NOVEMBER 2016

bo om of the ship, as if the holy Cross of our Lord led the ship... When he was 29 years of age, he became a monk on the island of Chios and was tonsured with the name Laza-rus (when you become a monk your name is changed). The patriarch sent him to study theology in Athens, and he was ordained a Priest and given the new name of Nektarios, and later was ordained the Bishop of Pentapolis. However, owing to jealousy and alleged improprieties, he was removed from office, only to be rejected again in Ath-ens and island of Euboiea. He suffered as a pauper, but he persevered, and his integrity and his wisdom shone through. The people of Euboiea embraced him. He became the Dean of the School of Theology in Athens in 1910 and helped begin a convent and became a spiritual father with healing powers for many throughout Greece. Ten years

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St. Nectarios lived from 1846 until 1920. On November 9th, (1920) St. Nectarios reposed in the Lord. Saint Nec-tarios, earthly name was Anastasios, as he was called, was from a very poor family in nineteenth century Selybria, in Thrace. He a empted to board a ship to Constantinople to find work, but he had no money for a ticket. The engines of the ship roared, yet it would not move until young An-astasios was permi ed aboard. En route, the sea once raged, but Anastasios dipped his cross, which contained a piece of the True Cross, into the water three times, praying Silence! Be still. The waters became still, but he lost his cross. As the ship continued, a loud continuous knocking was heard from beneath the ship. When they arrived at their destination, the sailors found the cross stuck to the

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St. Nectarios the Wonderworker Bishop of Pentapolis

KOINONIA

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later 1920, he was taken from Aegina to a hospital ward in Athens for the poor and incurable. Metropolitan Nectarios fell seriously ill with cancer, and despite his protests, the nuns forced him to go to a hospi-tal in Athens. Since he was a man with no financial re-sources, he was placed in a 3rd-class ward where several beds were reserved for poor patients. He died on the evening of November 9 at the age of 74. But even his death became an occasion for miracles, the first of more than two thousand others. As a nurse and a nun prepared his body for transfer back to the monastery at Aegina, they took off his sweater and placed it for a moment on the bed of a paralyzed man in the adjoining bed. Within the hour the man regained his strength and began to walk. A powerful, sweet smell filled the hospital room and the entire ward. He was buried in his beloved Holy Trinity Monastery on Aegina by his friend St. Savvas of Kalymnos who later painted the first icon of St. Nectarios. The relics of St. Nectarios were transferred from his grave in 1953 and once again emi ed a beautiful fragrance. He was officially glorified as a saint by the Ecumenical Patri-archate of Constantinople in 1961 and his feastday is cele-brated on November 9. Finally, in 1998, the Holy Synod the Patriarchate of Alexandria in Egypt issued a statement of repentance for casting out the saint: We hereby restore the ecclesiastical order of the Saint of our century, Saint Nectarios, and grant to him all due credits and honors. We beseech Saint Nectarios to forgive both us, unworthy as we are, and our predecessors, our brothers of the Throne of Alexandria, for opposition to the Saints and for all which, due to human weakness, our Holy Father, Bishop of Pentapolis, Saint Nectarios, suffered. He gave up his spirit there, and they prepared him for burial. His sweater was placed on the nearby bed of a par-alytic, who suddenly regained his strength and walked. The room, which has since become a chapel, was filled with a beautiful fragrance for many days after his repose in the Lord our God. Healings are seen throughout the world to this day by the saints holy prayers. He is consid-ered the patron saint of those with cancer, heart trouble, arthritis, for those who are seeking a job, and epilepsy. He is also well known for authoring the beautiful hymn to the Theotokos known as the Agni Parthene. We are blessed at Annunciation to have the Holy Relics of this wonder-working Saint enshrined on our Holy Altar table in which we can receive his blessings. +Fr. John Ketchum

