Day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

The Day of St Nicholas the Wonderworker is celebrated by both Catholics and Orthodox Christians The only difference is the dates If Catholics celebrate this day according to the Gregorian calendar on December 6, then Orthodox laity honor St Nicholas the Wonderworker on December 19, based on the Julian calendar Also, every Thursday, the Russian Orthodox Church honors the memory of the saint with special hymns Regardless of the day of veneration of the saint, this celebration is awaited by children all over the world, because St Nicholas the Wonderworker will definitely bring them a gift Famed as a saint of God, Nicholas was born in 270 AD in Patara In those years it was the richest city of the Lycian Peninsula, which is located in the Mediterranean Sea The parents of the future saint were Nona and Theophanes, who lived in prosperity and deeply believed in God They not only raised their child in a Christian spirit, but also immediately baptized him, which was rare in those days The upbringing and lessons taught to the boy by his parents convinced him that the worst thing that can happen in human life is committing sins and siding with evil Left without parents and barely reaching adulthood, the young man began to help those in need One of these actions was helping families in need By presenting the unfortunate people with the gold he had left as an inheritance, he tried to remain unnoticed However, the townspeople tracked down Nicholas and, surprised by his modesty, sincerity and selflessness, elected him as their bishop During his life, the saint of God accomplished many things, which are not all known to us An amazingly strong and zealous faith helped him in this Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, one of the few saints, peacefully ended his earthly journey in the 4th century AD Until his death, he fought with the pagans and destroyed altars and temples, furiously denounced heretics, and also burned idols and temples of pagan gods Not only children fall under the protection of St Nicholas the Wonderworker His tutelage extends to students, travelers, merchants and sailors Among the latter there is a legend that the saint went on a pilgrimage and was caught in a severe storm Thanks to the prayer of St Nicholas the Wonderworker, performed at the request of desperate people, he calmed the raging elements Since then, many sailors take icons of St Nicholas the Wonderworker with them when setting sail The holy saint of God is ready to come to the aid of everyone who turns to him for help, even pagans He pays special attention to women who ask the saint for a calm family life The custom of leaving a gift under the pillow is associated with another act of St Nicholas the Wonderworker He saved the daughters of one poor man, who, in order to provide the girls with a dowry, was forced to send him to earn money through fornication But the saint could not come to terms with this and, sneaking into the poor man’s house for three nights, he left a bar of gold under the pillow of one of the girls Thus, thanks to a good deed, the homeless women were saved from sin Traditions of honoring Nicholas differ depending on the country and the world: Catholic or Orthodox In ancient times, this day was awaited not only by children who received a gift, but also by adults They got together, brewed beer, kutya and uzvar, and also had fun After that, they harnessed the best horses and rode They watched who would enter the house first and rejoiced if it turned out to be a “good” person, sprinkled holy water on the cattle and tried to predict the weather and the harvest The girls were also looking forward to this day, because on this day the matchmakers arrived