Churches

Churches

Church of Saint Nectarios on Aegina

The large modern Church of Saint Nectarios stands beside the Holy Trinity women's monastery near Kontos on Aegina. The church, monastery, saint's house, and burial chapel belong to one pilgrimage complex, but they are not the same building.

A curved open arcade of brick-trimmed arches on white marble columns, with a pierced stone balustrade and dry hills beyond.
The arcade of the modern Church of Saint Nectarios, photographed in 2013. Photo: Kell Kell via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Type
Pilgrimage church
Dedication
Saint Nectarios of Aegina
Built
1973–1994
Style
Domed basilica

One complex, several buildings

A red-painted arched gateway topped by a cross, with an icon set over the arch and iron gates standing open onto a paved drive.
The entrance gate of the Holy Trinity monastery, photographed in 2013. Photo: Upp75 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The large church visible on approach is the modern Church of Saint Nectarios. Beside it stands the older Holy Trinity monastery, which Nectarios founded as a women's convent in 1904. The monastery's main church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. A smaller church and the chapel containing Nectarios's grave also stand within the complex.

This explains the overlapping names. The convent is formally the Holy Trinity Monastery but is commonly called the Monastery of Saint Nectarios. The modern church bears his name directly.

How the site relates to Saint Nectarios

A small chapel with a tiled roof under a large pine tree, with a striped awning beside it and steps and a railing in front.
The chapel over Nectarios's original tomb in the monastery, photographed in 2016. Photo: Aleksei m via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Nectarios moved to a small house outside the convent in 1908 and lived there until his death in 1920. His house remains with personal belongings inside, and his grave is held in the nearby chapel. The Ecumenical Patriarchate proclaimed him a saint in 1961, so the modern church commemorates him. The church he himself founded is the older monastery church beside it.

Read at its patronal feast

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