, St. Nektarios witnessed the completion of the building of the
chapel on the grounds, which he first started in July of 1906. On June 2, 1908,
the chapel was dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and he began to settle in and
plan for the building of his simple home on the grounds. Throughout the years
that he spent in Aegina, St. Nektarios wrote and published many theological
treatises, guided the nuns of the monastery toward divine work, and performed
many miracles of healing. It was also while serving at the monastery, that St.
Nektarios endured many spiritual and physical tribulations, as well as
witnessed the magnificent power of the Trinity and the Virgin Mary.
On November 9, 1920, St. Nektarios retired his spirit to the Lord. However,
even in death St. Nektarios continues to perform miracles, the first of which
occurred in the very hospital room in which he died. With the passing of St.
Nektarios, a hospital nurse, assisted by a nun from the monastery, immediately
began to change his clothes and threw his undershirt on the next bed. In this
bed lay a paralytic, who once the undershirt landed upon him, was instantly
healed and jumped out of bed praising God for his miraculous healing. This was
the first of many miracles that St. Nektarios began to perform in death. The
stories of these miracles, along with his body remaining completely in tact and
emanating a magnificent fragrance for twenty years after his death, led the
nuns at the monastery to venerate him as a Saint of the Church. Finally, in
April of 1961, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople further blessed St.
Nektarios with a proclamation of Sainthood.
Ionian Village participants not only learn about the life and miracles of
St. Nektarios while at Ionian Village, but they are blessed with the ability to
make a pilgrimage to the monastery in which he carried out his life. While
there, they visit the house in which he lived and the chapel he helped to
build, and they venerate his tomb and relics. Perhaps this is why so many
Ionian Village participants return home with such a heartwarming feeling for
St. Nektarios.
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