Who really was Nikolai the saint. Saint nicholas the miracle worker. Worship of holy places

In Asia Minor. His parents Theophanes and Nonna were from a noble family and very prosperous, which did not prevent them from being pious Christians, merciful to the poor and zealous to God. Until a ripe old age, they did not have children; in unceasing fervent prayer, they asked the Almighty to give them a son, promising to devote him to serving God. Their prayer was heard: the Lord gave them a son, who at holy baptism received the name Nicholas, which in Greek means “the conquering people”.

The legend has survived that during baptism, when the ceremony was very long, the future saint, unsupported by anyone, stood in the font for three hours.

All the unusual behavior of the child showed the parents that he would become a great saint of God, so they paid special attention to his upbringing and tried, first of all, to instill in his son the truth of Christianity and direct him to a righteous life. The boy soon comprehended, thanks to his rich gifts, guided by the Holy Spirit, the wisdom of books. Successful in teaching, the youth Nikolai also succeeded in a pious life. He was not interested in empty conversations of his peers: the contagious example of camaraderie, leading to something bad, was alien to him.

Avoiding vain sinful entertainment, the youth Nicholas was distinguished by exemplary chastity and avoided all unclean thoughts. He spent almost all his time reading the Holy Scriptures, in the exploits of fasting and prayer. He had such a love for the temple of God that he sometimes spent whole days and nights there in divine prayer and reading divine books.

Presbyter

The pious life of young Nicholas soon became known to all residents of the city of Patara. The bishop in this city was his uncle, also named Nicholas. Noticing that his nephew stands out among other young people for his virtues and strict ascetic life, he began to persuade his parents to give him to the service of the Lord. They readily agreed, because even before the birth of their son they made such a vow.

His uncle the bishop ordained him a presbyter.

Having been ordained a priest, Saint Nicholas began to lead an even more strict ascetic life. Out of deep humility, he performed his spiritual exploits in private. But the Providence of God was pleased that the virtuous life of the saint would direct others to the path of truth.

Return to Lycia and episcopal dignity

Desiring to get away from the bustle of the world, Saint Nicholas went not to Patara, but to the Zion monastery (Μονή τῆς Νέας Σιών τῶν Μύρων), founded by his uncle the bishop about ten kilometers north of the city of Myra, where he was received by the brethren with great joy. In the quiet solitude of the monastic cell, he thought to stay for the rest of his life.

But one day, while standing in prayer, he heard a voice: “Nikolai! You must enter into the service of the people if you want to receive a crown from Me! " Obeying this command, Saint Nicholas withdrew from the monastery and chose not his own city of Patara as his place of residence, where everyone knew him and honored him, but the big city of Myra, the capital and metropolis of the Lycian land, where, unknown to anyone, he could rather escape worldly glory. ... He lived like a beggar, had no place to lay his head, but inevitably attended all church services. The archbishop of the whole Lycian country, John, died. All local bishops gathered in Myra to elect a new archbishop. Many were proposed for the election of intelligent and honest people, but there was no general agreement. The bishops fervently prayed to God, asking him to indicate the most worthy person.

One of the oldest bishops appeared in a vision of a husband, illuminated by an unearthly light, and commanded that that night to stand in the narthex of the temple and notice who was the first to come to the temple for the morning service: this is the man pleasing to the Lord, whom the bishops must appoint as their archbishop; His name was also revealed - Nikolai. The elder bishop communicated the revelation to others, who, in the hope of God's mercy, increased their prayers even more. At nightfall, the elder bishop stood in the narthex of the church, awaiting the arrival of the chosen one. Saint Nicholas, having risen from midnight, came to the church. The elder stopped him and asked about his name. He quietly and modestly replied: "I am called Nikolai, servant of your shrine, Vladyka!"

By the name and deep humility of the newcomer, the elder was convinced that he was the chosen one of God. He took him by the hand and led the bishops to the council. Everyone gladly accepted him and put him in the middle of the temple. Despite the night time, the news of the miraculous election spread throughout the city; many people gathered. The elder bishop, who was worthy of the vision, turned to everyone with the words: “Accept, brethren, your shepherd, whom the Holy Spirit has anointed for you and to whom he has entrusted the management of your souls. Not a human council, but the Court of God established it. Now we have the one whom we were waiting for, accepted and found whom we were looking for. Under his wise guidance, we can boldly hope to appear to the Lord on the day of His glory and judgment! "

Upon entering the administration of the Diocese of Mirliki, Saint Nicholas said to himself: "Now, Nicholas, your rank and your position require you to live entirely not for yourself, but for others!"

Now he did not hide his good deeds for the good of his flock and for the glorification of the name of God; but, as always, he was meek and lowly in spirit, not spiteful in heart, alien to all arrogance and self-interest; observed strict moderation and simplicity: he wore simple clothes, ate lean food once a day - in the evening. All day long, the great archpastor did deeds of piety and pastoral service. The doors of his house were open to everyone: he received everyone with love and cordiality, being a father for the orphans, a feeder for the poor, a comforter for the crying, and an intercessor for the oppressed. His flock flourished.

Diocletian's persecution

But the days of testing were approaching. The Church of Christ was persecuted by the emperor Diocletian (284-305). Temples were destroyed, divine and service books were burned; bishops and priests were imprisoned and tortured. All Christians were subjected to all kinds of insults and torments. Persecution reached the Lycian Church.

Saint Nicholas in these difficult days supported his flock in faith, loudly and openly preaching the name of God, for which he was imprisoned, where he did not cease to strengthen the faith among the prisoners and confirmed them in a strong confession of the Lord, so that they would be ready to suffer for Christ.

The Lord granted him an honest body of incorruption and special miraculous power. His relics continue to exude fragrant myrrh, possessing the gift of miracles, to this day.

Transfer of relics to Bari

More than seven hundred years have passed since the death of the saint. The city of Myra and the entire Lycian country were destroyed by the Turks. The ruins of the temple with the tomb of the saint were in desolation and were guarded by only a few monks.

The elders and noble townspeople of Bari equipped three ships for this purpose and, disguised as merchants, set off. This precaution was necessary in order to lull the vigilance of the Venetians, who, having learned about the preparations of the inhabitants of Bari, had the intention to outstrip them and bring the relics of the saint to their city.

The Barians, in a roundabout way, through Egypt and Palestine, entering the ports and conducting trade, like ordinary merchants, finally arrived in the Lycian land. The scouts sent out reported that there was no guard at the tomb and it was guarded by only four old monks. The barians came to Myra, where, not knowing the exact location of the tomb, they tried to bribe the monks by offering them three hundred gold coins, but in view of their refusal, they used force: they tied up the monks and, under threat of torture, forced one cowardly one to show them the location of the tomb.

The wonderfully preserved white marble tomb was uncovered. It turned out to be filled to the brim with a fragrant world, in which the relics of the saint were immersed. Unable to take a large and heavy tomb, the nobles transferred the relics to the prepared ark and set off on their way back.

The journey lasted twenty days, and on May 9, they arrived in Bari. A solemn meeting was arranged for the great shrine with the participation of numerous clergy and the entire population. At first, the relics of the saint were placed in the church of St. Eustathius.

Many miracles came from them. Two years later, the lower part (crypt) of the new church in the name of St. Nicholas, built deliberately to store his relics, was completed and consecrated, where they were solemnly transferred by Pope Urban II on October 1 of the year. The upper part of the temple (basilica) was built much later - on June 22 of the year.

The day of the arrival of the relics in "Bar-grad" (May 9) is celebrated there very solemnly. For this day, pilgrims flock there not only from Western Europe, but also from Russia, where May 9 is also celebrated. The service to the saint, performed on the day of the transfer of his relics from Myra in Lycia to Bargrad - May 9 - was compiled in the year by the Russian Orthodox monk of the Caves monastery Gregory and the Russian Metropolitan Ephraim.

The widespread opinion that the Greek Church does not recognize the feast of the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas is wrong. In the modern Greek calendar, this event is celebrated on May 20th. This memory was introduced into the printed calendar thanks to the Monk Nikodim the Svyatogorets (1809), who discovered information about this holiday in a number of Athonite manuscripts, translated the corresponding synaxar legend from the Church Slavonic language, and himself wrote a service for the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas. According to St. Nicodemus, the relics were taken out of the Lycian World on April 1, made a stop on about. Zakynthos on May 10, namely May 20 were brought to Bari. One of the earliest manuscripts with a precise date, mentioning May 9 as the date of the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas, is the Typikon of the Cryptoferrat monastery in 1300. The date of May 20 is recorded in a number of Byzantine manuscripts, the earliest known to us is the May service Menaion in 1431 of the library of the Vatopedi monastery No. 1145.

The memory of St. Nicholas is also celebrated at church services weekly, every Thursday, with special hymns.

Prayer Words

Troparion, voice 4

The rule of faith and the image of meekness, / the abstinence of the teacher / show thy herd, / I’m the substance of the Truth: / for this joy he acquired the power of high humility, / the poverty

Kontakion, voice 3

In the World, holy, the priest showed himself as: / Christ is God, reverend, having fulfilled the Gospel, / laid thy soul about your people / and rescued the great, rejoicing.

Christmas troparion, voice 4

Your wonderful and glorious Christmas, to the saint Nicholas, / The Church celebrates the day of the Orthodox Christians, / because I stand with your feet / God proclaims the world / enriching the world / enriching the world, enlightening the miracles / Christ God, our souls will be saved.

In troparion for christmas, voice 2

During the day we rise, it’s like a sun, your triumph, father to Nicholas, / for in your nativity you’re the divine standing of your feet / the angels rejoiced you, and the people won’t be surprised / did not make Christ with a high voice yells the body: / understand my goodness beautifully, / come in faith, rejoice / and raise your salvation and spiritual incapacity, / in troubles, grieving for the blind, wandering wealth, / of the elders of the rod, of the young punisher and the purity of the teacher, / and all who flow with faith // will receive healing for souls and bodies.

