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Koliva
Koliva (kollyva, kollyba, or kolyvo) is a dish made of whole-grain wheat. Sometimes barley, millet, or rice are used instead. Another ingredients of the koliva are sugar or honey, as well as nuts, dried fruits, breadcrumbs, sesame seeds and pomegranate. The top of the koliva is sometimes decorated with white or silver colored candies.
Each ingredient of koliva has its own symbolic meaning. Wheat grains symbolize a person who, much like a grain, is a child of the earth. We lie down in the earth in order to rise again to eternal life by Lord's mercy. Honey and sugar symbolize the sweetness of Heaven. Raisins represent Jesus Christ, who is the True Vine. The pomegranate symbolizes the splendor and grace of Heaven. Nuts are life, which prolongs itself. Finally, white candy symbolizes bones, which, unlike corruptible flesh, remain unchanged.
How to use
Cover the surface of the koliva with powdered sugar. Then place a seal on top, in the center of the dish. Sprinkle cinnamon in order to capture the pattern of the seal. Finally, remove the seal as carefully as possible, in order to not disturb the pattern.
Saint Nectarios of Aegina
The patron saint of the island of Aegina, where his head and most of his holy relics are kept, Saint Nektarios has performed miracles since his earthly life and keep performing them until today. Many pilgrims seek his help, especially in cases of illness and when in difficult circumstances.
The saint was born on October 1, 1846, in Silivria, Thrace, to Dimos and Vasilika Kefalas. In the world, he bore the name Anastasios.
At the age of 14 Anastasios went to Constantinople, where he worked first in a tobacco shop and then as a schoolmaster at the Metochion of the Holy Sepulchre school. Later he worked as an elementary school teacher on the island of Chios, in the village of Lythion. There, in Nea Moni, he became a monk with the name Lazaros in 1876, and in 1877 he was ordained a deacon with the name Nektarios. He studied theology in Athens, where he received his degree in 1885. Patriarch Sophronius IV of Alexandria ordained him a priest in 1886 and appointed him preacher and commissioner of the patriarchate in Cairo.
On January 15, 1889, he was ordained bishop of Pentapolis. Nektarios showed outstanding ability as Metropolitan, and therefore should have become patriarch-elect of Alexandria. This became impossible because of slanderous libels against him, which caused him to return to Greece the same year.
In 1892 Nektarios was appointed director of the Rizarios Ecclesiastical School in Athens. In 1904 he founded a convent on the island of Aegina, where he settled after leaving the school in 1908.
Nektarios died on November 8 after a serious illness and was buried at the Holy Monastery of Agia Triada of Aegina. He was canonized on April 20, 1961.
The miracles manifested by St. Nektarios are innumerable. Believers from all over the world testify that they owe their healings to him. An incredible miracle of our time is that he, assuming the form of a young priest, appeared in a Romanian village where the Romanian Patriarchate could not send a parish priest. The saint administered the services and signed with the Greek signature Nektarios, bishop of Pentapolis. The patriarch was shocked to discover the miraculous presence of St. Nektarios in his province.
The saint is commemorated on November 9.
