Commemorated on December 6
Saint Nicholas, the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia is
famed as a great saint pleasing unto God. He was born in the city of
Patara in the region of Lycia (on the south coast of the Asia Minor
peninsula), and was the only son of pious parents Theophanes and Nonna,
who had vowed to dedicate him to God.
As the fruit of the prayer
of his childless parents, the infant Nicholas from the very day of his
birth revealed to people the light of his future glory as a
wonderworker. His mother, Nonna, after giving birth was immediately
healed from illness. The newborn infant, while still in the baptismal
font, stood on his feet three hours, without support from anyone,
thereby honoring the Most Holy Trinity. St Nicholas from his infancy
began a life of fasting, and on Wednesdays and Fridays he would not
accept milk from his mother until after his parents had finished their
evening prayers.
From his childhood Nicholas thrived on the study
of Divine Scripture; by day he would not leave church, and by night he
prayed and read books, making himself a worthy dwelling place for the
Holy Spirit. Bishop Nicholas of Patara rejoiced at the spiritual success
and deep piety of his nephew. He ordained him a reader, and then
elevated Nicholas to the priesthood, making him his assistant and
entrusting him to instruct the flock.
In serving the Lord the
youth was fervent of spirit, and in his proficiency with questions of
faith he was like an Elder, who aroused the wonder and deep respect of
believers. Constantly at work and vivacious, in unceasing prayer, the
priest Nicholas displayed great kind-heartedness towards the flock, and
towards the afflicted who came to him for help, and he distributed all
his inheritance to the poor.
There was a certain formerly rich
inhabitant of Patara, whom St Nicholas saved from great sin. The man had
three grown daughters, and in desperation he planned to sell their
bodies so they would have money for food. The saint, learning of the
man’s poverty and of his wicked intention, secretly visited him one
night and threw a sack of gold through the window. With the money the
man arranged an honorable marriage for his daughter. St Nicholas also
provided gold for the other daughters, thereby saving the family from
falling into spiritual destruction. In bestowing charity, St Nicholas
always strove to do this secretly and to conceal his good deeds.
The
Bishop of Patara decided to go on pilgrimage to the holy places at
Jerusalem, and entrusted the guidance of his flock to St Nicholas, who
fulfilled this obedience carefully and with love. When the bishop
returned, Nicholas asked his blessing for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Along the way the saint predicted a storm would arise and threaten the
ship. St Nicholas saw the devil get on the ship, intending to sink it
and kill all the passengers. At the entreaty of the despairing pilgrims,
he calmed the waves of the sea by his prayers. Through his prayer a
certain sailor of the ship, who had fallen from the mast and was
mortally injured was also restored to health.
When he reached the
ancient city of Jerusalem and came to Golgotha, St Nicholas gave thanks
to the Savior. He went to all the holy places, worshiping at each one.
One night on Mount Sion, the closed doors of the church opened by
themselves for the great pilgrim. Going round the holy places connected
with the earthly service of the Son of God, St Nicholas decided to
withdraw into the desert, but he was stopped by a divine voice urging
him to return to his native country. He returned to Lycia, and yearning
for a life of quietude, the saint entered into the brotherhood of a
monastery named Holy Sion, which had been founded by his uncle. But the
Lord again indicated another path for him, “Nicholas, this is not the
vineyard where you shall bear fruit for Me. Return to the world, and
glorify My Name there.” So he left Patara and went to Myra in Lycia.
Upon
the death of Archbishop John, Nicholas was chosen as Bishop of Myra
after one of the bishops of the Council said that a new archbishop
should be revealed by God, not chosen by men. One of the elder bishops
had a vision of a radiant Man, Who told him that the one who came to the
church that night and was first to enter should be made archbishop. He
would be named Nicholas. The bishop went to the church at night to await
Nicholas. The saint, always the first to arrive at church, was stopped
by the bishop. “What is your name, child?” he asked. God’s chosen one
replied, “My name is Nicholas, Master, and I am your servant.”
After
his consecration as archbishop, St Nicholas remained a great ascetic,
appearing to his flock as an image of gentleness, kindness and love for
people. This was particularly precious for the Lycian Church during the
persecution of Christians under the emperor Diocletian (284-305). Bishop
Nicholas, locked up in prison together with other Christians for
refusing to worship idols, sustained them and exhorted them to endure
the fetters, punishment and torture. The Lord preserved him unharmed.
Upon the accession of St Constantine (May 21) as emperor, St Nicholas
was restored to his flock, which joyfully received their guide and
intercessor.
Despite his great gentleness of spirit and purity of
heart, St Nicholas was a zealous and ardent warrior of the Church of
Christ. Fighting evil spirits, the saint made the rounds of the pagan
temples and shrines in the city of Myra and its surroundings, shattering
the idols and turning the temples to dust.
In the year 325 St
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 Sts Sylvester the Bishop of Rome
(January 2), Alexander of Alexandria (May 29), Spyridon of Trimythontos
(December 12) and other Fathers of the Council.
St 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. 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.
Having returned
to his own diocese, the saint brought it peace and blessings, sowing the
word of Truth, uprooting heresy, nourishing his flock with sound
doctrine, and also providing food for their bodies.