Christmas kontakion, voice 3

Born in the World, holy Nicholas, / from a noble root, / as a blessed breeze, vegetated, / as a divine gift, / as a saint enlightened, enlightened to the world. God’s grace.

Ying kontakion for christmas, voice 3

It’s like a blessed star shone more blessed than Nicholas, / in the midst of Licia’s city from the forerunner, was born, moreover, / and in fair Christmas, your wonderful and glorious was divine to you, the divine / three hours by standing your honest feet on the earth at the hour of your birth, / and nourished from the suck of the gums, from the left, not the skin, / in the middle and on the heels one and then in the evening, later, oh and abstinence is an unpleasant rule, // and as if i'mashi were vely the secret of God’s grace.

Troparion for the Transfer of Relics, Tone 4

Prispe day svetlago celebration / deg Barsky glad / and likovstvuet / pesnmi and penmi spiritual with him the universe all: / this day bo sacred celebration / in prenesenie honest and multicurative relics / St. Nicholas, / yakozhe sun unsetting shone forth A lantern rays and / scattering the darkness of temptations and troubles from those crying for sure: / save us, as our representative, // the great Nicolae.

Kontakion for the transfer of relics, voice 3

Ascendancy, like a star, from east to west / your power, to the saint Nicholas, / the sea will be illuminated by your procession, / and the city of Bar will welcome you.

A critical examination of the life of St. Nicholas

A critically processed biography of him still does not exist. In the famous life of him, placed in the "Chetiy-Menaei" of St. Demetrius of Rostov, borrowed, with abbreviations, from the legends of Simeon Metaphrast and circulated in countless retellings, features of the life of this saint in. mixed with the deeds of another Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Pinars (also in Lycia), who lived two centuries later - in

Nicholas the Wonderworker; Nikolay Ugodnik; Nikolay Mirlikiysky; Saint Nicholas(Greek. In Christianity, he is revered as a miracle worker, in the East he is the patron saint of travelers, prisoners and orphans, in the West - the patron saint of almost all strata of society, but mainly children.

He is depicted with a miter on his head, a symbol of his bishopric. Saint Nicholas gave rise to the character Santa Claus. On the basis of his life, which tells about the gift by St. Nicholas of a dowry to the three daughters of a bankrupt rich man, Christmas gifts occurred.

In the ancient biographies of Nicholas of Mirliki, they were usually confused with Nicholas of Pinars (Sinai) because of similar details of the biographies of the saints: both are from Lycia, archbishops, revered saints and miracle workers. These coincidences led to the misconception that existed for many centuries that there was only one Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker in the history of the church.

Biography

According to the life, Saint Nicholas was born in the 3rd century in the Greek colony of Patara in the Asia Minor Roman province of Lycia at a time when the region was Hellenistic in its culture. Nicholas was very religious from early childhood and devoted his entire life to Christianity. It is believed that he was born into a family of wealthy Christian parents and received his elementary education. Due to the fact that his biography was confused with the biography of Nikolai Pinarsky, for several centuries there was an erroneous opinion that Theophanes (Epiphanius) and Nonna were the parents of Nikolai Mirlikisky.

From childhood, Nicholas succeeded in studying the Holy Scriptures; during the day he did not leave the temple, and at night he prayed and read books, building in himself a worthy dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. His uncle, Bishop Nicholas of Patarsky, made him a reader, and then elevated Nicholas to the rank of priest, making him his assistant and instructing him to teach the flock. According to another version, thanks to a miraculous sign, by the decision of the council of the Lycian bishops, the layman Nikolai immediately became the bishop of Myra. In the 4th century, such an appointment was possible.

When his parents died, Saint Nicholas gave the inherited fortune to the needy.

The beginning of the sacred service of St. Nicholas is attributed to the reign of the Roman emperors Diocletian (reigned 284-305) and Maximian (reigned 286-305). In 303, Diocletian issued an edict legalizing the systematic persecution of Christians throughout the empire. After the abdication of both emperors on May 1, 305, there were changes in the policy of their successors towards Christians. In the western part of the empire, Constantius Chlorus (reigned 305-306) ended the persecution after his accession to the throne. In the eastern part of Galerius (reigned 305-311), he continued his persecution until 311, when he issued an edict of toleration, already on his deathbed. The persecutions of 303-311 are considered the longest in the history of the empire.

After the death of Galerius, his co-ruler Licinius (reigned 307-324) was generally tolerant of Christians. Christian communities began to develop. The bishopric of St. Nicholas in Mir (in the vicinity of the modern city of Demre, province of Antalya in Turkey) belongs to this period. He fought against paganism, in particular, the destruction of the temple of Artemis Eleuthera in the World is attributed to him.

He also zealously defended the Christian faith against heresies, especially Arianism. The Greek Damascene Studite, Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and Art (XVI century) in the book "Θησαυρός" ("Treasure") sets out a legend according to which during the Ecumenical Council (325) Nicholas "hit on the cheek" of his opponent Arius. However, in his Lectures on the History of the Ancient Church, the professor of church history V.V.Bolotov writes: "None of the legends about the Cathedral of Nicaea, even with a weak claim to antiquity, mentions among its participants the name of Nicholas, Bishop of Mirlikia." At the same time, Professor, Archpriest V. Tsypin believes that since the most reliable documents mention the names of only some of the Fathers of the Council, one should not take this argument seriously and not trust church tradition. According to Professor Archpriest Liverius Voronov, this “cannot be recognized as true, first of all, because it is in sharp contradiction with the impeccable moral character of the great Saint”, on the one hand, and with the Rules of the Holy Apostles, on the other. Nevertheless, in his own words, the Church “does not doubt the reality of the fact of the conciliar trial of St. Nicholas "for this offense. Voronov "on the basis of an analysis of the vocabulary of church chants" confirms that St. Nicholas called Arius "a mad blasphemer."

There are no facts of the murder of Arius by Nicholas and the trial of Nicholas in the life of Nicholas, written by Simeon Metaphrast in the 10th century, but it notes that Saint Nicholas was at the Council of Nicaea and "resolutely rebelled against the heresy of Arius." In Russian hagiography, a description of a slap in the face appears only at the end of the 17th century in the Lives of Saints, written by Metropolitan Dimitri of Rostov, is given in the text of the Menaion for December 6.

Saint Nicholas is known as a defender of the slandered, often delivering them from the fate of innocent convicts, a prayer book for sailors and other travelers.

Acts and Miracles

Rescue of sailors.

Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of seafarers, who is often approached by sailors who are threatened by sinking or shipwreck. In accordance with the biography, as a young man, Nicholas went to study in Alexandria, and in one of his sea voyages from Mira to Alexandria, he resurrected a sailor who fell into a storm from the ship's rigging and crashed to death. On another occasion, Nicholas rescued a sailor on his way from Alexandria back to Mira and, upon his arrival, took him with him to church.

A dowry for three girls.
Gentile da Fabriano, approx. 1425

The Life of Saint Nicholas describes the story of how Saint Nicholas helped three girls, whose father, unable to collect a dowry, planned to extract income from their beauty. Upon learning of this, Nikolai decided to help the girls. Being humble (or wanting to save them from the humiliation of accepting help from an outsider), he threw a bag of gold into their house and returned home. The delighted father of the girl married off his daughter and used this money for her dowry. After a while Saint Nicholas planted a sack of gold for the second daughter as well, which allowed the second girl to marry, provided with a dowry. After that, the father of the daughters decided to find out who his benefactor was, and therefore he was on duty all nights to wait for him. His expectation was justified: Saint Nicholas once again threw the sack of gold out the window and hastened to leave. Hearing the ringing of gold, the girls' father ran after the benefactor and, recognizing Saint Nicholas, threw himself at his feet, saying that he had saved them from destruction. Saint Nicholas, not wanting his good deed to become known, took an oath from him that he would not tell anyone about it.

According to Catholic tradition, the sack thrown through the window by Saint Nicholas landed in a stocking left to dry before the fire. This is where the custom of hanging Santa Claus' socks came from.

Even during his lifetime, Saint Nicholas became famous as a pacifier of those at war, a defender of the innocent condemned, and a deliverer from a vain death. In the act of Saint Nicholas, called "The Act of the Stratilates," he describes the salvation of three citizens of the city of Myra, who were unjustly sentenced to death, and then three Constantinople generals or stratilates (governors). The Monk Simeon Metaphrast and, on its basis, Saint Demetrius of Rostov describe this act as follows. During the time when Saint Nicholas was already Bishop Mir, during the reign of Emperor Constantine I, a rebellion broke out in Phrygia. To pacify the rebellion, the king sent there an army under the command of three military leaders: Nepotian, Ursus and Erpilion. Having sailed from Constantinople, they stopped at the harbor of Andriake (Adriatic coast) near Mir. During the stay, some soldiers, going ashore to buy what they needed, took a lot with violence. The local residents became embittered, and strife and enmity began between them and the soldiers, leading to a clash at the so-called Plakoma. Upon learning of this, Saint Nicholas decided to end the riots. Arriving there, he began to persuade the military leaders to keep their soldiers in obedience and not allow them to oppress the people. Then the commanders punished the guilty soldiers and pacified the unrest. At this time, several citizens of Mir of Lycia came to Saint Nicholas, asking him to defend the slandered three men of their city, who, in the absence of Bishop Nicholas, were condemned to death by the ruler Eustathius. Then the saint, accompanied by the governor, set out to save the condemned. When he reached the place of execution, he saw that the condemned men had already bowed to the ground and awaited the blow of the executioner's sword. Then Saint Nicholas snatched the sword from the hands of the executioner and freed the condemned. After that, the generals went to Phrygia to fulfill the imperial command given to them. After suppressing the rebellion, they returned home. The king and the nobles gave them praise and honor. However, some nobles, envious of their glory, slandered them before the Prefect of the Praetorian of the East Ablabius, gave him money and told him that the governors were preparing a conspiracy against the king. After the prefect Ablabiy reported this to the king, the latter ordered the governor to be imprisoned without investigation. The slanderers were afraid that their slander would become known, so they began to ask the ruler of Ablabia to condemn the governor to death. The ruler agreed and, going to the king, persuaded the emperor to execute the voivode. Since it was evening, the execution was postponed until the morning. The jailer, having learned about this, informed the governors. Then the voivode Nepotian remembered Saint Nicholas, and they began to pray to the Saint to deliver them. On the same night, Saint Nicholas appeared in a dream before the tsar and told him to release the slandered governor and threaten him with death if he did not fulfill what he asked. On the same night, the saint also appeared to the prefect Ablabius and announced to him the same thing as the king. Going to the king, the governor told him his vision. Then the king ordered to bring the governor out of the dungeon, saying that with magic they brought such dreams to him and the governor. The governors replied to the king that they had not prepared any conspiracy against him and were diligently serving him. Then the king repented and freed the governor. He handed them a golden Gospel, a golden censer decorated with stones and two lamps, and commanded that this be given to the Church of Mir. Returning to Myra, the governors gave thanks to the saint for his miraculous help. It is documented that the governors Nepotian and Ursus became consuls in 336 and 338 respectively.

