July 14: Saint Nicodemus the Saint celebratestranslated

Today, July 14, our Church honors the memory of the Holy Apostle Akylos, one of the Seventy Disciples of the Lord, who was appointed bishop of Lefkada, and of Saint Nicodemus Agioreitos, the enlightened teacher of the Church. Saint Nikodimos was born on the island of Naxos in 1749 to pious and virtuous parents. The great devotion of his mother Anastasia to the tradition of the Church, later led her to the ascetic life, becoming a nun in the Holy Monastery of Chrysostomos of Naxos, under the name Agathi.

He learned his first letters in Naxos. His teacher was Archimandrite Chrysanthos, brother of Saint Cosmas of Aitolos. Then he went to the Greek School of Smyrna, where he received a higher education and expanded education.

After various adventures, in 1775, he went to Mount Athos. He became a monk at the Dionysiou Monastery and received the name Nikodemos. The fathers, making use of his knowledge, appointed him reader and secretary of the Monastery. At every opportunity, "buying the time", the monk Nikodimos studied the Holy Bible and Patristic Theology. He emerged as a model of ministry and acts of virtue among the brothers of the Monastery.

Then, with the blessing of the abbot and the fathers,...