Nicholas

 December 19, 2023

The Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325 was convened by the emperor Constantine, the first Roman emperor to espouse Christianity. His purpose was to bring into unity in the newly recognized Church the theological divisions that had been brewing for two centuries as the Christian fathers were trying to understand more clearly the Gospel they confessed. The  Church had long been divided by disagreements on Christology – specifically about the nature of the relationship between the Father and the Son. The issue was the divinity of Jesus. Was he co-equal to the Father as Athanasius believed, or a subordinate and created being as the priest Arius taught?

During the debate which included somewhere around 300 bishops, one of the bishops became so agitated that “in the heat of denunciation and fired up with zeal for the Lord, he gave the false-teacher (Arius) a good drubbing on the ears.” That bishop was Nicholas… “Saint” Nicholas…yep…good ol’ Santa Claus. 

Nicholas was noted for his charity, which spawned many traditions about him, including the one that relates how he saved three daughters of a poor man from being sold into slavery by throwing the needed dowry money through a window into stockings hung by the fireplace to dry. It doesn’t take much imagination to see where that story led.

I kind of like this story of him boxing the ears of the heretic Arius. We tend to get overly sentimental at this time of year, so imagining Santa Claus boxing Arius’ ears for the sake of orthodox doctrine is a rather interesting thought. We could do worse than having our bishops and church leaders so passionate for correct Christian teaching that they would be willing to box the ears of some of the false teachers which abound today. I won’t name names, but I can think of a few whose ears I would like to box, but then…I’m not Nicholas, that is, Santa Claus.