Even during
his life the saint worked many miracles. One of the greatest was the
deliverance from death of three men unjustly condemned by the Governor,
who had been bribed. The saint boldly went up to the executioner and
took his sword, already suspended over the heads of the condemned. The
Governor, denounced by St Nicholas for his wrong doing, repented and
begged for forgiveness.
Witnessing this remarkable event were
three military officers, who were sent to Phrygia by the emperor
Constantine to put down a rebellion. They did not suspect that soon they
would also be compelled to seek the intercession of St Nicholas. Evil
men slandered them before the emperor, and the officers were sentenced
to death. Appearing to St Constantine in a dream, St Nicholas called on
him to overturn the unjust sentence of the military officers.
He
worked many other miracles, and struggled many long years at his labor.
Through the prayers of the saint, the city of Myra was rescued from a
terrible famine. He appeared to a certain Italian merchant and left him
three gold pieces as a pledge of payment. He requested him to sail to
Myra and deliver grain there. More than once, the saint saved those
drowning in the sea, and provided release from captivity and
imprisonment.
Having reached old age, St Nicholas peacefully fell
asleep in the Lord. His venerable relics were preserved incorrupt in
the local cathedral church and flowed with curative myrrh, from which
many received healing. In the year 1087, his relics were transferred to
the Italian city of Bari, where they rest even now (See May 9).
The
name of the great saint of God, the hierarch and wonderworker Nicholas,
a speedy helper and suppliant for all hastening to him, is famed in
every corner of the earth, in many lands and among many peoples. In
Russia there are a multitude of cathedrals, monasteries and churches
consecrated in his name. There is, perhaps, not a single city without a
church dedicated to him.
The first Russian Christian prince
Askold (+ 882) was baptized in 866 by Patriarch Photius (February 6)
with the name Nicholas. Over the grave of Askold, St Olga (July 11)
built the first temple of St Nicholas in the Russian Church at Kiev.
Primary cathedrals were dedicated to St Nicholas at Izborsk, Ostrov,
Mozhaisk, and Zaraisk. At Novgorod the Great, one of the main churches
of the city, the Nikolo-Dvorischensk church, later became a cathedral.
Famed
and venerable churches and monasteries dedicated to St Nicholas are
found at Kiev, Smolensk, Pskov, Toropetsa, Galich, Archangelsk, Great
Ustiug, Tobolsk. Moscow had dozens of churches named for the saint, and
also three monasteries in the Moscow diocese: the Nikolo-Greek (Staryi)
in the Chinese-quarter, the Nikolo-Perervinsk and the Nikolo-Ugreshsk.
One of the chief towers of the Kremlin was named the Nikolsk.
Many
of the churches devoted to the saint were those established at market
squares by Russian merchants, sea-farers and those who traveled by land,
venerating the wonderworker Nicholas as a protector of all those
journeying on dry land and sea. They sometimes received the name among
the people of “Nicholas soaked.”
Many village churches in Russia
were dedicated to the wonderworker Nicholas, venerated by peasants as a
merciful intercessor before the Lord for all the people in their work.
And in the Russian land St Nicholas did not cease his intercession.
Ancient Kiev preserves the memory about the miraculous rescue of a
drowning infant by the saint. The great wonderworker, hearing the
grief-filled prayers of the parents for the loss of their only child,
took the infant from the waters, revived him and placed him in the
choir-loft of the church of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) before his
wonderworking icon. In the morning the infant was found safe by his
thrilled parents, praising St Nicholas the Wonderworker.
Many
wonderworking icons of St Nicholas appeared in Russia and came also from
other lands. There is the ancient Byzantine embordered image of the
saint, brought to Moscow from Novgorod, and the large icon painted in
the thirteenth century by a Novgorod master.
Two depictions of
the wonderworker are especially numerous in the Russian Church: St
Nicholas of Zaraisk, portrayed in full-length, with his right hand
raised in blessing and with a Gospel (this image was brought to Ryazan
in 1225 by the Byzantine Princess Eupraxia, the future wife of Prince
Theodore. She perished in 1237 with her husband and infant son during
the incursion of Batu); and St Nicholas of Mozhaisk, also in full
stature, with a sword in his right hand and a city in his left. This
recalls the miraculous rescue of the city of Mozhaisk from an invasion
of enemies, through the prayers of the saint. It is impossible to list
all the grace-filled icons of St Nicholas, or to enumerate all his
miracles.
St Nicholas is the patron of travelers, and we pray to
him for deliverance from floods, poverty, or any misfortunes. He has
promised to help those who remember his parents, Theophanes and Nonna.
St Nicholas is also commemorated on May 9 (The transfer of his relics) and on July 29 (his nativity).
TROPARION - TONE 4
In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith, / an image
of humility and a teacher of abstinence; / your humility exalted you; /
your poverty enriched you. / Hierarch Father Nicholas, / entreat Christ
our God / that our souls may be saved.
KONTAKION - TONE 3
You revealed yourself, O saint, in Myra as a priest, / For you fulfilled
the Gospel of Christ / By giving up your soul for your people, / And
saving the innocent from death. / Therefore you are blessed as one
become wise in the grace of God.
SOURCE:
SAINT OR FEAST POSTED THIS DATE 2015(with 2014's link here also and further: 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 and even 2007!):