Description
These are two of the more contemporary Greek saints. St. Gerasimos was from the Peleponnese in Greece, and was born in a.d. 1509. He lived for some time as a monk on Mount Athos and in Palestine, finally settling on the Island of Kephalania. He was a great ascetic and even fasted once completely for 40 days. He founded a women’s monastery on the island, and was clairvoyant, seeing the future clearly. He died in a.d. 1579.
St. Nectarios was born in a.d. 1846 in Selevria of Thrace, and was very poor. At 14 he went to work in Constantinople for a tobacco merchant where he was poorly treated. He visited the Holy Land while still young, finally entering the Nea Moni Monastery in Chios. Later he traveled to Egypt and was in time raised to be the Metropolitan of Pentapolis. Sadly, he was slandered by other jealous hierarchs, and this followed him all the rest of his life. He went to Athens and headed a school there, but desiring a more reclusive life, went to the Island of Aegina, where he helped found a convent. St. Nectarios was a great wonder-worker, healing thousands, and his relics were incorrupt for years, and are now treasured in Aegina.