Saint Nicholas : The Real Santa Claus by Chris White

A 2008 Forensic Model From Skeletal Remains

On a beautiful late spring day in 1087 a ship sailed into the port town of Bari in the southern part of Italy with a very precious cargo.  Just weeks before the ship had been in the port of Myra (modern day Finike, Turkey) on a special mission: to bring the bones of St. Nicholas to the safety of Europe.  For centuries, Christians had traveled to his shrine in Turkey because a clear, sweet smelling liquid dripped from the tomb that seemed to have miraculous powers.  In fact, in the Greek world, St. Nicholas is known as Nicholas the wonder-worker.  The taking of this holy man’s bones was seen as a necessity for 16 years before the Muslim Turks had conquered much of Asia Minor and were making things more and more difficult for Christian pilgrims; so much so that 6 years later the Pope would be calling the men of Western Europe to arms in the First Crusade.  But for now, it was time celebrate.  A new shrine for St. Nicholas was constructed on Italian soil and soon his blessings would draw flocks of pilgrims from all over Europe during the Middle Ages even as his new tomb still seemed to produce the same miraculous perfume like water it did in Asia Minor.

While Santa Claus is the delight of children the world over during the Christmas holidays, the man behind the myth is just as delightful which is why in the Christian world, St. Nicholas of Myra is second only to the Virgin Mary as the most artistically depicted saint and a popular namesake for church buildings especially in Europe and Russia.

St Nicholas (270-343 AD) was born to devoutly Christian parents by the name of Epiphanius and Johanna in Asia Minor.  They both died in an epidemic when Nicholas was quite young and he was raised by his uncle (also named Nicholas) who was a clergyman.  Although Nicholas inherited his family wealth, he was raised to become a clergyman and even as a young man was known for his piety and generosity.

When the bishop of Myra died, Nicholas was elected to take his place by popular acclaim.  By tradition Nicholas would have been between 30 and 40 by this time, but it is quite possible that he was younger as his early adult years were lived during the Roman persecution of the Church and church leaders were regularly killed leaving churches often scrambling to find new leaders.  When St. Nicholas is depicted in art it is always as an elderly man with gray hair.  This was considered an outstanding feature in those days because unlike most of his contemporaries, Nicholas had the privilege of dying of old age rather than martyrdom.  As bishop, Nicholas didn’t live a trouble free life.  In fact, when Constantine the Great (the first Christian Roman Emperor) came to power, Nicholas was still in prison for his faith and was soon set free.

 One of the most famous stories of  St.Nicholas was his intervention to help a man in poverty who had three fully grown daughters.  Unable to raise a dowry so that they could be married, out of desperation he was thinking about turning them over to prostitution (a sad fate that still happens to poor women today).  When Nicholas heard of his straits he came by this man’s house at night and threw a bag of gold coins, enough for a dowry, through a window and left undetected.  Shortly afterward the oldest daughter was engaged and married.  Nicholas came and did this for the other daughters but with the last one the father discovered Nicholas was his benefactor and profusely thanked him and made the story known.  Often Nicholas is depicted with three bags, which are the bags for the gold coins.  Another symbol used in iconography is three gold balls which incidentally were adopted by pawnbrokers as their symbol.  It probably shouldn’t surprise that Nicholas is the patron saint of among other things pawn brokers, which to my thinking makes Christmas shopping at a pawn shop seem a bit more kosher for some reason.

It is said that Nicholas was an ardent protector of the church’s orthodoxy (which is the role of a bishop) and was at the famous Council of Nicea in 325 AD where the heresy of Arianism was being tried by the Church.  As the legend goes, in his zeal for the truth Nicholas punched Arius in the mouth when he began to defend his false doctrine that Jesus was not the eternal  Son of God (obviously proving that Nicholas must have had Southern Baptist leanings as those guys are famous for fisticuffs at board meetings!).  Such actions in front of the Emperor Constantine (who was present at the time) were against the law and Nicholas was put in jail for a few days to cool his temper at the behest of his fellow bishops who were outraged at his behavior.  But this is more in the realm of legend as it appears in no contemporary accounts of the council and there is little reason to belief Constantine’s bodyguards would have even tolerated such actions.  But it is fun to imagine our dear St. Nicholas punching the lights out of a heretic nonetheless.

Many other stories abound of miracles and good deeds done to children and the less fortunate that space will not permit, but do show why he is the ideal saint for Christmas and why he has been so popular in all the major branches of Christianity for so long.  Not much is said about his end but that he died in his church, which is the religious equivalent of “dying with your boots on”.

Protestants, who recognize very few saints, pretty much abandoned the feast of St. Nicholas on December 6^th (which continues to be celebrated by Catholics and Orthodox) except for the Dutch who continued to recognize him with their unique pronunciation “Sinterclaas” which came to America as “Santa Claus”.  Martin Luther, translated the tradition of gift giving on St. Nicholas day to Christmas day saying that the baby Jesus gave gifts.  The German word for the Christ child “Christkindl” also became corrupted to Kriss Kringle which again became associated as another name for St. Nicholas.