It is also known the miracle of saving sailors from the storm through the prayer of St. Nicholas.

Immediately after his death, the body of the saint began to pour out myrrh and became an object of pilgrimage. A basilica was built over the grave in the 6th century, and at the beginning of the 9th century - the still existing church of St. Nicholas. The relics were kept in it until 1087 - until they were abducted by the Italians from the city of Bari.

Transfer of relics

In 792, the Caliph Harun ar-Rashid sent the chief of the fleet, Humeid, to devastate the island of Rhodes. Having plundered the island, Humeid went to Myra in Lycia with the intention of breaking open and plundering the tomb of St. Nicholas. However, instead of it, he hacked into another, which stood next to the tomb of the saint, and barely the blasphemers had time to do this, when a terrible storm arose at sea and almost all of Humayd's ships were defeated.

This desecration of Christian shrines angered not only Eastern, but also Western Christians. Christians in Italy, among whom there were many Greeks, were especially afraid for the relics of St. Nicholas.

The threat to Christian shrines intensified after the Seljuk Turks invaded the Middle East. The empire was exhausted from their attacks, coordinated with the Pechenegs and the Guzes, akin to the Seljuks, from the north, and the Byzantines were crushed by the Normans from the West. In the main city of Cappadocia, Caesarea, the Turks robbed the main shrine of the city - the church where the relics of the saint were kept. The Byzantine chronicler wrote about the time of Michael Parapinak (1071-1078): “With this emperor, the whole world, earthly and sea, was captured by wicked barbarians, destroyed and depopulated, for all Christians were killed by them, and all the houses and villages of the East with their churches were ravaged, completely destroyed and turned into nothing. "

The new emperor Alexei I Komnenos tried to save the shrines, but could not. The barbarism of the Turkish robbers was attributed to all Muslims, including those who ruled Antioch. In order to return Bari to the lost significance of the religious center, the Barians decided to steal the relics of St. Nicholas from Myra in Lycia, hoping that no one would accuse them of stealing the relics from Eastern Christians, since Myra was overrun by the Turks. In 1087, Bari and Venetian merchants went to Antioch. Both of them proposed on the way back to Italy to take the relics of St. Nicholas from Myra in Lycia and bring them to Italy, but the Barians outstripped the Venetians and were the first to land in Myra. Two residents of Bari were sent to reconnaissance, who, upon returning, reported that everything was quiet in the city, and in the church where the relics were located, there were only four monks. Immediately 47 people, armed, went to the church of St. Nicholas.

The monks, who were guarding the shrine, not suspecting anything bad, showed them the platform under which the tomb of the saint was hidden. At the same time, the monk told the strangers about a vision on the eve of Saint Nicholas to an elder, in which the Saint asked him to keep his relics more carefully.

This story inspired the inhabitants of Bari, since they saw for themselves in this phenomenon, as it were, an indication of St. Nicholas. To facilitate their actions, they revealed their intentions to the monks and offered them a ransom - 300 gold coins. The monks angrily refused the money and wanted to notify the residents of the misfortune that threatened them, but the Italians tied them up and put their watchmen at the door.

Residents of Bari smashed the church platform, under which there was a tomb with relics, and saw that the sarcophagus was filled with fragrant holy peace. The compatriots of the Barians, presbyters Lupp and Drogo, performed a litiya, after which a young man named Matthew began to extract the relics of the Saint from the sarcophagus overflowing with peace. The events took place on April 20, 1087.

In the absence of the ark, presbyter Drogo wrapped the relics in outer clothing and, accompanied by the Barians, carried them to the ship. The freed monks told the city the sad news of the abduction of the miracle worker's relics by foreigners. Crowds of people gathered on the shore, but it was too late ...

On May 9, the ships approached Bari, where the good news of this has already spread throughout the city. The abbot of the Benedictine monastery Elijah, in the absence of the first persons of the city that day, decided the fate of the relic, and later became its keeper. The relics of St. Nicholas were solemnly transferred to the Church of St. Stephen, located not far from the sea. The celebration of the transfer of the shrine was accompanied by numerous miraculous healings of the sick, which aroused even greater reverence for the great saint of God. A year later, Elijah built a church in the name of St. Nicholas and was consecrated by Pope Urban II. Today it is the Basilica of St. Nicholas, where the relics of the saint are kept today.

The sailors from Bari took most of the relics of the saint, which were in the sarcophagus in Mira (about ⁄), leaving all the small fragments in the grave. Although the inhabitants hid the remaining relics, in 1099-1101, thanks to the torture of the guards, they were collected by the Venetians during the first crusade and taken to Venice, where the church of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors, was built on the island of Lido. Anthropological examinations in 1957 and 1987 showed that the relics in Bari and Venice belong to the same skeleton. Saint Nicholas became the patron saint of Venice together with the Apostle Mark and Theodore Stratilates.

Establishing a holiday

At first, the feast of the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas was celebrated only by the inhabitants of the Italian city of Bari. In other countries of the Christian East and West, it was not accepted, despite the fact that the transfer of the relics was widely known. The Greek Church also did not establish the celebration of this date, possibly because the loss of the relics of the saint was a sad event for her.

In Russia, in the 11th century, the veneration of the saint spread quickly and everywhere. The Russian Orthodox Church established the commemoration of the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas from Myra in Lycia to Bari on May 9 shortly after 1087 on the basis of the deep, already consolidated veneration of the great saint of God by the Russian people. Archbishop Filaret of Chernigov believed that a holiday in honor of the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas was established in the Russian Church in 1091. Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow and Kolomna believed that the holiday was established by Metropolitan John II of Kiev (1077-1089). Archpriest Nikolai Pogrebnyak believes that the feast in honor of the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas was established by St. Ephraim around 1098. According to D.G. Khrustalev, this holiday appeared in Russia in 1092.

The holiday is widely celebrated in the Russian and Bulgarian churches. In Serbia, the church feast of the Glory of the Cross is celebrated, and the Glory of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is the most widespread.

Catholics outside the city of Bari rarely celebrate this holiday.

Veneration

The modern month of the Russian Orthodox Church contains three feasts of St. Nicholas, each of which has its own hymnography:

December 6 (19) - the day of death;
May 9 (22) - the day of the arrival of the relics in the city of Bari;
July 29 (August 11) - Christmas of St. Nicholas. Two different services have come down to us on this holiday of the 17th-18th centuries;
Every weekday Thursday.

It is precisely known about the Greek origin of only one of the named memories - the Repose of St. Nicholas. In Byzantium, a service for this holiday was also compiled. The other five holidays (probably all) belong to the Russian Church, and the hymnography for them was made by Russian song-makers. The second group is made up of holidays in honor of the miraculous icons of the Saint, of which there are quite a few. His memory is also honored weekly, every Thursday, with special chants.

In 1987, the memory of St. Nicholas was included in the Cathedral of the Tula Saints, the celebration of the Cathedral takes place on September 22 (October 5).

In the city of Bari, where most of the relics of St. Nicholas reside, on March 1, 2009, the Russian Orthodox Church received a church in honor of St. Nicholas (built in 1913-1917) together with the Patriarchal Metochion. The symbolic keys to the courtyard were received by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

The relics of St. Nicholas

Initially, Saint Nicholas was buried in a church in Mir (now the city of Demre in the territory of modern Turkey).

In May 1087, Italian merchants stole most of the relics of the saint from the temple of the city of Mira, in haste and bustle left about 20% of the relics in the sarcophagus, and transported them to the city of Bari (Italy). Nine years later, the Venetians stole the rest of the relics of St. Nicholas and took them to Venice together with the relics of other Myrlikian saints: St. Nicholas - according to the Venetians, the "uncle" of St. Nicholas, in fact a relative of St. Nicholas of Pinars, and Hieromartyr Theodore, also Archbishop Mir Lycian.

Today, about 65% of the relics of St. Nicholas are in the Catholic Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari, under the altar of the crypt. About a fifth of the relics of the saint is in the Catholic Church of St. Nicholas on the island of Lido in Venice in a reliquary above the throne, over which are erected cypress statues of the holy martyr Theodore, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (center) and St. Nicholas “uncle”. The rest of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker are scattered all over the world.

