Saint Nicholas of Myra

Saint Nicholas of Myra (270 AD-343 AD) , also known as Saint Nicholas the wonderworker, is one of the most beloved Saints in the Christian tradition. Even among non-Christians, he is well-known as the inspiration for Santa Claus. Saint Nicholas is famed for his generosity. When his parents died young he gave away his sizable inheritance to the poor. He also gave gold in secret to three young girls whose family was suffering from abject poverty, saving them from a life of prostitution. He also performed many spectacular miracles, and was an ardent opponent of the Arian heresy. In this episode, we contemplate the story of Saint Nicholas, and read extensively from the Life of Saint Nicholas by Archimandrite Michael. 

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Transcript

God is glorious in his saints!

 Welcome to the Christian Saints Podcast. My name is Darren Ong, recording from Sepang in Malaysia. In this podcast, we explore the lives of the Christian saints, from the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. Today, for this Christmas episode we will contemplate the life of St Nicholas of Myra, who lived from 270-343 AD. His feast day is on the 6th of December, but he has also recently gained a connection with Christmas day, since he was the inspiration for Santa Claus.

St Nicholas was a bishop, a miracle-worker, and a participant of the first ecunemical council, which was an important meeting of Christian leaders from all over the world. He was born to a family of wealthy Greek Christians, but his parents died when he was young, and he distributed the inheritance he received from them to the poor. From “The Life of St Nicholas” by Archmandrite Michael.
 
 After his parents had gone to the Lord and left him much property and an abundance of money and possessions, he reckoned that he had God as his father. Gazing chastely on Him 

with the eye of his soul, he firmly begged the good God that he surrender his life and all his possessions, if that seemed good to Him. He said: "Teach me, Lord, to do Your will, because You are my God" as well as "Make known to me, Lord, the path upon which I am to journey, because to You I have lifted my soul from all triviality and worldly lowliness."He seemed to hear God, as it were, speaking clearly through the holy prophet David: "Even if wealth abounds, do not surrender your heart". And similarly the author of Proverbs plainly teaches: "Let almsgiving and acts of faith not abandon you, but fasten them around your neck and you will find grace"as well as "That person benefits his soul, who has pity on the destitute and those who happen to be poor in their livelihood."Nicholas did not cease to continually hand over his abundance —to store it up in the secure treasure-houses of heaven. So he was repaid in full by the impoverished.

 Generosity is the defining trait of St Nicholas’ life, and this trait shows through in this story, which is probably the most famous story about St Nicholas. The reason we say Santa Claus travels the world giving gifts to children today is that Saint Nicholas showed such loving generosity to three girls, that this deed is still remembered today. This account of Nicholas’ action is also from “The Life of St Nicholas”. It is long, but I think worth hearing in full.
 
 There was a certain man among those who were recently famous and well-born, and he was a neighbor, his home being next to Nicholas'. Owing to the plotting and envy of Satan, who always has a grudge against those who prefer to live a life in accord with God, this man was squeezed by great poverty and lack of resources. He had gone from being well-off to extreme indigence. He had three daughters who were both shapely and very attractive to the eye, and he was willing to station them in a brothel so that he might thereby acquire the necessities of life for himself and his household. For no man among the lordly or powerful deigned to marry them lawfully, and even among the lower-classes and those who owned the least bit of something there was no one well-minded enough to do this. And so the man looked away from his salvation and, as it were, fainted at the thought of prevailing upon God with persistence and prayer. By this logic he came to assent to situating his daughters in the abyss of such dishonor.. But the Lord who loves humankind, who never wishes his own creation to become hostage to sin, sent him a holy angel —I mean the godlike Nicholas —both to rescue him, along with his whole household, from poverty and destruction, and to restore readily his previous prosperity. For when he learned of the situation, the man who was and who was proven to be the all-honored and truly faithful steward of the Lord pondered in his mind this advice of Solomon's that is full of help: "God loves a person who is a cheerful giver"and "The one who pities a beggar is himself nurtured". And again: "Provide good things before God and humankind". And that one from the same place that is apt in various ways: "Save those who are led away to death". By the expenditure and very generous donation of his own money, Nicholas became a most ready resource for their defense, and he saved them, though they were already being led away to a death of profligacy.. But behold the righteous man’s understanding and the manner of his charity, and wonder greatly at how unassuming his virtue was. Or rather, emulate him most eagerly in order that you, too, may be shown mercy, having great need of the kindness of God, since “He who is merciful will be shown mercy,”according to the Lord’s saying. 

The true model of purity and author of sympathy, Nicholas, wishing to use his own money to help the man, and to lead him with his daughters away from the shameful and dishonorable deed which had, in truth, already been decided for them –what does he do?He does not appear to him in person or speak about a gift or any other type of relief, thereby freeing him from shame while at the same time very carefully taking the trouble not to trumpet his own charity. After hurling a bag containing a large amount of gold into the house through the window at night, he quickly hastened home. 

