Neilos of Simonopetra

Neilos of Simonopetra, with the secular name Nicholas Metropoulos, called "as learned as he was humble," was born in 1871 at Trestaina in Gortynia. In the Greco-⁠Turkish war of 1897 he took part as an officer and was decorated for bravery and conduct. In a battle in which his life was in danger, he promised to become a monk, and he did not forget his promise. After years he set out by ship from Piraeus for the Holy Mountain with the venerable Elder Philotheos Zervakos (d. 1980). Beforehand both had confessed to Saint Nectarios of Pentapolis, kept vigil in the church of the Prophet Elisha and received Communion, then dined at the house of N. Boukis with Al. Papadiamantis and Al. Moraitidis, the chanters, storytellers and their friends. He entered Simonopetra Monastery in 1907 and was tonsured a monk the next year.

He was known for his education, background and acquaintances. He renounced the wealth, glory and honour he had in the capital and came to serve his monastery humbly as secretary and librarian. He was also chief secretary of the Holy Community. Patriarch Joachim III said that "the Patriarchate had not received such letters from the Holy Community for decades." If someone spoke to him improperly, he said with true meekness and sincere humility: "I see the fathers of the Synaxis as angels of God." He reposed with bodily pain and peace in heart, of tuberculosis, on 17 July 1911, in his monastery, a monk of only four years and only forty years old. He is venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization.