Elder Nektarios Marmarinos, Founder of the Monastery of Saint Patapios in Loutraki (+ 2019)

 

Archim. Demetrios Kavvadias viewing the body of Elder Nektarios

By Archimandrite Demetrios Kavvadias

Elder Nektarios was born on November 3, 1921 in saint-bearing and saint-raising Aegina and was baptized with the name Kyriakos. He was the son of the poor but pious islanders Photios and Evangelia Marmarinos and the brother of Anastasios, Michael and Marina (who died at the age of twenty during the years of German Occupation from tuberculosis). With his beloved sister he used to visit the Monasteries of Aegina and drink insatiably the honey of the monastic state, envisioning the life of such dedication.

Elder Nektarios Marmarinos, Founder of the Monastery of Saint Patapios in Loutraki, Has Reposed

On Sunday 21 July 2019, Elder Nektarios Marmarinos reposed in the Lord at the age of 98. He is most noted as being the founder of the Monastery of Saint Patapios in Loutraki.

Elder Nektarios, known as Kyriakos in the world, was a spiritual child of Elder Ieronymos of Aegina, who taught him the art of hesychasm and increased in him the love for the divine services and the monastic life. It was while he was in Aegina that he was inspired to one day build a monastery for women in imitation of his beloved Saint Nektarios of Aegina.

Ten Things to Know Before Visiting the Monastery of Saint Patapios in Loutraki

1. Saint Patapios was born in 380 in the Egyptian city of Thebes. Desiring to live a life like the Egyptian ascetics, he decided to leave for the Egyptian desert as a young man where he became well known for his ascetic deeds and holiness. The more people came, the more he tried to conceal himself. No longer able to find peace in the desert he set off for Constantinople in 428. During his voyage, he met his disciple Sechnuti, who was an Egyptian rower. Their ship passed near Corinth where they stayed for seven years in cave. By 435, after seven years in Corinth, Patapios left his skete in the Geranian mountains to resume his journey to Constantinople taking with him the monk Sechnuti. In Constantinople, they secretly went to the Monastery of Blachernae, where he obtained a cell in the city wall. Patapios kept his identity a secret and resumed a life of strict fasting, vigil and prayer under the guise of a simple monk. Here he performed many miracles of healing. After a life adorned with virtue and miracles, he died at the great age of eighty-three in 463 and was buried by his disciples in the Church of Saint John the Forerunner in Constantinople.

Saint Patapios and the Healing of the Boy Born Blind

A certain pious youth from Constantinople was blind since birth. When he heard of the Saint's attributes and his wonderful life that he lived in his cell at Blachernae, he went to Patapios, assisted by others. There he imitated the blind man of the Gospel and cried aloud with great fervor to the Saint, "Have mercy on me, for the sake of the Lord, O son of light and grace, and enlighten my eyes so that I too may see visible objects and praise the Creator through creation!"

Saint Patapios of Thebes Resource Page

St. Patapios of Thebes (Feast Day - December 8 & Bright Tuesday)

Verses

You left this perishable earth on which you walked Patapios,

Now you walk where the feet of the meek walk.

On the eighth Patapios walked on green pastures.

 

Synaxarion of Saint Patapios of Thebes

 

December: Day 8: Venerable Patapios 

 

Saint Patapios of Thebes in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church 

 

Saint Patapios of Thebes and His Monastery in Loutraki

 

Life and Miracles of Saint Patapios of Thebes

 

Saint Patapios and the Healing of the Boy Born Blind 

 

How Saint Patapios Became Known as a Healer of Those With Cancer and Dropsy 

 

Saint Patapios and the Demon Possessed Boy  

 

Saint Patapios and the Healing of a Boy at the Brink of Death 

 

Ten Things to Know Before Visiting the Monastery of Saint Patapios in Loutraki

   

Elder Nektarios Marmarinos, Founder of the Monastery of Saint Patapios in Loutraki (+ 2019)  

 

Elder Nektarios Marmarinos, Founder of the Monastery of Saint Patapios in Loutraki, Has Reposed

 

Synaxarion of Saint Patapios of Thebes

On the eighth of this month [December], we commemorate our Venerable Father Patapios.

Verses

You left this perishable earth on which you walked Patapios,

Now you walk where the feet of the meek walk.

On the eighth Patapios walked on green pastures.

How Saint Patapios Became Known as a Healer of Those With Cancer and Dropsy

Saint Patapios is known as a Patron and Healer of those with Cancer and Dropsy (today known as Edema), among other things. In his biography recorded by Saint Andrew of Crete, we are informed of various miracles he worked in his life, and among those were the healing of a man with dropsy and a woman with breast cancer. Below are more details:

Saint Patapios and the Healing of a Boy at the Brink of Death

By Protopresbyter Soterios Makrystathis

After graduating from the Middle Ecclesiastical School in 1958, the Lord called me to the task of being the head of a family, with my wife Maroulia, in 1959. In November 1960 I entered the Theological School of the University of Athens. On November 19th 1961, by the hands of the ever-memorable Metropolitan of Corinth Prokopios, I entered the divine service as a Deacon, and in 1963 as a Priest. I was entrusted by the Grace of the Lord, to give three boys a Christian upbringing: Andrew in 1962, Photios in 1965, and Nektarios in 1970.