Agios Nektarios Feast Day 2026: The Wonderworker of Aegina

08 Nov 2026, 23:55 by Bill Giannopoulos · Greek City Times

On Monday 9 November 2026, the Greek Orthodox Church celebrates Agios Nektarios of Aegina, one of the most loved saints of modern times. Many people pray to him for healing from cancer, heart disease, arthritis, epilepsy and other illnesses.

Each year thousands of pilgrims travel to the Holy Trinity Monastery on Aegina, where his relics rest. Greek communities from Athens to Sydney, Melbourne and New York gather in churches named after him to mark the day.

From Thrace to Constantinople

Agios Nektarios was born Anastasios Kephalas on 1 October 1846 in Silyvria (Selymbria) in Eastern Thrace. His parents were poor but devout, and they gave him what schooling they could afford.

At 14 he left for Constantinople and worked as a shop assistant. In his spare time he read Scripture and the Church Fathers. He wrote short sayings of faith on the paper he used to wrap customers’ purchases. He later taught at a school run by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which let him continue his studies.

Monk, priest and Metropolitan

In 1866 he moved to Chios to teach. Seven years later he entered the Nea Moni monastery and was tonsured a monk with the name Lazarus. When he was ordained a deacon, he took the name Nektarios.

With support from a local benefactor, he finished his schooling in Athens. He then went to Alexandria, where Patriarch Sophronios took him under his care. He graduated from the University of Athens School of Theology in 1885. He was ordained a priest in 1886 and soon became Metropolitan of Pentapolis in Egypt.

His flock loved him for his humility and purity of life. That popularity made some church officials envious, and in 1890 he was removed from his post without trial or explanation. He never sought to clear his name.

Teacher and founder

Back in Greece he worked as a preacher. In 1894 he became director of the Rizarios Ecclesiastical School in Athens, where he trained young clergy for 15 years and wrote many books on theology and the spiritual life.

In 1904 he founded the Holy Trinity Convent on Aegina. In 1908, aged 62, he retired there to live as a monk, confessor and spiritual father. People came to him from Athens and Piraeus for guidance and healing.

His repose and the first miracle

In September 1920, suffering from a long illness, he was taken to hospital in Athens and placed in the ward for the poor. He died there in prayer on the night of 8 November 1920, aged 74.

As a nurse prepared his body, she placed his sweater on the next bed, where a paralysed man lay. According to tradition, the man got up from his bed healed.

His body gave off a sweet fragrance. When the nuns opened his grave months later, and again years after that, they found his body incorrupt.

The tomb of Agios Nektarios on Aegina

Proclaimed a saint

Many people already considered Nektarios a saint during his lifetime because of his holiness, his writings and the miracles attributed to him. The Ecumenical Patriarchate officially glorified him on 20 April 1961. Today he is one of the most widely venerated saints in the Orthodox world.

Name day

Today is the name day of Nektarios and Nektaria. Xronia Polla!

Read our Greek Name Days List

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