Section 06: The Convent of Aegina

The section covering the last and most fruitful phase of St. Nektarios’ life: the founding of the Holy Trinity convent on Aegina (1904–1908) and the renewed slander that struck him there. Withdrawing to the island after his retirement from the Rizareios, he rebuilt a ruined monastery, gathered a sisterhood, and became their abbot, builder, and spiritual father — only to face, once more, a fabricated accusation of immorality, this time disproved by the very magistrate sent to investigate. The two files cover the founding of Holy Trinity and his fatherhood of the community, and the second slander with the prosecutor’s dramatic reversal.

Tradition: Greek Orthodox (canonized 1961)

Contents

File Topic
Founding Holy Trinity The founding of the Holy Trinity convent on Aegina from 1904 on the site of a ruined monastery; the gathering of the sisterhood; the chapel built with his own hands; his permanent withdrawal in 1908; his fatherhood of the community and the rule he gave it
The Second Slander The renewed false accusation against the saint and the nuns; the accuser Lazara and her daughter Maria; the magistrate from Piraeus who came in fury and the medical examination that established the girl’s chastity; the magistrate’s illness, repentance, and plea for forgiveness — pinned to its sources

How to Use

  • Read Founding Holy Trinity for the building of the community that became the center of his cult.
  • Read The Second Slander for the recurrence of the cross of calumny — and the attested account of its reversal.
  • The hidden asceticism of his Aegina years is treated in Section 07: Asceticism and Wonders.

Cross-References