The Dutchman actor and puppeteer Jozef van den Berg was born on 22 August 1949, and at the height of his fame he abandoned all (family, friends, money, fame and career) and he became an Orthodox hermit in a hut in the village Neerijnen in the Netherlands. This was after he met Elder Sophrony in Essex, Elder Porphyrios in Athens and Elder Paisios on Mount Athos in the years 1989 and 1990.
The baptism of the Dutchman Erik Roos in the video below took place on Great and Holy Thursday 21 April 2011, where the newly-illumined took the name Nektarios. The baptism took place in the river Waal near the hut in Neerijnen by Father Dusan and with the hermit Jozef as Godfather. Present were several deacons and readers of the Serbian parishes Sveti Nektarije from Breda, Sveta Troijca from Rotterdam, and the Russian parish of St. Tikhon of Nijmegen, and seventy Orthodox believers. The faithful hold icons of St. Nektarios and Elder Porphyrios. Notice also that the trunk on the small cart that Jozef used as a puppeteer became the Holy Altar in the outdoor chapel.
Towards the bottom is another video about the hermit Jozef.
For more information, see Biography of the Hermit Joseph Van den Berg.
