Prayer of Saint Nektarios: A Prayer To Virgin Mary

Saint Nektarios was born on October 1, 1846 AD. in Silivria in Thrace by Demos and Vasiliki Kefala and was the fifth of their six children. His secular name was Anastasios. At the age of 14, he moved to Constantinople, where he worked as a clerk and then as a teacher at the school of Metochi of the Holy Sepulcher. Afterwards, he went to Chios, where he served as a public teacher in the village of Litheio from 1866 AD. until 1876 AD. In 1876 AD he became a monk in the New Monastery of Chios with the name Lazarus. A year later, on January 15, 1877 AD. he was ordained a deacon with the name Nektarios, by the Metropolitan of Chios Gregorios (1860 - 1877 AD), and assumed the secretariat of the Metropolis.

The history of the monastery is lost in the Byzantium era, where there was a monastery dedicated to Zoodochos Pigi at that point. Osia Athanasia had lived as an ascetic in this monastery, but over the years it was abandoned. In 1904, Saint Nektarios decided to restore the monastery and house the Holy Trinity Monastery there. The works for the restoration of the Monastery lasted from 1904 to 1907. A year later, in 1908, Saint Nektarios left the management of the Rizarei School and retired to the Monastery.

A unique hymn to Virgin Mary, a poem by Saint Nektarios, written after the appearance of Virgin Mary in the monastery of Aegina. According to tradition, Theotokos asked the Saint to write a special hymn, dedicated to her, and thus the famous hymn "Virgin Virgin Despoina" was created.