Saint Nikephoros the Leper

The Story Behind This Icon: Saint Nikephoros was born in 1890 in a small village on the island of Crete, Greece. His parents died when he was young, leaving him an orphan. At 16 years old he began to show signs of leprosy and left in secret for Cairo to avoid confinement on the Leper Island of Spinalonga. As his disease worsened, he returned to Greece, Chios this time, to live in a church for lepers led by Saint Anthimos. Two years later he was tonsured as a monk and lived a life of strict prayer and fasting. After the Chios leprosarium was closed in 1957, the two found residence in a leper home in Athens. Saint Nikephoros fell asleep in 1964, his relics becoming fragrant from Christ’s blessing. Saint Nikephoros the Leper is the patron saint of those suffering infectious diseases. In the midst of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, several people in Greece revealed that Saint Nikephoros the Leper appeared to them, assuring them of his intercession and protection as well as for the healing of