Portal:Christianity/Selected article/December 2007

 Saint Nicholas (Άγιος Νικόλαος,  Agios Nikolaos, "victory of the people") is the common name for Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra (in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey), a Lycian saint who had a reputation for secret gift-giving, but is now commonly identified with Santa Claus. In 1087 his remains were abducted and removed to Bari in southern Italy, so that he is also Saint Nicholas of Bari. Among Orthodox Christians, the historical Saint Nicholas is remembered and revered. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, children, and students in Greece, Belgium, Bulgaria, Georgia, Russia, the Republic of Macedonia, Slovakia, Serbia and Montenegro. He is also the patron saint of Barranquilla (Colombia), Bari (Italy), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Beit Jala in the West Bank of Palestine and Russia. In 1809, the New York Historical Society convened and named Sancte Claus the patron saint of Nieuw Amsterdam, the Dutch name for New York. Thus, Saint Nicholas could also be considered as the patron saint of New York.

Nicholas was born in Asia Minor during the third century in the Greek colony of Patara in the Roman province of Lycia- today Antalya, Turkey, at a time when the region was Hellenistic in its culture and outlook. Nicholas became bishop of the city of Myra. He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. According to legend, Nicholas was said to have rigorously observed the canonical fasts of Wednesdays and Fridays, even when an infant, by abstaining on those days from his mother's breasts. Nicholas is said to have been born to relatively affluent Christian parents in Patara, Lycia, where he also received his early schooling.

(more)