When the man who had been shown this mercy found the bag when it had become day, he was seized with joy and with ungovernable tears and gave thanks to God with amazement and astonishment, wondering in himself where so great a blessing had come to him from. The father of the girls, after receiving this bride-price in the belief it had been provided to them from God, and considering that the godsend was a sufficient contribution for a dowry, without delay contrived a marriage for his first daughter, having acquired for her an honorable life with joy and pleasure granted by the mediation of saint Nicholas.

When Nicholas, the man of God and benefactor who was generous in his charity, looked and saw that his beneficence had resulted in a good and saving deed, when the young woman’s marriage-rite had passed, he threw another bag of gold, equal to the previous one, through the same window later at night, and hastily went to his own home. .As daybreak was dawning, the father,after shaking off the torpor of sleep, unexpectedly found this gift of gold. He fixed his face on the ground, giving prayers of thanksgiving to God with groans (as is reasonable), unable to wholly open his mouth to him because he was struck dumb at the doubling of his kindness. With cries of prayers that were only in his heart and unuttered, he said “Show me, O merciful Master, your angel among men, who has recently been proven kind to be good to us.Show me who the person is, who is seasoning for us this rich feast of yours, and what type of person he is who is ministering the wealth of your immeasurable goodness to us who are lowly, through whom, beyond hope, you saved us from spiritual death, sin, and from our calamitous poverty. For behold, through your inexpressible help, I am giving my other daughter in lawful marriage and am freeing her from the impiety which we formerly practiced because of our unexpected desperation, glorifying your all-holy name and exalting your unending goodness toward us who are unworthy.”

Accordingly, after the father yoked his other daughter in the same way as his previous daughter and shared in the gifts of God through his servant Nicholas, he vigilantly and attentively stayed awake the following nights, confidently expecting that the person who had secretly furnished such money for her sisters would provide the dowry for his third daughter; for then he would get hold of him so long as, at any rate, he didn’t elude him when he entered 

the house , by falling asleep. As the man was meditating on these matters and staying awake with great effort, the worshiper of the Trinity, and of one member of the Holy Trinity, Christ, our true God, the servant Nicholas appeared. And again, at his usual point late at night, in order escort the man’s third daughter as he had done to the others, he threw in through the same window a gift of gold similar to the ones he had previously thrown in, and withdrew quietly from the place.But the father perceived his arrival because of the gift of gold that fell into the house, and, going quickly from the house, overtook thesaint at a run. When he recognized who he was, he threw himself face-first at his feet with cries, and gave thanks to him over and over with many words and called him his and his three daughters’ savior, after God, and said, “If our common Master, Christ,hadn’t stirred your goodness, we would have long ago destroyed our own lives by a shameful and destructive livelihood. But as it is, the Lord has saved us through you, most blessed one, and rescued us from the filth of immorality. And so we ought, like adebt, to give thanks to you all of our days, because you stretched out a hand of help to us and caused the poor to rise from the ground and raised the destitute up from a dunghill through your generous and truly wonderful gift.” When saint Nicholas heard these words, he raised him up from the ground and, binding him by on oath not to make any of these blessings, of which he had thought him worthy, known to anyone for as long as he should live, he let him go in peace. 

O the compassion of the holy man toward the needy! O the beneficial and beautiful purpose of all-blessed Nicholas! The care of his good-natured soul revealed in visible form a model of our Savior Christ’s compassion toward us. He showed a shepherd’s consideration toward those who were sick in soul
 

***
At some point after this, he is appointed bishop. He is known as a humble and loving leader for the church in Myra, and also a staunch advocate of Christian truth against the attacks of heretics. In St. Nicholas’ time, the Arian heresy was very influential, in the fourth century there were even Roman emperors who were Arian. The Arians believed that Jesus was merely a created being, subordinate to God the father. Through the efforts of St. Nicholas, and other faithful leaders of the church, this heresy was defeated, and exists today only in the beliefs of some small fringe groups. St Nicholas was a zealous defender of true Christian doctrine. So much so, that he is renowned to have punched Arius in the first ecunemical council, which convened to discuss the Arian controversy. This account is from the website of the Orthodox Church of America:
 
In the year 325 Saint Nicholas was a participant in the First Ecumenical Council. This Council proclaimed the Nicean Symbol of Faith, and he stood up against the heretic Arius with the likes of Saints Sylvester the Bishop of Rome (January 2), Alexander of Alexandria (May 29), Spyridon of Trimythontos (December 12) and other Fathers of the Council. 

