Written by: Catechist Branislav Ilić
Our Lord, who is Holy above all, blesses every generation with new saints who manifest the love of Christ in their own unique way. The life of Saint Nektarios, Metropolitan of Pentapolis and Wonderworker of Aegina, has become an unextinguished beacon spreading the grace-filled light of God throughout the entire oikoumene.
This servant of God was born to pious parents in 1846 in Selymbria of Thrace, near Constantinople. At baptism he received the name Anastasios. From his earliest childhood he loved the church and the sacred services, and liturgical prayer became the very centre of his upbringing and education in Christ. His parents’ poverty did not allow him to pursue studies in his hometown, and for that reason he was compelled, at the age of fourteen, to depart for Constantinople and seek work in order to earn money for his education. Life in the great city was not easy, and so Anastasios decided to appeal to the One whom he loved so deeply and upon whom he relied throughout his life. He wrote a letter to the Lord: “My Christ, I have no cloak, I have no shoes. I beg You, send them to me; You know how much I love You.” On the envelope he wrote the address: “To the Lord Jesus Christ. In Heaven.” The boy asked his neighbour, a merchant, to take the letter to the post office. Astonished by the unusual address, the merchant opened the letter, and seeing such a plea and such strong faith, he sent the boy money in the name of God. The years passed, but the young man remained untouched by the temptations of the great city.
The Lord manifested miracles in the saint’s life in various ways; one such event is the following. When Anastasios set out to return home for a holiday, the ship on which he travelled was seized by a great storm. All the passengers, terrified, began to complain against God. Anastasios, holding onto the loosened sails, cried out with all his heart: “My God, save me. I will study theology so that I may silence those who blaspheme Your holy Name.” Suddenly the storm ceased, and the ship reached the shore safely.
By the age of twenty-two, the young Anastasios had become a teacher in a school on the island of Chios. His teaching ministry included a missionary dimension, so he used every moment to preach the word of God among his colleagues and students. His influence on the students was such that they—and through them the entire local community—soon became filled with love and deep respect for him. He formed a beautiful choir from among his students, and he himself sang with them in the village church.
Sensing a calling to monastic life, Anastasios visited Athos and conversed with the elders there; eventually he entered a monastery, where he received the monastic tonsure and was ordained to the diaconate with the name Nektarios. This name suited him perfectly, for in his soul there truly flowed the nectar of life, and from him it poured forth like a fragrant river, filling all and everyone with joy.
Having the opportunity to continue his education, Hierodeacon Nektarios graduated from the Theological Faculty in Athens. At the age of forty he was ordained to the rank of presbyter. With zeal and self-denial, he accepted his new obedience and appointment at the Church of Saint Nicholas in Cairo. After several years, in that same church, he was consecrated Bishop of Pentapolis. Episcopal dignity did not alter Nektarios’ way of life or conduct. As before, he sought only humility. “Authority does not exalt the one who bears it; only virtue has the power to exalt,” the saint wrote during those years.
The Lord granted him the grace to behold in a dream Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra, to whom he, as a hierarch, was raising a new church. Nektarios saw the reliquary of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, and within it the saint himself—as though he were sleeping. At that moment Saint Nicholas rose from the reliquary and, smiling gently, asked Nektarios to adorn his throne in the church with gold; then he embraced him and kissed him.
Unfortunately, even during the years of his zealous episcopal ministry, the saint was not spared numerous trials. Influential men of the patriarchal court feared that the widespread love for the saint would place him among the potential candidates for the patriarchal throne of Alexandria, since Patriarch Sophronios was already advanced in age. They slandered the saint, accusing him not only of ambition for the patriarchal throne but also of immoral conduct. The Metropolitan of Pentapolis was compelled to resign and was forced to leave the land of Egypt. He made no attempt to justify or defend himself. A bad reputation followed him like a shadow in Athens, where he settled. His appeals to the authorities proved fruitless, for no one wished to receive him anywhere. The hierarch, by the grace of God, enduring this literally impoverished condition, was deprived not only of comfort but sometimes even of daily bread. Yet the Lord rewarded him for his patience and humble endurance of trials.
Saint Nektarios, the renowned Metropolitan of Pentapolis, accepted the humble position of a simple preacher in the province of Euboea, but even there he was received with hostility. Every Sunday, Bishop Nektarios ascended the pulpit to preach the Word of God, to comfort and enlighten, encountering distrust and quiet condemnation from his listeners. When he lost hope after persistently knocking on their hearts, he resolved: “I shall rise to preach one last time, and if they do not listen, I will leave.” And once again, the Lord, in His love, wrought a miracle. Within a week, word spread through the town that what had previously been believed about the saint was false. The following Sunday, his sermon was received with great enthusiasm. The love of the people followed Nektarios. Yet until the end of his life he had to bear the cross of persecution and the reputation of a disgraced metropolitan who belonged to no autocephalous church. Until his final days, the Metropolitan of Pentapolis was compelled to remain in an incomprehensible canonical situation, signing his documents as “travelling bishop.”
