Meeting the relics of St. Nicholas. The greatest event in the Christian world: how Russia prepared for the meeting of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

On May 21, for the first time in history, the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker will leave the Italian city of Bari and will be delivered to Russia for veneration. The Russian Orthodox Church and the authorities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, where the shrine will be exhibited, are preparing for a large-scale influx of pilgrims. Komsomolskaya Pravda spoke with the rector of the Patriarchal Russian Compound in Bari, Archpriest Andrei Boytsov.

How popular is this saint among Orthodox Christians? Are there any figures for our pilgrims coming to Bari?

Approximately 70 thousand per year. 95% of all pilgrims to Bari are Russians.

-What do they ask the saint for? Have you witnessed miracles?

Yes, there are a lot of miracles. Many come with a diagnosis of infertility; there are couples who simply cannot have children for many years. And then a year later they appear here again - to baptize their babies. Healings from cancer and other diseases occur.

Previously, when shrines were brought to Russia, people stood in lines for hours, and only seconds were left to touch them. How to prepare for this moment?

There is no need to be afraid that you only have seconds. He hears us from everywhere. While you're standing in line, pray and ask. When you approach the relics, this is already the climax. This is not some kind of magical battery over which you need to whisper something. This approach is a relic of paganism. Just reverently kiss the ark and ask for the most important thing - help in spiritual life, forgiveness of sins. Say: “Father Nicholas, pray to God for me, a sinner.”

Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis personally agreed to bring the shrine to Russia during a historic meeting in Cuba. Have there been any attempts to bring relics before?

There were in the 1990s and 2000s, but they were not successful then. Some New Russian believers at one time promised to bring relics, making these statements without any coordination with Catholics and the Russian Orthodox Church. This even caused protest demonstrations by Italians here. Now everything is different. The blessing of the Pope is the highest authority for Catholics.

- How many pilgrims are you expecting in Moscow and St. Petersburg? In 2011, millions stood in line for the Belt of the Virgin Mary.

Several million. The relics are brought for a longer period than the Belt of the Virgin Mary (in 39 days more than 3 million believers in 14 cities of Russia venerated it. - Ed.).

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Saint Nicholas lived in the 4th century on the territory of modern Antalya (Turkey), was a priest and, according to legend, performed numerous miracles. Christians testify that the saint answers their prayers and requests for help - it’s not for nothing that he is called the Wonderworker.

Nicholas the Wonderworker is one of the most revered saints of the Christian world. He is considered the patron saint of travelers, sailors, orphans and prisoners.

ATTENTION!

You can venerate the shrine in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior from May 22 from 14.00 to 21.00, from May 23 to July 12 - daily from 8.00 to 21.00.

It is advised to join the queue, which is planned to begin at the Crimean Bridge, before 17.00 (in order to be in time before the temple closes). In case of great excitement, the beginning of the queue will be moved to Luzhniki. You can find out about its length on the Internet - on the website.

More than 2,000 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be responsible for security, and 10 thousand volunteers intend to help the pilgrims. Believers will be provided with drinking water and food points will be organized along the line at affordable prices.

No special passes will be issued; exceptions will be made for people with diseases of the musculoskeletal system and infants with an accompanying person.

Then the ark will be transported until July 28 to St. Petersburg, to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The schedule will be announced there additionally.

AND AT THIS TIME

A chapel of Nicholas II will be built in Klin

A new place where it will be possible to honor the memory of the last Russian emperor will soon appear in the Moscow region thanks to the famous rock singer Olga Kormukhina. On her initiative and with the support of local authorities, the construction of the chapel of the Holy Tsar-Passion-Bearer Nicholas II begins, which will stand in Klin, near Moscow.

The place where the chapel was built was not chosen by chance - Klin is closely connected with the Romanov dynasty. Here the miraculous Klinskaya Icon of the Mother of God was revealed, which was especially revered in the imperial family.

I’ve been looking for a place for a chapel for several years, and colleagues from the Public Chamber suggested: in Klin, between two capitals,” Kormukhina said. - And for me, as a musician, it’s a good sign, because this place is right opposite the Tchaikovsky House Museum.

The relics of St. Nicholas, which work miracles, will be brought to Russia for the first time

Summer is ending and with it its main event for all Orthodox people - the bringing of part of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, kept in the basilica of Bari (Italy), to the Russian Orthodox Church. Of course, this event was historic and long-awaited for millions of believers throughout our vast Motherland. An event that will forever remain in the memory of both pilgrims and the main assistants of the saint from May 21 to July 28 - an army of thousands of volunteers! The entire chronology of miracles that happened by the will of God and the prayers of St. Nicholas is in our material today.

Helpers of St. Nicholas – Orthodox Volunteers

Diplomatic agreements. The beginning of miracles

The year 2017, when we remember the tragic events of the 20th, bloody century, is marked not only by sorrow for the past, but also with joy about the present, for in the year of the 100th anniversary of the great Russian Revolution, our country was visited by the wonderful Pleasant of God - who for the first time in 930 years left his place of permanent of his stay - a Catholic basilica in the Italian city of Bari.

Without going into details, which almost every Orthodox person today already knows, it is worth noting, however, that this truly epoch-making historical event took place thanks to a diplomatic agreement reached between His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill and His Holiness the Holy Pope Francis during a meeting at Havana José Martí International Airport on February 12, 2016.

Meeting of the relics of St. Nicholas in the main church of Russia

Time passed, and that long-awaited day came, May 21, when in the Cathedral Cathedral of Christ the Savior in the capital city of Moscow, with a large crowd of people, a solemn meeting of the ark with a particle of the relics of the Archbishop of Myra of Lycia took place, led by the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the co-service of vicar bishops and clergy with of the entire Fatherland. Under the popular singing of glorification of the saint, his venerable remains were brought under the arches of the main church of the country, where the pre-holiday all-night vigil was held.

On the holiday of prayerful memory of the transfer of the relics of the holy wonderworker to Bari, the hearts of people standing near the ark in Moscow, as well as throughout Russia, rejoiced from the overflowing joy of their future, mysterious, purely personal communication with their beloved Saint Nicholas. In those minutes it seemed that the earth was united with Heaven, that angels were praying to God together with people. So it was, for, despite the terrible events recalled, the Orthodox faith is alive and active, and no matter how they try to break it, it continues to grow among our people and sing the glory of the One Deity, Worshiped in the Holy Trinity.

