Story
On this day the Holy Church commemorates the departure of the righteous saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra. He was of the city of Myra, the son of God-fearing and wealthy parents; his father was named Epiphanius and his mother Tona. For long they had no child, and they entreated the Lord without ceasing, until at last He granted them this blessed son as the fruit of their prayers.
The grace of God rested upon him from his early childhood. When he came of age to learn, he showed by his understanding and knowledge that he was taught more by the Holy Spirit than by his teachers, and he grasped all the doctrine and teaching of the Church while still young. He was ordained a deacon, and afterward withdrew to a monastery whose abbot was his kinsman, where he labored in asceticism and prayer; and when he was nineteen years of age he was raised to the priesthood.
This holy one loved the poor and the afflicted, and gave to them in secret, that his charity might be known to God alone. In his city there was a rich man upon whom misfortune had fallen so that he lost all his wealth, and he had three daughters who had passed the age of marriage, yet because of his poverty he could not give them in honorable marriage, and they were in danger of falling into sin. When the saint learned of their distress, he took a hundred dinars, tied them in a purse, and by night, secretly and unseen, cast them through the window of that poor man's house. So he did a second and a third time, until he had delivered all three daughters from poverty and from the snares of the enemy, the man not knowing the hand that had saved them.
By a divine revelation he was chosen to shepherd the flock of Christ. When the bishop of Myra departed, an angel of the Lord made known that Nicholas was the one chosen by God for that throne, and the matter was confirmed to the archbishop in a vision; so the clergy and people set him as bishop over Myra. He fed the flock entrusted to him with the word of truth, and the Lord wrought through his hands many signs and healings.
In the days of the persecution of Diocletian, the saint confessed the Name of Christ openly and endured grievous tortures for years, and was cast into prison. Yet even from his bonds he did not cease to strengthen his people, comforting and exhorting them by his letters to hold fast their faith. When the godly Emperor Constantine arose and granted peace to the Church, the confessor was set free together with the other faithful, having borne his sufferings for the Lord's sake.
When the Holy Ecumenical Council was gathered at Nicaea in the year three hundred and twenty-five to judge Arius, who blasphemed against the Son of God, this saint was numbered among the three hundred and eighteen Fathers, contending with them for the right Faith.
He sat upon the episcopal throne in righteousness for about forty years, and the days of his life were about eighty years. Then he departed in peace to the Lord whom he had loved and served. May his prayers and blessing be with us. Amen.