By His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani
Life and Veneration of Saint Nektarios
The great and illustrious Hierarch of our Church, Saint Nektarios, came from Selybria in Thrace and was born on October 1, 1846, to devout parents.
His name in the world was Anastasios Kephalas. He received his elementary education in his homeland and continued his studies in Constantinople, while working at the same time. He spent his childhood and adolescence in modesty and purity. At the age of twenty, he became a teacher in the village of Lithà on the island of Chios and began his work of service and witness to Christ.
He longed for the monastic life, and for this reason he was tonsured a monk in 1876 at the Nea Moni Monastery on Chios, where he remained for three years. In 1877, he was ordained a deacon.
Later, he came to Athens to continue his studies and enrolled in the Theological School in 1882. As a student, he distinguished himself through his character and academic performance.
After receiving his degree, he departed for Alexandria, where the Patriarch, Sophronios, ordained him a presbyter in 1886 at the Patriarchal Church of Saint Savvas. In 1889, he was ordained Metropolitan of Pentapolis at the Holy Church of Saint Nicholas in Cairo, and he labored in the vineyard of the Lord with divine zeal and exceptional self-sacrifice.
However, various slanders and jealousies forced him to leave Alexandria and come to Athens, utterly poor, slandered, and wronged. There, after much effort, he was appointed preacher in Euboea (1891) and later in Phocis (1893).
In 1894, he assumed the directorship of the Rizareios Ecclesiastical School, which he served for sixteen whole years, drawing upon his rare spiritual and personal gifts. He himself was a living example of holiness to the students. His work throughout the entire Attica basin was also beneficial and edifying for the faithful people. In 1898, he visited Mount Athos and formed a spiritual bond with the Elder Daniel of Katounakia there. In Athens, he was friends with Papa-Nikolaos Planas, Father Hieronymos of Simonopetra, and other devout clergymen.
When he resigned from his position as director of the Rizareios School in 1908 for health reasons, he withdrew to Aegina, to the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, which he had founded in 1904.
In Aegina, he spent the remaining years of his life in a strictly ascetic manner, living a life of holiness, with great humility and much prayer. There, he also wrote most of his studies. He is considered the most prolific Saint of recent centuries.
At the age of seventy-four, he surrendered his spirit to the Lord on November 9, 1920, at the Aretaieion Hospital in Athens. (Today, the room where the Saint reposed, and where the first miracle also took place, is preserved on the second floor as a place of pilgrimage.)
His sacred body was transferred to Aegina and buried in the courtyard of the monastery. On September 3, 1953, his relics were exhumed with great reverence, and fragrance and myrrh flowed from them.
While he was alive, Saint Nektarios performed many miracles through the power of his prayer. But especially after his repose, as well as in recent years, many miracles have been performed through the Grace of God by means of him for those who hasten to him and invoke him with faith.
The Orthodox people had recognized him as a saint and holy man from a very early time. Officially, however, his canonization took place through a “Patriarchal Act” in 1961, and it was determined that his feast should be celebrated on November 9, the date of his departure to the Lord. In 1998, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, through a “Synodal Declaration,” sought the Saint’s forgiveness for the well-known trial and deep distress it had caused him.
The gathering of the faithful from every place, including from abroad, at his monastery and at his tomb, in order to venerate him and receive his blessing, as it is characteristically said, is now well known.
I, the least among the Bishops, have venerated with the greatest reverence since childhood the great Saint of our times, the Bishop of Pentapolis and spiritual guardian of the island of Aegina, Saint Nektarios the Wonderworker. We have him as our father and protector, and we continually invoke his intercessions on behalf of all, for the mercy and Grace of our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.
A Brief Interpretation of his Discourse titled “The Calling of Adolescents in Society”
We shall now present an interpretive approach to the Saint’s discourse addressed to young people. Saint Nektarios, while serving as a preacher in the region of Phthiotis, delivered a magnificent discourse at the Gymnasium of Lamia on November 8, 1893. This discourse, which the Saint himself later published, was addressed to the young people of that time, but it is also of exceptional interest to young people today. The subject of his address was: “The Calling of Adolescents in Society.”
