Feast of the Transfer of the Relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

On May 22, the church holiday of the Transfer of the Relics of St Nicholas the Wonderworker is celebrated The saint, who lived in the 3rd century in the Roman province of Lycia, is equally revered by both the Eastern and Western Christian churches Nicholas from the city of Mira performed many miracles during his lifetime, but even after his death the saint did not leave believers without mercy Pilgrims came with prayers to his miraculous relics, knowing that the holy Archbishop of Myra of Lycia would answer their requests Saint Nicholas ended his earthly journey in the 4th century and was buried on the territory of the city of Mira A basilica was erected over the saint's grave, which was replaced at the beginning of the 4th century by a stone church, which kept the relics of the wonderworker until 1084 After the Muslim invasion of the Middle East, many Christian shrines were in danger of destruction In the 8th century, the mercenaries of Caliph Harun-ar Rashid tried to break into and destroy the tomb of St Nicholas At the direction of the Lord, another burial was opened, and a storm that arose at sea destroyed the ships of the wicked robbers The decrepit Byzantine Empire, suffering oppression from the Seljuk Turks, did not have the opportunity to protect the holy places for Christians from destruction A similar situation prompted the idea of ​​believers from the Italian city of Bari to take possession of the relics of Nicholas under the guise of saving them from the Turkish threat On April 20, 1087, about fifty armed natives of Bari landed on the coast of the city of Myra Their path led to the Church of St Nicholas, which was guarded by only four peaceful monks The church servants showed the arrivals the location of the tomb and told the dream of one elder, in which the wonderworker Nicholas himself asked to protect his relics more carefully Residents of the city of Bari saw in this phenomenon a sign for action, and offered to redeem the relic for gold The monks, realizing the true purpose of the arrivals, tried to run out of the church and call the townspeople for help, but the Barians grabbed and tied them up Next, the myrrh-wearing remains of the saint were removed from the sarcophagus and transferred to the ship On May 22, the relic arrived in the port of Bari, where it was greeted with triumph and reverence by representatives of the Church and townspeople Subsequently, a basilica was built over the remains of St Nicholas, which became a place of worship for numerous pilgrims A holiday was established in the city in honor of the discovery of the relics of the saint, despite the fact that the Greek and Western churches for a long time ignored the date of May 22 with their attention For the Orthodox tradition, the triumph of the transfer of the relics of the Archbishop of Myra in Lycia was perceived at the end of the 11th century in view of the special veneration of St Nicholas in Rus' and Bulgaria