Tomorrow (Tuesday, December 6th) is the Feast Day of Saint Nicholas of Myra, known as "The Wonder-worker" because of the miracles attributed to him, both during his lifetime and after his repose in the Lord.
I love Saint Nicholas, but I must confess to being disturbed by the way he's been overlooked, forgotten and almost entirely eclipsed by his modern name's sake, Santa Claus.
Not that I have anything against dear old Santa. I love the kid's excitement when they see him (and I think Fort Saskatchewan’s resident "Santa" is one of the best!), but, let's admit it, Santa Claus today means whatever people want him to mean! The changes in what Santa has represented and stood for over the past century could make an interesting study about how a society's values and beliefs change. Today's Santa reflects today's values - not yesterday’s. And I suspect that in the next generation he will be "re-invented" to reflect those values and beliefs!
How unlike this was Saint Nicholas. Nicholas was real, and would never have dreamed of changing what he stood for. In fact, the real "Santa" - Bishop Nicholas of Myra - was imprisoned and tortured because he refused to go along with the prevailing values of his day and age. He was a Christian's Christian, if you know what I mean! He refused to compromise on the things he knew to be true, even when everyone else, it seemed, was going the opposite direction. He refused to compromise on the Christian Faith no matter what the cost.
Many of us may remember the story of three poor girls and how Bishop Nicholas secretly placed gold coins in their stockings as they hung on the line drying after being washed.
But few of us know how he spent long years in prison, hungry, beaten and humiliated. Few of us know how he grew so incensed that someone (a charistmatic fellow named Arius) could tell lies about His Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, that at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD he not only verbally assailed Arius, but punched him in the nose! His fellow bishops (many of whom had also suffered persecution for Christ's sake) were so distressed that Nicholas had resorted to violence that they stripped him of the emblems of his office as bishop and expelled him from the council. But that night many of them had a vision in which they saw the Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Mother presenting Nicholas with a book of the Gospels, an omophorion (bishop's stole) and staff - the very emblems the bishops had taken from him that afternoon.
Nicholas' position concerning the liar Arius prevailed and after the Council he spent the rest of his life teaching the Faith to others and correcting the errors that people had fallen into. He was generous with all he had – some might say overly generous – often leaving himself with nothing to live on (which is perhaps the root of the idea of Santa giving gifts).
Perhaps tomorrow you might like to tell your kids or grandkids about what a great fellow this Santa really is, and how hanging out in malls and shopping centres is just - let's say it's his "day job", while his real love is for Jesus and the Christian Faith and his real “job” is interceding for the salvation of souls!
Sf Nicolaie roagate lui Hristos Dumnezeu si mijloceste pentru noi pacatosi Amin.
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