Information about Saint Nicholas Part of the Saint Nicholas Page honoring Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker.

This page features links to many sources of information about Saint Nicholas. This page deals more with the real person of Nicholas rather than the derivative legendary Santa Claus.

Found here are:

• A very condensed version of the life of Saint Nicholas
• Orthodox Christian sites
• Other church and church-related sites
• More-recent encounters with Saint Nicholas
• Other Saint Nicholas sites and links
• Orthodox Catechism
• From the encyclopaedia
• What is a "Wonderworker"?

A very condensed version of the life of Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas is is most famous for the gifts of money he made to a suddenly impoverished family, to allow the daughters to be married rather than to be given over to prostitution. On three separate nights, he secretly left money at the house of the family. He was discovered on the third night by the father, who was sworn to secrecy.

Nicholas was born in Patara in Lycia (now an abandoned site in Asia Minor), the only child of well-to-do Christian parents Theophanes and Nona in the middle of the Third Century A.D. He was orphaned at an early age. His uncle was Bishop Nicholas of Patara, who, recognizing Nicholas's true dedication to Christ, made him in turn a reader, a priest, and a teacher of the local flock.

Upon the death of the archbishop of nearby Myra, the council that was to pick the new leader were shown by God that Nicholas was to be the new archbishop, and so he became Archbishop of Myra in Lycia. He used his inheritance and his considerable influence to help those in need. His kindness endeared him to the people, though he was imprisoned for a time for his profession of Christianity, which was still illegal in the Roman Empire.

The title "Wonderworker" was bestowed on Nicholas because of the numerous miracles that he performed by the power of God; some while he was still alive, and some after his passage into the presence of God. Among these, he saved mariners from a storm; prevented the execution of three innocent men; restored to life a young boy tragically murdered; and helped preserve Myra from famine by miraculously appearing to the captain of a ship laden with grain and bidding him to come to Myra.

Saint Nicholas is the patron saint (better, "protector") of children, mariners, pawnbrokers (go figure), and the countries of Greece and Russia, to name just a few of those who have turned to this saint of God for assistance. He departed this life on December 6, c. 330 A.D.

Orthodox Christian sites

• Our Holy Father Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra , from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
• History of Saint Nicholas, from the parish web page of Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, San Jose, CA, home parish of the author of the Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker Pages.
• Sainted Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia from the Orthodox Church in America.
• Saint John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church has a life story of
• At the Slava Gallery Website, click on the "Selected Saint" icon, which at this writing is an icon of Saint Nicholas, and which brings up a story of Saint Nicholas. Otherwise visit the icons section. Slava Gallery provides iconographer, restoration service, and catalog.
• Two entries from a Coptic (i.e., Egyptian) Orthodox Copt-Net site:
  • Saint Nicholas
  • Santa Claus
• A Coptic Orthodox account of Saint Nicholas: Bishop of Myra. Retrieved from Web Archive.
• Santa Claus, the account of Saint Nicholas from the Coptic Church's Synaxarium. Retrieved from Web Archive.
• Saint Nicholas with history, originally from SS Peter & Paul Orthodox Church, Meriden, Connecticut (OCA). Retrieved from Web Archive.
• Saint Nicholas life. Retrieved from Web Archive. Originally from Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church, McKees Rocks PA
• Will the Real Santa Please Stand?. From Orthodox Family Life (published by St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, Mogadore, Ohio), hosted by TheoLogic Systems.
• Saint Nicholas, from Saint George Greek Orthodox Church, Des Moines, Iowa
• Saint Nicholas life from Saint Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral, Los Angeles
• St. Nicholas the Wonder-worker, Bishop of Myra, retrieved from Web Archive from an earlier format of Saint Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
• Most Holy Saint Nicholas. Retrieved from Web Archive from an earlier format of Saint Nicholas Orthodox Christian Church, Pinellas Park, Florida
• From Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, Orange Connecticut, an unusual icon of Saint Nicholas and a lengthy explanation of the saint's life.
  
• Do You Believe in Santa Claus? (a .doc file), from Orthotracts, an Orthodox ministry whose purpose is "Communicating the Historic Orthodox Christian Faith" via tracts.
• Saint Nicholas, Saint Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church, Shreveport, Louisiana
• Saint Nicholas, from Orthodox America, the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad website.

