St Nicholas the Wonderworker and Bishop of Myra

On 6 November we commemorate the feast of St Nicholas the Wonderworker (Mar Zakhyo in Syriac) The idea of Santa Claus developed from the life of St Nicholas.

We know from Syriac Church history that St Nicholas lived in the third and fourth centuries. His parents were devout and had been childless. When St Nicholas was born they gave thanks and dedicated him to God.

From his childhood he focused on studies of the Scripture and when he grew up he chose to be a priest. He quickly gained fame for his kind-heartedness towards the flock and those who were afflicted. He distributed all his inheritance to the poor. Eventually he was selected as Bishop of Myra. As Bishop he continued to be an image of gentleness, kindness and love towards people. He sowed the word of Truth, and worked to heal those who had fallen astray.

 

One of his most popular acts of charity related to a poor man who was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters to marry them. The man was considering selling his daughters into prostitution so they would not die of hunger. In order to avoid the family falling into sin, St Nicholas secretly tossed a bag of gold through the poor man’s window on three separate occasions. The third time the man was watching and he found out it was the kind bishop St. Nicholas. The man bowed down at St Nicholas’s feet and thanked him because he had saved his daughters from poverty and from a life of sin. St Nicholas refused to accept any thanks and asked them to thank the Lord who had put the thought in his heart.

St Nicholas’s act of giving saved the family from spiritual destruction. That is what the true spirit of Christian giving is about. Instead of judging the father, St Nicholas worked to understand the reasons why he might fall into sin and worked to help him and his daughters avoid sin.

This Christmas, which Santa Claus are we going to teach our children about? The modern secular Santa Claus who is about excess, commercialization, promotion and selling of products? Are we going to teach them about receiving rather than giving? Or are we going to teach them about the real Santa Claus, St Nicholas, who through his works and giving helped heal the sinners and the sick, welcomed and helped the poor, but most importantly did not judge others, but gave so that others might avoid sin.