In Medieval Europe, the most common image of St. Nicholas shows him standing over three small children in a wooden tub. The image illustrates an odd story that was told and believed for centuries. The story began as the story of the three innocent men whom St....

There are at least two versions of this folk tale about St. John Cassian and St. Nicholas. If you don’t know St. John Cassian you should. He was a theologian and deacon who worked with St. John Chrysostom. He brought monasticism from Egypt to the Western church. His...

When Nicholas was Bishop of Myra, a great famine came over the land of Lycia. Hunger and death became familiar companions. The bishop prayed for his people, of course. But even he could not turn stones into bread. When Bishop Nicholas finished his prayers, he walked...

There was another Nicholas, a sailor, who lived near the same time and place as Nicholas the Bishop of Myra. It's likely that some of the stories about St. Nicholas rescuing sailors were originally told about that St. Nicholas. But over time, the stories were...

When my children were young, the story of St. Nicholas rescuing three innocent men from execution was their favorite of all of the stories of St. Nicholas. Like the story of the widower’s daughters, there is nothing miraculous about it — just fierce goodness. Because...

Did St. Nicholas really slap Arius at the Council of Nicea? For a long time, I would have said, "Probably not." But I've changed my mind. Read the story, and see what you think. A return to Myra It had been a dozen years since Nicholas had walked out of the Emperor’s...

St. Nicholas never wanted to be the Bishop of Myra. But God didn't give him a choice. The Road to Myra Nicholas was young and wealthy. In his home town of Patara, that was enough to make him something of a celebrity. He’d never thought about it one way or another....

The story of St. Nicholas and the widower's daughters is, today, the best known story from the life of St. Nicholas. This story is the reason we hang stockings for St. Nicholas to fill (or set out shoes, if you follow the Dutch tradition). In The Saint Nicholas Day...

Today is my godson’s name day! I can’t bake cookies with him today, or read books with him. He lives too far away. But I’ve dispatched presents to him. I’ve prayed for him. And I’ve read the life of his patron, Theodore the Studite. I suspect that St. Theodore was a...