Miracles of St. Nicholas

The Divine Liturgy marked the beginning of the flow of people to the relics of St. Nicholas, marked by a large number of miracles and signs revealed to those who from the depths of their hearts (Ps. 129:1) turned their “ardent” prayers for help or with thanksgiving to the Lord, His Most Pure Mother and the holy archpastor of the city of Myra. At the request of the Holy Bishop, he was told about everything that happened to the pilgrims who, by their faith, received what they asked for, which is called nothing less than a miracle. Our movement launched a special hashtag “#MiraclesThrough the Eyes of Volunteers,” under which we summarize what is happening on #Nikolsk Days. It is clear that it will not be possible to put all the miracles in one material, because there were very, very many of them, but we will still present some of them.

Cathedral prayer for the innocently convicted on St. Nicholas Days

This is what Anna Golik, regent of the Orthodox Volunteer Choir, says about one miracle in her article “Dedicated to people with whom the impossible is possible”: “I know a girl who prayed a lot for her brother, he was framed and sent to prison for 6 years. He had already served 1.5 years, and on one of the Nikolsky days his sentence was extended for another 6 years. I remember how she cried and prayed fervently. We, her friends, tried to help as best we could - some submitted notes for prayer services, some conveyed the request to priests they knew, and some personally asked the saint for help. It was a real cathedral prayer. I won’t go into detail, I’ll just say that after three weeks he was released. At all. For me, this was the most important miracle during the entire stay of the relics in Moscow.”

Choir of Orthodox Volunteers and its regent – ​​Anna Golik

Help with housing

St. Nicholas does not specialize in helping only sailors and travelers, he helps everyone, as evidenced by our volunteer Yulia Egorova: “St. Nicholas helped me a lot, and when I prayed at his relics! I had problems with housing, and I didn’t know what to do, of course, I was very upset. A friend told me: “Pray to Nicholas the Pleasant, and He will help you!” I prayed, asked for help, and somehow wrote on my wall on a social network that I was looking for housing. People reposted, liked, but there were no responses, and literally on the 3rd day after duty, Lyudmila wrote to me, who agreed to take me in! Isn't this a miracle? Of course, a miracle!”

It’s as if all our beautiful Russia is multinational, religious, sometimes gloomy...

This is what Tatyana Shcherbakova says about the presence of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker within the Russian Orthodox Church: “I had the opportunity to visit the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker nine times. And every time I stood at the exit, listening to the akathist, I was amazed at the faces of the pilgrims leaving the relics: many people literally glowed!

Different nationalities, all, all ages: girls and boys, adult men and women, families with teenage children and babies in their arms. The faces are smiling, some are serious, tired, some are crying... It’s as if all of our beautiful Russia - multinational, religious, sometimes gloomy - has concentrated these days in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. And the Temple itself turned into that very “One, Catholic and Apostolic Church” about which we sing at the Liturgy.

Mired in the bustle of life, we often don’t know who we are. Sometimes we are indifferent and callous, and are not fair to our neighbors. But on days like these, which come perhaps once in a lifetime, the Savior, through His saints, shows us our true essence and reveals the souls of our neighbors, whose glowing faces we see on these wonderful St. Nicholas days.”

The distant, never-expected dream of singing in a large choir came true here and now...

No one is left indifferent by the review of our choir singer Olga Kobzeva, who wrote about St. Nicholas Days in her article “Dedicated to the Saint and all my inspirers”: “Nicholas is truly a Wonderworker. And even though I don’t have a story about healing or about a sharp turn of fate, nothing visible or material happened in my life, but something great happened for me personally, inside me. The most striking was the first visit to a prayer service with an akathist as a singer. I must say that there was no purpose in asking for anything. It was not clear to the end how or what would happen. And in general, until recently, I didn’t really believe that I would get there.

But what happened in the soul while two choirs of 60 people were singing under the high arches right in front of the shrine with the relics is impossible to describe in words. But I left the Temple differently. The distant, never-expected dream of singing in a large choir came true here and now.<…>One day, when there were no appointments for prayer services, I decided to come and put on a green shirtfront. This first duty was also entirely a miracle. Frankly, deep down, I really wanted to work in a church, and not on the street, and I also really wanted to distribute icons, for some reason I just wanted to. Of course, I never dreamed of this. But everything came true! It’s also impossible to describe my joy on this day.”

All-Russian Orthodox Youth Choir at the relics of Archbishop Myra of Lycia

Echoing Olga Kobzeva’s enthusiasm for participating in prayer services at the relics of St. Nicholas, I would like to say a special word about the choir of the “Orthodox Volunteers” movement, which at the time of bringing the greatest shrine to Moscow became not just large and even enormous, it became the All-Russian Orthodox Youth Choir, which was praised by all beloved Archbishop Myra of Lycia.

The Choir of Orthodox Volunteers is a small world in which everything happened in St. Nicholas days: problems with the formation of an army of singers, and its colossal influx, and the presence of several compositions in the church and the presence of only two people during the singing of prayer services, but no matter what happened, we the beloved Choir was afloat, was always ready to sing prayers and praise the holy wonderworker, was always ready to get out of the most unusual situation. For what we witnessed, for the emotions that visited, are visiting and will continue to visit us all for a long time, Orthodox volunteers prayerfully thank all the singers of Russia and the purely permanent, talented, patient, beloved regent Anya Golik, who lived in those days on in one breath, doing everything at once, who gave her all and at the same time put her broad soul into each prayer service.

Seeing off the relics of St. Nicholas to St. Petersburg

During the stay of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Moscow, the ark with its celibate relics was also transferred to the northern capital of Russia - St. Petersburg, where it remained from July 13 to July 28 of this year. The farewell of the relics of St. Nicholas took place at night, July 13. Participants in the Orthodox Volunteers movement gathered on July 13 at 00:30 in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, at about 4-5 in the morning a prayer service was served by Bishop Arseny Istrinsky, after which the ark was solemnly escorted from the temple to the bus, which departed for the airport.

Olga Balabanova shared her impressions of that night with us: “By the grace of God, I was honored to be in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on the night of St. Nicholas’ farewell from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Saint Nicholas became especially dear to each of us during the stay of his venerable relics in Moscow. On my farewell night, I had the feeling that I was seeing off a very dear person on a long journey, so it was very difficult to hold back my tears. Despite the physical separation, we understand that St. Nicholas is always near us: in our hearts, in our prayers... He still stands before the Lord God and intercedes for us in his prayers.”

