Nectarios the Protopsaltes

Venerable Nectarios the Protopsaltes (Crețu) was one of the most accomplished Romanian monks who struggled on Athos, and in his time he was considered the first among the chanters of the Holy Mountain. He was called the “new Koukouzeles” of Athos.

He was born in 1804 at Huși, attended the school of Bishop Grigorie at Golia and then went to Neamț Monastery, near his brother, the monk Athanasius. He was tonsured with the name Nectarios. In 1842 the two brothers settled in a hut of the Skete of Saint Anne on Athos, and in 1854 they joined the community at the Prodromou Skete, then under construction. His chanting was so beautiful that word went round that “a Vlach, Nectarios, sings so well that there is none like him”; the Greek fathers called him to the feasts of their monasteries and gave him a place among the first chanters. When he once sang at the Holy Sepulchre, the pilgrims and servants climbed onto the stalls and galleries to see who was singing. He opened a school of psaltic music at Prodromou, famous across Athos. He shone in virtue, love and humility, had the gift of tears and unceasing prayer, and was an example to the monks. In old age he withdrew to a cell in the Vigla desert.

He passed to the Lord on 18 November 1899. The Ecumenical Patriarchate numbered him among the saints on 18 October 2025, together with Niphon of Prodromos, and the Romanian Orthodox Church commemorates him on 18 November (new style).