My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
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THE LIFE OF OUR HOLY FATHER NEKTARIOS BISHOP OF PENTAPOLIS THE WONDERWORKER (Part IV)
When Saint Nektarios settled in Aegean, he took on many concerns and cares. He exhibited zeal and courage that the work might be accomplished with the help of God. Who can recount the labors, toils, and struggles which he undertook at all hours of the day and night so that the august Women's Monastery might succeed and grow? As a loving and compassionate father, he sought to cultivate and implant in their souls the fear of God, reverence, and compunction. He also desired to instill the nuns with love for one another and obedience in imitation of Christ.
The Saint himself served as a priest for the Women's Monastery. All kinds of manual labor filled his day. His asceticism was extreme, as he utterly mortified his flesh and thoughts to the things of the world. In the evenings, he engaged in writing edifying books for the Christians who were still in the world, including, but not limited to, Christian Ethics; Concerning Care of the Soul; Concerning Confession; Concerning the Ever-Virgin Mary Theotokos; Concerning Memorial Services; Concerning the Mysteries (Sacraments); Concerning Repentance; Concerning the Saints of God; Concerning the Seven Ecumenical Synods; The Gospel Story; The Psalter in Verse, and many other titles. Two Studies: I-Concerning the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church; II-Concerning Sacred Tradition. He speaks of the deviations of the Protestants from the Church. "They reject unwritten Sacred Tradition and the visible Church of Christ." He opposed in a masterful way the Papal doctrines of both purgatory and infallibility in his publication, Priest's Manual.
The Saint conducted an altogether spiritual manner of life, ever practicing the Jesus Prayer. His countenance radiated sweetness and serenity, evincing the presence of the grace of the Holy Spirit. His manner of life, as a servant and friend of God, provided sufficient proof of the indwelling gifts of the Spirit.
On many occasions, when guests (pilgrims) were coming, the elderly Nektarios was seen out in the field wearing his tattered and shabby work cassock (raso). None of the pilgrims imagined that the laborer in the field was the bishop.
In 1912, the Saint published a two-volume masterpiece, entitled The History of the Reasons Behind the Schism: About its Perpetuation, and Whether There Exists a Possibility of Uniting the Churches of the East and the West.
In the meantime, the Women's Monastery flourished. Girls and women from every background wished to join. Just as the Women's Monastery was being built up and thriving, and the donors honored their pledges, it was then that Metropolitan Theokletos Menopoulos withdrew his promise to officially recognize the Monastery. On the contrary, he now threatened to dissolve it.
After he had written a letter to the metropolitan, he was resolved to consign the entire matter to the Theotokos. He implored her protection and intervention, "at least for the sake of the nuns' simple souls, which I believe to be more worthy than our supposedly trained souls."
The Saint waited for a reply from Metropolitan Theokletos but receive none. He wrote again in June of 1914 and received a reply three months later in the form of Protocol Number 1363, demanding a written account and detailed report of the Monastery's inhabitants, finances, and donations. The Saint forwarded a reply in October of 1914, reminding the Metropolitan that he had knowledge of the Monastery, and that it was not a new institution. He then informed the Metropolitan that the accounting of the monetary deposits in the Monastery treasury would be forthcoming from the Gerondissa (Abbess), who would submit a detailed list of receipts and expenditures.
Before the sea blockade created by the Allies during World War I, the nuns, foreseeing a dread future of hunger, wished to store extra wheat and other supplies. The holy spiritual father, however, strenuously forbade them, saying, "If you do that which you propose, we shall by all means starve." They obeyed the Saint, and during those difficult times, they ate and were satisfied. They were able to provide for themselves through their harvest and donations. Indeed, not only the sisterhood but also all those who hastened to the Monastery during the period were fed. This indicated the grace and blessing of the Saint.
Many are the miracles wrought and the wonders seen which took place while he was living, so that the people of Aegina considered him their protector and patron, openly acknowledging his miracle-working power which he received from God.
The Saint's health was deteriorating. On account of terrible pain, he was left without sleep, yet he mustered all his strength to perform Orthros (Matins) and Divine Liturgy. In 1919, a friend brought a doctor to the Monastery to examine the holy man. The physician counseled immediate admittance into a clinic staffed with urologists. He disclosed that the bishop would probably require surgery and therapy. He responded, saying, "We shall see if it is God's will."
His repose was also revealed beforehand to the nuns. One of them heard a voice, saying, "The father is coming to dwell in the heavenly tabernacles." Another nun beheld a beautiful palace in her dream. She asked a splendid youth, "To whom does this palace belong?" He answered, "It belongs to Nektarios." She marveled and asked, "When did the holy man find such a place, being he is a poor man?" The youth replied again, "It is that of Nektarios." Thus God glorifies those who glorify Him.
Soon thereafter, Metropolitan Nektarios was admitted to an Athens hospital, the Aretaieion. He was brought in by two nuns. The hospital personnel was somewhat surprised to observe the humility and simplicity of the former Metropolitan and Dean, for they presumed that he was a simple elderly monk. When the holy man entered his room, which was for indigent patients, there were four beds, of which two were occupied. The bed next to Metropolitan Nektarios was occupied by a man who was paralyzed from the waist down, having suffered an accident by falling off a cliff while on horseback. The other patient suffered from a urological ailment as did Saint Nektarios. After fifty pain-filled days in the hospital, Saint Nektarios, then 74 years old, was heard by Mother Ephemia uttering these last words from his lips: "Art Thou speaking to me, O Lord?" The holy man of God then surrendered his soul into the hands of the Lord on the 8th of November, 1920, at midnight. A sweet-smelling fragrance thereupon permeated the hospital room. The nurse who prepared the dead came and was preparing the holy body of the Saint with the assistance of the nun. They removed his old woolen undershirt and, for the sake of convenience, temporarily laid it upon the paralyzed man's bed. Suddenly, O the wonder! The previously paralyzed man began moving his legs so that he was able to stand and walkabout. He then gave glory to God, shouting, "I am cured! The undershirt had miraculous power!" The fragrant holy relics were later transferred to the hospital Chapel and then transported by automobile to the Church of the Holy Trinity in Piraeus. The holy relics were seen by many and the Saint's hair and beard were filled with a myrrh-like fluid, which the people were daubing with handkerchiefs and cotton. Public veneration lasted for three days, while the holy relics continually poured forth the sweet scent of myrrh. The Saint was interred beside the pine tree that he loved, adjacent to the Church.
The Rizarios School donated the tombstone. The Saint often appeared to the nuns, counseling them. It was necessary to better arrange the Saint's quickly devised grave. He was exhumed after five months and found to be incorrupt, as were the lemon flowers that had been placed in his coffin. The myrrh-like fragrance continued to pour forth from his holy relics. Since many were saying that he was a Saint and that the Church authorities ought to be notified. However, after 18 months the holy relics were again exhumed and found to be both incorrupt and fragrant.
Men of science and medicine have testified to the many miracles wrought by Saint Nektarios. Countless miracles have been reported in Australia, Canada, England, Europe, South Africa, and the United States. The Saint even now, as when he was alive, is indefatigable in his working benefactions for those in need and suffering, always to the glory of God.
Thus, we beg the intercession of the holy hierarch and miracle-worker Saint Nektarios, who has much boldness before Christ, to preserve and protect Orthodox Christians from the inroads of heresy, from which, in his lifetime, he strenuously sought to safeguard the faithful. We, therefore, glorify this true lover of virtue, who appeared in recent times, as a wonder-worker of all kinds of diseases and a deliverer in every situation and a champion for those in need, and beg his intercessions before the Master Christ.
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" - Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George