Over 2.3 million people in 67 days!

During the 15 St. Nicholas Days in St. Petersburg, the flow of pilgrims from all over our vast Motherland did not stop. And the total number of all believers who venerated the relics of the Saint in Moscow and St. Petersburg amounted to more than 2.3 million people in 67 days!

Seeing off the relics of St. Nicholas in Bari

The church-state holiday of the Baptism of Rus' this year was marked with both joy and sadness at the same time, for in the Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, after the Divine Liturgy, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' with a host of bishops and representatives of the delegation of the Roman Catholic Church accompanying the ninth rib of St. Nicholas, carried the ark with his honest remains to the city of Bari, where the reliquary with the holy relics of the wonderworker has been hidden in the altar of the Catholic basilica for 930 years.

Blessed St. Nicholas Days

Remembering the blessed #NicholasDays, let us thank all the organizers of the event of a truly historical, universal scale, offering prayers for them: His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', His Holiness Pope Francis, members of the Organizing Committee for the bringing of the greatest shrine for the opportunity to be assistants to such a great saint and our leader - Mikhail Gennadievich Kuksov for uniting us all in this event!

And, of course, we once again, again and again, thank everyone who took part in this greatest event - they helped, photographed, supported, and accompanied all the way along the lines leading to the relics of the saint. All the volunteers who tirelessly, sparing no effort and time, in heat and cold, under pouring rain and bright sun, stood in labor and prayer together with pilgrims from all over our vast Motherland.

May the Lord bless you all for many and prosperous years!

The material was prepared by the Information Service of the Orthodox Volunteers movement.

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A historical event that millions of Orthodox believers are waiting for. A delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church and numerous pilgrims from Russia arrived in the Italian city of Bari. The center of everyone's attention is the Church of St. Nicholas. Already on May 21, the greatest shrine of Christianity - the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker - will leave its borders for the first time in 930 years. They will be delivered by special flight to Russia, where they will be available for worship in Moscow and then in St. Petersburg.

The Basilica of St. Nicholas is one of the visiting cards of the Italian city of Bari. But pilgrims from all over the world flock here, of course, not for the postcard view. To get to the shrine, you need to go down to the underground part of the temple. In the crypt, under the throne, are the relics of Nicholas the Pleasant. The basilica itself was built to store them exactly 930 years ago. And for 930 years, the holy relics never left this place.

To say that the event is historical is to say nothing. That’s why we prepared for it with special care. It is known, for example, that Russian craftsmen made a bulletproof gilded ark specifically for the journey of holy relics.

Our delegation has already flown to Bari to accompany the shrine to Russia, together with representatives of the Roman Catholic Church.

“We, the military clergy, especially need his help. First of all, the miracle that cleanses hearts. Saint Nicholas was that saint of God who kept within himself the grace of the Holy Spirit. Who knew how to share this gift. Who called people to prayer,” said Archpriest Sergiy Privalov.

Saint Nicholas is one of the most revered saints in the entire Christian world. There are thousands of legends about the numerous miracles he performed. He is considered the patron saint of all travelers. And every year pilgrims from Russia come to Bari.

“There are no tears here. There is such a feeling of experience and joy, memories. Everything that a person accumulates over a certain period of time, he evaluates himself here: who you are, why, behind whom and why, that is, there is a moment of revelation here,” says one of the pilgrims.

“It’s a great happiness to be here, to ask St. Nicholas, to pray for your loved ones, for relatives, for those who cannot come here, to submit notes for them,” says the pilgrim.

“Somewhere over Tashkent, one engine failed, and there was a huge panic on the plane. At that moment my mother began to pray, the plane landed in Tashkent. It was a miracle for us, Nikolai the Wonderworker helped us,” shares the young man.

The fact that the holy relics will be brought first to Moscow, then to St. Petersburg is a unique event for believers. It became possible after a historic meeting in Havana in February 2016. Then Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis agreed on the journey of the priceless relic for Christians.

As expected, in the capital the line to the relics from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior can stretch for kilometers, its tail presumably will be somewhere near the Crimean Bridge. Food points will be organized for pilgrims along this route, and doctors will be on duty. The queue will be the same for everyone.

“We do not propose any special separate passes for organized groups of citizens, nor for representatives of the diocese, nor for representatives of other local churches, nor for foreigners - for anyone. The only group of citizens for whom the Moscow government and the relevant structures will provide more unhindered passage are groups of citizens with limited mobility,” said priest Alexander Volkov, head of the press service of Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill.

“We are talking about people with disabilities of the musculoskeletal system with one accompanying person and infants with one accompanying person,” explained Konstantin Blazhenov, head of the Department for Relations with Religious Organizations of the Moscow Department of National Policy.

The relics will be delivered to Moscow on May 21, just before the day of remembrance of St. Nicholas. When the board with the shrine lands, all the capital's churches will ring their bells in honor of this event. In the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the festive evening service will be led by Patriarch Kirill.

You can venerate the relics until July 12. Then the relic will be transported to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg, where it will remain until July 28.

On May 21, on the eve of the celebration of the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from Myra in Lycia to Bar (1087), His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' led an all-night vigil and meeting of the relics of the saint in the Cathedral Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.

Concelebrating with His Holiness were: Patriarchal Vicar of the Moscow Diocese, Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna; Metropolitan Sergius of Nekres (Georgian Orthodox Church); the rector of the Church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki, Bishop Tikhon of Podolsk; Council of Hierarchs and Clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Present at the service were: Apostolic Nuncio to the Russian Federation, Archbishop Celestino Miglior, and Ordinary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Our Lady of Moscow, Archbishop Paolo Pezzi.

Liturgical hymns were performed by the Patriarchal Choir of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior under the direction of I.B. Tolkachev and the chamber choir of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior under the direction of S.N. Sokolovskaya.

The service was broadcast live by the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

Before the polyeleos, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, hierarchs and clergy came out through the western gates of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior to meet the ark with part of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The great shrine was delivered to Moscow on a special flight from the Italian city of Bari.

All church Moscow greeted the relics of the holy saint of God with the ringing of bells from all the capital's churches, which began at 18.00 from the main bell tower of the Russian Orthodox Church - the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Moscow Kremlin.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, hierarchs and clergy descended along the stylobate of the temple to Volkhonka Street. The shrine was taken out of the car that arrived from the airport and placed on a stretcher. His Holiness venerated the venerable relics, after which the ark, accompanied by the singing of the troparion to St. Nicholas, was transferred to the middle of the temple and placed in the prepared place.