Other church and church-related sites

• Greek and Cretan Christmas customs. Old and modern treatment of St. Nicholas in Greek culture.
• Saint Nicholas of Myra links - that's all
• The Synaxarion account of Saint Nicholas. The Synaxarion is an official church history. From the Divine Office (i.e., order of services) publishing section of Rongolini. I cannot determine whose church history is being presented, though there are hints that it's of the Melkite Catholic Church.
• Saint Nicholas from the Domestic Church online magazine for Catholic families.
• The Real St. Nick, from the Assemblies of God.
• St. Nicholas with scenes from his life, from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
• Saint Nicholas - A Creative Giver, from Historic Trinity Lutheran Church, Detroit, Michigan
• Scroll past Wenceslas to Saint Nicholas in Wenceslas and Nicholas, from Claves Regni, the on-line magazine of St. Peter's Church, Nottingham.
• Life of Saint Nicholas, from Saint Nicholas of Myra Byzantine Catholic Church.
• From the Roman Catholic Passionist site Bread on the Waters:
  • St. Nicholas
  • Children Pray: The Story of St. Nicholas for young children.
• The Quest for the Historical Santa Claus from St. Thomas Net Ministry.
• St. Nicholaslife story with icon, from St. Therese Byzantine Catholic Church, St. Petersburg, Florida.
• The Real St. Nick (Santa Claus) from the Christian Articles Archive of Joyful Heart Ministries
• Saint Nicholas of Myra, a story from Father Pat's Place, associated with Holy Family Catholic Church, Arcadia WI.
• Links to Saint Nicholas information, from the Religion and Spirituality section of The Open Directory Project.
• The Story of Saint Nicholas, from the English Speaking Society of St. Nicholas. Retrieved from Web Archive.

More-recent encounters with Saint Nicholas

• A Miracle Wrought By St. Nicholas In Kiev In The 1920s
• St. Nicholas appears to Tlingit believers , from the Saint Nicholas parish of Juneau, Alaska
• Translation of the relics of Saint Nicholas. Retrieved from Web Archive.
• Saint Nicholas performs a miracle in the Life of St. King Stephen of Decani , King of Serbia. Retrieved from Web Archive.
• St. Nicholas appears to Tlingit believers

Other Saint Nicholas sites and links

• Saint Nicholas Center, an incredibly large treasure-trove of Saint Nicholas links, photos, and stories of the saint. An excerpt from a 13th Century "Lives of the Saints" by the Archbishop of Genoa, Here Beginneth the Life of S. Nicholas the Bishop, is a small sample of the quality of the site.
• All About Saint Nicholas poem, tentative history
• Saint Nicholas Day from the Instructional Materials Center of the University of Missouri - Kansas City.
• The Story of St. Nicholas from MasterControl of the Baptist Home Mission Board.
• Bishop Nicholas of Myra: Legends and sources , from Eldrbarry's Story Telling Page.
• From Non-Stop New York
  • Non-Stop New York Salutes: San Nicola, Patron Saint of Children History - with tacky "I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus" mood music.
  • How the Dutch of "New Amsterdam" Brought St. Nick to N.Y. with them.
• Biography: Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, philanthropist (6 Dec 326). From James Kiefer's Christian Biographies.
• Saint Nicholas's remains in Ireland? An old legend, claims the site, tells that Irish monks removed the relics of St. Nicholas from his shrine in Demre, Turkey, to prevent them falling into the hands of the invading heathen hordes. Hear about it in the song The Bones of Santa Claus. From a Web Archive copy of singer/entertainer Wild Bill Watkins. (I think he made this all up, but it was fun to think about.)
• THE STORY OF SAINT NICHOLAS, from , makers of angel and Santa dolls.

Orthodox Catechism

Orthodox teaching about Saint Nicholas.

• Ten Questions and Answers about St. Nicholas from St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, Dallas TX

From the encyclopaediae

• Nicholas, Saint (Encarta)
• Nicholas, Saint from Electric Library presentsEncyclopedia.com.
• Saint Nicholas from Encyclopedia Britannica.

What is a "Wonderworker"?

• St Charalambos The Wonder-Worker
• Greatmartyr, Victory-bearer and Wonderworker George
• Lazarus the Wonderworker
• Saint John Maximovitch
• St. Herman Wonderworker of Alaska and First Saint of the Americas
• Saint Nectarios the Wonderworker, whose shrine is at St. George Greek Orthodox Church, Clifton NJ
• St. Spyridon, St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church, Loveland, Colorado

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Last modified February 29, 2016 Righteous John Cassian the Confessor

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