THE SYNODAL DECREE CONCERNING ST NECTARIOS, BISHOP OF PENTAPOLIS
The award-winning film “The Man of God” scripted and directed by Jelena Popovic, which presents the life of Saint Nektarios, Hierarch of the Patriarchate of Alexandria (1846-1920), was recently shown on television for the first time.
At the end of the film, the Synodical Decree is shown, i.e. the Synod’s request for forgiveness by the Alexandrian Church – during the days of the late Patriarch of Alexandria Petros VII (1997-2004) – and the restoration of the Holy Hierarch for the unjust persecutions he suffered from the progressive clergy of the Throne of the early 20th century.
This great manuscript is kept in the office of the Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod, in the Patriarchal Mansion in Alexandria, as a precious spiritual relic and a living reminder to avoid similar deviations in the future.
On the orthodoxianewsagency.gr website, His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, described years ago:
“It was January 14, 1998, in the presence of the Consul General of Greece in Alexandria, Mr. Emmanuel Kakavelakis, and the President of the Greek Community, Mr. Edmond Kasimatis, when then – the late blessed Patriarch Petros brought the matter to the Synod and the missionary Patriarchate made the great decision to vindicate before his image and ask in Synod for forgiveness for the persecution suffered by Saint Nektarios, ο Άγιος του Καΐρου, the Saint of Cairo, the Saint who blessed Hamzawi and the Patriarchal Vicariate of the Alexandrian Church located in the Egyptian capital, where Saint Nektarios lived from 1886 to 1889 and blessed the magnificent church of Saint Nicholas as well as his house which is located right in front of the church, and where many relics and documents from his life are preserved to this day”.
He even revealed that the Patriarchate took this great decision to apologize to Saint Nektarios on the day of January 15, 1998, without knowing an incredible detail: that on the exact same date three other miraculous events occurred in the wonderful life of the Saint: on January 15th he received Holy Baptism, on January 15th 1877 he was ordained a deacon by Metropolitan Gregory of Chios and on January 15th 1889 he was consecrated as a hierarch and became Bishop at the hands of Patriarch Sophronios!
It should be noted that in the patriarchal announcement of apology to Saint Nektarios, dated January 15, 1998, the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa wrote in Synod:
“His Beatitude for a long time had dealt with the issue of the unjust penalty of expulsion from the jurisdiction and ranks of the Alexandrian Church, of our holy father Nektarios Kefalas of Pentapolis. This fact led His Beatitude to propose to the Holy and Sacred Synod, that it solves this serious issue. With great care, the Holy and Sacred Synod, having gathered in the fear of God,with the image of the Saint in the Synodal Hall, the decision was taken for the restoration of the broken normal order and forgiveness to be asked of our Holy Father Nektarios for the persecution and the unjust punishment against him, the influence of the wicked”.