After reading the Gospel, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill venerated the relics and addressed those gathered in the church with the Primate’s word.

Participants in the service - clergy and believers - venerated the relics, were anointed with oil and received icons of St. Nicholas with the Patriarchal blessing.

The bringing of the relics of Saint and Wonderworker Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, is a unique event: during the 930 years that the holy relics of the saint have been in Bari, they have never left the city. The agreement to bring the relics, which will remain in Russia from May 21 to July 28 of this year, was reached following the meeting of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' with Pope Francis on February 12, 2016.

The left rib of St. Nicholas is placed in a special ark under armored glass. Thus, for the first time, part of the relics of the most revered Christian saint is put on public display. The relics cannot be seen in Bari, as they are in a walled tomb under a marble slab weighing 32 tons.

The delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, which delivered the relics of St. Nicholas to Moscow, was headed by the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. The delegation included the head of the Moscow Patriarchate Office for Foreign Institutions, the administrator of the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Italy, Bishop Anthony of Bogorodsk, clergy and laity.

On the morning of May 21, Metropolitan Hilarion celebrated the Divine Liturgy in Bari, after which the ark with the relics of the saint was delivered to Moscow.

The Italian delegation accompanying the relics of the saint included: Archbishop of Bari Bitonto Monsignor Francesco Cacucci, Deputy Chairman of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity Monsignor Andrea Palmieri, Director of the Diocesan Office for Promoting Christian Unity of the Archdiocese of Bari Bitonto Monsignor Angelo Romita, Rector of the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari, priest Ciro Capotosto, employee of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, priest Iakinthos Destivelle, as well as the governor of Apulia Michele Emiliano, the mayor of Bari Antonio de Caro, the director of the department of forensic medicine of the University of Bari, professor Francesco Introna.

From May 22 to July 12, the relics of St. Nicholas will be available for veneration by believers in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. From July 13 to July 28, the relics will be in St. Petersburg.

All this time, the ark with the relics will be guarded by military personnel and employees of the Federal Service of the National Guard of the Russian Federation (Rosguard). Every day, more than a thousand National Guard members will ensure law and order, who, in particular, will provide assistance to pilgrims with small children, people with disabilities and elderly citizens in need of assistance.

Access for pilgrims to the shrine in Moscow will be organized on May 22 from 14.00 to 21.00. From May 23 to July 12, access for pilgrims will be provided daily from 8.00 to 21.00.

Detailed information about the bringing of relics is published on the website: http://nikola2017.ru.

Press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'

Santa Claus

When is the memory of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker celebrated?

More than one holiday is dedicated to St. Nicholas in the Orthodox church calendar. On December 19, according to the new style, the day of the saint’s death is remembered, and on August 11, his birth. People called these two holidays St. Nicholas Winter and St. Nicholas Autumn. On May 22, believers remember the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas from Myra in Lycia to Bari, which took place in 1087. In Rus', this day was called Nikola Veshny (that is, spring), or Nikola Summer.
All these holidays are permanent, that is, their dates are fixed.

How does St. Nicholas the Wonderworker help?

Saint Nicholas is called a miracle worker. Such saints are especially revered for the miracles that occur through prayers to them. Since ancient times, Nicholas the Wonderworker was revered as an ambulance to sailors and other travelers, merchants, unjustly convicted people and children. In Western folk Christianity, his image was combined with the image of a folklore character - “Christmas grandfather” - and transformed into Santa Claus ( Santa Claus translated from English - St Nicholas). Santa Claus gives children gifts for Christmas.

Life (biography) of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

Nikolai Ugodnik was born in 270 in the town of Patara, which was located in the region of Lycia in Asia Minor and was a Greek colony. The parents of the future archbishop were very wealthy people, but at the same time they believed in Christ and actively helped the poor.
As his life says, from childhood the saint completely devoted himself to the faith and spent a lot of time in church. Having matured, he became a reader, and then a priest in the church, where his uncle, Bishop Nicholas of Patarsky, served as rector.
After the death of his parents, Nicholas the Wonderworker distributed all his inheritance to the poor and continued his church service. In the years when the attitude of the Roman emperors towards Christians became more tolerant, but persecution nevertheless continued, he ascended the episcopal throne in Myra. Now this town is called Demre, it is located in the province of Antalya in Turkey.
People loved the new archbishop very much: he was kind, meek, fair, sympathetic - not a single request to him went unanswered. With all this, Nicholas was remembered by his contemporaries as an irreconcilable fighter against paganism - he destroyed idols and temples, and a defender of Christianity - he denounced heretics.
During his lifetime, the saint became famous for many miracles. He saved the city of Myra from a terrible famine with his fervent prayer to Christ. He prayed and thereby helped drowning sailors on ships, and brought unjustly convicted people out of captivity in prisons.
Nikolai Ugodnik lived to a ripe old age and died around 345-351 - the exact date is unknown.

Relics of St. Nicholas

Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker reposed in the Lord in the years 345-351 - the exact date is unknown. His relics were incorruptible. At first they rested in the cathedral church of the city of Myra in Lycia, where he served as archbishop. They streamed myrrh, and the myrrh healed believers from various ailments.
In 1087, part of the saint’s relics was transferred to the Italian city of Bari, to the Church of St. Stephen. A year after the rescue of the relics, a basilica was erected there in the name of St. Nicholas. Now everyone can pray at the relics of the saint - the ark with them is still kept in this basilica. A few years later, the remaining part of the relics was transported to Venice, and a small particle remained in Myra.
In honor of the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas the Pleasant, a special holiday has been established, which in the Russian Orthodox Church is celebrated on May 22 in the new style.

Veneration of St. Nicholas in Rus'

Russian people began to venerate Nicholas the Wonderworker soon after the Baptism of Rus'. The first icons of the saint appeared in our country no later than the middle of the 11th century - these are, for example, the frescoes of Hagia Sophia in Kyiv.
There are many churches and monasteries dedicated to St. Nicholas the Pleasant in Rus'. In his name, the holy Patriarch Photius baptized in 866 the Kyiv prince Askold, the very first Russian Christian prince. Over the grave of Askold in Kyiv, Saint Olga, Equal-to-the-Apostles, built the first church of St. Nicholas on Russian soil.
In many Russian cities, the main cathedrals were named after the Archbishop of Myra in Lycia. Novgorod the Great, Zaraysk, Kyiv, Smolensk, Pskov, Galich, Arkhangelsk, Tobolsk and many others. Three Nikolsky monasteries were built in the Moscow province - Nikolo-Grechesky (Old) - in Kitai-Gorod, Nikolo-Perervinsky and Nikolo-Ugreshsky. In addition, one of the main towers of the capital's Kremlin is named Nikolskaya.

