Saint Nektarios arrived in Athens in 1889 with the intention of going on to Mount Athos so as to lead the Monastic life, although many were pressing him to stay in Greece, especially the ever-memorable Bishop of Patras; for he knew the righteous man's holy life and his Divinely inspired preaching.

During the voyage, his ship encountered a storm at sea. The Monk Abimelech, one of the Saint's biographers, describes the plight of the ship. The vessel was ready to sink when the captain shouted for the life-saving equipment to be readied. The young Anastasios wept and prayed to God. Looking heavenward, he implored God not to take his life, for he wished to preach on His behalf. He remembered that his grandmother told him that if the sea were ever rough, to dip the Precious holy relic of the Cross into the waves. He then removed his Cross and tied it to his belt. He then lowered it off the side of the ship and into the waves.

The holy Orthodox Church of Christ shall not cease showing forth Saints until the completion of the age. This is undeniable proof that she is the depository of truth and Holy Tradition, which she observes and preserves free from adulteration, as a precious and sacred trust, and as "a fountain of water springing into eternal life" (John 4:14). This waters and bedews her pious children. The holy Church, therefore, rejoices and speaks exultantly of those Saints who have shone forth in ancient times with their multitudinous achievements, virtues, and awesome wonders (miracles). Together with those Saints, she exults jubilantly and dances in the Holy Spirit, on account of those newly-appeared luminaries who have become manifest in these times, especially these evil days, which are filled with unbelief and a want of feeling when committing sin.

OLD TESTAMENT READINGS FROM GREAT VESPERS ON THE EVEN OF THE FEAST OF THE SYNAXIS OF THE ARCHANGELS AND ANGELS

First Reading Taken From the Book of Joshua (5:13-15)

"Then it came to pass, when Joshua was at Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing before him with a sword drawn in his hand. So Joshua came near and said to him, 'Are you for us or the side of our adversaries?' He said to him, 'I am now come, the chief captain of the host of the Lord.' Then Joshua fell on his face upon the earth and said to him, 'O Master, what do you command your servant?' 'The chief captain of the Lord said to Joshua, 'Loose the shoe from your feet; for the place on which you stand is holy.'

The three Orders in the lowest hierarchy are the Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. The Principalities are so called because they rule over the Angels below them and direct them to fulfill God's commands. It is they who watch over the world, protecting and guarding every kingdom and principality, every province and people, tribe and nation, for each of these has its own angel of this rank as guardian and governor. According to Saint Gregory, it is the duty of this Order to teach men to render to all in authority the honor due their station.

The Holy Church, which rejects the impious worship of Angels devised by idolaters and heretics of old, received from the divinely inspired Holy Fathers the tradition of celebrating with reverence the Synaxis of the Holy Angels. In the days of the Old Testament, the people of God, having fallen away from the Creator, began to worship that which the Lord created. They made idols after the likeness of things visible, of that which is in heaven above and earth beneath, the work of their own hands (Exodus, Ch. 20). At that time, when the people offered oblations (sacrifice) unto the sun, the moon, and the stars as gods, imagining that these possessed living souls, they also began to worship Angels. The Book of Kings makes mention of this, saying that they "burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and to all the host of heaven" (Kings, Ch. 23), that is, to the Angels; for the host of heaven is comprised of the Angels, as is said in the Gospel. And "suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host" (Luke, Ch.2).