611. Saint Nektarios the MISCHIEVOUS Healer: Part One

Before we get started: Our war against Iran has taken attention off wars in the rest of the world. Here are two sources of up to date information from other war zones, some of which is rarely found in American sources at the moment.

THE KYIV POST: kyivpost.com Please don’t lose sight of Orthodox Russia’s aggression against Orthodox Ukraine, now in its fifth year, which continues and is growing worse. Ukraine, with their limited resources, is targeting military and industrial sites in Russia. Russia continues to hit civilian targets in Ukraine – apartment buildings, shopping centers. “Holy Mother Russia”, Vladimir Putin, Patriarch Kirill shaming the Orthodox world. God help us all.

AL JAZEERA: aljazeera.com  Up to the minute news and perspectives about the Middle East and the world, both Eastern and Western – also with news about the targeting of civilians in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank. Khouria Dianna and I discovered Al Jazeera English television years ago while we were in England: Straight news and commentary without commercials, without hype. In America Al Jazeera English live is available on Youtube, or at https://www.aljazeera.com/video/live

Please pray to Christ our God for an end to all the unjust, unnecessary suffering in this world.

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Now, to the much happier topic at hand:

Introduction and Explanation

The first thing I need to explain is that I’m getting absent minded. (“Getting?”, my wife would say.)  When I got to writing about Saint Nektarios week before last, I had forgotten how recently I had told you these stories – namely, last year.

Nevertheless I’ll continue the tale. I guess I’m doing this mostly for myself. This took place so long ago, now, that sometimes it hardly seems real. But it really happened, and it does my heart and my soul good to remember. I hope it will do you good to hear again about the living reality of saints and how sometimes they can intervene in our lives.

This Post is based somewhat on another I wrote six years ago, when I first tried to pull this whole story together accurately.

You can read the first part of the story in last week’s Post, about how while I was in Greece in 2002 I first met Saint Nektarios, or rather how he decided to meet me. I wasn’t in charge of any of this. If you didn’t read it, please do so.

After that, Saint Nektarios the Wonderworker of Aegina continued doing mischievous things for me, all in Greece – some startling, some subtle, some funny, none frightening. At first I might have attributed this to coincidence, but as they continued, I felt sure they were not.

What in the world was he up to? I couldn’t figure it out. Ever since his death in 1920, he has been famous for healing people, especially of cancer  – but never, so far as I could discover, for playing tricks. Except for me.

Many accounts of his life are available online or for sale. If you want, you can read a condensed version at the bottom of this Post: https://frbillsorthodoxblog.com/2018/11/09/91-saint-nektarios-his-life-death-and-what-happened-after-that/

So here we go:

Visit #1  2002, Post 7, Part 4 Saint Nektarios – guided tour. Let me sum up last week’s story, of how, my time was very limited – through my own stupid fault I had to catch a late ferry to Aegina and hadn’t even looked up how to get to his monastery once I got there. So I asked him “Saint Nektarios, help. I want to visit you!” And how he took over and, in remarkable ways, provided everything I needed for the visit, and more.

That was how it all started. After that I felt drawn to him, and every year I could manage it I went back.

I should explain that Khouria Dianna and I usually traveled together, but not always for the whole trip. She also came to love Greece, but naturally she didn’t understand my peculiar love for Saint Nektarios, so at first I went there by myself, and then spent some time bumming around and relaxing on my own – and then she would join me for the last part of the trip

Visit #2  “Post 12, 2004, Did Saint Nektarios do it again? This time he was subtle. I thought this might be just a coincidence. From my hotel in Athens, I needed to make two Metro connections and then catch the ferry. This time I started early, hoping maybe I might catch the 9 o’clock, but more likely the ten o’clock.  At the first stop, the connection was sitting there waiting. At the second stop, the connection was sitting there waiting. I got to Piraeus just at 8 o’clock and, figuring I had missed that boat, ambled slowly over to the dock. The ferrbyboat / φέρυ-μπώτ was still there! The ticket agent said, “Hurry, mister, they’re closing the gate.” So I did, and at 8:07 we were off to Aegina. “Coincidences?” All day I wondered about it.

Visit #3  Post 19, 2005 The Big Trip Part 3, Did Saint Nektarios do it again? This time I visited in the evening. There was lightning over the sea in the north, so I caught a fast “Flying Dolphin” to the mainland, and instead of taking the Tram, got a taxi back to my hotel just as an awful storm hit. I mean, right that minute. The streets flooded. Traffic stopped. Rain was streaming into the hotel lobby before I could get to the elevator. If the storm had struck only a few minutes earlier I would have been stranded probably at the port. Another coincidence?Again I wondered, but this time the words “Thank you, Saint Nektarios” came automatically again to my lips.

