Nektarios Terpos was a scholar and Greek-Orthodox

Greek Orthodox Church

The Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...

 missionary of Vlach

Vlachs

Vlach is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. English variations on the name include: Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs...

 origin. He came from a wealthy family and spend his childhood in Moscopole

Moscopole

Moscopole was a cultural and commercial center of the Aromanians, and now a small municipality in Korçë District, modern southeastern Albania. At its peak, in the mid 18th century, it hosted the first printing press in the Balkans outside Istanbul, educational institutions and numerous churches...

. As a missionary he travelled in Epirus

Epirus

The name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...

, covering vast areas from Arta

Arta, Greece

Arta is a city with a rich history in northwestern Greece, capital of the peripheral unit of Arta, which is part of Epirus region. The city was known in ancient times as Ambracia . Arta is famous for its old bridge located over the Arachthos River, situated west of downtown...

 to Berat

Berat

Berat is a town located in south-central Albania. As of 2009, the town has an estimated population of around 71,000 people. It is the capital of both the District of Berat and the larger County of Berat...

. in a period of increasing islamization

Islamization

Islamization or Islamification has been used to describe the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam...

. Terpos, together with Cosmas of Aetolia, was one of the major contributors of the religious and national awakening (Greek Enlightenment) of the Greek people under the Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 rule.

His main work named A Handbook called Faith , was published in 1732. It was republished 12 times in less than a century (1732–1818).

Terpos will also be remembered for his work in the Ardenica Monastery

Ardenica Monastery

The Ardenica Monastery of Theotokos Mary is an Eastern Orthodox monastery, distant ten kilometers north of Fier, Albania, along the national road that links Fier to Lushnjë....

 (in Gr. Monastery of Panagia Ardevousa) where in 1731 he wrote a prayer in the form of a fresco. The prayer is in four languages (Aromanian, Greek, Albanian, and Latin) and is the first writing in Albanian

Albanian language

Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...

found in an Eastern Orthodox Church.