Saint Nicholas in Icons

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Bishop Nicholas of Myra, also called the Miracle Worker, was born to a well-off family in the town of Patara in Asia Minor between 240 and 245. He died on 6th December, probably in 326.

(Icon by Solrunn Nes)

During the persecution of Christians by Diocletian early in the 300s, Nicholas was put in chains and exiled. He was among around 300 bishops who took part in a General Council in Nicaea in 325 where the Nicene Creed was formulated. This Creed settled a conflict regarding Arianism – a heretical teaching which did not recognise the divine nature of Christ. The priest Arius (ca 260–336) maintained that Christ was a higher created being , a kind of superman with unique moral and spiritual qualities. As a reaction against this, the council fathers defined the relationship between the divine and human natures of Christ in a concise and at the the same time poetic manner:

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 men and for our Salvation

he came down from heaven;

by the power of the Holy Spirit,

he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary

and became man.

When we see Nicholas in some icons portrayed with a sword in his hand, it is a symbol of the conflict against Arianism.

Nicholas is best kown for his many miracles and good deeds. Among other things it is said that one night he helped a poor man who could not afford dowries for his three daughters by throwing three nuggets of gold through his open window. The custom of giving children presents in a stocking on the evening of 5th December comes from this episode.

(St. Nicholas rescuing the sailors in the storm. Icon by Solrunn Nes.)

Nicholas carried out his charitable deeds discretely. He showed fellow feeling and gave alms without embarrassing the recipients.

Once Nicholas intervened and stopped three innocent men from being executed. After a meeting with the bishop, the person responsible became a convert – and begged forgiveness.

On a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the boat he was on ran into a heavy storm, but Nicholas prayed to God and the threatening sea became calm. After this Christ-like miracle, Nicholas became the patron saint for seafarers. Innumerable churches and chapels dedicated to this saint have been raised by thankful fishermen and seamen who have been returned safely home from the sea.

(Detail from the icon of St. Nicholas rescuing the sailors)

Because of the Islamic conquest of the Byzantine empire, the relics of St. Nicholas were rescued — or stolen — by Italian seamen in 1087 and transferred from Myra to Bari in South Italy. There a new grave church was built in honor of the saint. The feast day of St. Nicholas is celebrated 6th December both in the Eastern and in the Western traditions.

(Detail from St. Nicholas icon above.)

The legendary American Santa Claus originated from protestant traditions surrounding Sinte Klaus (Nicholas) and was introduced to the country by Dutch immigrants. This commercial variant of a kind, old man eventually returned to Europe.

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(Excerpted from The Mystical Language of Icons)