Agios Nektarios – Engraved Lithograph – Mount Athos

Description

Engraved Lithograph with Saint Nektarios

Saint Nektarios or Nektarios of Pentapolis or Nektarios of Aegina was a popular hierarch and pastor. In 1904 he founded a women’s monastery in Aegina, of which he personally took over the administration, when he retired there in 1908 after resigning from the Rizarios School. The inhabitants of Aegina considered him a saint even before his repose, which was mainly attributed to two events.

Saint Nektarios initially healed a possessed young man, while later villagers visited him asking him to ask God to rain on the island, because there was prolonged drought for almost three years. Indeed, it worked with all the islanders present and on the same day it started raining. His grace and fame were constantly growing, with the result that within four years the monastery grew so large, reaching 15 nuns out of the first four. Forty years after his repose he was declared a Saint, on April 20, 1961, as his miracles were evaluated, as well as his great pastoral and ecclesiastical work.

Engraved Lithography: Features

The work is crafted entirely by hand, without machinery, in carved natural wood. It is the work of hagiographer Athanasios, a student of the Athonite Ecclesiastical Academy, who remains faithful to Byzantine art as he was taught it on Mount Athos. His works are covered with pure beeswax so that they remain unchanged over time.

In this particular icon, the hagiographer monk used the technique of lithography to create a work of unique beauty. Specifically, using a lithographed copy of Byzantine art, the monk created this work following the traditional method of artificial aging, as taught in the hagiography workshops of the Athonite State. In fact, the artificial aging of hagiography is handmade, a process to which the monks of Mount Athos pay particular attention.

As the image is handmade and the wood is processed entirely by hand, there may be slight variations in the dimensions of each image.

Image available upon request.

Origin: Mount Athos