SAINT NEKTARIOS OF AEGINA, GREECE My Encounter with a taxi driver in Paris, France by Father Hierotheos Anagnostopoulos

SAINT NEKTARIOS OF AEGINA, GREECE

My Encounter with a taxi driver in Paris, France

by Father Hierotheos Anagnostopoulos

In the following unbelievable story, Father Hierotheos is talking to a friend about the many problems in life.  He was being specifically burdened by the crisis that has enveloped Greece the last few years.  He says that his soul was filled with many thoughts of foreboding.  There is a great deal of lawlessness in the country.  There is also a sense of anarchy that prevails in the country. Our freedom is being taken away from us.  Our geographical sovereignty is also being taken away from us.  Everything around us is changing.  In thinking about all these things, you suddenly feel there is no hope left in the world.  People tell you that there is no salvation and you cannot be saved.  People tell you emphatically that God is dead and there is no life after death.

These are my inner thoughts and I am sharing them with you.  These thoughts haunt me and I cannot hide them from you.  This is the way I was thinking when a taxi driver, an ordinary man who was working to earn his daily bread answered all my doubts by telling me the following story.

“My dear father, listen to what I have to say to you.  One of my close friends was diagnosed with cancer.  This frightened him terribly.  His whole family was in turmoil over the news.   He was overcome with fear.  He went through a series of tests.  He visited a number of doctors.  He had x-rays and Mir’s of his head.  He was told that his only hope was to seek medical treatment abroad.  Heeding this advice he travelled to France and entered a special diagnostic center for treatment.”

It was a beautiful Saturday morning in France and this friend of mine was waiting for the results of his tests.  He was waiting at a taxi stop in the midst of a great crowd of people trying to hail a cab.  After waiting for some time a cab stopped and he opened the door.  He spoke to the cab driver in French, “take me to my hotel.”  After saying this, he realized that the cab driver was Greek.  The taxi driver then asked him: “what are you doing here in France?” “I have come to have some tests taken.” “Why did you do this, aren’t there hospitals in Greece?” “Well, I have come here to receiver better treatment,” he answered.  The cab driver then responded: “I know of a good hospital on the Island of Aegina, Greece.  You should go there.” After this exchange with the cab driver the taxi suddenly disappeared before his eyes and his encounter with the taxi driver ended.

Back in Greece, a few days later, this man continued to tell me the story of his encounter with the cab driver in France.  He was now in a cab on the Island of Aegina and he asked the cab driver what hospital he should go to on Aegina for medical treatment.  The cab driver responded by saying that Aegina is famous for Saint Nektarios but there are no cancer hospitals on the island.  This man finally went on to the Monastery of Saint Nektarios and upon entering the monastic compound he saw an icon of Saint Nektarios.  When he saw the icon of the Saint he fainted for it was the same face of the taxi driver that he had encountered in France.

The priest who narrates this story and had expressed his dismay at the problems of the world at the beginning of this story now says the following: “I finally received the answers to my many questions about life’s problems.  A taxi driver in France answered all of my questions.  I now realize that there is Life after death and that is the Life that I desire.  I feel this way today for a taxi driver (Saint Nektarios) restored the health of the person that was stricken with cancer.

Translated from the Greek by:

+Fr. Constantine (Charles) J. Simones, Waterford, CT,