Visit #4. Post 26, 2006 Trip Part One Saint Nektarios Strikes Again. This time I had no doubt. I had said my prayers in the shrine and was now sitting on a bench outside watching the pilgrims come and go. A woman’s voice next to me asked Are you an American? The sweet voice of a good friend I had worked with when we were both Episcopalians in Milwaukee more than twenty years before! We had lost touch. And there she sat beside me, with her husband and their son – all three now Orthodox!  Now, I ask you: what were the chances of that happening… all of us in Greece at the same time, all of us now Orthodox, all of us at Saint Nektarios at exactly the same time on the same day on the same bench…?  The answer: infinitesmally small. Are you getting the picture?

Visit #5  Post 33, 2007 Trip Part Two, Patmos – Revelation, Nektarios  If you’ve ever wanted to visit Patmos, the island of the Apostle John the Evangelist, I think these Posts are worth reading. It is a lovely place. Besides visiting the Holy Sites, my plan while I was there was to read the writings of Saint John, especially the Apocalypse (Revelation), and see if I could understand them better. So I found a little beach (this is actually the one) all to myself several miles out of town. I packed everything carefully – three sealable plastic bags, one for the Bible and prayer book, one for food and drink, and one only for keys. So in late afternoon, I walked back up to the car and reached into the back pack. No keys! I searched everywhere several times. No keys! What ever was I going to do? Without planning it, I heard myself say “Nektarios! Help!” Not so much as “please”. I opened the bag again, and there right on top in plain sight were the keys.

Trip #6  Post 47, 2008 Trip Part One Back to Greece  This one had two parts: 1) The first was very subtle. Changing planes in Toronto, our suitcases disappeared. Twice I went back to where we had checked them in, and then to the departure gate. No bags. I finally remembered to ask Saint Nektarios, and then tried to relax. Sure enough, about fifteen minutes before departure our luggage arrived. 2) This one was spectacular. I was on Crete alone and decided to drive up and over the mountain to visit Fairhavens, a place where Saint Paul’s ship put in on the way west. Then a large city, it is now a tiny village out and away. Demonstrating my continuing propensity for doing stupid things, I forgot to get petrol (gas). When I arrived, I looked: The tank was about 1/16 full, with no petrol station in nearly twenty kilometers. I sat there for a while wondering what ever to do. Then I remembered: I said “Saint Nektarios, help!”, got out and explored, then went down to the beach and read for a while. And … when I got back to the car the gas gauge read over 1/3 full. I checked my journal to make sure this story hasn’t got exaggerated in my mind over the years. No. It has not. After I got home I suggested to Parish Council that perhaps we could support the church by putting in a Saint Nektarios gas pump in front.

The next three years nothing special happened. I figured he didn’t need to. He had caught my attention. Why in those startling ways? I didn’t know. Looking back, I think it was because it was the only way he could reach me. Having “spiritual experiences” of whatever sort is no cause to brag and get all puffed up. Quite the opposite. God gives them to some of us because we’re so spiritually shallow that they’re the only way He can get through to us.

Well, it had worked. “Saint Nektarios, pray for me” was part of my regular devotions. I had shared my love for him with the people at home. His icon hung on the wall at Saint Nicholas, Cedarburg, and we lit candles before him. When I went to visit him, my people were giving me over a thousand names of folks to be prayed for. Then in 2011 and 2012 Khouria Dianna visited Saint Nektarios with me.

I figured that was it: he had accomplished what he wanted.

Wrong.

A Footnote for any visitors to the Blog who don’t quite understand about Saints and how they work

Simple explanation: Saints work for Jesus Christ. They are his servants.

In my prayers morning and evening I ask Saint Nektarios to pray for me and help me, and come to the aid of many people. Does this interfere with my love of Jesus Christ? No way. Those who know me know that I love my Lord Jesus with all my heart and soul and mind. But, among the saints, Saint Nektarios the Wonder-worker of Aegina will always be one of my two best friends. Who’s the other? Sometime soon I’ll write again about My Adventure with Saint Nicholas. Some of you have not heard that story yet. And it will do me good to tell that story again.

This Post is getting out of hand, so I’m dividing it into two Parts. Tune in again next week for the exciting climax to the story!

Next Week: Part 2 -The Trip to Greece that wasn’t, and the Miracle that was.

Week after Next: Time will tell.

91. Saint Nektarios – his life, death and what happened after that