In the basilica in Bari, at the bottom of the throne, a round hole was made into the tomb of St. Nicholas, from which, once a year, on May 9, transparent myrrh is extracted.

In 2005, a group of British anthropologists tried to reconstruct the external appearance of St. Nicholas from the skull: he was strongly built, about 168 cm tall; he was characterized by a high forehead, prominent cheekbones and chin, brown eyes and dark skin.

In Russia

In Russia, the veneration of Nicholas the Wonderworker "everywhere honored" was very widespread, and the number of temples dedicated to him and painted icons was the largest after the Mother of God. Until the beginning of the 20th century, his name was one of the most popular in Russia when naming babies. Saint Nicholas is the most revered saint in modern Russia.

From May 21 to July 28, 2017, during the temporary transfer of a particle of the relics of St. Nicholas from the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari to Russia, about 2.5 million people bowed to them (about 2 million in Moscow in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior from May 22 to July 12 and about 500 thousand in St. Petersburg in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra). On May 21, 2017, the ark with part of the relics of the saint (the left rib, taken out from under the bin through the hole for collecting the world) was delivered by plane to Moscow, where Patriarch Kirill met him in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The agreement to bring the relics to the Russian Orthodox Church was reached during a meeting between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis on February 12, 2016 in Havana. This event took place for the first time in 930 years of the stay of the honest relics in Bari, during which they never left the city.

Monuments

Monument in Yeisk

Memorial in Togliatti

Monument at the walls of the Church of St. Nicholas in Demre

Monument on the square in front of the Church of St. Nicholas in Demre

In 1998, a monument to Nikolai the Wonderworker by Vyacheslav Klykov was erected in Mozhaisk.

On June 12, 2008, on the Cathedral Square of Perm, near the former building of the Perm Regional Museum, a monument to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker by Vyacheslav Klykov was unveiled.

On September 26, 2008, a monument to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker by Sergei Isakov was unveiled in Bataysk.

On December 19, 2008, the Foundation of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker presented the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky with a monument to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

On December 23, 2009 in Kaliningrad, in front of the monument to fishermen, a monument to Nicholas the Wonderworker was erected, thus both monuments now form a single ensemble. The grand opening of the reconstructed memorial complex took place on July 8, 2010.

In Slavic folklore

Nikola the Wonderworker is one of the most revered Christian saints among the Slavs. In the East Slavic tradition, the cult of Nikola is close in importance to the veneration of the Mother of God and even Christ himself.

According to the popular beliefs of the Slavs (Slavic folklore), Nikola is the "elder" among the saints, is included in the Holy Trinity (sic) and can even replace God on the throne. Back in the XIX-XX centuries. one could come across the opinion that the Trinity consists of the Savior, the Mother of God and Nikola. The legend from the Belarusian Polesie says that “Mikola saints were not only older for the ўcix svyaty, but mabyts and elders over them<…>Svyaty Mikola of God is the heir, yak God pamre (sic), then sv. Mikalai the miracle worker budze baghavats, but not hto inshy. " The special veneration of the saint is evidenced by the plots of folk legends about how St. Nicholas became "lord": he prayed so earnestly in the church that the golden crown fell on his head by itself (Ukrainian Carpathians).

Among the Eastern and Western Slavs, the image of Nikola, in some of its functions (the “chief” of paradise - holds the keys to heaven; transports souls to the “other world”; patronizes the warriors) is contaminated with the image of the Archangel Michael. Among the southern Slavs, the image of the saint as a destroyer of snakes and a "wolf shepherd" approaches the image of St. George the Victorious.

The main functions of Nikola (patron of cattle and wild animals, agriculture, beekeeping, connection with the afterlife, correlation with the relics of the bear cult), the opposition of the "merciful" Nikola to the "terrible" Elijah the prophet in folk legends testify, according to BA Uspensky, on the preservation of the traces of the cult of the pagan deity Volos (Veles) in the popular veneration of St. Nicholas.

The beginning of the winter Christmastide and the end of the Christmas fast in many places of the Russian Empire were timed to coincide with Nikolin's day.

Other information

Nikola Mozhaisky (wooden sculpture from the village of Zelenyata, late 18th - early 19th century. Perm State Art Gallery)

In the iconography of the saint, the icons of "St. Nicholas of the Winter" and "St. Nicholas of Veshny" are sometimes distinguished, corresponding to the days of veneration in the year. At the same time, the "winter" Nikola is depicted in the episcopal miter, and the "spring" - with his head uncovered. There is an assumption that the iconography of "St. Nicholas the Winter" arose during the reign of Nicholas I, who somehow drew attention to the fact that the icon depicted his heavenly patron without a headdress, and made a remark to the clergy. On most of the icons, on the sides of the head of St. Nicholas, there are also small images of the Lord Jesus Christ with the Gospel and the Most Holy Theotokos with the bishop's omophorion in her hands.
On the Nikolskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin there is an icon of Nikola Mozhaisky, after which the tower and the street leading to this tower are named.
In the Ryazan diocese, on June 15/28, the day of St. Nicholas is locally celebrated in honor of his icon, revealed in the XII century, made of clay, dressed in priestly vestments and located in a wooden icon case (in one hand the Prelate holds a sword, in the other - a church). The holiday is dedicated to the icon in memory of the miraculous rescue of the villagers from the cholera epidemic in the 19th century.
In the Vyatka diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, starting from the 15th century, from June 3 to 8 (from May 21 to 26 of the old style), the Velikoretsky religious procession has been performed in honor of the Velikoretskaya icon of Nicholas the Wonderworker, revealed in the 14th century near the village of Velikoretsky. In honor of the same Velikoretskaya icon of St. Nicholas, from August 9 to 13, the Old Believers Velikoretsky Religious Procession takes place from the city of Kirov (Vyatka) to the village of Velikoretskoye.
The worship of Nicholas the Wonderworker by Kalmyks-Buddhists was one of the most prominent successes of Kalmyk Christianization. "Mikola-Burkhan" was included in the pantheon of the master spirits of the Caspian Sea and was especially revered as the patron saint of fishermen.
Another Buddhist people of Russia - the Buryats - identified Nicholas the Wonderworker with the deity of longevity and prosperity, the White Elder.

“Without exception, all Tunka Mongol-Buryats, both shamanists and Lamaists, have the deepest respect for this (Nicholas) Saint and call him in Russian in their own way:“ Father Mikhola ”, or in Mongolian“ Sagan-Ubukgun ” ".

Saint Nicholas is the prototype of Santa Claus. Initially, it was on behalf of this saint that gifts were presented to children in Europe on their day of veneration for the saint according to the church calendar - December 6. However, during the period of the Reformation, which opposed the veneration of saints, in Germany and neighboring countries, Saint Nicholas was replaced as a character giving gifts to the infant Christ, and the day of giving gifts was postponed from December 6 to the period of Christmas fairs, that is, to December 24. During the Counter-Reformation period, the image of St. Nicholas returned to use, but he was already firmly associated with the Christmas holidays, where he began to act as a gift giver. At the same time, if in England in the 17th century the image of an abstract "Father of Christmas" arose, then in Holland Sinterklaas, that is, St. Nicholas, continues to give gifts to children. In North America, the Dutch Sinterklaas turned into Santa Claus (in New York, founded by the Dutch), an image that finally broke away from its historical and church prototype, acquired new details and commercialized.
The legend connects the image of Nikolai Mirlikisky on the round board with the illness of Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich. The prince dreamed in a dream that the icon of the saint, which was on the shelves of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, could heal him. Ambassadors went there, but were delayed by a storm at the mouth of the Msta River. When the waves subsided, the ambassadors saw an icon of St. Nicholas at the side of the ship in a "round measure" and delivered it to the prince. By touching her, Mstislav recovered.

Name: Nicholas the Wonderworker (Nikolai Mirlikisky)

Date of Birth: 270 BC

Age: 75 years

Date of death: 345 BC

Height: 168

Activity: archbishop, orthodox saint

Family status: was not married

Nicholas the Wonderworker: biography

The most revered saint in Orthodoxy, miracle worker, patron saint of sailors, travelers, orphans and prisoners. From the day of veneration of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in December, the New Year holidays begin. Children expect Christmas gifts from him, because the saint became the prototype of Santa Claus and Santa Claus. According to the life of the saint, he was born in 270 in the Lycian town of Patara, at that time a Greek colony. Today it is the territory of the Turkish provinces of Antalya and Mugla, and the area where Patara is located is called the vicinity of the village of Gelemish.

The biography-life of Nicholas the Wonderworker says that his parents were wealthy Christians, who gave their son an education befitting the 3rd century. The family of Nicholas of Mirlikisky (another name of the saint) was a believer, his uncle, the Bishop of Patara, noticed his nephew's religiosity and made him a reader at a public service.

Young Nicholas spent his days in the monastery, and devoted his nights to studying the Holy Scriptures and prayers. The boy was distinguished by amazing responsiveness and early realized that he would devote his life to service. The uncle, seeing the nephew's zeal, took the teenager as an assistant. Soon Nicholas received the priestly rank, and the bishop entrusted him to teach lay believers.

Monument to Nicholas the Wonderworker in Yeisk

The young priest, having asked the blessing of his uncle-bishop, went to the Holy Land. On the way to Jerusalem, Nicholas had a vision: the devil went out on a ship. The priest predicted a storm and a shipwreck. At the request of the ship's crew, Nicholas the Wonderworker pacified the rebellious sea. Climbing Golgotha, the Lycian offered up prayers of thanks to the Savior.

On a pilgrimage journey, bypassing holy places, he ascended Mount Zion. The open doors of the temple, which was closed for the night, were a sign of the Lord's mercy. Filled with gratitude, Nicholas decided to retire in the desert, but a voice from heaven stopped the young priest, ordering him to return home.

