1890–1964
Saint Nikephoros the Leper
A monk afflicted with Hansen's disease at the leper hospitals of Chios and Athens, remembered for his patience and gentleness.
Biography
Nikephoros (born Nikolaos Tzanakakis) came from Sirikari in the Chania region and was orphaned as a child. At sixteen he showed the first signs of leprosy and fled to Egypt and then to the leper hospital on Chios, where he was tonsured a monk beside the future Saint Anthimos Vagianos.
He lived under strict fasting and prayer, working in the gardens, and once the disease had taken his sight he chanted the hymns from memory. In 1957 he was moved to the anti-leprosy station of Agia Varvara in Egaleo, where he remained gentle until his death in 1964.