November 29, 2018
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...
November 23, 2018
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...
November 21, 2018
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...
November 18, 2018
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. Listen to the story. A return to Myra It had been a dozen years since...
November 17, 2018
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...
November 16, 2018
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...