In Lycia, Nicholas joined the brotherhood of Holy Zion in order to lead a silent life. But the Most High appeared to him with the Mother of God and handed the Gospel and the omophorion. According to legend, the Lycian bishops received a sign, after which they decided at the council to make the young layman Nicholas bishop of Myra (the city of the Lycian confederation). Historians and religious scholars argue that for the 4th century the appointment was possible.

After the death of his parents, Nikolai entered into inheritance rights and distributed the wealth due to him to the poor. The ministry of the bishop of Myra in Lycia fell on difficult times of persecution. The Roman emperors Diocletian and Maximian persecuted Christians, but in May 305, after the imperial abdication, Constantius, who took the throne, stopped the persecution in the western part of the empire. In the east, they continued until 311 by the Roman emperor Galerius. After a period of oppression, Christianity in the Lycian world, where Nicholas was bishop, developed rapidly. He is credited with the destruction of pagan temples and the temple of Artemis in Mir.

Researchers from the life of Nicholas the Wonderworker talk about the cathedral court at which he was tried. The Greek Metropolitan of Nafpaktos in his book "The Treasure" claims that the future saint was tried for slapping Arius in the face during the Council of Nicaea. But researchers tend to view the slap in the face as libel. They say that Nicholas called the heretic "a mad blasphemer," for which he became the subject of a conciliar court. The libelous resort to the help of the Wonderworker Nicholas, since it is believed that the saint will save them from their sad fate.

Wonders

Travelers and sailors caught in a storm turn to Saint Nicholas for help. The life of the saint speaks of the repeated salvation of seafarers. During a trip to Alexandria to study, Nikolai's ship was covered by a storm surge. The sailor fell off the lines and died. The miracle worker Nikolai, then still a young man, resurrected the deceased.

The life of the saint describes the case of saving the honor of three sisters from a poor family, whom his father, in order to avoid hunger, intended to give up for fornication. An unenviable fate awaited the girls, but Nicholas, under cover of night, threw sacks of gold into the house, providing the girls with a dowry. According to Catholic tradition, the bags of gold fell into stockings, which were dried in front of the fireplace. Since then, a tradition has emerged to leave gifts "from Santa Claus" to children in colorful Christmas stockings (socks). The miracle worker Nikolai reconciles the warring ones and protects the innocent convicts. Prayers addressed to him save him from sudden death. The worship of the saint became widespread after his death.

Christmas stockings symbolize the gift of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

Another mention of the miracle performed by the Miracle Worker Nicholas is associated with the rescue of the Prince of Novgorod, Mstislav Vladimirovich. The sick nobleman dreamed that he would be saved by an icon of a saint from Kiev's Sophia Cathedral. But the envoys did not reach Kiev because of the storm that broke out on the Msta River. When the waves subsided, next to the ship, on the water, the messengers saw a round icon depicting the Miracle Worker Nikolai. The sick prince, having touched the face of the saint, recovered.

Believing Christians call the Akathist to Nicholas the Wonderworker a miracle. They are sure that this prayer can change fate for the better if it is read for 40 days in a row. Believers claim that the saint hears all prayers for help in work and for health. A prayer service to Saint Nicholas helps girls get married safely, starving people get their fill, and those who are suffering get rid of everyday problems. Those praying in the church note that Nicholas the Wonderworker immediately responds to the sincere prayer uttered at his icon by burning candles.

After death

The exact date of Nikolai's death is unknown. They call it 345. After leaving for another world, the body of the saint was pacified and turned into an object of pilgrimage. In the IV century, a basilica appeared over the grave of Nicholas the Wonderworker, and in the 9th century in Turkish Demre, formerly known as Mira, a church was erected, the doors of which were thrown open in the 21st century. Until 1087, the remains of the saint rested in Demre. But in May, traders from Italy stole 80% of the relics, leaving part of them in a hurry in the grave. The stolen treasure was transported to the city of Bari - the capital of the Italian region of Apulia.

Nine years later, Venetian merchants stole the remains of the Wonderworker Nicholas in Demre and transported them to Venice. Today, 65% of the relics of the saint are in Bari. They were placed under the altar of the Catholic Basilica of St. Nicholas. A fifth of the sacred remains rest on the Venetian island of Lido, above the altar of the temple. A hole was made in the Bari basilica in the tomb of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Every year on May 9 (the day when the ship with the relics landed on the shore, the day of the city of Bari), myrrh is taken out of the coffin, which is credited with miraculous properties, healing from deadly diseases.

Two examinations, carried out in the mid and late 1990s, confirmed that the relics stored in two cities in Italy belong to the same person. Anthropologists from Britain in 2005 reconstructed the appearance of the saint from the skull. If you believe the recreated appearance, then Nicholas the Wonderworker was 1.68 meters tall, had a high forehead, dark skin, brown eyes and sharply defined cheekbones and chin.

Memory

The news of the transfer of the relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker to Italy spread throughout Europe, but at first only the Barians celebrated the feast of the transfer of the holy relics. The Greeks, like the Christians of the East and West, accepted the news of the transfer of the remains with sadness. In Russia, the veneration of St. Nicholas spread in the 11th century. After 1087 (according to other sources, 1091), the Orthodox Church established May 9 (Julian calendar) as the day of celebration of the transfer of the relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker from Myra in Lycia to Bari.

As widely as in Russia, the holiday is celebrated by Orthodox Christians in Bulgaria and Serbia. Catholics (other than Barians) do not celebrate May 9th. The Russian Orthodox Messeslov names three dates for the holidays dedicated to Nicholas the Wonderworker. December 19 - the day of his death, May 22 - the arrival of the holy relics in Bari and August 11 - the birth of the saint. In Orthodox churches, the Wonderworker Nicholas is commemorated with chants every Thursday.

The second group of holidays associated with the memory of the most revered saint in Russia is associated with miraculous icons with his face. On March 1, 2009, in Bari, the 1913 church and the Patriarchal courtyard were transferred into the possession of the Russian Orthodox Church. The President of Russia took the keys from them.

In Russia, the number of icons painted and built churches of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is the second after the Mother of God. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, the name Nikolai was one of the most popular in the country. In the XIX-XX centuries, the Wonderworker was revered in such a way that there was an opinion about the entry of St. Nicholas into the Holy Trinity. According to Slavic beliefs (the legend of the Belarusian Polesye has been preserved), Nicholas will replace God on the throne as the “eldest” of the saints.

Western and Eastern Slavs ascribe to Nicholas the Wonderworker the possession of the keys to heaven and the function of "transporting" souls to another world. The southern Slavs call the saint "the ruler of paradise", "the wolf shepherd" and "the destroyer of snakes." They say that Nikolai the Pleasant is the patron saint of agriculture and beekeeping.

Orthodox Christians distinguish in the iconography "Nicholas of the Winter" and "Nicholas of Veshny". The image on the icons is different: the "winter" Miracle Worker is depicted in the miter of a bishop, the "vernal" one has an uncovered head. It is noteworthy that Nicholas the Wonderworker is revered by Kalmyks and Buryats professing Buddhism. The Kalmyks call the saint "Mikola-Burkhan". He patronizes fishermen and is considered the master of the Caspian Sea. The Buryats identify Nicholas with the White Elder - the god of longevity.

Nicholas the Wonderworker is the prototype of Santa Claus, on whose behalf children are presented with gifts. Before the Reformation, the saint was revered on December 6, but then the celebration was postponed to December 24, so he is associated with Christmas. In 17th century Britain, Nicholas was the impersonal "Father of Christmas", but in Holland his name is Sinterklaas, which translates as St. Nicholas.

The Dutch, who founded the city, brought to New York the tradition of celebrating Christmas with Sinterklaas, who soon became Santa Claus. From the church prototype, the hero has only a name, otherwise the image has undergone a thorough commercialization. In France, Christmas Grandfather comes to children, Joulupukki to Finnish kids, but in Russia and the countries of the post-Soviet space, the New Year is impossible without Santa Claus, whose prototype is the beloved saint in Russia.

Relics in Russia

In February 2016, a meeting between Patriarch Cyril and Pope Francis took place, at which an agreement was reached on the transfer of part of the relics of the saint from Bari to Russia. On May 21, 2017, the relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker (left rib) were placed in the ark and delivered to the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior, where they were met by the Russian patriarch. Those who wished were able to bow to the relics from May 22 to July 12. On May 24, the President of Russia visited the temple. On July 13, the ark was transported to St. Petersburg, to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The relics were opened until July 28, 2017.

The kilometer-long queues of pilgrims lined up to the relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker in Moscow and St. Petersburg, which is why a special regime of access to the churches was introduced. People wrote notes to the saint, asking for help in healing. The organizers of access to the holy relics asked not to do this, recalling that the Orthodox have other forms of addressing the saints - reading akathists, prayers and chants. Particles of the relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker are kept in the churches of dozens of churches of the Russian diocese, in the monasteries of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg.

Editorial response

Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, became famous for many feats and miracles. The day of his death - December 19 - became a common Christian holiday.

History of the feast of St. Nicholas

Nicholas was the son of wealthy parents, from childhood he dreamed of devoting his life to serving God, and as a young man, during the Diocletian persecution, he became a priest. After the death of his parents, he distributed a large inheritance to the poor. Bishop Nicholas was a good shepherd, intercessor of the innocently convicted and persecuted, benefactor and secret donor. He was revered for mercy, and faith in his help grew for centuries. In 1087, when the city of Myra was already in the power of Muslims, the inhabitants of the Italian city of Bari secretly took the relics of the saint to themselves.

Russian Orthodox statue of St. Nicholas, currently located next to the church in Demre. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

How does the Orthodox Church venerate St. Nicholas?