Iconography of St. Nicholas

The iconography of St. Nicholas developed in the 10th-11th centuries. Moreover, the oldest icon, namely the fresco in the Church of Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome, dates back to the 8th century.
There are two main iconographic types of St. Nicholas - full-length and half-length. One of the classic examples of a life-size icon is a fresco from the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv, painted at the beginning of the 12th century. Now it is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery. In this fresco, the saint is depicted in full-length, with a blessing right hand and an open Gospel in his left hand.
Icons of the half-length iconographic type depict the saint with a closed Gospel on his left hand. The oldest icon of this type in the monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai dates back to the 11th century. In Rus', the earliest surviving similar image dates back to the end of the 12th century. Ivan the Terrible brought it from Novgorod the Great and placed it in the Smolensk Cathedral of the Novodevichy Convent. Now this icon can be seen in the Tretyakov Gallery.
Icon painters also created hagiographic icons of St. Nicholas the Pleasant, that is, depicting various scenes from the life of the saint - sometimes up to twenty different subjects. The most ancient of such icons in Rus' are the Novgorod one from the Lyuboni churchyard (XIV century) and the Kolomna icon (now kept in the Tretyakov Gallery).

TroparionSaint Nicholas the Wonderworker

voice 4
The rule of faith and the image of meekness and abstinence as a teacher show you to your flock as the truth of things: for this reason you have acquired high humility, rich in poverty. Father Hierarch Nicholas, pray to Christ God to save our souls.
Translation:
The teacher showed you the rule of faith, the example of meekness and abstinence, to your flock. And therefore, through humility you acquired greatness, through poverty - wealth: Father Hierarch Nicholas, pray to Christ God for the salvation of our souls.

Kontakion to Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker
voice 3
In Mireh, the holy, the priest appeared: For Christ, O Reverend, having fulfilled the Gospel, you laid down your soul for your people, and saved the innocent from death; For this reason you have been sanctified, as the great hidden place of God’s grace.
Translation:
In the Worlds, you, saint, appeared as the performer of sacred rites: having fulfilled the Gospel teaching of Christ, you, reverend, laid down your soul for your people and delivered the innocent from death. That is why he was sanctified as a great minister of the sacraments of God’s grace.

First prayer to Nicholas the Ugodnik

Oh, all-holy Nicholas, exceedingly saintly servant of the Lord, our warm intercessor, and everywhere in sorrow a quick helper!
Help me, a sinner and sad person in this present life, beg the Lord God to grant me forgiveness of all my sins, which I have sinned greatly from my youth, in all my life, in deed, word, thought and all my feelings; and at the end of my soul, help me the accursed, beg the Lord God, the Creator of all creation, to deliver me from airy ordeals and eternal torment: may I always glorify the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and your merciful intercession, now and ever and unto ages of ages.
Amen.

Second prayer to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
O all-praised, great wonderworker, saint of Christ, Father Nicholas!
We pray to you, awaken the hope of all Christians, protector of the faithful, feeder of the hungry, joy of the weeping, doctor of the sick, steward of those floating on the sea, feeder of the poor and orphans, and quick helper and patron of all, may we live a peaceful life here and may we be worthy to see the glory of God’s elect in heaven , and with them unceasingly sing the praises of the one worshiped God in the Trinity forever and ever. Amen.

Third prayer to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
O all-praised and all-pious bishop, great Wonderworker, Saint of Christ, Father Nicholas, man of God and faithful servant, man of desires, chosen vessel, strong pillar of the church, bright lamp, shining star and illuminating the whole universe: you are a righteous man, like a blossoming date planted in the courts of your Lord, living in Myra, you were fragrant with the world, and the myrrh flowed with the ever-flowing grace of God.
By your procession, holy father, the sea was illuminated, when your many-wonderful relics marched into the city of Barsky, from east to west praise the name of the Lord.
O most graceful and wondrous Wonderworker, quick helper, warm intercessor, kind shepherd, saving the verbal flock from all troubles, we glorify and magnify you, as the hope of all Christians, the source of miracles, the protector of the faithful, the wise teacher, those who hunger for a feeder, those who cry are glad, the naked are clothed , the sick physician, the sea-floating steward, the liberator of captives, the nourisher and protector of widows and orphans, the guardian of chastity, the meek chastiser of infants, the old fortification, the fasting mentor, the toiling rapture, the poor and wretched abundant wealth.
Hear us praying to you and running under your roof, show your intercession for us to the Most High, and intercede with your God-pleasing prayers, everything useful for the salvation of our souls and bodies: preserve this holy monastery (or this temple), every city and all, and every Christian country, and people living from all bitterness with your help:
We know, we know, how the prayer of the righteous can do much to advance for good: for you, the righteous, according to the most blessed Virgin Mary, the intercessor to the All-Merciful God, imams, and to yours, most kind father, warm intercession and intercession we humbly flow: you keep us as you are vigorous and kind shepherd, from all enemies, destruction, cowardice, hail, famine, flood, fire, sword, invasion of foreigners, and in all our troubles and sorrows, give us a helping hand, and open the doors of God’s mercy, since we are unworthy to see the heights of heaven, from many of our iniquities are bound by the bonds of sin, and we have not done the will of our Creator nor have we preserved his commandments.
In the same way, we bow our contrite and humble hearts to our Creator, and we ask for your fatherly intercession to Him:
Help us, O Pleasant of God, so that we do not perish with our iniquities, deliver us from all evil and from all things that are resistant, guide our minds and strengthen our hearts in the right faith, in it through your intercession and intercession, neither with wounds, nor rebuke, nor pestilence, he will give me no wrath to live in this age, and he will deliver me from this place, and he will make me worthy to join all the saints. Amen.