Saint Nicholas, fired with zeal for the Lord, assailed the heretic Arius with his words, and also struck him upon the face. For this reason, he was deprived of the emblems of his episcopal rank and placed under guard. But several of the holy Fathers had the same vision, seeing the Lord Himself and the Mother of God returning to him the Gospel and omophorion (this is the Bishop’s vestment, which symbolized the authority of a Bishop). The Fathers of the Council agreed that the audacity of the saint was pleasing to God, and restored the saint to the office of bishop. 
 
 ***

St. Nicholas is also renowned as a miracle-worker, and since Myra was an important port back in his day, many of his miracles involved sailors and ships. Which is why he is known today as the patron saint of sailors. Here is one such account, again from Michael the Archamandrite’s life of Nicholas:

some sailors, who were once sailing across the sea, when a mighty swell and storm suddenly arose against them by the plotting of a very fierce wind, saw that they were going to be altogether and completely subjected to a most inevitable danger of death. At length they remembered saint Nicholas and called to him by name for aid. Our holy father, who is quick to hear those who call to him in misfortunes with contrition, appeared to them by God’s order in the very hour of their distress and said to them, “Behold, you have called me, and I am hereto help you.” And so, being seen by the sailors as strengthening them and emboldening them and assisting them and enduring with them at every part of the boat, that is, with the ropes and poles, he thus, with God’s help, saved them from the danger and, after guarding them closely, restored them to a calm anchorage. .After the sailors disembarked from the ship, they inquired with desire and faith after the person who saved them from a most miserable death, and wished to pay him honor with their gratitude. After learning that he was in the church, they went there to see him, and after seeing that the holy teacher of Christ was unadornedand that he had entered like one of the many clergy, they who had not seen this man before recognized him without any intermediary, recognizing the appearance of the saint by his manifestation and help on their ship. After slowly approaching him, they fell at his feet, giving him thank-offerings and reporting to him how he had appeared to them at their first call when they were sailing and how by his assistance he had released them from that fearful and harmful trouble.
 
 ***

St Nicholas’ day is celebrated on November 6, and is a particularly important Saints’ day in many parts of the world. Children receive gifts in stockings to commemorate that story of St Nicholas’ generosity to the three girls (since one version of that has him put the money in their stockings, instead of throwing it in their window). The Dutch pronounciation of his name, Sinter Klass, morphed into Santa Claus in the United States, a character who lives in the North Pole and travels the world on Christmas eve on a sleigh pulled by reindeer giving presents to children.

 

There are a lot of Christians who are unhappy with how this character of Santa Claus dominates the Christmas season, because of how he detracts attention from the birth of Jesus Christ, or how he encourages in children a materialistic desire for presents. These are very understandable concerns, but at the same time I am thankful how a kernel of the true St Nicholas exists within the character of Santa Claus, and even in households that do not worship Christ or recognize the saints, celebrate, in a way, the Christlike act of kindness, charity and love that St Nicholas of Myra showed to the children of his day, all those centuries ago.

On St Nicholas’ day, the Anglicans pray this collect:
 
Grant, Almighty God, that your church may be so inspired by the example of your servant Nicholas of Myra, that it may never cease to work for the welfare of children, the safety of sailors, the relief of the poor, and the help of those tossed by tempests of doubt or grief; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

And the Eastern Christians pray this troparion on that day (or on Nov 13, if they use the Julian calendar): 
 
 The sincerity of your deeds has revealed you to your people
 as a teacher of moderation, a model of faith, and an example of virtue. Therefore, you attained greatness through humility, and wealth through poverty. O Father and Archbishop Nicholas, ask Christ to save our souls.
 
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Christian Saints podcast. Look for our page on Facebook or Instagram, or look for us on Twitter at podcast_saints. All music in this episode was composed by my good friend, James John Marks of Generative sounds. In this episode I quoted several times from the “Life of Saint Nicholas” by Archamandrite Michael. The translation I used was by John Quinn and Bryson Sewell. To end this episode, I once again go to the “life of St Nicholas” 
 
 Appearing to us as the brightest dawn of piety and the epitome of the wondrous stars, Nicholas, the holy hierarch of Christ, trains everyone to give praise to God. As we annually commemorate him, he illuminates the way ahead of us like a light-filled beam of the sun of justice, casting the radiance of his virtues like gold-gleaming rays. Moreover, he stirs lovers of the poor, and indeed those who love Christ and those who pardon humanity, to celebrate his memory with psalmody and with hymns and, by the example he set, with mercy for those in need and, through this, to purify themselves in anticipation of sojourning with us of the divine Word made flesh of the holy Virgin. For I think there is no believer throughout the world who has not found him a help in danger and a keen ally amid various troubles. For this reason every tongue that reverences him in Christ hastens, as a debtor, to honor him with song and is roused to have him as an advocate before God.