Nectarios of Aegina - The human side of a Saint

Anastasios Kefalas, Metropolitan of Pentapolis Nectarios Kefalas, known to all of us as Saint Nectarios or Nectarios of Aegina.

His origin was from Chios and he was born in 1846 in Silyvria in Eastern Thrace. His family was very poor and had many children and so he was forced as a child alone to go to Constantinople to work and attend school (since there was no school in Silivria).

His life in the City was full of hardships and abuse and he was unable to support his family financially or complete his studies.

From a young age he was inclined towards God and at the age of 20 he moved to Chios. He became a monk, was ordained a deacon where he was given the name Nectarios. There in Chios, he met Ioannis Choremis, a wealthy lord, who recognized his worth and his gifts and so in 1877, following his encouragement, Agios Nectarios completed his high school studies in Athens. He studied at the Theological School of Athens where he excelled and after a particularly remarkable and impressive career, in 1889 he was proclaimed Metropolitan of Pentapolis, Libya.

His successful development and course and his austerity, disturbed "circles" of the Church and thus Saint Nectarios found himself once again in his life in great hardships. After persecutions and huge defamations in 1891, the plagiarism surrounding his name was revealed.

In 1894 he was appointed director of the Rizarios Ecclesiastical School where he remained until 1908. His work there was great in many ways.

He spent the last years of his life in Aegina. There he reactivated - "revived" a ruined Monastery, constantly offering to the inhabitants of the island and performing miracles.

He died in 1920 in the Aretai Hospital from cancer at the age of 74. His hospital room is still considered as a small Temple.

In 1961, the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, because of the great work and the miracles he performed, proclaimed him a Saint.

No matter what one may believe in or how spiritual or religious they are, seeing a diploma signed by a man considered a Saint is impressive...