Prayer four to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
O our good shepherd and God-wise mentor, Saint Nicholas of Christ! Hear us sinners, praying to you and calling for your speedy intercession for help; see us weak, caught from everywhere, deprived of every good and darkened in mind from cowardice; Try, O servant of God, not to leave us in the captivity of sin, so that we may not joyfully become our enemies and not die in our evil deeds.
Pray for us, unworthy, to our Creator and Master, to whom you stand with disembodied faces: make our God merciful to us in this life and in the future, so that He will not reward us according to our deeds and the impurity of our hearts, but according to His goodness He will reward us .
We trust in your intercession, we boast of your intercession, we call on your intercession for help, and falling to your most holy image, we ask for help: deliver us, servant of Christ, from the evils that come upon us, and tame the waves of passions and troubles that rise up against us, and for the sake of Your holy prayers will not overwhelm us and we will not wallow in the abyss of sin and in the mud of our passions. Pray to Saint Nicholas of Christ, Christ our God, that he may grant us a peaceful life and remission of sins, salvation and great mercy for our souls, now and ever and unto ages of ages.

Fifth prayer to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
O great intercessor, the Bishop of God, the Most Blessed Nicholas, who shone forth miracles from the sun, appearing as a quick hearer to those who call upon you, who always precede them and save them, and deliver them, and take them away from all sorts of troubles, from these God-given miracles and gifts of grace!
Hear me, unworthy, calling you with faith and bringing you prayer songs; I offer you an intercessor to plead with Christ.
Oh, renowned for miracles, saint of heights! as if you have boldness, soon stand before the Lady, and stretch out your holy hands in prayer to Him for me, a sinner, and grant me bounty of goodness from Him, and accept me into your intercession, and deliver me from all troubles and evils, from the invasion of enemies visible and invisible freeing, and destroying all those slander and malice, and reflecting those who fight me throughout my life; for my sins, ask for forgiveness, and present me saved to Christ and be worthy to receive the Kingdom of Heaven for the abundance of that love for mankind, to which belongs all glory, honor and worship, with his beginningless Father, and with the Most Holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages centuries.

Prayer six to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
Oh, all-good Father Nicholas, shepherd and teacher of all who flow by faith to your intercession, and who call on you with warm prayer, quickly strive and deliver the flock of Christ from the wolves that destroy it, that is, from the invasion of the evil Latins who are rising against us.
Protect and preserve our country, and every country existing in Orthodoxy, with your holy prayers from worldly rebellion, the sword, the invasion of foreigners, from internecine and bloody warfare.
And just as you had mercy on three men imprisoned, and you delivered them from the king’s wrath and the beating of the sword, so have mercy and delivered the Orthodox people of Great, Little and White Rus' from the destructive heresy of the Latin.
For through your intercession and help, and through His mercy and grace, may Christ God look with His merciful eye on people who exist in ignorance, even though they have not known their right hand, especially young people, by whom the Latin seductions are spoken to turn away from the Orthodox faith, may he enlighten the minds of His people, may they not be tempted and fall away from the faith of their fathers, may their conscience, lulled by vain wisdom and ignorance, awaken and turn their will to the preservation of the holy Orthodox faith, may they remember the faith and humility of our fathers, may their life be for the Orthodox faith who have laid down and accepted the warm prayers of His holy saints, who have shone in our land, keeping us from the delusion and heresy of the Latin, so that, having preserved us in holy Orthodoxy, He will grant us at His terrible Judgment to stand on the right hand with all the saints. Amen.

What can you eat on the day of memory of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker?

December 19, according to the new style, falls on the Rozhdestvensky, or Filippov, as it is also called, fast. On this day you can eat fish, but you cannot eat meat, eggs and other animal products.
May 22, 2016 is a Sunday, there is no fast.

Miracles of St. Nicholas

Nicholas the Wonderworker is considered the patron, intercessor and prayer book for sailors and, in general, everyone who travels. For example, as the life of the saint says, in his youth, traveling from Myra to Alexandria, he resurrected a sailor who, during a fierce storm, fell from the mast of a ship and fell to the deck, falling to his death.

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. Word, said at the all-night vigil on the feast of St. Nicholas, December 18, 1973, in the church named after him in Kuznetsy (Moscow)