(Continued from page 1) Orthodox Understanding of What is Heaven and Hell

Continued from Page 11 Nine Orders of the Angels But their service is different and not identical: each order has its own service; for the All-Wise Creator does not reveal the mystery of His design to all to the same degree, but from the one to the others, through the higher He enlightens the lower, revealing to them His will and commanding it to be as in the book of the Prophet Zachariah. The Orthodox Church militant, being in need of the help of the angels, celebrates the Assembly of all the nine angelic orders with a special supplication, as is fitting, on the eighth day of the month of November (ie. the ninth month), since all these nine orders of angels will gather on the day of the Ter-rible Judgment of the Lord, which the divine teachers of the Church call the eighth day. For they say, at the end of seven thousand years will begin as if an eighth day, When the Son of man shall in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him (as the Lord Himself foretold in the Gospel Matt 25:31). St. Demetrios of Rostov

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The nine orders of the angels are divided into three hierar-chies, each of which is divided into three orders: the high-est, the intermediate, the lower. The first hierarch, the high-est and closest to the Most Holy Trinity, consists of the SERAPHIM, CHERUBIM, and THRONES. The God-loving six-winged SERAPHIM stand closer than all before their Creator and Maker, as the prophet Isaiah saw, saying: And the seraphim stood around Him, each having six wings (Isaiah 6:2). They are fire-like since they stand before That One of Whom it is written: For our God is a consuming fire. (Heb 12:29); They are aflame with love for God and kindle others to such love, as i shown by their very name, for seraphim in the Hebrew language means: flaming. The Archangels Michael and Gabriel After the seraphim, before the All-knowing God, Who re-sides in inaccessible light, stand the many-eyed CHERU-BIM in ineffable radiance. More than the other lower orders of angels, they are always radiant with the light of th knowledge of God, with the knowledge of the mysteries of God and the depths of His Wisdom; being themselves en-lightened, they enlighten others. Their name cherubim in translation from the Hebrew language, means: great under-standing or effusion of wisdom, because through the cherubim wisdom is sent down to others and enlightenment of the spiritual eyes is given for the seeing of God and knowledge of God. Thereafter stand the God-bearing THRONES (as St Diony-sius the Areopagite calls them) before Him Who sits on the high and exulted throne, being named thrones since on them, as on intellectual thrones (as writes St Maximus the Confessor) God intellectually resides. They are not called God bearing according to essence but according to grace and according to their office, as the flesh of Jesus Christ (as St Basil the Great writes) is called God-bearing according to essence since it was indivisibly united with God the Word Himself. The middle hierarchy also consists of three orders of holy angels: the DOMINIONS, the VIRTUES, and the POWERS. The DOMINIONS are so named because, being themselves free, they dominate over the rest of the angels which follow behind them. Having abandoned servile fear, as St Dionysi-

us the Aeropagite says, they voluntarily and with joy serve God unceasingly. Also they send down power for prudent governing and wise management to authorities on the earth set up by God. Further they teach how to control the senses, how to subdue in oneself dissolute desires and passions, how to enslave the flesh to the spirit, and how to rule over ones will and be above all temptations. The VIRTUES, filled with divine strength, quickly fulfill the will of the All-High and Omnipotent Lord, strong and pow-erful. They both work very great miracles and send down the grace of miracle-working to Gods saints, who are worthy of such grace, in order that these may work mira-cles, such as heal every sickness and foretell the future. The holy virtues also help people laboring and those overburdened by the bearing of an obedience placed on them by someone by which their names virtues is ex-plained and they bear the infirmities of the weak. They also strengthen every man in patience, so that he does not faint away in affliction but rather bears all misfortune with a strong spirit, courageously, and with humility, giv-ing thanks for everything to God, arranging all for our benefit. The POWERS are so called because they have power over the devil, in order to restrain the power of the de-mons, to repulse the temptations brought upon people by them, and to prevent the demons from harming anyone to the degree that they would wish. The powers strength-en the good ascetics in spiritual struggles and labors, protecting them so that they may not be deprived of the spiritual kingdom. They help those wrestling with pas-sions and vices to cast out evil thoughts and slanders of the enemy and to conquer the devil. In the lowest hierarchy there are also three orders: the PRINCIPALITIES, the ARCHANGELS, and the ANGELS. The PRINCIPALITIES are named thus because they have command over the lower angels, directing them to the fulfillment of divine orders. The management of the universe and the keeping of all the kingdoms and prince-doms, of lands and all peoples, races and nations, is also entrusted to them since each kingdom, race