TabLET Talk

Faith stories from Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd December 7, 2020 By Karen Walhof and Karl Jacobson

The month of December offers several significant commemorations or lesser festivals highlighting key people or events in the history of the church. As we prepare for the Savior’s coming, we celebrate these church leaders who gave their lives to share the Good News.

December 6 marks the commemoration of St. Nicholas, the primary inspiration for Santa Claus. St. Nicholas was born in the year 270, so this year marks the 1750th anniversary of his birth. He was a Greek Christian bishop.

Nicholas was born into a wealthy family in Minor, what is now Turkey. Having become a Christian, Nicholas chose not to pursue a life of riches but instead devoted himself to the church. He eventually became bishop of a city called Myra. Myra was a decadent and corrupt city, and Nicholas became well known for transforming it by his pious hard work and preaching the Word of Christ.

Nicholas was also known for his love for those in need, such as poor widows and orphaned children. As bishop he saw to it that the church cared for the needy. Perhaps his giving of gifts, especially to impoverished children, is part of what formed the Santa Claus tradition. In commemoration of “Sinte Klaas” (Dutch for St. Nicholas, in English “Santa Claus”), December 6 is a day for giving and receiving gifts in many parts of Europe.

Lutherans today give thanks to God for the gifts God gave Nicholas to bless others and confess Christ in a time of darkness and persecution.

In the Greek Orthodox tradition St. Nicholas is also remembered as a passionate defender of the faith.

One legend tells of his encounter with a priest named Arius at the Council of Nicaea. At Nicaea the church met to discuss and “standardize” their understanding of the Trinity. It was this council that produced the Nicene Creed.

At the council, Arius was making the argument that Jesus was not, in fact, “eternal,” but was made by the Father; and, therefore, Jesus was not God, but one of God’s subordinates. This did not sit well with Santa Claus. And so the story goes:

After the king seated himself on the throne, one hundred and fifty-nine fathers seated themselves at either side of him, both they and Arius arguing with much unease. Saint Nicholas, noticing that Arius was about to quash all the archpriests and moved by divine zeal, rose up and gave him a slap that shook all his members. Complaining, Arius says to the king:

“O most just king, is it fair, before your royal , for one to strike another? If he has something to say, let him speak as the other fathers do; if he is ignorant, let him remain silent as his like are. For what reason does he slap me in the presence of your highness?” Hearing this, the king was greatly disappointed and said to the archpriests: “Holy archpriests, it is the law, that whosoever raises his hand before the king to strike someone, that it should be cut off. I leave this to you, so that your holiness(es) might be the judge.” The archpriests replied, saying: “Your , that the archpriest has acted wrongly all of us confess it; except that we beseech you, let us defrock him now and imprison him, and after the dissolution of the council, we shall then convict him.”

That night Christ and the Holy Mother appeared in prison and said: “Nicholas, why are you imprisoned?” And the saint replied: “For loving You”. Christ then said to him: “Take this,” and gave him the holy gospel; the Holy Mother gave him the arch-priestly omophorion. The next day some acquaintances of his brought him bread and they saw that he was freed of his fetters and on his shoulder he was wearing the omophorion, while reading the holy gospel he was holding in his hands. Having asked him where he found them, he told them the whole truth. Having learnt of this, the king took him out of the prison and asked for forgiveness, as did all the others. After the dissolution of the council, all the archpriests returned home, as did saint Nicholas, to his province.” (G. Anrich, Hagios Nikolaos: Der Heilige Nikolaos in der Griechischen Kirche, 2 vols, 1913.)

While we ’t condone violence, even towards heretics, it is striking (sorry) how St. Nicholas’ love the gospel inspired his passionate life. Would that we could half as passionate.