In 1934, fourteen years after the repose of the Saint, a doctor was coming from one of the villages on horseback and was caught in a very heavy rain in the area of the convent. He got down from his horse and went and stood under a tree. It was raining so hard that he saw it would not let up for a long time. Therefore, he decided that as there was nowhere else nearby, he might as well go to the convent.
He had known holy Father Nectarios while he was living, but being a man who did not believe much in such things, he did not reverence the Father much. So he went and knocked at the convent and the nuns opened and put him up for the night. It was evening, and they would not keep any man inside the convent, even the priest of the convent, as it is forbidden by the canons, but they had a little place outside for guests. But as the gates of the convent had not yet closed, he wanted to investigate what he had heard about miracles and incorrupt relics now that he had come to the convent.
So he went while it was still light to where the sarcophagus was outside of the church. He began to pull off the heavy marble slab which was on top, as it was not fastened in any manner. He pulled it down to the waist of the Saint.
At that very moment a nun happened to come by, and she began to cry out, “What are you doing there? What are you doing, opening our Elder’s grave?” And he replied, “I just wanted to take a look.” “But you did not have permission,” she insisted and began making a commotion. But in the meantime anyway, he investigated the relics. [Later he said, “I was very amazed to see that it was the Father Nectarios that we all knew. And that he could still be recognized from his face and expression. Even his beard was intact; I pulled at some of his beard, but it would not come out. I touched his hand and saw that it was skin. It had remained so well on the bones (there was not much flesh) and had not shriveled up. He could be recognized by anyone who had known him when he was alive.”]
Then they closed the marble sarcophagus right away.
