Saints and Traditions
Saints and services. Feasts and fasts. Traditions that are as diverse as the people who are struggling towards salvation in the Orthodox Church.
St. John Cassian and St. Nicholas
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...
St. Nicholas, deliverer from famine
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...
St. Nicholas, patron of sailors
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...
St. Nicholas takes the executioner’s sword
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...
St. Nicholas and Arius at the Council of Nicea
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...THE MAGIC OF BOOKS
Share the joy of the holidays through the magic of a book: The Saint Nicholas Day Snow.
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