In his introduction, he uses four very characteristic and essential points. He tells the students that “... I shall remind you of what you have already been well taught, urge you to observe precisely what you have been taught, encourage you toward spiritual struggles, and strengthen your resolve toward the practice of virtue.” He then explains why he is giving this address: “I considered this duty of mine toward you to be so compelling and urgent, inasmuch as adolescence is both an important and an urgent period: important because of the great mission that has fallen to its lot, and urgent because of its short duration, during which many great things must be accomplished.”
He characterizes adolescence as the most important of all ages, “because whatever kind of person one proves to be during this period, such a person one remains throughout life.” Therefore, the holy speaker continues, a struggle of diligence and care is necessary during this age, with the aim of acquiring virtue and becoming filled with works pleasing to God. He does not in the least look down upon the fact that they are young; on the contrary, he instills in them a sense of responsibility for the future of their homeland. He emphasizes characteristically: “Behold, in a short while you will be fully grown men, and the nation will entrust to your hands all its treasures, its powers, its fleet, its army, its offices, its education, its sciences, its arts, the ancestral grenown, the wealth, the glory, the prosperity of the Nation, and its greatness. Behold, in a short while, the administration of the state, authority, the public platform, the parliament, the courts, the Church, the sacred pulpits, and all the functions of the state will be entrusted to your hands.”
Moreover, he does not leave his exhortation to acquire the virtues hanging in the air. He sincerely wishes to help his listeners in this difficult struggle. He therefore comes to the practical part of his discourse: “Come, let us examine how, by preparing ourselves and by doing certain things, we may walk with firm steps and proceed unwaveringly along the road of virtue, love it, and be crowned upon it.”
And, like all the great Fathers of the Church, Saint Nektarios also begins with self-knowledge. It is the foremost duty. “We must know ourselves.” Only on the foundation of self-knowledge can one attain health of soul, acquire the virtues, attain knowledge of God, and gain knowledge of others. He regards knowledge of oneself as the true guide toward virtue. And he explains: “A person who knows himself knows that he is a rational, intellectual, and self-determining being; consequently, that he is a religious, social, moral, free being, receptive to the divine mind, and spiritually immortal. Reason requires him to think, judge, and reason correctly. Self-determination requires him to act and work according to the demands of the spirit, while the intellectual faculty requires him to exercise foresight concerning the spirit. The religious faculty teaches him to fear God; the social faculty, to support societies; the moral faculty, to observe divine and human laws; the free faculty, to keep himself free from enslavement to the passions; the capacity to receive the divine mind, to seek the divine light. Spiritual immortality requires the preservation of the spirit in chastity and purity.”
The most eloquent Saint Nektarios then proceeds to the central part of his discourse. He takes up and examines, one by one, the fundamental duties toward God, toward one's neighbor, and toward oneself. With great depth and method, he develops the subject of reverence for God, which he places in the foremost position as the foundation for building a virtuous life. Next, he speaks about justice, the basis of one's duties toward one's neighbor, and about the great value of truth, which he considers “that which perfects virtue.” His fourth fundamental subject is science. The learned Hierarch writes characteristically about it: “Just as truth perfects a human being and reveals him as an image of God, so science also reveals the human being as the highest of created beings, by teaching him both divine and human things.” He himself, however, poses the question: “But what science, then? Theology, philology, astronomy, physics, law, medicine? Certainly not! Rather, true wisdom is this science of sciences, since it encompasses the whole.” And he immediately quotes the definition of Saint Basil the Great, according to which true wisdom is “the knowledge of divine and human things and of their causes.” Thus, giving a theological dimension to the concept and reality of science, without in any way showing contempt “for the particular sciences,” as he calls them, he urges young people to acquire this science. “We ought to acquire this science, because it crowns our struggles and elevates the human being.”
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In this same way, he eloquently sets forth the course to be followed, describing it in a beautiful phrase as the “assessment of life.” The remainder of his discourse is devoted to impressing upon us the necessity for a person to know himself and to become aware of his ontological nature, of human existence. He contrasts knowledge with ignorance, which entails countless sins. Indeed, he continues, ignorance of the inner constitution of the human being “gives birth to conceit, arrogance, and haughtiness, from which self-interest arises. This, in turn, fans the flames of the innate passions that accompany us from birth, drives away sound judgment, diminishes or even conceals the vices that are already apparent, while inventing, displaying, and attributing to itself virtues that are not truly present in it. And this is the reef upon which a person runs aground and is shipwrecked. For nothing is more grievous than being deceived by oneself.” The wise and experienced Hierarch, who understood human nature, thus arrives at the conclusion “that the injunction ‘Know thyself’ is therefore necessary,” which is also the title of another work of his. Thus, the learned preacher states unequivocally in the final paragraph of his discourse that “the sciences, without sound education and without the injunction ‘Know thyself,’ have done more harm than good.” And he observes: “How many scholars even today, because of the lack of religious education, because they do not know themselves, and because they are ignorant of divine and human things, teach soul-destroying doctrines and teachings full of all kinds of error?”
