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.
UNWARRANTED CHALLENGES CONFRONT THE NEWLY
FORMED MONASTERY IN AEGINA AND SAINT NEKTARIOS
[Part V]
The newly formed monastery in Aegina drew many visitors, however, not all the visitors went with good motives and Christian fervor. Some were belligerent, unkind, rude and disrespectful even to the Saint. The monastery continued to grow and flourished. Girls and women from every background wished to join. As we know from Saint Nektarios’ past, he was no stranger to disappointment, but with patient endurance and faith he accepted trials and temptations as an exercise in humility. Just as the monastery was being built up and thriving, and the donors honored their pledges, it was then that Metropolitan Theokletos Metropoulos withdrew his promise to officially recognize the monastery. On the contrary, he now threatened to dissolve it. "God shall not let this happen," spoke the Saint to the lamenting sisterhood.
The Saint knew that the Metropolitan wished him to abandon the monastery and go on a preaching tour in the Diocese. The Saint 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."
Metropolitan Theokletos demanded also a written account and detailed report of the monastery’s inhabitants, finances, and donations. Although the Saint courteously reminded the Metropolitan that his blessing was given to pursue the founding of the monastery. He informed the Metropolitan that the accounting of the monastery deposits in the monastery treasury would be forthcoming from the Egoumenisa (Abbess) Xene, who would submit a detailed list of receipts and expenditures.
Together with the persecution from the Metropolitan, there were also many other concerns that demanded the Saint’s attention. His charities and alms were extensive. When asked if there would be enough to pay the monastery laborers, he consigned the matter to the Theotokos, since there were no funds remaining. When it came time to pay for their hire, envelopes with donations arrived in the post that same day from all over, mostly from Egypt and even Canada. The Theotokos always provided when the Saint had need.
The Saint’s renown grew on account of miracles that were being wrought. This gift for performing Wonderworkings, hence, was made manifest even while he was still in this life, so that the people of Aegina considered him their protector and patron, openly acknowledging his Wonderworking power which he received from God.
However, the evil one never ceases to create new opportunities to undermine the Saint’s pious ministry and to save souls in need and distress. Maria Frangoudis, had come to the monastery seeking the bishop’s protection from her wayward and unbalanced mother, who kept urging her to follow a life of sin. The holy man accepted Maria into the sisterhood, and she was given into the care and direction of Mother Xene. In the meantime, Maria’s enraged mother attempted to extract her daughter from the monastery. When she failed, she promised revenge and cunningly presented her case before the Metropolitan Meletios and the prosecutor, Gregory, In Piraeus. She declared that her daughter had been charmed and persuaded by Nektarios to enter the monastery. In the spring of 1918, Meletios and his young Deacon Athenagoras, visited Aegina. The holy Nektarios was subjected to the most abominable verbal abuse by the Metropolitan, who accused him of mingling with women and nuns, and of bringing shame upon the title of bishop. While the Metropolitan insulted him for more than an hour, Saint Nektarios only managed to reply, "Bless thy spirit, holy bishop." The following day, the Metropolitan arrived with a large entourage to inspect the monastery. Finding nothing improper or irregular, he departed.
A few days later, however, the Prosecutor of Piraeus arrived with two police officers. He pushed his way into the monastery, shouting loudly at the holy man, and calling him the pasha of a harem. He showed himself despicable and disgusting that he kept looking and turning things over, searching for bodies of illegitimate infants born to Nektarios and the nuns. The holy bishop said very little in response to the wild accusations–only "God knows that all thou art saying is false." A fortnight later, the Prosecutor came and physically removed Maria Frangoudis from the monastery. She was enjoined to submit to a medical examination, which disproved her mother’s sordid accusations, for the young woman was a virgin. The case then came to an end. Several months later, the wife of the vile Prosecutor came weeping to the monastery. Her husband Gregory had contracte gangrene and was near death. The Saint promised to pray for the Prosecutor. Nevertheless, God chose to take the Prosecutor five days later in the midst of terrible pains and alone in his hospital bed.
THE SAINT’S REPOSE IN ATHENS
Soon therefore, Metropolitan Nektarios was admitted to an Athens hospital, the Aretaieion. He was brought in by two nuns, one being Mother Ephemia, together with the assistance of his particular friend, Kosta Sakkopoulos, a mature man.The hospital personnel were somewhat surprised to observe the humility and simplicity of the former Metropolitan and Dean, for they had 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. 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 walk about. He then gave glory to God, shouting, "I am cured! The undershirt had miraculous power!" The fragrant relics were later transported 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 dabbing with handkerchiefs and cotton. That same day the ferry, which flew the flag at half mast, the holy relics were conveyed to the town of Aegina, and from thereto the Saint’s sacred monastery amidst arguing men vying to have the honor of carrying the wooden coffin. Public veneration lasted for three days, while the 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 tree had been planted years before by an old nun who watched over the ruins of the old monastery. When she planted the tree, she heard a voice commanding, "Leave thou room for a grave?" She ignored the charge, and went on attempting to plant the tree where she first contrived. Nevertheless, a force pushed her hand to the side. The nun, therefore, planted the tree leaving room for a grave.
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. The relics of Saint Nektarios remained whole and incorrupt for twenty years, pouring forth an ineffable fragrance theat gave perceptible proof of his sanctification and showed God’s Wondrous in His saints.
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 deliverer in every situation and a champion for those in need, and beg his intercession before the Master Christ.
Through the intercessions of Thy Saints,
O Christ God, have mercy on us. Amen.
___________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 