“I was patient”
How did Saint Nektarios become holy and reached such great spiritual heights?
A nun who was at the monastery of St. Nektarios, when St. Nektarios fell asleep and countless of miracles started happening with the Grace of the Holy Spirit and through the prayer and the intercession of St. Nektarios, was thinking and saying: “What did that man, our elder, do? He was not a great ascetic just like the ascetics of the desert. He did not do long fastings, he did not do long all-night vigils, he did not do long prayers.
He was not a Martyr, like St. George and St. Dimitrios. What did he do and reached such great spiritual heights?
She had this question. He was a Metropolitan and a Professor at Rizareios [ecclesiastical] school.
On the outside, he was not something great …
And then St. Nektarios appeared to her and told her: “It is true that I did not do great ascesis like the great ascetics of the Church. Neither did I martyr like the great Martyrs of the Church martyred.
But I was patient!
And for this great patience, God gave him glory because he was slandered, he was wronged and [still] left everything in the hands of Christ. He did not defend himself, he did not take revenge on anyone.
He faced everything with faith and hope in God. In this way, he became an example of how to live. An example of patience and prayer for all.
– Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol
The Art of Orthodoxy 