Indeed, Saint Nektarios, with his extensive knowledge and mastery of ancient Greek philosophy and patristic literature, together with his deep and unwavering faith in Christ and his profound understanding of His divine teaching, offers several concise testimonies and truths. In this, he is aided by the eloquence of his speech, his experience, and his refined spirituality. Thus, he gives young people pursuing their studies the criterion by which they can distinguish true knowledge and education from false knowledge and misguided learning. He guides them in an essential and realistic manner, like an excellent psychologist and educator, and recommends to his listeners, with fatherly concern and clarity: “Therefore, beloved children in the Lord, you must become lovers of the wisdom of true knowledge, which teaches you about yourselves, what kind of beings you are, and about God, what He is; which makes known to you both divine and human things as they truly are, and safely guides you along straight paths, toward the paths of piety, justice, and truth. For without an education grounded in piety and knowledge according to virtue, the highest destiny of the human being remains unattainable.”
Great truths from a great man. Precious counsel from a learned Hierarch. Such discourses constitute the spiritual treasures inherited by modern Greeks. And it would be worthwhile for young people once again to be immersed in such monumental texts. Today's young people feel the degradation of our culture, while consumer society flatters and nourishes them. Then their numbed conscience can awaken and be enlightened, so that they may build a new life. A life that is genuine and true, such as our Saint Nektarios, who follows the “narrow way” and embodies forbearance and kindness, has always hoped to see.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
An Important Excerpt from “The Calling of Adolescents in Society”
The virtue or vice of adolescents has significance for society as a whole, because within them the succeeding generation is being formed, to which the Nation and the State will shortly entrust the legacies of their ancestors and all the treasures of the preceding generations.
This generation will be entrusted with the honor and glory of the Fatherland. It will assume the direction of the State. It will cultivate the arts and sciences. It will contribute to the prosperity of the citizens. It will adorn the State, the Nation, and the Church.
And it will shape the moral character of society. If, therefore, this generation becomes virtuous, its virtue will save everything; but if it proves wicked, its vice will destroy everything. Successive generations inherit from their predecessors all their legacies: everything sacred, everything noble, everything beautiful, everything good, everything great, and everything glorious.
They have a sacred duty to preserve this inheritance intact and to hand it down to the generations that follow, greater and more splendid than they received it. Otherwise, they show themselves irreverent toward their ancestors, traitors to their Fatherland, and unjust toward their descendants.
The preservation of this inheritance, however, imposes obligations as great as the honor of succession, the value of the inheritance, the danger of losing it, and the calamities that would result from such a loss.
Those who inherit great fortunes ought to be great men. For those who are insignificant and base in character, unworthy in themselves, turn their ancestors' glory into disgrace, their wealth into poverty, and pass their lives in misery and wretchedness. Such people betray the sacred things of their Fatherland, sell off its most precious possessions, and pay dearly for shame and dishonor.
The life of our fathers, who preserved this inheritance, was a continuous struggle; therefore, we too must struggle continually to preserve it and pass it on to our descendants.
As its custodians, we must demonstrate every diligence in order to prove ourselves worthy, and exercise every care to preserve it intact.
Behold, in a short while you will be fully grown men, and the Nation will entrust to your hands all its treasures, its powers, its fleet, its army, its offices, its education, its sciences, its arts, the ancestral renown, the wealth, the glory, the prosperity of the Nation, and its greatness.
Behold, in a short while, the administration of the State, authority, the public platform, the Parliament, the courts, the Church, the sacred pulpits, and all the functions of the State will be entrusted to your hands.
Upon your ability or inability, your virtue or your vice, will depend the prosperity or misfortune of the Nation, its elevation or humiliation, its wealth or impoverishment.
Your virtue will save everything, while your vice will corrupt everything...
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