Nicholas the Pleasant is revered as the patron saint of workers, sailing and traveling, the defender of the disadvantaged, giving aid to the poor and children, disappearing and drowning, prisoners and persecuted. He is kind - this can be seen in his face on the icons. The Christmas fast on Nikolin's day gives a relief: fish is allowed.

The Russian Church dedicated to Nicholas the Wonderworker, along with the apostles, a special service on Thursdays every week. There are not as many parish churches dedicated to any saint as to Nicholas the Wonderworker. Only in Moscow, starting with the oldest St. Khamovniki, Khlynov, Podkopai, Blacksmiths, Pyzhakh, Pupyshah, Zvonaryakh, Koshely, in Sapozhka - at the Kutafya tower.

On Russian icons, Saint Nicholas is depicted as an elderly man with a gray beard, bald patches on his forehead - and in episcopal vestments. The image with a miter cap on the head is called "Nikola winter", the image without a headdress - "Nikola summer", and the image with a sword in his right hand and a hail on the left - "Nikola Mozhaisky".

Nikola. Wooden sculpture from the storage of the Vologda Museum. XVII-XVIII century. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Frame capture and processing: V. Lobachev. Film author: M. Reztsov.

Celebration traditions

In Russia, Nikolin's day was celebrated with a joint, with pies, beer or mash from the grain of the new harvest. It was a holiday for the elders in the family and clan. "Call a friend to Nikolschina, call a vorog - both will be friends."

Winter is finally approved for Nicholas. People say: "Praise the winter after Nikolina's day." “If Nikolin had a day, there would be winter”.

Earlier in Ukraine, it was from this day that young people began to prepare for Christmastide, matchmaking and evening parties: they weaved dowry, sewed outfits and made masks for Christmastime entertainment.

St. Nicolas day. Painting by Dutch artist Jan Steen, circa 1665-1668 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Saint Nicholas in other Christian denominations

Saint Nicholas is also revered by Christians of other confessions. Catholics love Saint Nicholas for his mercy, they turn to him for help as the patron saint of workers, sailors and travelers, the protector of the poor and children. On St. Nicholas Day, there is a custom to give gifts to children. Shoes or socks are hung in houses so that Saint Nicholas can put gifts there for children.

Santa Claus in a drawing by Thomas Nast (1881). Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

True, only obedient children will receive gifts, and the disobedient ones will be punished with rods by Knecht Ruprecht. Knecht Ruprecht was invented for educational purposes, this character appeared in the 17th century. In Switzerland, such a servant is called Schmutzli, and in Austria and Bavaria - Krampus.

Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of Amsterdam. Every year Sintaklaas (as it is called in Holland) "arrives" by sea from Spain to the Netherlands, he is greeted by the townspeople and the mayor, fireworks and bells ringing at the town hall sound in his honor. On the eve of St. Nicholas Day in the Netherlands, children sing songs for Sintaklaas and put shoes with carrots or a piece of hay for the saint's horse at the chimney or front door for the saint's horse, on which he rides on the roofs (and his dexterous assistant Black Pete goes down the chimneys with a bag of gifts). Children who have behaved well in the past year find chocolate coins, marmalade, gingerbread figures or small toys in their shoes in the morning. Those who misbehaved should find ashes there, but the good saint is merciful. Sintaklaas also leaves gifts at the door in a large bag.

In Italy, in the city of Sassiri, on December 6, the holiday Rito delle nubili (Italian - "marriage ceremony") is held: on St. Nicholas Day, brides are given gifts.

In Trieste, St. Nicholas Day is marked by a fair organized in the first weeks of December, and in the morning on the 6th, children are given gifts. Some families celebrate this day even more magnificently than Christmas.

In Poland, December 6 is celebrated as the Day of St. Nicholas, or Mikolajki. Small children on this day receive gifts from the hands of Nicholas himself, in which someone from the family dresses up, or find gifts under a pillow or in shoes left for the night near the door, and believe that these are gifts from St. Nicholas himself. If the shoes are not on display or they are dirty, St. Nicholas leaves a rotten potato instead of a gift.

The Czech and Slovak Mikulas, as well as the Polish Mikolajka, are often accompanied by an angel fighting the devil.

In France, St. Nicholas Day is actively celebrated in the eastern part of the country. In Lorraine, St. Nicholas Day is an official holiday: here, since the Middle Ages, he has been especially revered as the patron saint of the region. In the town of San Nicolas de Por, there is the Basilica of San Nicolas, which houses the right hand of Nicholas the Pleasant and other relics associated with him.

In Portugal, Saint Nicholas is revered as the patron saint of students and every year from November 29 to December 7, the Nicolinas festival is held.

Saint Nicholas, icon of the monastery of Saint Catherine, XIII century
Nicholas the Prelate, engraving by Francesco Bartolozzi, 19th century
Fresco of the Cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery, Dionysius, 1502
The painting "Rescue of the sailors", Gentile da Fabriano, approx. 1425
Saint Nicholas, painting of the 15th century
Painting "The Day of St. Nicholas", Jan Steen, 1665
Saint Nikola Mozhaisky, 1720
©

Saint Nicholas was born in the second half of the 3rd century in the city of Patara, the region of Lycia in Asia Minor. His parents Theophanes and Nonna were from a noble family and very prosperous, which did not prevent them from being pious Christians, merciful to the poor and zealous to God.

Until a ripe old age, they did not have children; in unceasing fervent prayer, they asked the Almighty to give them a son, promising to devote him to serving God. Their prayer was heard: the Lord gave them a son, who at holy baptism received the name Nicholas, which in Greek means “the conquering people”.

Already in the first days of his infancy, Saint Nicholas showed that he was destined for a special service to the Lord. A legend has survived that during baptism, when the ceremony was very long, he, unsupported by anyone, stood in the font for three hours. From the very first days, Saint Nicholas began a strict ascetic life, to which he remained faithful to the grave.

All the unusual behavior of the child showed the parents that he would become a great Pleasant of God, so they paid special attention to his upbringing and tried, first of all, to instill in the son the truth of Christianity and direct him to a righteous life. The boy soon comprehended, thanks to his rich gifts, guided by the Holy Spirit, the wisdom of books.

Successful in teaching, the youth Nikolai also succeeded in a pious life. He was not interested in empty conversations of his peers: the contagious example of camaraderie, leading to something bad, was alien to him.

The pious life of young Nicholas soon became known to all residents of the city of Patara.
The bishop in this city was his uncle, also named Nicholas. Noticing that his nephew stands out among other young people for his virtues and strict ascetic life, he began to persuade his parents to give him to the service of the Lord. They readily agreed, because even before the birth of their son they made such a vow. His uncle the bishop ordained him a presbyter.

When the Sacrament of the priesthood was performed over Saint Nicholas, the bishop, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophetically foretold the great future of the Pleasant of God to the people: “Behold, brethren, I see a new sun rising over the ends of the earth, which will be a consolation for all the sad ones. Blessed is the flock that is worthy to have such a shepherd! He will well shepherd the souls of the lost, feeding them on the pastures of piety; and to everyone in trouble, he will be a warm helper! "

The uncle bishop went to Palestine, and entrusted the administration of his diocese to his nephew, the presbyter. He devoted himself with all his heart to the performance of the arduous duties of the episcopal administration. He did a lot of good to his flock, showing wide charity. By that time, his parents had died, leaving him a rich inheritance, which he used all to help the poor. The next incident testifies, moreover, to his extreme humility. There was a poor man in Patara who had three beautiful daughters. He was so poor that he had nothing to marry his daughters with. To what can the need of a person who is not sufficiently imbued with Christian consciousness bring!The need of the unhappy father led to the terrible thought - to sacrifice the honor of his daughters and from their beauty to extract the funds necessary for their dowry.

But, fortunately, in their city there was a good shepherd, Saint Nicholas, who vigilantly watched over the needs of his flock. Having received a revelation from the Lord about his father's criminal intent, he decided to save him from bodily poverty, in order to thereby save his family from spiritual destruction. He planned to render a blessing so that no one would know about him as a benefactor, even the one to whom he did good would not know.

Taking a large bundle of gold, at midnight, when everyone was asleep and could not see it, he went to the hut of the unfortunate father and threw the gold inside through the window, and he hurriedly returned home. In the morning, my father found gold, but he could not know who his secret benefactor was. Having decided that the Providence of God Himself had sent him this help, he thanked the Lord and was soon able to marry his eldest daughter.

Saint Nicholas, when he saw that his good deed had borne proper fruit, decided to bring it to the end. On one of the following nights, he also secretly threw another bag of gold through the window into the poor man's hut.

The father soon married off his second daughter, firmly hoping that the Lord would show mercy to the third daughter in the same way. But he decided at all costs to recognize his secret benefactor and adequately thank him. For this, he did not sleep at night, waiting for his arrival.

He did not have to wait long: soon the good shepherd of Christ came for the third time. Hearing the sound of the falling gold, the father hurriedly left the house and caught up with his secret benefactor. Recognizing Saint Nicholas in him, he fell at his feet, kissed them and thanked him as a deliverer from spiritual destruction.

Upon his uncle's return from Palestine, Saint Nicholas himself gathered there. On the way on the ship, he showed the gift of deep insight and miracles: he foreshadowed the approaching cruel storm and pacified it by the power of his prayer. Soon, here on the ship, he performed a great miracle, resurrecting a young sailor, who fell from the mast to the deck and crashed to death. On the way, the ship often moored the shore. Saint Nicholas everywhere took care of the healing of the ailments of local residents: he healed some of incurable diseases, from others he expelled the evil spirits that tormented them, to others, finally, he gave consolation in sorrow.

On his arrival in Palestine, Saint Nicholas settled near Jerusalem in the village of Beit-Zhala (Biblical Ephraff), which is on the way to Bethlehem. All residents of this blessed village are Orthodox; there are two Orthodox churches, one of which, in the name of St. Nicholas, was built on the place where the saint once lived in a cave that now serves as a place of worship.

