My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
THE LIFE AND MIRACLES OF SAINT NEKTARIOS
After the falling asleep of the Saint, a certain maiden, Constantina Makris, from Kokla of Thebes, in 1922, sought deliverance from an unclean spirit that had been tormenting her since she was a very young girl. Her parents heard of the Wonderworking and healing power of the Saint, so they came with fervent faith, together with their suffering daughter, to the island of Aegina in order to venerate his tomb. O Thy Wonders, Christ King, Who glorifies those who glorify Him! Constantina venerated the Saint’s tomb and stayed a few days at the Women’s Monastery. She received the restoration of her much-desired health, glorifying and praising the Wonder-worker Saint Nektarios. Constantina then made the decision to remain at the Monastery and dedicate herself to God as a nun. She was tonsured with the name Kikilia (Cecilia).
Another maiden, left orphaned at an early age, went to live with her aunt, Anna Yannikios. Suddenly, in January of 1925, she became possessed by an unclean spirit that tormented her dreadfully. Whenever the mischievous demon heard the name of Nektarios, he convulsed his victim. The relatives of the maiden were unable to witness the tyranny to which she was subjected. It was in May, the day of Pentecost, that they decided to bring her to the tomb of the Saint and seek a cure. Upon arriving at the Monastery, the demon violently convulsed and oppressed the maiden, so that it became necessary for the nuns to bind her with ropes and bring her to the tomb by the pine. Only eyewitnesses could testify adequately to the malevolence of the enemy that dominated this poor maiden. The tomb of the Saint then began vibrating! After the passage of considerable time, the wicked spirit left the maiden free. The maiden then decided to consecrate herself to God. She became a nun at the Monastery and was tonsured with the name Metrodora. She also donated a silver vigil lamp to the glory of the Saint in commemoration of her deliverance.
A certain woman, named Stella Mavrakis, the aunt of Hercules Mavrakis, of the first grade in elementary school, gave the following account. It was 1952 when her nephew, Hercules, being six years old, was enrolled in the Public School Number Nine in Hania, Crete. In the month of May, he was playing outside his home at Vryson 29. He ate his dinner that night and lay down to sleep in perfect health. In the morning, his mother, Marina Mavrakis, tried to awaken him for school, but she found him paralyzed. She immediately called the physician, Constantine Hiotakis, who diagnosed the patient with acute cerebral tuberculosis (tuberculous meningitis). He offered no hope of a cure or survival, saying that what remained of the child’s life was a matter of hours. Against the parents; wishes, the physician made a surgical puncture (paracentesis) in the spine. ‘The examination of the fluid revealed the physician’s diagnosis to be correct. The aunt recalled the excellent fame of Saint Nektarios, who was acclaimed even in Crete. She then remembered that there was a local family that possessed an icon of the Wonder-worker. She paid them a visit and entreated them with tears that they lend her the holy icon of the Saint, so that she might make the sign of the Cross with it over her nephew. At the very moment that the aunt was asking for the holy icon, the nephew suddenly shouted to his grandmother and mother, "Cease weeping, and I shall become well. I was told this by Saint Nektarios." They both asked, "But when, my child, and how did he tell you?" The boy answered, "The Saint came here. He appeared to me to be an old man with a long beard. He patted me on the cheek and said to me, "Tell your grandmother and your mother not to cry. I shall make you well. Do not listen to the doctor. Your aunt, even now, went and is bringing…" It was then that the aunt entered with the holy icon. Before the aunt stepped on the stairs leading to his room, young Hercules shouted, "My aunt Stella is bringing Saint Nektarios!" When the aunt entered the room, she wondered how the lad knew of this and asked her nephew. He exclaimed, "The Saint told me!" She then approached with the holy icon, and with it made a sign of the Cross over Hercules. He then recounted to his aunt what he had seen. The holy icon was then placed inside the boy’s nightshirt, on his chest. After he was blessed by the holy icon, his formerly motionless hands began to move slowly. He brought them up to the little icon and took hold of it in his hands and embraced it. He then inclined his head to the right and fell into a doze. They allowed him to rest, as they burned incense in his room and performed a Supplicatory Canon to the Saint, which they found in a booklet. After two hours, he came to himself and shouted, "I am well!" They hastened to his bedside and drew back the covers. He was moving all his limbs. Thus, Hercules Mavrakis rejoiced in good health through the help of Saint Nektarios.
After the festal days of Pascha, the steamship Corinthia came into harbor at Aegina. On board was John Kriaris, a member of the crew, with his wife Katherine. They resided in Athens. He was making a pilgrimage to the Saint’s Monastery in order to venerate his holy relics. He had received a great benefaction from the Saint and wished to make a gift of a small golden steamship fashioned in commemoration of a miraculous event. He gave the account as follows: In March of 1956, the steamship was off Italian waters when there occurred a rupture in that portion of the ship’s hull behind the sternpost. The crisis had the crew on their feet. Kriaris, knowing they were in peril of sinking, invoked with profound faith the divine and speedy intervention of Saint Nektarios that he might save the crew and the ship’s hull. He who is a ready helper, our sympathetic Saint, appeared to the ship’s captain and calmed him, saying, "Nothing shall befall either the crew or the ship, for I shall help you." Then, in a supernatural manner he improvised a cover for the hull which held and delivered them out of peril. In spite of the bad weather, they put in at the nearest Italian harbor, intact and unharmed, where they had the rupture repaired. With tears, the men were giving glory and offering their gratitude to Saint Nektarios, who rescued them from drowning.
These are only very few of the countless miracles of Saint Nektarios. Well documented are cases of deliverance from demon possession, sterility and barrenness, and dangerous circumstances. His cancer for all parts of the body are renowned. He also has been invoked for deafness, stammering, fractures, polio, arthritis, fever, hemorrhaging, stones, and the prostatitis from which he himself suffered in his lifetime. Meningitis, migraines, ulcers, gangrene, and tuberculosis, flee before Saint Nektarios, for whom absolutely nothing is incurable. 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 hierarch and Wonder-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 deliverance in every situation and a champion for those in need, and beg his intercessions before our Master Jesus Christ. [Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church]
Through the intercessions of Thy Saints,
O Christ God, have mercy on us . Amen.
__________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 