Probably the least thought about but most important thing to remember about St. Nicholas was that his life was about leading and teaching people in word and deed to follow Jesus Christ to son of God.  The person whose birth in Bethlehem we celebrate every year at Christmas.  That is the central legacy of Saint Nicholas today.

The Short and Tragic Life of Saint Barbara by Chris White

This Sunday, Christian worship will be held in several million churches around the world named after St. Barbara.  In addition to being one of the world's most well-known and well-loved saints, St. Barbara has the distinction of her own honorable order within the U.S. Marine Corps and is the patron saint of fireman, sailors in the navy, artilleryman in the Army and just about every group in the population that serves in harm's way and could die suddenly.  Despite her worldwide popularity, there's a little problem with St. Barbara: no one is certain she actually ever existed.  In fact the Roman Catholic church, an institution known for its certitude about most things, removed her feast day from their official calendar in 1969 due to concerns about whether she was a real person or merely a pious legend.

Fact or fiction, the essential story of Saint Barbara goes like this:  around 286 AD in the city of Nicomedia, Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) there lived a widower named Dioscorus who had a beautiful and intelligent daughter named Barbara.  It is believed that Barbara's mother may have been a Christian herself which was displeasing to her husband who was an ardent polytheist (pagan).  Whatever the reasons for Dioscorus' animus towards Christianity, as a single father left with an attractive daughter to raise, he was going to make sure Barbara was raised correctly and worshipped the gods of Rome.

Like most men of his day, Dioscorus controlled his daughter's every move and in a bit of over-control verging on paranoia, he decided the best way to make sure his daughter turned out right, was to completely isolate her from the public and act as the gatekeeper of who would ever get to see her.  Part of this plan entailed building a tower for her to live in which had a window, a bell, but no door to come in or out (it is believed the Brother's Grimm borrowed from this in constructing their fairly tale of Rapunzel).  Having her in such isolation virtually assured Dioscorus would be successful in keeping the influence of the Christians (by now a large and growing segment of the population in Asia Minor) at bay.

Dioscorus made sure that Barbara was taught by the best teachers of philosophy, poetry, and the arts.  Whenever Barbara wanted something new to read or study, she would ring the bell, and her father's servants would place new books for her to read in the basket she lowered from the window.  This plan backfired a bit though.  Being educated in philosophy, Barbara became a critical thinker and as she grew intellectually, the gods of paganism seemed more and more untenable to her.  On top of this apparently Dioscorus didn't screen all of his servants regarding their religious views because one of them slipped a book in the basket written by the famous Christian theologian and philosopher of Alexandria named Origen.

Barbara read these writings with great interest and wrote a letter to Origen asking him if he could teach her and baptize her via letter because of her living situation and the disposition of her father about Christians.  If by chance you're wondering how Barbara could mail a letter in that place or time bear in mind the phrase "Neither rain nor hail nor sleet nor snow nor heat of day nor dark of night shall keep this carrier from the swift completion of his appointed rounds" originates not with the U.S. Postal Service but with the ancient historian Herodotus who was describing the mail system that preexisted the Christian era in Asia Minor.  Put another way, there might not have been stamps and email, but the ancients had their own form of connectivity called letter writing.

Origen himself was too busy in Alexandria to leave but not too busy to hatch a plan on how to help Barbara become a Christian.  He wrote back to her and suggested on a certain day she ring the bell and tell her father she was very sick and needed a doctor.  He would send a friend who was a priest and since priests do heal souls, it wouldn't be a complete falsehood to say he was a doctor to her father.  Once he got inside the tower he would be able to further instruct her and baptize her.

The plan worked.  Barbara feigned sickness and coming up the road was the priest who heard the bell and asked Dioscorus if everything is okay.  Dioscorus asked the stranger if he could run and get a doctor, to which the priest replied that it must be a divine appointment because he just happened to be passing by and he was a doctor.  Worried sick about the health of Barbara, the father broke open the base of the tower to allow the 'doctor' in to help.  Not knowing what the sickness was, the doctor suggested Dioscorus refrain from coming into the tower for the next few days until she is treated and on the mend.  For the next week, the priest was able to instruct and baptize Barbara undetected by her father while she "recovered and convalesced."  Eventually Barbara's "doctor" had to leave but Dioscorus was quite affected by this event and wondered if part of his daughter's illness was related to living in forced seclusion.

Eventually Dioscorus let his daughter come out of the tower (apparently he didn't brick up the opening again) and find the company of friends of her choosing.  It wasn't long after this that Barbara met other Christians in Nicomedia and was greatly inspired by their holiness and way of life.  When her father tried to arrange a marriage for her with a young pagan man, she resisted this effort and made the decision that she would rather remain a virgin.  Barbara did this to remain devoted to God, but Dioscorus took this to mean she wanted to remain with him as his daughter which greatly pleased him.

In the course of time Dioscorus ordered a beautiful Roman bath be built for Barbara next to her tower that she bathe and relax in luxury.  Before he left on a long journey, he ordered the construction crew to build two skylights over the bath.  However, when he returned he found that Barbara had talked them into adding a third.  Puzzled by this he enquired further of Barbara and eventually she confessed that the three windows represented the Holy Trinity and that she had come to faith and Christ and was baptized a Christian.

