For many years, every Saturday evening, Alexander attended the Divine Liturgy in the church of the Prophet Elissaios. Theofanis, a lawyer who refused to practice and preferred to haunt the antique shops in search of “prophetic books”, initiated Papadiamantis to the vigils held in the church. The two men first met in Kachrimanis’ grocery store and Papadiamantis followed him to the Prophet Elissaios in 1887. The vigils had arrived in Athens a few years earlier, around 1870, with an Athonite monk. Alexander used the stall right next to the lectern and gradually made the acquaintance of the chanter and asked permission to perform his favourite pieces.