I don't think it's essential to explain that Santa Claus doesn't bring presents flying in sleighs trapped in reindeer. In fact, this saint was the bishop of Mira in Asia Minor, known for his concern for the poor. But that is not all. It is expected that Bishop Nicholas zealously defended his religion in the Deity of Christ at the Council in Nice, and heretic Arius... hit “with a leaf”.
Nicholas, Bishop of Mira
Nicholas was born around 270 in Licia, Asia Minor, and his name in Greek means “the victorious people.” As a child, he was known for his piety and his different sensitivity to human poverty. After his parents died, he willingly shared his wealth with the poor. He was elected Bishop of Mira, and during his ministry he gained extraordinary respect with the faithful he shepherded, due to apostolic zeal and concern for their material needs. This is where the tradition of giving gifts on the day of his feast took place.
Saint Nicholas is besides the patron saint of sailors and fishermen, and this is due to the fact that during a violent storm his prayer was to save the boat from drowning. another miracles are besides attributed to him, including the resurrection of 3 people. He cared for the helpless, and during the plague he served the sick with the hazard of his own life. According to St. Gregory the Great, Bishop Nicholas was to be imprisoned during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian and released only after the Milan edict of 313. It is besides assumed that he attended the Council of good in 325 – the first general council – where he courageously defended his religion in Christ's Deity against Heretic Arius.
Aryan Heresy
Arianicism was 1 of the top heresies of Christianity of the first centuries, which believers preached that Christ was “as if” God. alternatively of believing that He was Co-essential Father (Gr. homoousios), the arians claimed that he was only similar The Father (homoiousios); or boy of God, but created, not God. Arius himself recognized that “there was a time erstwhile there was no Son,” which is an open heresy. To him, Jesus was simply "the first creation," or the created reflection of the Deity of the Father. Arianicism spread very powerfully in the Church in the late 3rd century; there was even a time erstwhile most of the Church succumbed to this error.
But thanks to God's grace, a group of orthodox Christians survived, which led to the “cleaning” of the Church from this terrible heresy. It was against the arianism that Credo (i.e. the creed) was arranged at the Council in good in 325, erstwhile Arius' views as heretical were besides condemned.
The errors spread by the Arians were highly serious due to the fact that they took the Deity from Christ, who made our redemption. The Arian view contradicted the fact contained in the Gospel according to St. John, at the beginning of which we read that "The Word was God" (John 1.1). small wonder, then, that the Council of good emphasized that Christ was full God. This was expressed primarily by the arrangement of the creed, or Credo, whose passages concerning the boy of God are professed at Mass until the present days:
...who of the Father is born before all ages. God of God, Light of Light, actual God of the actual God. Born, not created, co-important to the Father, and through Him everything happened... – there was a fragment of the religion belief placed on the Council in Nice.
The Council so left no uncertainty that the Second individual of the Trinity was True God Born from the actual God. The bishops gathered there besides showed that a dogmatic definition of the fact of Catholic religion was possible even after decades in heresy.
Stormy sittings at the good Council
Legend has it that during the Council of good itself there was a physical clash between Arius and Bishop Nicholas of Mira. Arius was to give a long talk in which he tried to defend his heretic view. And although bishops gathered there – about 300 of whom were expected to be there – gave him an chance to express his opinion, Bishop Nicholas was not expected to hold out. The message says that at 1 point he rose from his place, approached Arius and... hit him with a leaf.
Further, the communicative becomes even more interesting, due to the fact that bishops, scandalized by the conduct of Nicholas, were to rip him off his robes, cuff him and throw him in jail. According to legend, at night Christ and His parent appeared to him, asking, “Why are you in prison?” Santa was going to say, “Because of my love for you.” The message goes on to say that Christ gave Nicholas the Gospel book. The bishop’s shackles fell and he received his robes back. erstwhile he was found this morning and reported to Constantine, the emperor was to release him from prison and reconstruct him to the office of Bishop Mira.
It is not known if this communicative is reliable. The oldest mention of specified a situation dates back to the 14th century, a 1000 years after the good event, and any messages alternatively of Arius mention a “certain arian”. The presence of Saint Nicholas himself on the Council of good is besides questionable, as no council papers list him. On the another hand, the years of his life clearly fell to the time of the council, which was, after all, a common council, and thus it can be assumed that Nicholas, as Bishop of Mira, was besides present.
If this communicative actually happened, it should not be understood that Bishop Nicholas behaved under the influence of emotion, but alternatively as defending the full Church, to which the heretic Arius did harm. It can be said that St. Nicholas imitated Christ himself in his conduct, who, after beating the whip, threw the sellers out of the temple. The Arian heresy struck the full community of believers redeemed by the boy of God, who accepted human nature for them and became human. The arians, on the another hand, claimed that He who died for mankind on the cross was not God at all, but a creature supposedly like the Father. If that were the case, his death would not have brought redemption, as St. Atanasia explained in his “Speaks Against the Arians” (II. 69):
If the boy were a creature, man would stay mortal as before, not being united with God; for the creation would not associate the creatures with God, since he himself needs individual to unite them. Neither any part of creation could be a salvation to creation, as it itself needs salvation. To prevent this, God besides sends distant his own Son, and He becomes the boy of Man, accepting the created body; that, due to the fact that all are under the conviction of death, He, being different from all, may offer up his own body for all. And that from now on, as if all died in him, the word of that judgement may be fulfilled (for "all died" in Christ--2 Cor. 5:14) and that all by him may then become free from sin and from the curse upon him, and that they may indeed endure forever, rising from the dead and clothed with immortality and integrity.
Adrian Fyda
Sources: aleteia.org, stnycholascenter.org, mateusz.pl, catholicus.eu
The top mystery of faith, or how can God be 1 – but in 3 Persons?
The leaf was given to the heretic. Where did bishops like Santa Claus go?
