ST. NECTARIOS ORTHODOX CHURCH

Sante Fe High School Chapel

3110 Highway 92 East

Lakeland, FL 33805 

Phone:  863-815-1576

Cell:      863-838-9423

Email:    fathernicholas@verizon.net 

St. Nectarios was born in 1846 in Selvyria, Thrace.  From his youth he felt the calling to be a priest, and was tonsured a monk while pursuing theological studies in Athens. He distinquished himself as a pastoral figure, a loving and caring teacher as Dean of Risareios Seminary, a prolific theologian in writing more than 60 books in various fields, a saintly hierarch as Bishop of Pentapolis, Alexandria, and above all, a truly humble and pious man, setting a unique example of unselfish humility, Godly povery, prudent love, and unfailing endurance.

Fulfilling a life-long hope, St. Nectarios started a convent on the Island of Aegina where he had heard that there were monasteries and churches that were in disuse. There he established a convent in a church formerly dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity.  His first monastic was a blind nun named Xenia whom St. Nectarios made the superior of the first community.  It was soon evident that this simple monastic Bishop was truly a gifted man and many people sought him out for spiritual direction.  In his lifetime, and even more so after his death, St. Nectarios became a lighthouse of God's grace shining throughout the world, steering many through the dark storms we so often encounter in this life and leading many to the safe shores of repentance and salvation.  What made him best known in Greece and thoughout the world is that he proved to be a clear vessel of the grace of God Who granted him the gift of working miracles even before his repose onto eternal life.

On September 20, 1920, the nun Euphemia brought St. Nectarios to the Aretaieion Hospital of Athens, a state hospital for the poor.  The doctors diagnosed St. Nectarios with a terminal disease and for two months this saintly hierarch lived in the midst of terrible pains.  On the evening of November 8, 1920, St. Nectarios fell asleep in the Lord at the age of seventy-four. The day he reposed, the whole hospital was filled with a sweet fragrance. For some days afterward, the hospital could not use the room where St. Nectarios lay because of the strong fragrance.  This room is now a chapel dedicated to the Saint.  The body of St. Nectarios was taken to Piraeus and kept in the Church of the Holy Trinity while a small, wooden coffin was prepared for him.  From there St. Nectarios was taken to Aegina where he was given a simple burial at the Convent of the Holy Trinity. Some years later, as is the custom in Greece, his grave was opened in order to remove the relics. When the grave was opened, the Saint was found to be whole, uncorrupt, and issuing forth a strong yet sweet fragrance.  Not even his vestments had changed in any way. It was just as if he had fallen asleep and been buried that very day.  His monastery in Aegina is one of the most renowned shrines in Greeece to this day.

While there are hundreds of saints whose sanctity has been declared over the centuries, there are few who enjoy universal veneration and poularity as intense as the veneration of St. Nectarios has become.  Although he was of Greek descent, he is not only a saint for the Greek people, and neither merely adopted by the Slavs, nor any one national people.  He is for us -- all of us.

Many wonderful and faith-filled gifts have been given through the prayer of intercession to St. Nectarios through the years.  There are several of our faithful who have testified privately and publicly of the miraculous intercessions of St. Nectarios in many ways and forms.  The power of intercession through faith and prayer is great.  It is a power which is humanly unexplainable. There is no scientific explanation for the powerful melding of a saint's relics, holy oil and prayer. What can we say and how can we explain that power better than what the Psalmist has already explained for us? Hear Psalm 103:

". . .The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, long-suffering and of great goodness".  This is how the Lord is kind and compassionate and merciful to us - we who suffer from all kinds of diseases and maladies.  He sends us relief from these burdens through His holy saints, IF we have faith, IF we believe.  Let us, then, with one mind, one heart, and one purpose sing together in prayerful Supplication to Saint Nectarios: 

"HOLY FATHER SAINT NECTARIOS, PRAY UNTO GOD FOR US!" 

Vigil: Saturday - 5:00 p.m.

Divine Liturgy: Sunday - 9:30 a.m 

Moleben:  Wednesday - 6:00 p.m.

Confession:  Before/After Services or by appointment. 

The Orthodox Catholic Church (also known as the Orthodox Christian Church or, simply, the Orthodox Church) is the oldest and second largest Christian body in the world. But is this reason enough for me to belong?  Why should I bother being part of the Church?  What can the Church offer me?  Why can't I simply avoid the institutional Church and just have a direct relationship with God? Why the Church?    In the Orthodox Tradition, we might find some thought-provoking answers to such questions.

According to the Orthodox Christian viewpoint, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Church is necessary because of our very reason for being. We are all meant to be in union with God.   We achieve this union through a process called theosis or deification - union with God by acquiring the Holy Spirit. God communicates himself to us and we become participants in the Divine Nature.

How is this possible? How can a human being be brought into the life of the Trinitarian God? This is where Christ comes in. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity. If it were somehow possible to be incorporated into Christ, then we too could be brought into the divine life which deifies.

The Church provides this possibility. Through the Church, Christ himself is with us. By belonging to the Church, we are taken up into Christ and we become members of his Body (cf. Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor 12:12-14,27). By our membership in the Church, we are incorporated into Christ himself and receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  How does this happen? The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and rests on the Son. Because we are part of the Church and incorporated into Christ, the Holy Spirit, in coming to rest on the Son, comes to rest on us.

However,  union with God is not automatic. We must be transformed through prayer, sacramental participation and self-discipline.  In the Church alone are these means of spiritual transformation found in their fullness.

The Church fosters our payer. To be able to enter into a relationship with God through prayer, we must first come to know the God we are addressing.  We come to this knowledge by hearing the proclamation of God which the Church provides. If we are to offer acceptable worship, we must worship in spirit and truth, understanding what we worship (John 4:22-23).  But to worship in spirit and truth, we must stand in the Tradition of the Church.

The Church gives us a way to pray – and even specific words for prayer.  Furthermore, in the Church time and space are shattered in a way. As members of the Church, we are mystically joined to believers everywhere, both living and dead.  The prayer of one member of the Church is enhanced and echoed in the prayers of the entire communion of saints.  We pray for one another. We enlist those gathered about the throne of God to join their prayers with ours.  By virtue of our membership in the Church, our personal prayers are amplified and bolstered by the prayers of our fellow members in the Body of Christ.

It is in the church alone that we have access to the sacramental Mysteries. In these Mysteries the divine touches and transforms the human. The creature is brought into union with the Creator for whom he yearns.  Christ himself gave the Apostles the power of communicating the gifts necessary for the life of the Church. After the Apostolic period the administration of these gifts became the duty and privilege of the bishops and presbyters. The primary function of the ministers is to administer the Sacred Mysteries (Sacraments), which, because they communicate the divine life, assist us in the process of theosis.

The demand for self-discipline is a call to penitence and purification. The weakness of our nature, disfigured as it is by sin, often leads us to neglect this call. To be able to do penance and be purified, we need the sustenance which the Church provides in its liturgical life and its sacraments.  In addition, the support we derive from one another as we respond to the call to penitence and purification cannot be overlooked. When we fall or tire, we can depend on our fellow believers to help us persevere.

Why the Church?  Because Christ himself willed its existence in order that we might achieve the goal to which we are called: theosis -  participation in the divine life. Why the Church?  Because through its fostering of prayer, its sacramental life, and its sustaining of self-discipline, the Church brings us to the communion with God for which we were destined.