The Life
St. Nicholas is probably the most universally beloved saint in the world. Long before Christmas tradition turned his name into Santa Claus, he was a real bishop in a small city on the south coast of what is now Turkey, and he loved his people — and the poor, and the wronged, and the sailors, and the children — with such tenderness that the whole Church has loved him back ever since. Sixteen centuries later, Orthodox Christians still call on him every single day, and miracles still happen.
Nicholas’s parents, Theophanes and Nonna, were Christians who had prayed for a child for many years. When little Nicholas was finally born, his mother was healed of her illness in the very moment of his birth. At his baptism, he stood on his own two feet for three hours in the font, honoring the Holy Trinity — and he was just a baby. From his earliest days, on Wednesdays and Fridays he would not nurse from his mother until evening, keeping the fast even before he could speak. The Lord had set him aside from the very beginning.
When Nicholas was a young priest in Patara, an once-wealthy man in the city had fallen into terrible poverty. He had three daughters and no money for their dowries, and in his desperation he had decided to sell them into prostitution. Nicholas heard about it. That night, in secret, he came to the man’s house and threw a bag of gold through the window. The father wept with relief and arranged a marriage for his oldest daughter. The next night Nicholas came back and threw a second bag for the second daughter. And the third night, a third bag. The man had run to the window to see who his benefactor was. He fell at the Saint’s feet, begging to thank him, and Nicholas asked him only to tell no one. This is how he gave alms his entire life.
Nicholas made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. On the voyage he warned the captain that a great storm was coming. When the wind rose and the ship was about to be lost, the terrified passengers begged him to pray. He prayed, the sea calmed, and they were saved. A sailor who had fallen from the mast and was dying, Nicholas raised back to health. From that day to this, every Greek and Russian sailor knows his name. Drowning men have called on him in the worst moments of their lives, all over the world, and he has come.
When the old archbishop of Myra died, the bishops gathering to choose his successor were divided. One of the elder bishops prayed, and an angel appeared to him in a dream and said: the next archbishop will be the first man who comes to the church for prayer in the morning, and his name will be Nicholas. The bishop went to the church gate and waited. Nicholas, who always rose first to pray, came up the path. The bishop stopped him and asked his name. "My name is Nicholas, master, and I am your servant." That is how he became archbishop. He never asked for it. He never wanted it. The Lord simply gave it to him.
In the year 325, all the bishops of the Christian world were summoned by the Emperor Constantine to a great council at Nicaea, to settle the question of who Jesus Christ truly is. A heretic named Arius was teaching that Christ was a creature, not the eternal Son of God. Nicholas was there. When he heard Arius blaspheme the Lord he loved, he was so overcome with zeal that he struck Arius across the face. The other bishops were shocked and stripped Nicholas of his episcopal vestments. But that night, several of them had the same dream: the Lord himself and the Mother of God were giving Nicholas back his Gospel and his vestments. The bishops understood: the Lord had been pleased with him. They restored Nicholas, and the Council went on to give us the Creed we still confess every Sunday.
Nicholas saved the city of Myra from a terrible famine by appearing in a dream to an Italian merchant whose ship was carrying grain, telling him to sail to Myra. He saved three condemned men by stepping in front of the executioner’s sword and stopping the blow with his own hand. He appeared in a dream to the Emperor Constantine to save three innocent military officers from execution. He brought drowned children back to life. There is no end to the stories. Every Orthodox parish has them. He is still doing it. The Church has the testimony of contemporary believers in our own time who have called on him and seen him answer.
This is what people said about Nicholas while he was still alive. Just to look at him was to feel the burden lift. We can still experience this when we venerate his icon. The Lord has not stopped giving his peace through his Saint.
These are the words the Lord gave us about giving. Nicholas obeyed them so literally and so joyfully that he is now famous all over the world for the things he did in secret.
Nicholas reached great old age and reposed peacefully. His relics were preserved incorrupt and began to flow with sweet-smelling myrrh, which healed many who came to venerate them. In 1087, his relics were translated to Bari in Italy, where they remain to this day, still flowing with myrrh that the Catholic monks of the basilica there gather and distribute to the faithful. Right hand to Romania, left arm to Rimini, fragments to Russia, to Greece, to monasteries throughout the Christian world — his relics are everywhere because his prayers are everywhere. He is one of the most active intercessors in heaven.
There is no Orthodox Christian, anywhere, who does not have St. Nicholas as a friend. Russian, Greek, Antiochian, Serbian, Romanian, American, African — he loves us all the same way. He is famous for never refusing those who ask his help. The Church has all kinds of stories of people in trouble — financial ruin, illness, lost children, marriages on the edge — who called on him with even a small faith and were astonished by what he did. He is in heaven now, alive in Christ, and he loves you. You can call on him today.