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 WOMEN’S MONASTERY OF THE HOLY TRINITY
AT XANTOS, AEGINA
While still at Aegina the Saint was approached by the islanders for his intercession. They believed that he worked miracles and asked him to entreat God for rain, since there has not been any for three years. "I do not have special powers," he told them. In any event, he told them, I shall return this Sunday and pray with you at your Cathedral, that the Lord might send forth much rain." Sunday came, and he went to their Church of the Dormition. After the Divine Liturgy, special prayers were offered for rain. At noon, the Saint and the people went to inspect the Monastery site. By four o’clock in the afternoon, the sky was dark with clouds. Thunder and lightning followed, and a heavy rain.
The Saint returned to Athens and prepared himself with prayer and fasting to visit the new Metropolitan of Athens, Theokletos, whose permission was needed to reopen the old monastery at Xantos. When friends asked how those women were expected to start a Monastery without money, the Saint remarked."God shall provide. No true spiritual work is achieved by money or depending on human abilities." The Saint was granted an interview with Metropolitan Theokletos, who not only agreed to the plan, but also offered to help by granting synodal recognition and more novices from Sparta. The holy Nektarios returned to his office and immediately informed the young women.
The five women, however, were living in extreme conditions at Xantos. They occupied two rooms with low ceilings. They all slept together on rag carpets spread about the floor in the damp and cold. Their food consisted of legumes and dandelion greens. The holy Bishop continued in prayer on their behalf, and sent them whatever money he could. Saint Nektarios wrote countless letters, pleading for assistance that the church and Monastery in Aegina might be established. Finally, on the 1st of July, 1906, the groundbreaking ceremony took place. Saint Nektarios dedicated the new Monastery to the Holy Trinity. His fatherly love for the nuns knew no bounds. Every penny went for medicines and the other needs of those young women. In time he tonsured them, and Chrysanthe, the future Egoumenisa (Abbess), became Mother Xene. Because the reverend Dean could not be absent from his duties as Director of the Rizarios School, sok in his absence from Aegina, Archimandrite Theodosios served the nuns. On Sundays he would dispatch a priest to serve them. This arrangement would continue until 1908, when, in December, Dean Nektarios submitted his letter of resignation as Director of the Rizarios School.
On the 21st of October, 1907, Saint Nektarios wrote to the nuns in Aegina regarding a vision: "The dream made an impression on me. I was standing at the foot of the reliquary of Saint Nicholas. He opened his eyes and extended his arms toward me, and I reverently bowed to kiss him. He, however, overtook me, embracing me and kissing me thrice. I then kissed him. He spoke to me, saying, ‘I shall take thee up high, very high, but thou must make a silver throne for me.’ After he had uttered those words, he lay down and closed his eyes. When I awakened, I remembered dreaming something similar a few days earlier, but he only embraced me in that dream, speaking nothing; whereas, in this second appearance, he spoke to me. We shall see if it is true, but it does not seem to be true. We shall remain neutral, and let the Lord guide us. In the past, I participated in having the poor Church of Saint Nicholas in Cairo adorned in a grand manner. This, however, was the first time I beheld him in a dream. May the name of the Lord be blessed."
When Saint Nektarios settled in Aegina, he took on many concerns and cares. He exhibited zeal and courage that the work might be accomplished with the help of God. He established THE COENOBITIC SYSTEM and the typikon according to the Monastic Canon, that they might glorify God properly. He was unceasingly demonstrating and educating them regarding the sacred forms of the divine services, and their good order and solemnity. He expounded upon living THE ANGELIC LIFE IN CHRIST-LIKE CONDUCT. 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 in their souls with love for one another and obedience in imitation of Christ. The coenobitic Monastery, under the direction of the spiritually-advanced Abbess Xene (1904-1923), held all property in common, and all meals were eaten together. The holy Nektarios also led THE LIFE OF A PERFECT MONK AND ASCETIC, KEEPING A MOST FRUGAL DIET. He was always possessed of a meek heart, and his ways and manner of life were simple, guileless, and humble. While he dwelt there, the Monastery assembled thirty-nine nuns.
