Old Saint Nick – A Church Leader & A Backhand

It’s less than a week till Christmas, and you can’t throw a stone or any other comparably dense object without hitting something having to do with Santa Claus. It is easy, as a Christian, to take offense at how to this jolly red-suited man has in so many ways usurped our culture’s understanding of the Christmas season. He is an intrinsic part of our modern western mythology, yet his origins were profoundly sacred. Scratching the surface of jolly Old St Nicholas reveals him to be someone who strikes a passionate balance many Christians today are unable to find.

Saint Nicholas was the bishop of a city called Myra in what is now modern day Turkey. While there are many stories, legends and histories surrounding him, there are two in particular that I want to note.

The first is the not uncommonly known story of Saint Nicholas’s generosity to the family of three daughters. Their father was a poor man and unable to provide the girls with dowries so they could marry. In response to this need Saint Nicholas went to their home by night and deposited three bags of gold coins in the house, one for each daughter. Some versions of this story claim that he dropped them down the chimney and they landed in stockings that were drying by the fire. Other stories of similar selfless generosity and compassion, especially towards children, speckle the history of Saint Nicholas.

However, people are often unaware of Saint Nicholas’s fiery passion for good doctrine and the role he played in establishing orthodox Christology (traditional understanding of who Christ is). The year is 325 A.D. and bishops from all over the empire are convening in Nicea for a showdown over the trinity, one of the most pivotal councils in Christian history. A guy named Arius, the father of the heresy known as Arianism, is stridently proclaiming his belief that Christ was only a man, and not divine. After a while, this minimizing of Christ gets to be too much. “Jolly” old Saint Nicholas can’t take it anymore, walks across the council room and slaps Arius in the face. Yeah, not quite the soft and pudgy, loveable picture we’re used to, is it?

All Christian congregations have strengths and weaknesses, and it is easy to place such importance on one aspect of our faith that other aspects suffer. One of these imbalances I am used to hearing about is an emphasis on a belief versus an emphasis on action. Are we Christians because of what we believe or how we act? Are we to be hallmarked primarily by creedal adherence, or by acts of love and kindness? For Saint Nicholas the answer was simply, YES. He stands in history as an example of someone who seemed to passionately live out both a dedication to the doctrine of faith and the work of faith. So whether Christians choose to appreciate or accept the modern day depictions of him, we should appreciate and embrace the story and example of Saint Nicholas, a man of passionate belief and passionate generosity.

Picture credit – www.stnicholassociety.com