124. How Saint Nicholas Founded Saint Nicholas Church, Cedarburg

Christ is risen! Truly he is risen! What? Saint Nicholas in May? I explained this last year, but in case you’re new here: May 9 is a lesser feast of Saint Nicholas. Actually Nicholas is an ever-present, ever-relevant saint to us Orthodox, not confined to December 6 – or to December 25. By the way, […]

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65. The Wonderful Works of Saint Nicholas, Part Three – Two more Stories from Midwest America

1 Michigan City, Indiana Early on Saint Nicholas Day 1996, Father Elias Warnke and Reader Timothy Tadros entered Saint George Church, Michigan City, to be greeted by a sweet fragrance like roses which got stronger as they went into the church. As they checked to see where it was coming from, they looked at the […]

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64. The Wonderful Works of Saint Nicholas, Part Two – Fake News?

Why do People make up Stories? Many liberal Protestants and even a few Roman Catholics have believed that the Apostles invented the story of Jesus’ Resurrection: “Hey, guys, let’s make up a tale about Jesus rising from the dead, so we can get chased out of our synagogs and homeland and spend our lives on […]

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63. The Wonderful Works of Saint Nicholas – Part One

Saint Nicholas in May? Because on May 9, 1087 Saint Nicholas arrived in Bari in southern Italy. Merchants from Bari had translated (moved) his body from his tomb in his home town, Myra of Lycia in Asia Minor. Well, actually they stole him. This seems to have been chiefly a business venture. Holy Nicholas would […]

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44. The Real Santa Claus: Part Two – How Saint Nicholas was stolen, twice

Saint Nicholas’ Last Days in the East For many centuries Nicholas’ burial place at Myra was a pilgrimage center. However, as time went on, the eastern Mediterranean became a Muslim sea with many pirates, unsafe for travelers. Fewer and fewer came to visit. Then an earthquake devastated Myra leaving the shrine in ruins, his vault […]

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