Our holy Orthodox Church has endless lists of bishops who honored their high mission and became living models for imitation. One of the most representative figures of her ideal bishops is the people-loving saint Nikolaos, bishop of Myron of Lycia (M. Asia), whose holy memory is especially honored by our Church on December 6.
His holy synaxari is really a detailed consideration of the genuine type of the orthodox bishop, St. Nicholas was indeed a representative type of genuine bishop of the Church of Christ. His entire life was adapted to the life of Christ, whom he loved so much with all the strength of his soul and set out to serve him faithfully. According to the tradition of our Church, he made the great decision to serve Christ and the people of God while he was still a child!
He was born in the city of Patara in Lycia around 265 AD. at a critical time, when paganism was fighting its last and fiercest battles against Christianity. The cruel persecutions of the last pagan emperors are well known. The obscurantist pagan "sanctuaries", preeminent in Asia by the infamous oracles of Clarion and Apollo Twin, had made it their primary mission to slander Christians to local rulers as ungodly and thereby make them responsible for the miseries they sent (supposedly ) the "gods" to humans. Shocking case, the most terrible of all the persecutions initiated by Diocletian at the suggestion and instigation of the above oracles! Saint Nicholas saw the light of life being persecuted for his faith.
His pious parents brought him up with education and the admonition of the Lord. They also made sure to give him a worldly education so that the young Nikolaos would become a wonderful intellectual personality, whose fame spread early in the surrounding area. His virtues and qualifications were appreciated by the local church of Patara, which called him to serve it, ordained him an elder, and later when the diocese of the city of Myros became a widow, he was ordained its bishop. Clergy and people enthusiastically accepted the election of Nikolaos, anticipating his exemplary pastoral activity for the entire Church.
After he entered the ranks of the holy clergy he ceased to live for himself, but lived only to serve the Church of Christ and all men without any distinction. After the death of his parents, he distributed his entire property to the poor of his diocese, so that now he could devote himself to his varied pastoral work, uninfluenced by personal life concerns.
The diocese of Myra became the center of the spiritual and charitable ministry of the inhabitants of the entire wider region of Lycia. Bishop Nikolaos became the father, the caretaker, the comforter and the shelter of every poor, persecuted and suffering person. He, with the infinite love and tolerance that he cherished in his chest, did not leave anyone without benefiting him and supporting him spiritually, morally and materially. No one could explain where he found the material resources with which he met the needs of a multitude of poor people. At the same time, he became the Diaprusian columnist
exploiters against the weak and the poor. With rare impudence and courage he exercised control over all those responsible for the evil demonization of the people, however high they might be. The synaxari states that once in his days the people of the wider region of his diocese were starving. Filled with anxiety, Nicholas went down to a port where he met a ship full of wheat that was ready to sail for France, he convinced the shipowner to keep the cargo in Lycia, he paid, unknown how, for the wheat and distributed it to the starving inhabitants whom he saved from certain death .
Every weak man had his patron. The saint was close to everyone and in every difficult situation he benefited even miraculously. His biographer mentions many such incidents. The utterly poor saint endowed poor girls, protected the crops of poor farmers, became the helper of sailors. To this day, he remains the patron of seafarers thanks to his many miraculous interventions towards them.
According to Saint Nicholas, political power exists from God to serve the people. When it opposes the real interest and the will of the people must be controlled. So the saint soon became the controller of the persecuting emperors Diocletian and Maximian, who sent thousands of Christian martyrs to death. With unbearable personal prohibitions, persecutions and tortures, they defended those who were persecuted for their faith. He supported them, encouraged them not to become cowards and deny Christ. At the same time, he had become the comforter of the relatives of the martyrs, convincing them that martyrdom for Christ is the highest honor!
The holy bishop was also an exponent of the genuine and unadulterated faith of the Church. Heresy was for him an insult against God and the truth. As a member of the First Ecumenical Synod (325) he fought hard to isolate the heretic and blasphemer of Christ Areus. For his impudence, he was put in prison, because circumstances forced him to deal harshly with the terrible heretic.
Like the apostle Paul, he considered the things of the world to be cheap, ephemeral, meaningless, truly "scum" (Philippians 3,8:XNUMX). He considered glory, money, power, social recognition to be subordinate to the ministry of Christ. Therefore, he put everything aside, and devoted himself to the service of the Church of God. His entire life was an example of a true Christian leader dedicated to the ministry of God's people. St. Nicholas is indeed a model for all subsequent clergy, because he was himself a faithful imitator of Christ, a real "Rule of faith, icon of meekness, (and) teacher of temperance" according to the apolytypic of his feast!
In 330 AD he slept peacefully, old and weary, from the struggle and constant ministry of his whole life. His ossified sept became an object of veneration not only by the faithful of his diocese, but also by heathens and pagans who had been variously benefited by him. To this day, his tomb in Myra is a place of pilgrimage for Christians from all over the world, but also for many people of other religions, who flock to honor this great personality.
It is not an exaggeration to claim that St. Nicholas was a genuine exponent of the Christian and Greek ideal. As a bishop, he was the representative type of the Christian bishop, "in the type and place of Christ", according to the theology of Ignatius the God-bearer. Guardian of the right faith and spiritual helper of the faithful. In addition, he was a representative incarnate
of the Greek tradition. The humanitarian ideal of Hellenism combined with the wonderful Christian humanism met in the holy person of Nicholas, were applied and became a reality. Its democratic tactics and collective actions are the experience of the ancient Greek tradition, which was saved and improved by Christian teaching and practice. That is why this great ecclesiastical man became so famous, so popular, that he is especially honored throughout the Christian world. That is why he is especially honored by all the Orthodox and more so by the Greeks, that is why there are so many temples in his honor, why many people proudly bear his sept name.
We Orthodox New Greeks have a duty to honor and imitate wonderful personalities of our glorious past, like that of Saint Nicholas. In gloomy times, like ours, we need bright spiritual landmarks, worthy of Saint Nicholas. In our dire days, where we are experiencing as a nation one of the worst periods of our national existence, where the specter of economic collapse and even our annihilation surrounds us, we need the help of Saint Nicholas, who saved the people in similar conditions in his time, it is enough to invoke him. Holy of God, hurry to help us because we are lost...
Photo Greek Radio FL