The Saint himself served as priest of the Monastery. All kinds of manual labor filled his days. Some of the work was very heavy and harsh. Wearing an old cassock (raso) and monk’s hood (skoufo) to protect him from the summer sun, he kept busy with cultivation and irrigation of the garden and fields of the Monastery. He himself watered them and carried water across a great distance. He prepared the earth and cleared the fields of large rocks, bearing them on his own shoulders. He used the rocks for the building of the cells (kellia). He also did road work, removing rocks to widen the road, so that an outside guest house could be constructed. He also repaired or crafted soles for the nun’s shoes. His asceticism was extreme, as he utterly mortified his flesh and thoughts to the things of this world. In the evenings, he engaged in writing edifying books for the Christians who were still in the world, including, but not limited to, Christians Ethics; Confession; Concerning the Ever-virgin 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, which he managed to have published in Cairo, Alexandria, and Athens.
In his title dealing with memorial services, he criticized the errors of the heterodox, that is, the Roman Catholics and Protestants. He opposed in a masterful way the Papal doctrines of both PURGATORY and INFALLIBILITY in his publication, Priest’s Manual. In dealing with the Protestants, the Saint authored Two Studies: 1-Concerning the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church; 2-Concerning Sacred Tradition. He speaks of the deviations of the Protestants from the True Church. "They reject UNWRITTEN SACRED TRADITION and the VISIBLE CHURCH OF CHRIST. They claim to accept ONLY THE WRITTEN TEACHING OF CHRIST AND THE APOSTLES." The Saint composed this book TO PROTECT THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS FROM BEING LED ASTRAY BY PROSELYTIZING PROTESTANTS. Saint Nektarios went on to say that "according to them, churches are superfluous, the functionaries of the Church are superfluous, as well as the Mysteries (Sacraments), traditions, interpreters of the Holy Scriptures, and the priests who purify and sanctify souls through CONFESSION and REMISSION. Furthermore, superfluous also are offerings and memorial services for the reposed souls and prayers of entreaty for the living. Superfluous too are the entreaties made to the Mother of God and the Saints for their intercession with God. These people also REJECT EVERY EXTERNAL FORM OF VENERATION. They deny the power and holiness of the Cross. They REJECT the VENERATION of the Sacred ICONS and RELICS. In general, THEY REJECT ALL THAT OUR ORTHODOX CHURCH REVERES AND RESPECTS AS HOLY AND SACRED.
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 Spirit. His manner of life, as a servant and friend of God, provided sufficient proof of the INWELLING GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. His good reputation as a Saint and Wonder-worker (Miracle-worker) spread from one end of the island to the other, and beyond its coasts. Multitudes were visiting him; and as a hol father, he was consoling and treating both their souls and bodies. Many sinners and unbelievers were converted through his words and the Wonderworking grace energizing in him. The island of Aegina was gladdened to be enriched by such a God-bearing man in these last times. His chief exercise was SPIRITUAL CONTEMPLATION and UNCEASING NOETIC PRAYER.
On many occasions, when people were coming, the elderly Nektarios was seen out in the field wearing his tattered and shabby work raso (cassock). None of the pilgrims imagined that the laborer in the field was the Bishop. Later, however, one can well imagine their surprise when the asked to meet and speak with the holy man and came face to face with the same man they had seen working in the fields earlier! The Saint, when matters of one’s salvation were involved, knew how to be both austere and lenient, in accordance with the situation and circumstances. Thus, the Monastery vineyard grew both OUTWARDLY and INWARDLY, becoming A LIGHTHOUSE GUIDING THOSE IN THE DISTURBED SEA OF THIS PRESENT LIFE. [Resources: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church]
(To be continued)
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"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 