On a monastery in Mexico City

(Fund for Assistance) - Abbot Nektariy Haji-Petropoulos is an historic figure in the modern Russian Orthodox Church, say the parishioners of Holy Trinity Skete in Mexico City. In a short period of time, Fr. Nektariy and two other monks, in whose veins flows not one drop of Russian blood, have opened a Russian monastery in the heart of the Mexican capital, around which has formed a sizable Russian community.


Abbot Nektariy is well-known not only within the Russian community, but throughout Mexico. As a renowned academic, he often makes appearances on radio and television, and teaches courses in a local university. In Church circles, meanwhile, he has earned love by his meek attitude toward his parishioners, about whom he cares zealously. The abbot has cared for many people in moments of crisis, be is spiritually, financially, or legally. Dozens of women are indebted to him for saving them from domestic violence. Despite his ill health (Fr. Nektariy suffers from diverticulitis, kidney stones, and other ailments), he labors ceaselessly for the good of the monastery and the community, considering his care for them to be his sacred duty.


In the three years since the monastery’s founding, the community with Fr. Nektariy at its head has experienced many difficulties: persistent financial troubles, swine flu in Mexico, and the ill health of the abbot himself.


In the interview below, Fr. Nektary discusses how he, a Greek, became a Russian “batushka”, what it is like to be an Orthodox monk in one of the largest cities in the world, and what his parishioners mean to him.

Did you always want to be a monk?

I always knew. It wasn’t a sudden decision. I wanted to live in a monastery, to be in church. But I was an only child, so my mother said: “You cannot be a monk, I want you to have many children.” My whole family told me that I could be a married priest, but I didn’t want that. If I was to be in the Church, I would have to dedicate my whole life to the Lord.

Was your family very religious?

My parents were not very religious. I lived in Istanbul as a child, and we used to visit Greece three times a year. We saw a lot of monasteries, and I always enjoyed their communal life: working, praying, eating together. I wanted to have that in my future.

How did you become a monk?

My spiritual father, Bishop Paul of Nazianzus, was the Greek Bishop of Mexico. He knew my father before I was born. My mother died of leukemia when I was 14. She asked Bishop Paul to take care of me, my father agreed, and I moved to Mexico and lived with him.

Bishop Paul was a well-known academic in Mexico. We had a balanced academic and religious life. He convinced me to keep studying. I wanted to go the Greek Holy Cross Seminary in Boston, but he told me to go to college first. [He said], “I don’t want you to be a simple priest; I want you to get a Doctorate in Theology.”

When he asked me if I wanted to be a monk, I said yes. I was tonsured in Mexico at 18.

My spiritual father was murdered when coming out of Church in 1984. A fanatical Catholic who hated the Orthodox Church – shot and killed him. He was arrested and later committed suicide...

Complete article here.