Holy Father Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra
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Saint Nicholas is one of the most popular of all Saints in the East, and there are countless stories that tell of his generosity and intercession for children, especially children who are poor, orphaned, subject to abuse or kidnapped; all of the poor; sailors and those at sea; those who have been falsely accused or imprisoned; lawyers; pharmacists; shoemakers; merchants; woodcarvers – and thieves! His relics repose in the Italian port city of Bari, at the opposite end of the Mediterranean Sea from his old eparchy, Myra, in Turkey. His bones still give off myrrh, a crystalline substance that pours out and is collected in small bottles.
Such is his fame and importance that every iconostas in every church that uses the Byzantine rite, Catholic or Orthodox, must have his icon at the north end of the screen. Nicholas is the special patron of our own Byzantine-Ruthenian Catholic Church. The center of monastic life and the residence of the bishops of our Church was the monastery of Saint Nicholas in the town of Mukachevo, for at least 900 years.
We know that Nicholas was born in a Christian family around the year 280 in the province of Lycia in what is now southwestern Turkey, in the town of Patara. He became the bishop of the busy port city of Myra, now called Demre. He lived through the last persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, that of Diocletian, one which was especially violent and bloody. We know from Roman records that Lycia was one of those territories where all bishops and priests were imprisoned, and many atrocities were carried out in the years 303-311. This was so bad that, when the first ecumenical council was convened in 325, witnesses described the assembled bishops as men who all showed signs of brutal torture: amputated legs or arms or hands, eyes gouged out, terrible scars from whips. We do not know what injuries Nicholas might have borne, but we do know from the volume of testimony about him that he deeply loved our Lord Jesus Christ. His almost complete skeleton is in Italy – moved there after the Muslims took Myra and converted the cathedral into a mosque. These bones show that he was barely five feet tall, and he had a broken nose – possibly a sign of other tortures.
Arianism became very popular. To combat this, Emperor Constantine the Great summoned the First Ecumenical Council in 325, in the town of Nicaea. This Council codified the Creed which we use today at Divine Liturgy, and upheld the orthodox position that the Word is coeternal with the Father. Nicholas’ name appears on the oldest Greek list of attending bishops and on five different lists of the bishops who attended the council – it would be an easy voyage by sea from Myra to Constantinople and then to the suburb of Nicaea.
According to legend, St Nicholas was at this council, and was so angered by Arius’ teachings that he slapped Arius in the face. At this, Nicholas was removed not just from the Council and put into prison, but also from his role as bishop! However, Jesus and Mary came to Nicholas in his cell, and asked him why he was in prison again. He replied, “Out of love for you”, and Jesus gave back the Gospel book to Nicholas, and Mary gave him the white pallium to put back around his neck as bishop. This miracle is shown in most icons of the saint, which he wears his episcopal crown and is flanked by Our Lord and Our Lady. In another version, all of the bishops see this happen in their dreams on the same night. When the bishops and Constantine heard of this, Nicholas was restored as bishop of Myra, where he died in 343. Churches dedicated to Nicholas were built within sixty years of his death, showing the rapid spread of devotion to him as a saint in the Roman Empire and beyond.