The Saint Metropolit Nektarios, who left for the eternal ones in 1920 – served in a church for more than a week in 2001!

Many of us know that Saint Nektarios is very godly honored by the Greek people. The Greeks even have a proverb “There is no suffering that Saint Nektarios could not heal.”

A few years ago, the inhabitants, one of the mountain villages in Eghina, remained without a priest. Time passed, and another priest like that and was not assigned to this parish. And when the Great Lent began, the peasants began to worry.

In Greece, in the first and last week of Holy Communion, he does not go to work and studies – Elada prays. The flags are lowered in the mourning as a sign of mourning for Christ the Crucified, every day people pray in churches at the long services of the Great Lent, participate in the way of the cross, hold a fast post, without oil, and many arrive completely. For any parish to remain without a priest these days, it is unthinkable.

After consulting with each other, the peasants decided to write a letter of request to the local bishop. “Holy Father, – the inhabitants of the village have been praying – send us a priest, at least for the Passover Week and the Resurrection of the Lord, so that we too can prepare properly, bring repentance, pray, and with joy, we meet with other Christians, the Holy Resurrection. Do not leave us orphans, Holy Father, please do not forget about our pain. Send us a priest, who will bless Your Holiness. “

The bishop read the letter, and at the next eparchial meeting among other issues that had to be discussed, he read the prayer of the inhabitants of the village of Eghina: “Who can parents go to this village?” But each one of those present explained his reasons for not allowing him to go to this locality. Further numerous other questions were discussed, and the peasant letter was simply forgotten.

Finally, the Sunday of Resurrection has arrived, which, in Greece, is celebrated extremely festively and solemnly by everyone. And after the lighted week had passed, and the employees of the diocese returned to work, the bishop found in his office a new letter from the same mountain village. “Holy Father – the peasants wrote. – There are no words for us to express all our gratitude and to thank you for your pastoral involvement in resolving our prayer. We will always thank God and you, for this godly priest, whom you have directed to us to celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord. We have never had the opportunity to pray with such a priest full of grace and humility … “

The next eparchial assembly the epistle began with the question: “Who among you, however, left for the village from which I received the letter, with the request to send them a servant?” Everyone was silent, nobody had an answer, because no one went to work in this mountain village. Confused and curious, the bishop decided that he must visit this parish. A few days later, the rocky mountain roads of Eghina Island were crossed by the archdiocese. For the first time in this life this village was visited by such an important guest. With cozonac and flowers, the whole village gathered, welcomed its guests, who were then led to the old church.

In Greece, all priests are considered civil servants, so any priest who serves in the church, even once, must sign in the church’s journal.

The bishop worshiped the icon in the center of the church and immediately went to the altar. Through the open royal doors, everyone watched as the bishop took the logbook and approached a window. She hurriedly flipped through the pages and stopped her finger at the last note.

“Nektarios, Metropolit of Pentapolis” – in a beautiful letter was made the last inscription. The bishop dropped the log from his hands and fell to his knees. The news of this great miracle left everyone present breathless.

After a long pause of silence, people could no longer control their emotions, some fell to their knees, others raised their hands up, hugged and wept, thanking God and Saint Nektarios. It was only now that everyone present began to understand what was going on in these wonderful days.

God, the Master of the World, heard the prayers of the hearts of His faithful sheep, left in this distant village, and sent them a great shepherd, from the kingdom of heaven.

The earthly master of the flock, from his weakness, forgot the little flock that was entrusted to him, but he did not forget the Master of Heaven and Earth.

A whole week, in 2001, Saint Nektarios, who died in 1920, was among the living, the peasants and their families, served in their church, participated with them on the Way of the Cross, led the Lord’s song, sang beside them hymns and prayers, he confessed, comforted and blessed them. She had never heard such words about God before. It seemed that this old lady with a gentle voice knew the Lord personally.

Only now did people understand what the source of that unholy joy was, what filled their hearts, those tears of repentance that accompanied them, and that no one tried to hold or shame them. Why did they want neither food nor sleep, but only to be in prayer with this blessed shepherd. The icon of the Saint Nektarios has always been in their church in a place of honor, but none of them recognized it. This mystery was hidden for a time by God Himself.