There is a legend that while visiting the holy places of Palestine, Saint Nicholas wished to pray one night in the church; went to the doors, closed with a lock, and the doors by the Miraculous Power themselves opened so that the Chosen One of God could enter the temple and fulfill the pious desire of his soul.

Inflamed with love for the Divine Man-lover, Saint Nicholas had a desire to remain forever in Palestine, to retire from people and secretly ascend before the Heavenly Father.

But the Lord pleased that such a lamp of faith should not remain hidden in the wilderness, but brightly illuminate the Lycian country. And so, by the will from above, the pious presbyter returned to his homeland.

Desiring to get away from the bustle of the world, Saint Nicholas went not to Patara, but to the Zion monastery founded by his uncle the bishop, where he was received by the brethren with great joy. In the quiet solitude of a monastic cell, he thought to stay for life. But the time came when the great Pleasant of God was to act as the supreme leader of the Lycian Church in order to enlighten people with the light of the Gospel teachings and his virtuous life.

Once, while standing in prayer, he heard a voice: “Nikolai! You must enter into the service of the people if you want to receive a crown from Me! "

Sacred horror gripped Presbyter Nicholas: what exactly does the wonderful voice command him to do? "Nikolai! This abode is not a field on which you can bear the fruit that I expect from you. Leave here and go into the world, to people, so that My name may be glorified in you! "

Obeying this command, Saint Nicholas withdrew from the monastery and chose not his own city of Patara as his place of residence, where everyone knew him and honored him, but the big city of Myra, the capital and metropolis of the Lycian land, where, unknown to anyone, he could rather escape worldly glory. ... He lived like a beggar, had no place to lay his head, but inevitably attended all church services. As much as the Pleasant of God humbled himself, so much the Lord, who humiliates the proud and exalts the humble, has exalted him. The archbishop of the whole Lycian country, John, died. All local bishops gathered in Myra to elect a new archbishop. Many were proposed for the election of intelligent and honest people, but there was no general agreement. The Lord promised a more worthy husband to occupy this position than those who were in their midst. The bishops fervently prayed to God, asking him to indicate the most worthy person.

At nightfall, the elder bishop stood in the narthex of the church, awaiting the arrival of the chosen one. Saint Nicholas, having risen from midnight, came to the church. The elder stopped him and asked about his name. He quietly and modestly replied: "I am called Nicholas, a slave to your shrine, lord!"

When he entered the administration of the Mirliki Diocese, Saint Nicholas said to himself: "Now, Nicholas, your rank and your position require you to live entirely not for yourself, but for others!"Now he did not hide his good deeds for the good of his flock and for the glorification of the name of God; but, as always, he was meek and lowly in spirit, not spiteful in heart, alien to all arrogance and self-interest; observed strict moderation and simplicity: he wore simple clothes, ate lean food once a day - in the evening. All day long, the great archpastor did deeds of piety and pastoral service. The doors of his house were open to everyone: he received everyone with love and cordiality, being a father for the orphans, a feeder for the poor, a comforter for the crying, and an intercessor for the oppressed.

His flock flourished.But the days of testing were approaching. The Church of Christ was persecuted by the emperor Diocletian (285-30). Temples were destroyed, divine and service books were burned; bishops and priests were imprisoned and tortured. All Christians were subjected to all kinds of insults and torments. Persecution reached the Lycian Church.

Diocletian's successor, Galerius, stopped the persecution. Saint Nicholas, upon leaving the prison, again took the Mirlikia see and with even greater zeal gave himself up to the performance of his high duties. He became famous especially for his zeal for the confirmation of the Orthodox faith and the eradication of paganism and heresies.

The Church of Christ suffered especially badly at the beginning of the 4th century from the heresy of Arius. (He rejected the deity of the Son of God and did not recognize Him as Consubstantial with the Father.)

Wishing to establish in the flock of Christ the world, shaken by the heresy of Arius' false teaching. Equal to the Apostles Emperor Constantine convened the First Ecumenical Council of 325 at Nicea, where three hundred and eighteen bishops gathered under the chairmanship of the emperor; here the teachings of Arius and his followers were condemned.

St. Athanasius of Alexandria and St. Nicholas especially labored asceticism at this Council. Other saints defended Orthodoxy with the help of their enlightenment. Saint Nicholas, however, defended the faith by faith itself - by the fact that all Christians, beginning with the Apostles, believed in the Deity of Jesus Christ.

There is a legend that during one of the council meetings, unable to endure the blasphemy of Arius, Saint Nicholas struck this heretic on the cheek. The Fathers of the Council considered such an act an excess of zeal, deprived Saint Nicholas of the privilege of his hierarchical dignity - omophorion, and imprisoned him in a prison tower. But soon they became convinced of the correctness of Saint Nicholas, especially since many of them had a vision when, before their eyes, our Lord Jesus Christ gave Saint Nicholas the Gospel, and the Most Holy Theotokos placed an omophorion on him. They released him from prison, returned him to his former rank and glorified him as the great Pleasant of God.

The local tradition of the Nicene Church not only faithfully preserves the memory of St. Nicholas, but also sharply distinguishes him from among the three hundred and eighteen fathers, whom he considers all to be his patrons. Even Muslim Turks have deep respect for the saint: in the tower they still carefully keep the prison where this great man was imprisoned.

Upon his return from the Council, Saint Nicholas continued his beneficent pastoral activity in the organization of the Church of Christ: he affirmed Christians in the faith, converted the pagans to the true faith, and admonished the heretics, thereby saving them from destruction.

Taking care of the spiritual needs of his flock, Saint Nicholas did not neglect the satisfaction of their bodily needs. When a great famine struck in Lycia, the good shepherd, in order to save the hungry, performed a new miracle: a merchant loaded a large ship with bread and on the eve of sailing somewhere to the west saw Saint Nicholas in a dream, who commanded him to deliver all the bread to Lycia, for he was buying he has all the load and gives him three gold coins as a deposit. Waking up, the merchant was very surprised to find actually three gold coins clutched in his hand. He realized that this was a command from above, brought bread to Lycia, and the hungry were saved. Here he spoke of the vision, and the citizens, from his description, recognized their archbishop.

During his lifetime, Saint Nicholas became famous as a pacifier of those at war, a defender of the innocent condemned, and a deliverer from a vain death.

During the reign of Constantine the Great, a rebellion broke out in the country of Phrygia. To pacify him, the king sent there an army under the command of three governors: Nepotian, Ursus and Erpilion. Their ships were washed by a storm to the shores of Lycia, where they had to stand for a long time. The supplies were exhausted - they began to plunder the population, which resisted, and there was a fierce battle near the city of Plakomat. Learning of this, Saint Nicholas personally arrived there, ceased the enmity, then, together with three governors, set off for Phrygia, where with a kind word and exhortation, without the use of military force, he pacified the rebellion. Here he was informed that during his absence from the city of Mira, the local governor Eustathius innocently condemned to death three citizens, slandered by their enemies. Saint Nicholas hastened to Myra, and with him - three tsarist governors, who fell in love with this good bishop, who rendered them a great service.

They arrived in Mira at the very moment of execution. The executioner is already raising his sword in order to behead the unfortunate, but St. Nicholas with an imperious hand snatches the sword from him and commands the release of the innocent convicts. None of those present dared to oppose him: everyone understood that the will of God was being done. The three royal governors marveled at this, not suspecting that soon they themselves would need the miraculous intercession of the saint.

Returning to the court, they earned the honor and favor of the tsar, which caused envy and enmity on the part of other courtiers, who slandered these three governors before the tsar, as if they were trying to seize power. The envious slanderers managed to convince the tsar: three governors were imprisoned and sentenced to death. The prison guard warned them that the execution would take place the next day. The innocently condemned began to fervently pray to God, asking for intercession through St. Nicholas. On the same night, the Pleasant of God appeared to the king in a dream and imperiously demanded the release of the three governors, threatening to revolt and deprive the king of power.

“Who are you, why dare you demand and threaten the king?

"I am Nicholas, Archbishop of Lycia!"

Waking up, the king began to reflect on this dream. On the same night, Saint Nicholas also appeared to the governor of the city, Eulavius, and demanded the release of the innocent convicts.

The king summoned Eulavius to him, and learning that he had the same vision, ordered three governors to be brought.

"What sorcery are you doing to give me and Eulavius visions in a dream?" - asked the tsar and told them about the apparition of St. Nicholas.

"We do not do any witchcraft," the governors answered, "but we ourselves have previously witnessed how this bishop saved innocent people in the Worlds from the death penalty!"

The king ordered to consider their case and, having convinced of their innocence, let them go.

During his lifetime, the saint rendered help to people who did not even know him at all. Once a ship sailing from Egypt to Lycia was overtaken by a violent storm. The sails were blown off, the masts were broken, the waves were ready to swallow the ship, doomed to inevitable death. No human forces could prevent it. One hope is to ask for help from Saint Nicholas, whom, it is true, none of these sailors had ever seen, but everyone knew about his miraculous intercession. The dying sailors began to pray fervently, and so Saint Nicholas appeared at the stern at the helm, began to steer the ship, and safely brought him to the harbor.

Not only believers, but also pagans turned to him, and the saint responded with his constant miraculous help to all who were looking for her. In those who were saved by him from bodily troubles, he aroused repentance of sins and a desire to correct their lives.

According to Saint Andrew of Crete, Saint Nicholas appeared to people burdened with various calamities, gave them help and saved them from death: “With his deeds and virtuous life, Saint Nicholas shone in the Worlds, like a morning star among the clouds, like a beautiful month in its full moon. For the Church of Christ, he was a brightly shining sun, adorned Her, like a lily at a spring, was for Her a fragrant world! "

The Lord has vouchsafed to live to a ripe old age His great Pleasant. But the time came when he too had to pay the general debt of human nature. After a short illness, he died peacefully on December 6, 342, and was buried in the cathedral church of the city of Myra.

