Patrick Comerford
Monday next (6 December 2021) is commemorated in many parts of the Church as the Feast of Saint Nicholas of Myra.
Although Saint Nicholas is not included in the Calendar of the Church of Ireland, these resources, including resources from Common Worship in the Church of England and a companion volume, Exciting Holiness.
These resources may help priests and parishes who are searching for resources to refer to the ‘real Santa Claus’ on a Sunday in Advent, or those who would like to refer to Saint Nicholas in a mid-week celebration.
The Readings: Isaiah 61: 1-3; Psalm 68; I Timothy 6: 6-11; Mark 10: 13-16.
There is a link to the readings HERE
Introducing Saint Nicholas:
It is good to be reminded how, with less than three weeks to go to Christmas, Saint Nicholas too can remind us in dark days to be joyful and to look forward with hope and anticipation.
Saint Nicholas was a fourth century Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, now southern Turkey.
Many of the stories about him concern his love and care for children, how he fed the hungry, healed the sick and cared for the oppressed. He saved three girls from a life of prostitution by providing them with dowries – and so developed the tradition of bearing gifts to children on his feast day, a practice that we have since moved to the Christmas celebrations.
But, why should a bishop who makes free giving to children a priority in his ministry be worth rescuing from marketing and merchandising?
Because Christ first himself comes to us as a little child with nothing at all, and yet is the most precious gift of all, given freely.
Saint Nicholas, whose name means ‘Victory of the People,’ was born in Myra in Lycia, now known as Demre, near Antalya in present-day Turkey. He had a reputation as a secret giver of gifts, such as putting coins in the shoes of poor children. Because of this, perhaps, he was transformed into our present-day Santa Claus.
Legend says that young Nicholas was sent to Alexandria as a student. On the voyage, he is said to have saved the life of a sailor who fell from the ship’s rigging in a storm. In one version, on their arrival back in Myra Nicholas took the sailor to church. The previous Bishop of Myra had just died, and the freshly-returned, heroic Nicholas was elected his successor.
Another story tells how during a famine, a butcher lured three small children into his house, slaughtered and butchered them, and put their bodies in a pork barrel to sell as meat pies. Saint Nicholas, who heard of the horrific plans, raised the three boys back to life through his prayers.
The best-known story tells how a poor man had three daughters but could not afford proper dowries for them, meaning they would remain unmarried or become prostitutes. Saint Nicholas secretly went to their house under cover of darkness and threw three purses filled with gold, one for each daughter, through the window – or down the chimney.
I prefer the stories that link Saint Nicholas with the defence of true doctrine. In the year 325, the Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea, attended by more than 300 bishops, to debate the nature of the Holy Trinity.
It was one of the most intense theological debates in the early Church. Arius from Alexandria was teaching that Christ was the Son of God but was not equal to God the Father. As Arius argued his position at length, Nicholas became agitated, crossed the room, and slapped Arius across the face.
The shocked bishops stripped Nicholas of his episcopal robes, chained him and jailed him. In the morning, the bishops found his chains on the floor and Nicholas dressed in his bishop’s robes, quietly reading the Bible. Constantine ordered his release, and Nicholas was reinstated as the Bishop of Myra.
As the debate went on, the Council of Nicaea came around to agreeing with his views. It decided against Arius and agreed on the Nicene Creed, which remains the symbol of our faith.
After the American Revolution, New Yorkers remembered the colony’s nearly-forgotten Dutch roots, and the New York Historical Society promoted Saint Nicholas as the patron of the city. Washington Irving joined the society and published a story with many references to a jolly Saint Nicholas.
And so, began the legends about Saint Nicholas and New Amsterdam: that the first Dutch emigrant ship had a figurehead of Saint Nicholas; that Saint Nicholas Day was observed in the colony; that the first church was dedicated to him; and that Saint Nicholas comes down chimneys to bring gifts.
Other artists and writers continued to transform Saint Nicholas from a saintly bishop to a jolly, rotund gift-giver. In 1863, the cartoonist Thomas Nast began a series of drawings in Harper’s Weekly, based on the descriptions in Washington Irving’s fiction and Clement Clarke Moore’s poem, ‘A Visit from Saint Nicholas’ or ‘The Night Before Christmas.’
Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus had become inseparable from Christmas.
But remembering Saint Nicholas in the weeks before Christmas also reminds us to prepare for the coming of Christ; that without the incarnation there would be no Christmas celebrations; to ask how, without the birth of Christ, would we experience God’s salvation and redemption.
Saint Nicholas reminds us of the value of giving, giving with love and without expecting anything in return. Santa reminds us of the need to value children – as children themselves, and not because they are potential adults. Perhaps Santa should also remind us adults of the child within ourselves.
Prepare to give and to receive. Prepare to receive God’s love in his most precious present. And prepare to give and receive love for one another.
Mark 10: 13-16 (NRSVA):
13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Liturgical Resources:
The Collect (Saint Nicholas):
Almighty Father, lover of souls,
who chose your servant Nicholas
to be a bishop in the Church,
that he might give freely out of the treasures of your grace:
make us mindful of the needs of others
and, as we have received, so teach us also to give;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Advent Collect:
This collect is said after the Collect of the day until Christmas Eve:
Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion Prayer:
God, shepherd of your people,
whose servant Nicholas revealed the loving service of Christ
in his ministry as a pastor of your people:
by this Eucharist in which we share
awaken within us the love of Christ
and keep us faithful to our Christian calling;
through him who laid down his life for us,
but is alive and reigns with you,
now and for ever.
Suggested Hymns:
630, Blessed are the pure in heart
318, Father, Lord of all creation
649, Happy are they, they that love God
651, Jesus, friend of little children
585, Jesus, good above all other
652, lead us, heavenly Father, lead us
618, Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy
543, Lord of the home, your only Son
634, Love divine, all loves excelling
524, May the grace of Christ our Saviour
361, Now thank we all our God
544, O perfect Love, all human thought transcending
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
Material from Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2000.
The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000).
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