“… the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins …”
Two days of observance in the Church calendar have come together this year. It doesn’t happen very often, but today we are observing both the Second Sunday of Advent and the Feast of St. Nicholas. Normally, if a saint’s commemoration falls on a Sunday, the day is moved on the calendar; however, I felt it was particularly appropriate to observe St. Nicholas Day and keep it on December 6th. I did, however, retain the readings for the second Sunday in Advent. At first glance, it might seem a strange contrast to have John the Baptist preaching a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” and talk about St. Nicholas too. However, the Greek word for repentance is metanoia meaning to change one’s thinking or change your mind. If our observance of St. Nicholas Day today can bring about a change of mind about who Nicholas really is, then I believe we will have a clearer understanding of both the saint we honor and the significance of the coming of Christ at Christmas.
At this time of year, we hear much about St. Nicholas. “Jolly old St. Nicholas, lean your ear this way. Don’t you tell a single soul what I’m going to say. Christmas Eve is coming soon, now you dear old man, whisper what you’ll bring to me, tell me if you can.” “His eyes - how they twinkled! His dimples how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry! His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, and the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;” “He had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.” Our culture has plenty of images of St. Nicholas but what do they have to do with the real person? Well … absolutely nothing! Popular culture has woven an image and embellished the story of St. Nicholas to the point where he’s barely recognizable – in essence, St. Nicholas has been hijacked and I think it’s time the Church takes him back!
The true story of St. Nicholas begins in the village of Pantara on the southern coast of what is now Turkey in the late third century. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus’ words to “sell what you own and give the money to the poor,” Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Myra is mentioned once in the Bible in the 27th chapter of Acts where Luke tells of Paul’s journey to Rome and says, “After we had sailed across the open sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we put in at Myra in Lycia.” Bishop Nicholas became known throughout region of Lycia for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and as Myra was a safe harbor along a rocky coastline he is also known for his concern for sailors and ships.
Under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who ruthlessly persecuted Christians, Bishop Nicholas suffered for his faith, was exiled and imprisoned. When the Emperor Constantine came to power and halted the persecution of Christians in 313, Nicholas was released from prison.
Being a bishop in Myra in the early part of the fourth century, he no doubt encountered the Arian controversy – a view which was eventually deemed heretical that Jesus was not divine, but was only human. There is evidence he attended the Council of Nicaea in 325 which would take up the Arian controversy and led to the writing of the Nicene Creed. There is a source which tells of Nicholas losing his temper at the Council of Nicaea. Nicholas was so angry at an advocate of Arianism that, overcome by apostolic zeal, he struck his opponent (there is a fresco of this incident at the Soumela Monastery in Turkey). Not everyone appreciated this blow for Arianism, and the presidency of the Council decided that Nicholas was no longer allowed to wear the ornaments of a bishop. Therefore, Nicholas is shown without mitre on Greek icons. The fact that this embarrassing anecdote survives lends it some credibility and causes us to remember that Nicholas was very human. After all, how would you like to remembered: for being generous or smacking your opposition?
Nicholas died December 6, 343 in Myra and was buried in his cathedral church. In 1087, after the village of Myra fell under the control of the Muslim Saracens, his remains were transported to Bari, Italy where he was buried in the Basilica of St. Nicholas.
Many of the legends surrounding St. Nicholas come to us through oral tradition. One enduring story tells of a poor man with three daughters. In those days a young woman’s father had to offer her prospective husband something of value—a dowry. The larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. This poor man’s daughters had no dowries and were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home-providing the needed dowries. The bags of gold were said to have been tossed through an open window. As the story of Nicholas moved into northern climates, where windows would be covered by December 6th, the story was modified to say that Nicholas tossed the bags of gold down the … chimney.
The story of Nicholas’ generosity and the other legends which grew up around him captured the imagination of the Church to the point that by the middle ages, he was as well known as Jesus and the Virgin Mary. In England, over 400 churches bore his name and while the Reformation attempted to remove the veneration of saints from the church, it couldn’t quite get rid of St. Nicholas. As our ancestors came to America, they brought stories of him under the name of Pere Noel, San Nicola, and Sinter Klaas … the latter of which would be morphed into the name Santa Claus.
The true story of St. Nicholas tells of a devout man whose aim in life was not to point to himself, but rather to Jesus Christ. He would be shocked and dismayed to see how our popular culture turned him into the focus of Christmas rather than the Christ child. One definition of Sin is to “miss the mark.” We miss the mark if we make Santa Claus and gift giving the sole focus of Christmas. From this we are called to repent – to change our minds. St. Nicholas, beloved and revered for centuries by the Church, lived a life marked by compassion and generosity which reflected the Light of Jesus Christ. To reclaim St. Nicholas for the Church and celebrate his feast day today, rightly changes our hearts and minds so that we may prepare ourselves for the real gift of Christmas – the gift of God’s only Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
