Saint Nicholas

Was there a real Santa Claus?

Saint Nicholas

• Good morning children.• Have you ever heard the

name Saint Nicholas before?

• Do you know what county he was from?

• Can you tell me what he looks like?

• Can you tell me what he is all about?

• Was he a real man?

Saint Nicholas

• Yes there was a real Saint Nicholas.

• History states that St. Nicolas was a staunch anti-Arian, and defender of the Orthodox Christian position, and one of the bishops who signed the Nicene Creed.

• His name is etched on the document.

Saint Nicholas• Today we recite the Nicene

Creed so we know how the controversy played out.

• The bishops at Nicea sided with Saint Nicholas and Saint Athanasius and they condemned Arius as a heretic. To this very day, we still recite in the Creed that Christ is "God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father."

Nicene Creed• We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.

• On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

• We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Saint Nicholas• Church legend holds that during

the proceedings at Nicaea, Nicolas became so angry at the position of Arius – that Jesus Christ was a created being and not fully God – that he walked up to Arius and punched him and pointed out that Christ was God. They put him in prison for it and stripped him from being a Bishop. Constantine heard of this and reinstated Nicholas as Bishop and released him from prison.

Saint Nicholas

• There are three other legends about Saint Nicholas.

1. He sailed to an island town of starving people and he made baskets of food for them. In one night he left a basket at each of the starving families homes and put coins in their shoes outside their door.

Saint Nicholas

2. He saved 3 children from being pickled by a butcher by discerning that the man was up to no good when he passed by his place of business. The man got worried and somehow St. Nicholas knew the boys were there. He questioned the man and saved the boys.

Saint Nicholas3. He save 3 girls from being turned into

slaves by paying their dowry for marriage. Saint Nicholas tried to give the money for dowry to their father but the father was proud and would not take any money from Saint Nicholas. Before each daughter was to be wed he threw a sack of gold coins into the window of the house where they lived, but on the third try he did not want to be caught by the father of the girl. For he stayed up all night watching in the window to catch him. So he went in back of the house and threw it down the chimney where the girl was drying her stockings over the fire and the coin sack fell in the sock instead. Saint Nicholas saved all three girls.

Saint Nicholas• Whether the legends be true or not,

history tells us that Saint Nicholas was a real person who stood up for Christ and practiced what he preached.

• He believed Christ was not only the son of God but was God incarnate.

• The real Saint Nick loved children, helped the poor, and believed that Jesus was God.

• He loved people and children so much he wanted people to help him in his quest to save them.

• The earth is wide and great. There, where St. Nicholas cannot go himself, he asks a good and pious person to go to the children and take them apples and nuts and tell the children of the coming of the Christ Child.

Prayer

• Dear lord, let me try to be a good Christian like Saint Nicholas by feeding the poor, having spiritual discernment, giving to others, and standing up and telling the world Jesus is the son of the living God.

• Amen