During his lifetime, Saint Nicholas was a benefactor of the human race; he did not cease to be one even after his death. The Lord granted him an honest body of incorruption and special miraculous power. His relics began - and continue to this day - to exude fragrant myrrh, possessing the gift of miracles.

More than seven hundred years have passed since the death of the Pleasant of God. The city of Myra and the entire Lycian country were destroyed by the Saracens. The ruins of the temple with the tomb of the saint were desolate and were guarded by only a few pious monks.

In 1087, Saint Nicholas appeared in a dream to an Apulian priest of the city of Bari (in southern Italy) and ordered to transfer his relics to this city.

Elders and noble townspeople equipped three ships for this purpose and, disguised as merchants, set off. This precaution was necessary in order to lull the vigilance of the Venetians, who, having learned about the preparations of the inhabitants of Bari, had the intention of getting ahead of them and bringing the relics of the saint to their city.

The Barians, in a roundabout way, through Egypt and Palestine, entering the ports and conducting trade, like ordinary merchants, finally arrived in the Lycian land. The scouts sent out reported that there was no guard at the tomb and it was guarded by only four old monks. The barians came to Myra, where, not knowing the exact location of the tomb, they tried to bribe the monks by offering them three hundred gold coins, but in view of their refusal, they used force: they tied the monks and, under threat of torture, forced one faint-hearted to show them the location of the tomb.

The journey lasted twenty days, and on May 9, 1087, they arrived in Bari. A solemn meeting was arranged for the great shrine with the participation of numerous clergy and the entire population. At first, the relics of the saint were placed in the church of St. Eustathius.

The upper part of the temple (basilica) was built much later - on June 22, 1197.

The service to the saint, performed on the day of the transfer of his relics from Myra in Lycia to Bargrad - May 9/22 - was compiled in 1097 by the Russian Orthodox monk of the Caves monastery Gregory and the Russian Metropolitan Ephraim.

The Holy Orthodox Church honors the memory of St. Nicholas not only on December 6 and May 9, but also every week, every Thursday, with special hymns.

PRAYERS

Prayer 1st Nicholas the Wonderworker

Oh, all-holy Nicholas, the most splendid of the Lord, our warm intercessor, and everywhere in sorrow a quick helper! Help me sinful and sad in this present life, pray to the Lord God with the gifts of the forgiveness of all my sins, greatly sinned from my youth, in all my life, in deed, word, thought and all my feelings; and at the end of my soul, help the accursed one, pray to the Lord God, all creatures of the Souteur, to save me from airy ordeals and eternal torment: may I always glorify the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and your merciful intercession, now and forever and forever. Amen.

Troparion to St. Nicholas, Tone 4

The rule of faith and the image of meekness, abstinence of the teacher, reveal the truth to your flock even as things; For this, for the sake of this, you have acquired high humility, rich in poverty, Father Nicholas the priest, pray to Christ God that our souls be saved.

Kontakion to St. Nicholas, Tone 3

In Mirekh, the holy one, the priest appeared to you: Christ's God, venerable, having fulfilled the Gospel, laid down your soul about your people, and saved you innocent from death; For this reason, thou art sanctified, as the great mystery of God's grace.

Prayer to the 2nd Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia

O all valiant, great miracle worker, Saint of Christ, Father Nicholas! We pray to you, wake up the hope of all Christians, the faithful protector, the hungry for the feeder, the weeping joy, the sick doctor, the steward floating on the sea, the poor and the orphaned the feeder and the quick helper and patron of everyone, may we live our life in a peaceful place and may we be honored to see the glory of God's chosen ones in heaven , and with them ceaselessly sing the praises of the one worshiped God in the Trinity for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer to the 3rd Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker

O all-honorable and all-pious bishop, great Miracle-worker, Holy Hierarch of Christ, Father Nicholas, the man of God and faithful servant, the husband of desires, the chosen vessel, the strong pillar of the church, the bright lamp, the star shining and illuminating the entire universe: you are a righteous man, like a prosperous fig. in the courtyards of his Lord, living in the Worlds, Thou art perfumed with peace, and exuding the ever-flowing peace of God's grace. By your procession, holy father, illuminate, when your many miraculous relics march to the city of Barsky, praise the name of the Lord from east to west. O graceful and delightful Miracle-worker, quick helper, warm intercessor, kindhearted shepherd, saving the verbal flock from all troubles, we glorify you and magnify you, as the hope of all Christians, the source of miracles, the protector of the faithful, the wise teacher, hungry for the feeder, crying joy, naked clothes , the sick doctor, the steward floating on the sea, the captives of the liberator, the widows and orphans of the feeder and intercessor, the chastity of the keeper, the infants of the meek punisher, the old fortification, the fasting mentor, the laborers of rapture, the poor and the poor, abundant wealth. Hear us, praying to you, and running under your roof, show your intercession for us to the Most High, and pursue your God-pleasing prayers, all that is useful for the salvation of our souls and bodies: preserve this holy abode (or this temple), every city and all, and every Christian country, and people living from every bitterness with your help: We are bo, we, as much can the prayer of the righteous, advancing towards the good: for you, the righteous, according to the blessed Virgin Mary, the representative of the Imams to the All-merciful God, and to yours, the blessed father, We humbly flow to warm intercession and intercession: you observe us as a cheerful and kind shepherd, from all enemies, destruction, cowardice, hail, gladness, flood, fire, sword, invasion of foreigners, and in all our troubles and sorrows, give us a helping hand, and open the doors of God's mercy, you are unworthy to see the height of heaven, from our multitude of iniquities, bound by sinful bonds, and neither the will of our Creator created nor the preservation of His commands. By the same we bow the broken and humble knee of our heart to our Creator, and we ask your fatherly intercession to Him: Help us, the Servant of God, so that we do not perish with our iniquities, deliver us from all evil, and from every thing that resists, control our mind and strengthen our heart is in the right faith, in it, through your intercession and intercession, neither by wounds, nor by reprimand, nor by pestilence, nor by any anger, it will let me live in this age, and will save me from standing, and will vouch for the desnago with all the saints. Amen.

Prayer to the 4th Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker

O our good shepherd and God-wise mentor, Saint Nicholas of Christ! Hear us sinners praying to you and calling your quick intercession for help; see us weak, caught everywhere, deprived of all good, and darkened in mind from cowardice; sweat, please God, do not leave us in sinful captivity to be, let us not be our enemy for joy and not die in our crafty deeds. Pray for us unworthy of our Sister and the Lord, to him you stand before us with incorporeal faces: mercifully create our God in our present life and in the future, so that he will not reward us according to our deeds and according to the uncleanness of our hearts, but according to his goodness he will reward us ... We rely on your intercession, we boast of your intercession, we call on your intercession for help, and we ask for help to your holy image, help us: deliver us, the servitor of Christ, from the evils that come upon us, and tame the waves of passions and troubles that rise up against us, but for the sake of Your holy prayers will not embrace us to attack and we will not get bogged down in the abyss of sin and in the mud of our passions. Pray, to Saint Nicholas of Christ, Christ our God, may he give us a peaceful life and the remission of sins, but to our souls salvation and great mercy, now and forever and forever and ever.

Prayer to the 5th Saint Nicholas

O great intercessor, the Bishop of God, Blessed Nicholas, who shines like a sunflower miracles, appearing to the earliest hearer, you always anticipate and save them, and deliver them, and take away from all sorts of troubles, from God this miracles and gifts of grace! Hear me unworthy, with faith thee calling and offering prayer to you singing; I offer you an intercessor for intercession to Christ. O notorious in miracles, saint heights! as if you have boldness, soon come to the Lord, and venerate your hands with prayer to Him, stretch out for me a sinner, and from Him give me bounty of goodness, and accept me in your intercession, and save me from all troubles and evils, from the invasion of visible and invisible enemies freeing, and destroying all those slander and evil deception, and reflecting those who fought me in all my life; by my sin, ask for forgiveness, and be saved to Christ, present me and vouch for the Kingdom of Heaven for the multitude of that love of mankind, for him all glory, honor and worship, with his beginningless Father, and with the Most Holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and forever centuries.

Prayer to the 7th Saint Nicholas

Oh, all-good Father Nicholas, shepherd and teacher of all those who come to your intercession by faith, and call you with warm prayer, soon sweep and deliver the flock of Christ from the wolves that destroy e, that is, from the invasion of the crafty Latins who are rebelling against us.

Protect and preserve our country, and every country in Orthodoxy, with your holy prayers from worldly rebellion, the sword, the invasion of foreigners, from internecine and bloody warfare. And as if you had mercy on the three men in the dungeon sitting down, and you delivered them from the tsar's anger and the beating of the sword, so have mercy and deliver the Great, Small and White Russia Orthodox people from the pernicious Latin heresy. As if by your intercession and help, by His own mercy and grace, Christ God, may His merciful eye look upon people in the ignorance of existence, who have not known their own hands, even more so as a young one, that Latin seductions are spoken in a hedgehog to turn away from the faith may the mind of His people be enlightened, may not be tempted and will not fall away from the faith of the fatherland, conscience, lulled by vain wisdom and ignorance, may awaken, will turn to the preservation of the holy Orthodox faith, may remember the faith and humility of our fathers, his belly for the Orthodox faith who put, accept the prayers of the warm saints of His saints, who have shone in our land, who keep us from the delusion and heresy of Latin, and who preserved us in holy Orthodoxy will vouch for us at the terrible Judgment of His hand standing with all the saints. Amen.

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