Enraged, embarrassed for having been played a fool, and utterly disappointed in his daughter's foolish choices, Dioscorus brought Barbara before the local magistrate to be charged with the crime of being an atheist (what the Romans called Christians).  When she refused to recant her faith upon pain of death, she was sentenced to death.  Following the Roman tradition of  Pater Familias, the magistrate charged Dioscorus with the task of executing his own wayward daughter.  It is said he took her outside the city, beat her, and then took his sword and beheaded her.  He left her body where she died and began walking home when he was suddenly struck by lightening and died instantly.  Meanwhile a local Christian man named Valentinius ministered to the dead by giving Barbara a decent burial.  It was said not long after two pilgrims (likely en route to the Holy Land) visited the grave of Barbara and both were healed of their physical infirmities and this began the path where Barbara became Saint Barbara.

The particular virtue of Saint Barbara represents is choosing Christ despite the opposition of family, friends, and nation and valuing that choice even over your very life.  Unlike other martyrs, Barbara was given no time to consider whether she made the right choice or not.  She was swiftly charged and executed.  There is much about Barbara's situation that most people can relate to or admire which probably explains best her popularity.  Many Christians have found the greatest impediment to their discipleship is the disapproval of their closest relations and many more have lived under the malignant love of a heavy-handed father who is quick to embrace but even quicker at giving a beating.  And no doubt solace can be found in her life by those whose lives are on the line every day and may not have the luxury of Christian ministry at their death bed.

December 4th is the celebration of her martyrdom or what the early Christians called her true birthday because she awoke in Heaven.  Legend or no, surely Saint Barbara has enriched the faith of many if for no other reason than the virtues of fearless perseverance that she represents.  According to one Catholic news service, in 2013 an Italian film producer is making a theatrical movie based on the life of Saint Barbara.

Whatever Happened to St. Peter? by Chris White

Whatever happened to Peter? 

St. Peter is featured prominently in the Gospels and Acts and then ends (at least in the narratives) with the words “he departed and went to another place” (Acts 12:17).  In his first epistle Peter also sends greetings from Babylon to the Churches in Asia Minor.  Ss. Ignatius, Eusebius, and Gregory the Great all suggest that “Babylon” was a code word for Corinth, Antioch, and even another place in Asia Minor.  Over the last few years a couple of New Testament scholars have suggested Peter actually wrote from Babylon in Mesopotamia based on the fact that the order of the cities in Asia Minor that he addresses are listed in order if you were looking at them from the east.  Another possibility that makes a lot of sense is that the Babylon Peter speaks of is a section of ancient Cairo that was called by that name because expatriate Jews from all over the world (thus making it a “Babel” of languages) dwelled there.  If Peter was fleeing pressures and persecutions in Jerusalem this would a close by choice where as a stranger he would hardly stand out.     That Peter eventually went to Rome and did do some apostolic ministry there has never been seriously doubted.  That he went there and became the first pope as we understand it has little merit.  This is reading later developments in the Church into past history which is always erroneous.  That said, Peter certainly was greatly respected as an apostle and was revered as a spiritual father during his time in Rome.  In that sense he was a pope which is derived from the word “papa”.  There are some traditions that also would indicate that Peter made missionary forays into Britain and France as well.  Some of the earliest and most reliable testimony of the early church has Peter captured in Rome during the  persecution of Nero and 9 months later being killed with his wife at a horse track that was once located on Vatican hill.  Whether or not his bones have been identified as was declared by the Vatican in the 1960’s, his grave under the altar of St. Peters, excavated in 1939 corresponds perfectly with the ancient records about his burial spot.  That Peter would have appreciated the gigantic basilica over his grave which glorifies his memory is yet to be determined.  You can ask him yourself when you meet him at the pearly gates of heaven.

Whatever Happened to Andrew? by Chris White

Andrew was believed crucified on an "X" hence the St. Andrew's Cross

Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist before Jesus, and was the brother of Simon Peter.  In fact, it was Andrew who made the fateful introduction of his brother to the Lord Jesus which resulted later in a call to apostleship.  The last we read of Andrew in the Bible he is among the apostles in Jerusalem.  He is believed to have gone to Asia Minor and further north to southern Russia and then finally central Greece where he was martyred in 69AD.  The tradition the ancient church is that the governor Aigeatis had him killed out of revenge for converting his wife.  St. Regulus is credited with bringing some of Andrew’s relics (and by this I mean skeletal remains) to Scotland and building a church over them.  Ever since, Andrew has been the patron saint of Scotland even though he never visited the country during his earthly life.  Another tradition has the remains of Andrew being interred at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.  When the city was on the verge of falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, they were spirited away to Rome for safekeeping.  They were returned by the pope to the metropolitan of the Greek Orthodox Church in 1964 as a goodwill gesture thus showing that even in death, it seems Andrew still has the knack for bringing people together.