The Civil Registry Death Record of Saint Nektarios:
The Celebration of the Translation of His Relics and the Construction of His Church on Aegina
Estia,
Friday, November 9, 2018
By Eleutherios G. Skiadas
The Celebration of the Translation of His Relics and the Construction of His Church on Aegina
Estia,
Friday, November 9, 2018
By Eleutherios G. Skiadas
“A Saint Among Us” was the common sentiment and customary expression of the faithful when, in 1961, the Ecumenical Patriarchate canonized Metropolitan Nektarios of Pentapolis, known in the world as Anastasios Kefalas (October 1, 1846 – November 9, 1920). And rightly so, since many were still living who had known him, had conversed with him, and had heard his teachings or spiritual counsel. Moreover, the fact that the likeness of a Saint had been preserved in photographs was an additional reason for the strange feelings this evoked.
Yet long before the decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, it was the faithful themselves — the people bearing the name of Christ — who had already accorded him the honors of a saint. Apart from Aegina, where he ended his earthly life and left behind blessed memories, his reputation had spread throughout the entire country. For this reason, at the initiative of the people of Aegina, he was already being commemorated as a Saint during the 1940s and 1950s. In Athens, on the very day of his repose, services were held at the Church of the Holy Unmercenaries in Thissio and at the Church of Saint Eleutherios in Pedion tou Areos.
Special ferry services as well, with inexpensive fares, transported the faithful to Aegina to venerate the Saint’s relics, which had begun to be exhibited at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity. In any case, confirming the view of those who spoke of “a Saint among us,” we are adding another link to the long chain of information concerning Saint Nektarios by presenting the details contained in his civil registry death record! As is well known, he departed this earthly life at the Aretaieion Hospital, where a small chapel was also erected in his honor.
The administrative formalities at the Civil Registry were undertaken by his nephew, “from Selyvria,” the 38-year-old real-estate agent and stockbroker Themistokles Kefalas, the son of his brother Haralambos. The death record was drawn up the day after his death, on November 9, 1920, a Monday, and in the particulars he is recorded as “Metropolitan of Pentapolis (Egypt), aged 75 (seventy-five), from Selyvria, resident of Aegina, unmarried, [having died] from chronic cystitis and hypertrophy of the prostate.”
The age given raises a question, since the prevailing account holds that Saint Nektarios was born on October 1, 1846, whereas according to the declaration in the death record he is listed as 75 years old, which would place his birth in 1845. The two witnesses required by law, who also co-signed the record, were municipal employees.
Meanwhile, every year on September 3, the Translation of the Relics of Saint Nektarios is solemnly celebrated on Aegina, a commemoration stemming from the fact that on September 3, 1953, the Church made the decision to collect the Saint’s skull and bones. Most of the relics were placed in silver reliquaries at the monastery on Aegina. A small portion of the relics was deposited as a blessing in Orthodox churches both within Greece and abroad. The Saint’s sacred body remained completely incorrupt for more than twenty years, while the branches of lemon trees that had been placed upon the Saint’s funeral bed on the day of his burial likewise remained unchanged, spreading the same inconceivable fragrance throughout the surrounding area each time the tomb was opened.
And the tomb had been opened on quite a few occasions. From 1920, the year of the Saint’s death, until 1953, there are records of at least six occasions on which the covering slab of the tomb was moved: six months after the burial, as well as in the years 1924, 1927, between the years 1930 and 1935, in 1937, and in 1948. On the very day of the translation of the Saint’s relics, in 1969, the foundation stone of the new church was laid at the former Monastery of the Holy Trinity on Aegina, which had already been renamed the Monastery of Saint Nektarios. Construction of the church was completed in 1994.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
The age given raises a question, since the prevailing account holds that Saint Nektarios was born on October 1, 1846, whereas according to the declaration in the death record he is listed as 75 years old, which would place his birth in 1845. The two witnesses required by law, who also co-signed the record, were municipal employees.
Meanwhile, every year on September 3, the Translation of the Relics of Saint Nektarios is solemnly celebrated on Aegina, a commemoration stemming from the fact that on September 3, 1953, the Church made the decision to collect the Saint’s skull and bones. Most of the relics were placed in silver reliquaries at the monastery on Aegina. A small portion of the relics was deposited as a blessing in Orthodox churches both within Greece and abroad. The Saint’s sacred body remained completely incorrupt for more than twenty years, while the branches of lemon trees that had been placed upon the Saint’s funeral bed on the day of his burial likewise remained unchanged, spreading the same inconceivable fragrance throughout the surrounding area each time the tomb was opened.
And the tomb had been opened on quite a few occasions. From 1920, the year of the Saint’s death, until 1953, there are records of at least six occasions on which the covering slab of the tomb was moved: six months after the burial, as well as in the years 1924, 1927, between the years 1930 and 1935, in 1937, and in 1948. On the very day of the translation of the Saint’s relics, in 1969, the foundation stone of the new church was laid at the former Monastery of the Holy Trinity on Aegina, which had already been renamed the Monastery of Saint Nektarios. Construction of the church was completed in 1994.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