Today we celebrate the day of the death of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. What a strange combination of words this is: holiday about death... Usually, when death overtakes someone, we grieve and cry about it; and when a saint dies, we rejoice over it. How is this possible?
Perhaps this is only because when a sinner dies, those who remain have a heavy feeling on their hearts that the time has come for separation, at least temporarily. No matter how strong our faith is, no matter how much hope inspires us, no matter how confident we are that the God of love will never completely separate from each other those who love each other, even with imperfect, earthly love, it still remains sadness and longing that for many years we will not see the face, the expression of the eyes, shining at us with affection, we will not touch a dear person with a reverent hand, we will not hear his voice, bringing his affection and love to our hearts...
But our attitude towards the holy is not entirely like that. Even those who were contemporaries of the saints, already during their lifetime, managed to realize that, living the fullness of heavenly life, the saint did not separate from the earth during his lifetime, and that when he rests in body, he will still remain in this mystery of the Church, uniting the living and the departed into one body, into one spirit, into one secret of eternal, Divine, conquering all life.
When they died, the saints could say, as Paul said: I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith; now an eternal reward is prepared for me, now I myself am being made a sacrifice...
And this consciousness is not the head, but the consciousness of the heart, a living feeling of the heart that a saint cannot be absent from us (just as the risen Christ, who has become invisible to us, is not absent from us, just as God, invisible to us, is not absent), This consciousness allows us to rejoice on the day when, as the ancient Christians said, man born into eternal life. He did not die - but was born, entered into eternity, into all the space, into all the fullness of life. He is in anticipation of the new victory of life, which we all expect: the resurrection of the dead on the last day, when all the barriers of separation will fall, and when we will rejoice not only about the victory of eternity, but that God has returned the temporal to life - but in glory, new shining glory.
One of the ancient fathers of the Church, Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, says: the glory of God is a person who has become completely A human... The saints are such a glory to God; looking at them, we are amazed at what God can do to a person.
And so, we rejoice on the day of the death of the one who was on earth heavenly man and having entered eternity, he became a representative and prayer book for us, without leaving us, remaining not only the same close, becoming even closer, because we become close to each other as we become close, dear, our own to the Living God, God of love. Our joy today is so deep! The Lord on earth reaped St. Nicholas like a ripe ear of corn. Now he triumphs with God in heaven; and just as he loved the land and people, knew how to have pity, compassion, knew how to surround everyone and meet everyone with amazing affectionate, thoughtful care, so now he prays for us all, caringly, thoughtfully.
When you read his life, you are amazed that he not only cared about the spiritual; he took care of every human need, the most humble human needs. He knew how to rejoice with those who rejoice, he knew how to cry with those who cried, he knew how to console and support those who needed comfort and support. And this is why the people, the Mirlikian flock loved him so much, and why the entire Christian people honor him so much: there is nothing too insignificant that he would not pay attention to with his creative love. There is nothing on earth that would seem unworthy of his prayers and unworthy of his works: illness, and poverty, and deprivation, and disgrace, and fear, and sin, and joy, and hope, and love - everything found a living response in his deep heart. human heart. And he left us the image of a man who is the radiance of God’s beauty; he left us within himself, as it were, a living, active icon a genuine person.
But he left it to us not only so that we would rejoice, admire, and be amazed; He left his image for us so that we could learn from him how to live, what kind of love to love, how to forget ourselves and remember fearlessly, sacrificially, joyfully every need of another person.
He left us with an image of how to die, how to mature, how to stand before God at the last hour, giving Him your soul joyfully, as if returning to your father’s house. When I was a young man, my father once told me: learn during your life to expect death as a young man anxiously awaits the arrival of his bride... This is how Saint Nicholas waited for the hour of death, when the death gates open, when all bonds fall, when the soul flutters him to freedom when he is given the opportunity to see the God whom he worshiped with faith and love. So it is given to us to wait - to wait creatively, not to wait numbly, in fear of death, but to wait with joy for that time, for that meeting with God, which will unite us not only with our Living God, with Christ who became man, but with every person because only in God are we made one...
The Fathers of the Church call us to live fear of death. From century to century we hear these words, and from century to century we misunderstand them. How many people live in fear that death is about to come, and after death there is judgment, and after judgment what? Unknown. Hell? Forgiveness?.. But that’s not about it fear of death the fathers said. The fathers said that if we remembered that in a moment we could die, how we would rush to do all the good that we can still do! If we constantly thought, anxiously, that the person standing next to us, to whom we can now do good or evil, could die - how quickly we would rush to take care of him! There would then be no need, neither great nor small, that would exceed our ability to devote our lives to a person who is about to die.
I have already said something about my father; Sorry - I'll say one more personal thing. My mother had been dying for three years; she knew it because I told her so. And when death entered our lives, it transformed life in that every moment, every word, every action - because it could be the last - had to be a perfect expression of all the love, all the affection, all the reverence that existed between us. And for three years there were no little things and there were no big things, but there was only a triumph of reverent, reverent love, where everything merged into the great, because all love can be contained in one word, and all love can be expressed in one movement; and that's how it should be.
The saints understood this not only in relation to one person, whom they loved especially affectionately and for some short years for which they had the courage. The saints knew how to live like this throughout their entire lives, day after day, hour after hour, in relation to every person, because in everyone they saw the image of God, a living icon, but - God! - sometimes such a desecrated, such a mutilated icon, which they contemplated with special pain and with special love, as we would contemplate an icon trampled into the dirt before our eyes. And each of us, through our sin, tramples the image of God in ourselves into the dirt.
Think about it. Think about how glorious, how wondrous death can be if only we live our lives like saints. They are people similar to us, differing from us only in courage and fire of spirit. If only we lived like them! And how rich mortal memory could be for us if, instead of being called, in our language, the fear of death, it were a constant reminder that every moment is and can become a door to eternal life. Every moment, filled with all love, all humility, all delight and strength of the soul, can open time to eternity and make our earth a place where paradise is revealed, a place where God lives, a place where we are united in love, a place where everything the bad, the dead, the dark, the dirty was defeated, transformed, became light, became purity, became Divine.
May the Lord grant us to think about these images of saints, and not to each other, not even to ask ourselves about what to do, but to turn directly to them, to these saints, some of whom were at first robbers, sinners, people terrible for others, but who were able to perceive God with the greatness of their souls and grow into measure of the age of Christ. Let's ask them... What happened to you, Father Nicholas? What have you done, how have you revealed yourself to the power of Divine love and grace?.. And he will answer us; with his life and his prayer he will make possible for us what seems impossible to us, because the power of God is made perfect in weakness, and everything is available to us, everything is possible for us in the Lord Jesus Christ who strengthens us.
Amen.

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. About the vocation of a Christian.

