Patrick Comerford
The Season of Advent – and the real countdown to Christmas – began on Sunday with the First Sunday of Advent (1 December 2024). With less than three weeks to go to Christmas today, the Church Calendar today celebrates Saint Nicholas (6 December), the ‘real Santa Claus’.
Before the day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Mark 10: 13-16 (NRSVA):
13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Today’s reflection:
The Gospel reading in the Lectionary for the daily Eucharist today (Matthew 9: 27-31) is a story of the healing of two blind men who then go throughout their district spreading the news about Jesus. But the Gospel reading provided for celebrations of Saint Nicholas of Myra (Mark 10: 13-16) is the story of little children being brought to Jesus for blessings, and his reminder that it is ‘to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs’ (verse 14).
Today is the Feast of Saint Nicholas of Myra (6 December 2023). He is, of course, the real Santa Claus, and he is so popular in Greece that almost every town and city in Greece has a church dedicated to Saint Nicholas.
Saint Nicholas is also the patron of sailors, and in the mediaeval period, almost every coastal town and city in both England and Ireland also had a church dedicated to Saint Nicholas.
The celebration of Saint Nicholas today is a joyful, child-friendly interruption in the Advent preparations as we wait for Christmas and anticipate all its joys.
Saint Nicholas, whose name means ‘Victory of the People,’ was born in Myra in Lycia, now known as Demre, near Antalya on the south coast of present-day Turkey.
He had a reputation as a secret giver of gifts and the protector of children, so you can see why he has links with our Santa Claus today.
There are stories too of Saint Nicholas and the defence of true doctrine. In the year 325, the Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea, attended by more than 300 bishops, to debate the nature of the Holy Trinity.
It was one of the most intense theological debates in the early Church. Arius from Alexandria was teaching that Christ was the Son of God but was not equal to God the Father, not God incarnate. As Arius argued at length, Nicholas became agitated, crossed the room, and slapped Arius across the face.
The shocked bishops stripped Nicholas of his episcopal robes, chained him and jailed him. In the morning, the bishops found his chains on the floor and Nicholas dressed in his episcopal robes, quietly reading his Bible. Constantine ordered his release, and Nicholas was reinstated as the Bishop of Myra.
As the debate went on, the Council of Nicaea agreed with his views, deciding against Arius and agreeing on the Nicene Creed, which remains the symbol of our faith. Which probably also makes it appropriate that the Church of Saint Nicholas on the corner of Priskosoridi street and Emmanouil Kefalogianni avenue, near the bus station in Rethymnon, is close to both an old fishing harbour and the Church of Saint Constantine and Saint Helen.
In a message ro the Ecumenical Patriarch, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, last week (30 November), Pope Francis repeated his hope to travel to Iznik, about 200 km distance from Istanbul and the site of the ancient city of Nicaea, to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the council with the Patriarch
In his message to the Patriarch, marking the feast of Saint Andrew. Pope Francis wrote: ‘The now imminent 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea will be another opportunity to bear witness to the growing communion that already exists among all who are baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’
Today’s Prayers (Friday 6 December 2024):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Hope – Advent’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with Reflections by Esmeralda Pato, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa Representative and Chair of USPG’s Communion-Wide Advisory Group.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 6 December 2024) invites us to pray:
Lord, as we enter this Advent season, we are reminded of the hope you bring. Help us not only to receive hope, but to be activists of hope—spreading your light and love to people and communities in need.
The Collect:
Almighty Father, lover of souls,
who chose your servant Nicholas
to be a bishop in the Church,
that he might give freely out of the treasures of your grace:
make us mindful of the needs of others
and, as we have received, so teach us also to give;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
God, shepherd of your people,
whose servant Nicholas revealed the loving service of Christ
in his ministry as a pastor of your people:
by this eucharist in which we share
awaken within us the love of Christ
and keep us faithful to our Christian calling;
through him who laid down his life for us,
but is alive and reigns with you, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s Reflection
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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