For a period of his life the saint served as director of the Rizarios Theological School in Athens. During the years in which Saint Nektarios served as director, the school experienced a time of flourishing. With inexhaustible love and patience, Nektarios nurtured and healed his students. There are well-known accounts of occasions when, because of a student’s wrongdoing, he would impose upon himself a strict fast. During this period of his life, the gifts of divine grace began to manifest in him: clairvoyance, the gift of healing, and others. Until his repose, humility remained the foremost characteristic of his life. When another bishop came to the school’s church to concelebrate with him, he never assumed the place of the principal celebrant, even when it was rightfully his according to rank. He always stood to the right of the holy table, vested only in the small omophorion, and in place of the mitre he wore a simple black monastic cap.
To this day, testimony remains of the saint’s wondrous gift of humility. On one occasion, the school’s custodian fell ill and was deeply worried that he would be dismissed because of his absence. After several weeks, when he returned, he noticed that someone had been performing his duties the entire time. Astonished, he decided to discover the identity of this merciful benefactor. Arriving at the school early in the morning, he was thrown into panic when he saw his “substitute.” It was the Metropolitan of Pentapolis, the director of the theological school—Bishop Nektarios. Having finished cleaning the toilets, he said to him: “Do not be surprised; I will not replace you. I only want to help you, so that your job may be preserved. While you are ill, I will work for you. Only, do not tell anyone in the school about this.”
Bishop Nektarios had many spiritual children. Among them were several young women who desired to dedicate themselves to monastic life but did not dare to enter any monastery lest they lose the spiritual guidance of their teacher. Caring for them as a good shepherd, Nektarios began searching for a suitable place and completed his search on the island of Aegina. Finding the remains of an old monastery, he purchased the land with his own resources.
Near the end of his life, the saint endured yet another blow, and with it a unique test of humility. An eighteen-year-old girl arrived at the monastery, having fled from her mother, and the saint judged that she ought to be received into the monastery. Her mother then filed a lawsuit against the saint, accusing him of seducing young women and murdering babies they had allegedly borne. The girl was examined by a physician, who confirmed that she was untouched. No “murdered babies” were found. The wicked mother then lost her sanity, and the inspector fell gravely ill and went to seek forgiveness from the saint. For a time the saint simultaneously directed the school in Athens and oversaw his newly founded monastery. The Lord arranged it so that the bishop left the school and moved permanently to Aegina. The final twelve years of his earthly life he spent with the nuns, forming them for the Kingdom of Heaven.
The years of the saint’s earthly life were drawing to a close. Sensing this, he prayed to the Lord to grant him a little more time to complete all the construction and works in the monastery, yet, as throughout his entire life, he humbly added: “Thy will be done!” The long-concealed illness finally took its toll. Accompanied by two nuns, he was taken to the hospital. Seeing the small elderly man, dressed in his cassock, struggling with terrible pain, the attending physician asked: “Is he a monk?” “No,” replied the nun, “he is a bishop.” “This is the first time I have seen a bishop without a panagia, without a golden cross, and, most importantly, without money,” the doctor said.
The saint fell asleep in the Lord in the hospital room on the feast of the Synaxis of the Holy Archangel Michael. Immediately after his repose, the body of the saint began to exude fragrant myrrh. He was buried in the monastery ossuary, which was later opened several times for various reasons, and each time they found that the saint’s body remained incorrupt. Even the violets left in his coffin by a young girl showed no signs of decay. The saint’s righteous repose took place on 9/21 November 1920. In 1961 he was canonized, his holy relics were exhumed, and at that time only his bones remained. The Lord permitted the relics to decay so that they might be distributed throughout the entire world.
From his whole life we are taught that holiness grows where there is patience in suffering. God glorified him not during his earthly life, but after his repose. Today thousands of people travel to his monastery on Aegina—wounded in body and soul—and through his intercessions they find healing. Just as the woman with the issue of blood touched the garment of Christ and received healing, so too the faithful now venerate the relics of Saint Nektarios and are healed, for the saints are the hands of Christ extended into our own age.
Today, throughout the Orthodox world, churches and chapels are being built in honour of this great servant of the Risen Christ, the saint who continues to pour out his love and heal those in need of God’s mercy and help. In our own days, the clergy and faithful of Nikšić—the City of Saint Basil of Ostrog—are raising a beautiful church dedicated to Saint Nektarios of Aegina. Lifting up glory to our Lord, we pray that the blessing of Saint Nektarios may ever guide and direct us in life, so that in the Kingdom of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit we may together magnify the God of Love.