A word spoken at the liturgy on the day of remembrance of St. Nicholas on December 19, 1973, in the church named after him in Kuznetsy (Moscow)
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
I congratulate you on the occasion!
When we celebrate the day of such a saint as Nicholas the Wonderworker, whom not only the Russian heart, but universal Orthodoxy perceived as one of the most perfect images of the priesthood, we become especially reverent in serving and standing before the Divine Liturgy; because before he became the secret man of the apostles, Saint Nicholas was a genuine, true layman. The Lord Himself revealed that it was he who had to be made a priest - for the purity of his life, for the feat of his love, for his love for worship and the temple, for the purity of his faith, for his meekness and humility.
All this was not a word in him, but was flesh. In our troparion we sing to him that he was rule of faith, image of meekness, teacher of abstinence; all this appeared to his flock as a matter of fact, as the radiance of his life, and not just as a verbal sermon. And he was still such a layman. And with such a feat, such love, such purity, such meekness, he acquired for himself the highest calling of the Church - to be appointed a bishop, bishop of his city; to be before the eyes of the believing people (which itself is the body of Christ, the seat of the Holy Spirit, the divine destiny), to stand among the Orthodox people like a living icon; so that, looking at him, one can see in his eyes the light of Christ’s love, in his actions one can see and experience with one’s own eyes Christ’s divine mercy.
We are all called to follow the same path. There are no two paths for a person: there is the path of holiness; the other path is the path of renunciation of one’s Christian calling. Not everyone reaches the height that is revealed to us in the saints; but we are all called to be so pure in our hearts, our thoughts, our lives, our flesh, that we can be, as it were, the embodied presence in the world, from century to century, from millennium to millennium, of Christ Himself.
We are called to be so completely, so completely given over to God that each of us becomes, as it were, a temple where the Holy Spirit lives and works - both in us and through us.
We are called to be daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father; but not allegorically, not only because He treats us as a father treats his children. In Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit we are called to truly become His children, like Christ, sharing His sonship, receiving the Spirit of sonship, the Spirit of God, so that our lives are hidden with Christ in God.
We cannot achieve this without difficulty. The Fathers of the Church tell us: shed blood and you will receive the Spirit... We cannot ask God to dwell in us when we ourselves do not work to prepare for Him a holy, purified, consecrated temple. We cannot call Him into the depths of our sin again and again if we do not have a firm, fiery intention, if we are not ready when He descends upon us, when He seeks us out like a lost sheep and wants to carry us back to our Father’s house, to be taken and carried away forever in His Divine arms.
To be a Christian is to be an ascetic; to be a Christian is to fight to overcome everything in oneself that is death, sin, untruth, impurity; in a word - to overcome, to defeat everything because of which Christ was crucified and killed on the Cross. Human sin killed Him - mine, and yours, and our common one; and if we do not overcome and overcome sin, then we commune either with those who, through negligence, coldness, indifference, frivolity, gave Christ up to be crucified, or with those who maliciously wanted to destroy Him, to erase Him from the face of the earth, because His appearance, His preaching , His personality was their condemnation.
To be a Christian is to be an ascetic; and yet it is impossible for us to be saved ourselves. Our calling is so high, so great, that a person cannot fulfill it on his own. I have already said that we are called to be, as it were, grafted into the humanity of Christ, as a twig is grafted into a life-giving tree - so that the life of Christ wells up in us, so that we are His body, so that we are His presence, so that our word is His. in a word, our love is His love, and our action is His action.
I said that we must become a temple of the Holy Spirit, but more than a material temple. The material temple contains the presence of God, but is not permeated by it; and man is called to unite with God in the same way, as, according to the word of Saint Maximus the Confessor, fire penetrates, iron penetrates, one thing becomes with it, and one can (says Maxim) cut with fire and burn with iron, because it is no longer possible to distinguish where the combustion is and where the fuel is , where is man and where is God.
This we cannot achieve. We cannot become sons and daughters of God just because we ourselves want it or ask and pray for it; we must be accepted by the Father, adopted, we must become, through God’s love for Christ, what Christ is for the Father: sons, daughters. How can we achieve this? The Gospel gives us the answer to this. Peter asks: Who can he be saved? - And Christ answers: What is impossible for man is possible for God...
By feat we can open our hearts; protect your mind and soul from impurity; we can direct our actions so that they are worthy of our calling and our God; we can keep our flesh pure for the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ; we can open ourselves to God and say: Come and dwell in us... And we can know that if we ask for it with a sincere heart, if we want it, then God, Who wants salvation for us more than we know how to want it for ourselves, will give it to us. He Himself tells us in the Gospel: If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him...
Therefore, let us be with all the strength of our human weakness, with all the burning of our dull spirit, with all the hope of our heart yearning for fullness, with all our faith, which cries out to God: Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief!, with all the hunger, with all the thirst of our soul and body, let us ask God for Him to come. But at the same time, with all the strength of our soul, with all the strength of our body, we will prepare for Him a temple worthy of His coming: cleansed, dedicated to Him, protected from all untruth, malice and impurity. And then the Lord will come; and will perform, as He promised us, with the Father and the Spirit, the Last Supper in our hearts, in our lives, in our temple, in our society, and the Lord will reign forever, our God to generation and generation.
Amen!

Santa Claus

In Western Christianity, the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was combined with the image of a folklore character - “Christmas grandfather” - and transformed into Santa Claus ( Santa Claus translated from English - St Nicholas). Santa Claus gives children gifts on St. Nicholas Day, but more often on Christmas Day.
The origins of the tradition of giving gifts on behalf of Santa Claus is the story of the miracle that St. Nicholas the Pleasant performed. As the life of the saint says, he saved the family of a poor man who lived in Patara from sin.
The poor man had three lovely daughters, and need forced him to think something terrible - he wanted to send the girls into prostitution. The local archbishop, and Nicholas the Wonderworker served them, received a revelation from the Lord about what his parishioner was up to in despair. And he decided to save the family, secretly from everyone. One night he tied the gold coins that he inherited from his parents into a bundle and threw the bag to the poor man through the window. The daughters' father discovered the gift only in the morning and thought that it was Christ himself who had sent him the gift. With these funds, he married his eldest daughter to a good man.
Saint Nicholas rejoiced that his help brought good fruit, and also, secretly, he threw a second bag of gold out the window of the poor man. He used these funds to celebrate his middle daughter’s wedding.
The poor man was eager to find out who his benefactor was. He did not sleep at night and waited to see if he would come to help his third daughter? Saint Nicholas did not have to wait long. Hearing the ringing of a bundle of coins, the poor man caught up with the archbishop and recognized him as the saint. He fell at his feet and warmly thanked him for saving his family from a terrible sin.

Nikola Winter, Nikola Autumn, Nikola Veshny, “Nikola Wet”

On December 19 and August 11, according to the new style, Orthodox Christians remember, respectively, the death and birth of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. According to the time of year, these holidays received popular names - Nikola Winter and Nikola Autumn.
St. Nicholas of the Spring (that is, spring), or St. Nicholas of the Summer, was the name given to the feast of the transfer of the relics of Saint and Wonderworker Nicholas from Myra in Lycia to Bari, which is celebrated on May 22 in the new style.
The phrase “Nicholas the Wet” comes from the fact that this saint in all centuries was considered the patron saint of sailors and, in general, all travelers. When the temple in the name of St. Nicholas the Pleasant was built by sailors (often in gratitude for the miraculous salvation on the waters), people called it “Nikola the Wet.”

Folk traditions of celebrating the day of memory of Nikolai Ugodnik

In Rus', Nicholas the Ugodnik was revered as the “elder” among the saints. Nikola was called “merciful”; Temples were built in his honor and children were named - from ancient times until the beginning of the 20th century, the name Kolya was the most popular among Russian boys.
About St. Nicholas the Winter (December 19), festive meals were held in the huts in honor of the holiday - fish pies were baked, mash and beer were brewed. The holiday was considered “old people’s”; the most respected people of the village pooled a rich table and had long conversations. And the youth indulged in winter entertainment - sledding, dancing in circles, singing songs, preparing for Christmas gatherings.
On St. Nicholas of the Summer, or Spring (May 22), peasants organized religious processions - they went to the fields with icons and banners, performed prayer services at wells - asked for rain.

On the screensaver there is a fragment of a photo spda/www.flickr.com

KIKTENKO Elizaveta
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