Every monastery has its soul and foundation and heartbeat for every monastic that resides in that monastery and for us that is our geronda, Fr. Nektarios Moulatsiotis.

Geronda is known to have a controversial side of him, even from his early years as a priest. From a young age he felt the call towards priesthood. As a child his soul was set on fire with Divine Love when he would listen to the fiery sermons of Fr.Augustine Kantiotis. His soul began to burn with the desire to become a priest just like Fr.Augustine. A pure fighter who would spread the Divine Love to other souls, as a genuine apostle of Christ. Geronda's dream became reality and he accepted the mystery of priesthood, with the grace of God in 1981, just a short time after his monastic tonsure when he miraculously was given the name Nektarios(from St.Nektarios of Aigina). The Bishop wanted to give him the name Agathonikos or Georgios.

After many years we were blessed enough from God to meet him and he became our spiritual father. We saw with our own eyes what we mentioned in the beginning, that he has a controversial side of him and just like his patron saint, St.Nektarios, he was misunderstood, misinterpreted, even from his young age as a monk and priest he was persecuted.

Just like his patron saint, Saint Nektarios. Geronda was misunderstood, misinterpreted and persecuted even from his young age as a monk and as a priest. He confronts everything with trust in God. The eyes of his soul and of his body towards his Bridegroom Christ, who lovingly he worships. He constantly says that for things to happen this way, it means it's the will of God. He never complains and never feels bitter about the persecutions he has faced but rather accepts them; with love that he feels for those who persecute him or misunderstand him. Obviously they don't know him….they don't know the depth and height of this great man. What makes this man so distinguished? What are his gifts that make him stand out as a spiritual person? It's not hard to describe, because you feel it from the first moment you meet him. He is simple, very simple and very approachable. He sends out his LOVE , a love that is simple, a childlike soul that reaches out to everyone, without any discrimination. He is a person that lives by the love of God, He lives in God Himself. He experiences it in an expressional joy that he spreads to others that are around him. He is also a lover of Christ and he worships only Him, his heart is inundated by Him and for Christ he tries to inspire our hearts also so they can beat with divine love. This divine love established him as a fighter in the spiritual stadium but also in the struggles of the church in difficult turning points such as automatic divorce, political weddings, for the legalisation of abortions, with the number 666 and identification cards, Schengen Agreement, the Church's estates, with the Pope visiting Greece, and so many more that we would need a whole book to mention them.

There have been times where he has been threatened and even from church factors who warned him to stop struggling because if he doesn't they would make sure he would go back to wearing lay clothes. They even took him to ecclesiastical court and civil courts from which God always saved him. He always stood with indomitable courage and battled with the beasts that raged around him trying to defeat him, but his love for God and God's love towards him always gave him strength so he can continue struggling.

Many people that have hardships, either bodily or spiritual sicknesses, wounded by sin, troubled by many problems turn to him for help so they can find comfort, relief, support and deliverance. He accepts them with all his love, listens to their struggles and personal problems. He helps them in everyway possible and advises them on how they can avoid the devil and his evil snares and gives them hope and strength on how the eyes of their body and soul can turn to Jesus Christ who is the only hope and road in life. So many people have changed their way of life because of him! Many have seen God in his eyes and have seen the love he has towards God which made them feel in their heart for the very first time that they too had feelings of Love for their Creator. Geronda has the gift of reuniting people with God in a time where the world has turned their back on Him. We have lived to witness many miracles through the grace of God and through our geronda that many were healed from a number of sicknesses. Geronda especially loves the younger generation; because he knows how difficult it is for the youth of today and how the devil is against them so they won't become familiar with God and with His love. "My children, become familiar with God" he tells to all who he meets "how will you love someone when you don't know Him? How will you have trust in Him? how will you believe Him? So get to know Him. That is why I am here. So I can help you find Him…." Truly he has become a spiritual leader for many young teenagers who not only became familiar with God, but believed and loved Him and even felt in their souls the Divine Love and so they followed him to become monks and nuns.

He has indeed a difficult and enormous task because his love for God has no boundaries. In just a few lines we cannot close in something that is so great. We just want to glorify God for granting us such a geronda. We plea that he is granted His mercy and may He enlighten us so we can follow in our geronda's footsteps and with our obedience to please him so he can say to our Bridegroom Christ "Here am I with the children whom the Lord has given Me!"

Gerondissa Monica