Saint Nektarios of AeginaMetropolitan of Pentapolis · the Wonderworker
A humble bishop, slandered and cast out, who bore every injustice in silence, and was revealed after death as one of the great healers of the modern Church, especially of those who suffer from cancer.
- Born
- 1 October 1846 · Selymbria, Thrace
- Reposed
- 8 November 1920 · Athens (buried at Aegina)
- Tradition
- Greek
- Glorified
- 1961 · Ecumenical Patriarchate
- Patron of
- The sick · invoked against cancer
- Relics
- Holy Trinity Convent, Aegina
His Life
Born Anastasios Kephalas to a poor family in Ottoman Thrace, he went as a boy to Constantinople to work and study, copying out sayings of the saints to sell, and hungering more for learning and prayer than for bread. In time he came to Egypt, where his gifts as a preacher and his evident holiness led to his ordination and, at last, to his consecration as Metropolitan of Pentapolis under the Patriarch of Alexandria.
His very virtues made him enemies. Envious of the people's love for him, others whispered that he coveted the patriarchal throne, and on that slander he was stripped of his see and sent away. He bore the calumny without a word of complaint or self-defence, and returned to Greece in poverty, and for years served quietly as the director of a school in Athens, loved by his students, still under the shadow of the false accusation that would not be lifted in his lifetime.
In his later years he founded the Holy Trinity Convent on the island of Aegina, guiding its nuns as a gentle father. There he endured illness with the same patience he had shown injustice, and reposed in an Athens hospital in 1920. From his burial an unfading fragrance and a stream of healings began, and the man cast out in dishonour was glorified by the Church in 1961. Today he is among the most beloved and most invoked of all modern saints. Countless testimonies name him the healer of the sick, and above all of those afflicted with cancer.
Troparion & Kontakion
O faithful, let us honour Nektarios, offspring of Silivria and guardian of Aegina, who appeared in these last years as a true friend of virtue. Every kind of healing wells forth for those who in faith cry out: Glory to Christ who glorified you; glory to Him who made you wondrous; glory to Him who works through you healings for all.
Let us who love the Lord praise the newly-revealed star of Orthodoxy and the new-built rampart of the Church; for glorified by the working of the Spirit, he pours out the abundant grace of healings upon those who cry: Rejoice, Father Nektarios.
Readings for the Feast
A Prayer to the Saint
O holy Hierarch Nektarios, who in this life bore slander and sickness with the patience of Christ, and now pourest out healing upon all who call on thee: look upon us in our afflictions, comfort the sick and the sorrowing, and intercede that our souls may be saved. Amen.
His Works
No free English edition of his works exists. The English translations are all in print. Buy them below, or read the free Greek originals.
His main English editions:
- Saint Nektarios: Writings, Vol. 1 (Homilies) Buy · Bookshop Buy · Amazon
- Words of Eternal Life, Collected Works Buy · Amazon
Or browse the booksellers:
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- On Worship in Spirit and Truth Περὶ τῆς ἐν Πνεύματι καὶ Ἀληθείᾳ Λατρείας 1885 · PD
- Christology Χριστολογία PD · via Anemi
- A Sketch Concerning Man Ὑποτύπωσις περὶ ἀνθρώπου 1893 · PD
- Historical Study of the Precious Cross Ἱστορικὴ Μελέτη περὶ τοῦ Τιμίου Σταυροῦ 1914 · PD
- On the Sacred Memorial Services Τὰ Ἱερὰ Μνημόσυνα 1892 · PD
- Agni Parthene ("O Virgin Pure"), his hymn to the Theotokos from the Theotokarion (1905). Text (public domain)