St. Nicholas, the other story
Posted on Saturday, December 18, 2004
He was known by many names — Pere Noel in France Father Christmas in England — and the Dutch knew him as Sinter Klass. In America, he is Santa Claus or good ol’ St. Nick. But who was this man and how did stories of the generous saint evolve into the legend of Santa Claus? St. Nicholas was probably born in the third or fourth century in Lycia in Asia Minor. The son of noble parents, Nicholas learned the importance of generosity from his mother and father, says the Rev. John Finley, director of the department of Missions and Evangelism of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in Santa Barbara, Calif. "They had been childless and prayed to God to give them a son, and they even distributed large amounts of their estate to the poor before he was born in order to keep their hearts soft to God.
"This was the spirit of generosity he was born into and that his parents taught him," Finley says.
One of the most popular stories about St. Nicholas and his generosity involves a formerly wealthy man facing a terrible decision, Finley relates.
The man had lost his fortune and was contemplating putting his daughters up for prostitution in order to feed the family.
When Nicholas heard about the man and his predicament he wanted to help end the poverty and also help the daughters. In secret, he began giving them money.
"As the story goes, he would go out at midnight or deep in the night, and would toss a bag of gold coins through the window," Finley says.
The man found the coins and thanked God, and soon married off his first daughter. Nicholas tossed another bag through the window, and the man again rejoiced and thanked God and married off his second daughter, Finley says.
But the man was curious about his secret benefactor.
"He decided he would hide in the house and try to catch the person," Finley says."When the third bag came in he ran outside and chased Nicholas down. "
Finley says St. Nicholas asked the man not to tell anyone what had happened.
"He didn’t keep the promise, and the whole world knows," Finley says.
As the legend goes, the bags of coins that Nicholas tossed through the window fell into the children’s stockings that were hung by the chimney to dry. From there, the legend grew, as did the tradition of hanging stockings by the fireplace in hopes of a gift.
CHARITY AND GENEROSITY The Rev. John Atchison, pastor of St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church in Springdale, says as a namesake congregation, they commemorate the saint during each service.
Atchison says Nicholas was known not only for his generosity, but also as the"wonderworker": "He had the gifts of healing and miracles.... His prayers were answered for healing, miracles and signs and wonders."Atchison says the church observes St. Nicholas’ feast day each year, and says the giving of gifts at Christmas stems in part from the charity and generosity of St. Nicholas. It’s a custom that Atchison says can be meaningful. "Where it’s done with a pure heart it’s a very sweet custom,"he says.
TELLING THE TRUTH Many parallels exist between the modern Santa Claus and St. Nicholas, not the least of which are his clothes. During this season of the year, bishops in the Orthodox church wear red vestments, not a far stretch from Santa’s red-and-white suit. "Also the idea of him living in the North Pole — it’s a far, remote place. It’s secret, and St. Nicholas conducted all his charitable giving in secret,"Finley says. Even Santa’s elves might have some link to St. Nicholas. Nicholas was known as a patron saint to orphans. "St. Nicholas taking care of orphans and Santa Claus and the elves — there is a correlation,"Finley says. But, he adds, St. Nicholas was probably the opposite in appearance from the fat, jolly Santa Claus that is familiar today. "He was hard on himself, and I suspect he was a very skinny man,"Finley says. Finley says Santa Claus presents a dilemma for Christian families — one that many well-meaning folks don’t know how to handle. But there are ways to discuss the issue. "They tell the kids Santa Claus doesn’t exist,"Finley says. "But there is a rootedness in the history of the church, and we can transition this and say not only did he exist, he’s one of the greatest saints."
Finley says that when his eldest son was 5, he was struggling with what to tell the boy about Santa Claus. Reflecting on his own childhood, the father remembered being told at a young age that Santa was only a fictitious character.
During his son’s childhood, Finley was exploring the Orthodox Christian faith and learning about the lives of the saints — one of the most prominent being St. Nicholas. "We decided to tell him who the real Santa Claus was. He is St. Nicholas,"Finley says.
Finley says many Orthodox Christian churches have St. Nicholas parties close to his feast day," with the ‘ho, ho, ho,’ the reindeer and the snow"and then the focus turns to the Nativity of Christ on Christmas Day.
It’s not necessarily an attempt to disconnect St. Nicholas from Christmas, but, Finley says, it helps focus attention more fully on the Nativity.
Finley says St. Nicholas celebrations are a tradition all churches can embrace. "Rather than pooh-poohing all the commercialism, let’s sanctify and redeem the tradition and show what the true root is,"he says.
A GREAT EXAMPLE And there is more to St. Nicholas than his link to gift-giving and Santa Claus. The Rev. Timothy Blumentritt is an instructor of pastoral theology at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, N. Y. He says St. Nicholas is known throughout the Orthodox Christian church as the archetype of a minister. "His claim to fame, everything else he did fell under the category of what it means to be a good pastor,"Blumentritt says. "He defended the faith and was known for his charity, but he was, in fact, known principally as an all-around good pastor."Blumentritt says St. Nicholas was a man of the people — a hands-on shepherd of the flock. "He was in touch with the needs and pains of the people he served. That’s why we remember him,"Blumentritt says, referring to the annual Feast of St. Nicholas. Blumentritt says that because of various miracles, legendary or not, St. Nicholas has become a saint whom people invoke in times of need. "I don’t think there is any figure in the history of the Christian faith that is more universally loved and revered than St. Nicholas, and that’s saying something,"Blumentritt says. "I am proud he’s known for his pastoral care."
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