L'homme de Dieu

Nectarios of Aegina (1 October 1846 - 8 November 1920), Metropolitan of Pentapolis and Wonderworker of Aegina, is one of the most renowned Greek saints, venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church and officially recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1961. His feast day is celebrated every year on 9 November.

He served as a bishop in Cairo for one year. Nectarios was very popular with the people, which gave rise to jealousy among his colleagues. They were able to persuade his superior that Nectarios had ambitions to displace the Patriarch. After the conflict in Egypt, he then returned to Greece, and spent several years as a preacher. He was then director of the Rizarios Ecclesiastical School for the education of priests in Athens for 15 years. In 1904, at the request of several nuns, he established Holy Trinity Monastery for them on the island of Aegina. Nectarios ordained two women as deaconesses in 1911, even though rarely done. Up to the 1950s, few Greek Orthodox nuns also became monastic deaconesses.

In 1908, at the age of 62, Nectarios resigned from his post as school director and withdrew to the Holy Trinity Convent on Aegina, where he lived out the rest of his life as a monk. He wrote, published, preached, and heard confessions. He also tended the gardens, carried stones, and helped with the construction of the monastery buildings that were built with his own funds. Nectarios died on November 8, 1920, at the age of 74, following hospitalization for prostate cancer. Saint Nektarios is considered a patron saint for people who are suffering from diseases; such as cancer, heart trouble, joint pain, epilepsy, arthritis, etc.

EPILOGUE: "Apology from the Holy Synod. The Holy Spirit has enlightened the gathered members of the Holy Synod of the Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa, under the leadership of H.B. Petros VII, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa, more than a century since Saint Nektarios, the great Teacher and Father of the Holy Eastern Orthodox Church was expelled from the Church of Alexandria, to reach the following decision:"

"Taking into account the resolution of the Church to rank Saint Nektarios amongst the saints because of his innumerable miracles and his acceptance within the religious conscience of Orthodox Christians throughout the world, we appeal to the mercy of the ever-charitable God. We hereby restore the ecclesiastical order of the Saint of our century, Saint Nektarios, and grant to him all due credits and honors. We beseech Saint Nektarios to forgive both us, unworthy as we are, and our predecessors, are brothers of the Throne of Alexandria for opposition to the Saint and for all which, due to human weakness or error, our Holy Father, Bishop of Pentapolis, Saint Nektarios, suffered. Signed Petros VII, Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa. 15th of September 1998"

"The convent in Aegina was recognized by the Holy Synod in 1924. Nektarios was declared a saint by the Greek Orthodox Church in 1961."