About seventeen centuries have passed since Saint Nicholas, the great Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra, lived and labored on earth. He is revered and glorified by the entire Christian race. It pleased God's providence to send St. Nicholas the Wonderworker to earth at one of the most difficult times for Christianity.

And now modern pilgrims rush to the place where the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker are located.

Brief life story of the saint

Svyatoch was born around 270 in the city of Patara, in the Lycian region (now the territory of modern Turkey).

His mother and father, Nonna and Theophanes, came from a noble and pious family and were very wealthy. But wealth and a noble title did not prevent them from being known as merciful to the poor and zealous in God’s prayer. For many years they prayed to the Creator to give them a son, and “in return” the couple promised to devote his life to serving God. Their prayer was heard and from Above the family was given a son, named Nicholas in Holy Baptism.

The parents understood that their child was destined for special service to God, so they paid special attention to his upbringing, instilled Christian values ​​and directed him on the righteous path.

Nikolai did well in his studies. He was not interested in conversations with his peers about worldly things; everything bad was alien to him. He avoided sinful entertainment, was chaste and spent his free time reading the Holy Scriptures, divine books, and prayed a lot.

Soon Nikolai was ordained a reader, and later a presbyter.

The Lord vouchsafed Nicholas to live to a ripe old age. At the end of his years, he became seriously ill and peacefully departed to Christ in the heavenly abode on December 6, 342. The burial took place in Myra in the cathedral church.

Temples consecrated in honor of Nicholas the Ugodnik:

Holy relics

700 years after the death of the pleasure-maker, devastation and devastation reigned in Lycia, this happened after the invasion of the Saracens - nomads, robbers, Bedouins.

Monks were on duty at the ruins of the temple, where the remains of the saint rested. In 1087, Nicholas came to one of the Bari presbyters in a sleepy vision and ordered his body to be urgently transferred to Bari. For this purpose, three ships were equipped, and the elders and noble townspeople settled on them under the guise of traders.

This precaution was necessary because the Venetians wanted to intercept the procession and bring the holy remains to their city.

The traders sailed through Egypt and Palestine, conducting trade business along the way so as not to arouse suspicion. Finally, they ended up in Lycia. They opened a snow-white marble tomb.

To the surprise of those present, it turned out to be filled to the brim with a fragrant ointment, and Nikolai’s body rested in it. The nobles were unable to take the heavy tomb with them, so they transferred the remains into the prepared ark and headed to their homeland.

Relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Bari, Italy

After 20 days, on May 9, 1087, they arrived in Bari. Here the Liturgy was served with a multitude of clergy, and the relics were placed in the Church of St. Eustathius. And after 2 years, the crypts of the new temple were consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Pleasant, and the remains were solemnly transferred there.

Important! The incorruptible body still streams myrrh, and many miracles are performed from it. With faith, the saint grants healing from bodily and physical ailments to those who are anointed, and drives away unclean spirits.

At the end of the 11th century, the holy relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker were transferred to the city of Bar.

How to apply to the remains

There are unspoken rules for applying to holy remains:

• when approaching the ruck, you should not rush, push, or crowd;
• It is not advisable to carry bags or packages with you;
• kissing a shrine with painted lips is prohibited;
• before approaching the shrine, you must bow twice from the waist and cross yourself, and make the third bow after applying;
• You can't kiss saints on the face.

Icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

The appearance of the saint

In 1953, restoration work was carried out in the church in which the crypt is located. One of the anatomists received permission from the Vatican to examine the bones, according to which a conclusion was made.

On Sunday, May 21, the ark with part of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was delivered on a special flight from the Italian city of Bari to Moscow, reports Patriarchia.ru.

The shrine was accompanied by the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, and the head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Office for Foreign Institutions, Bishop Anthony of Bogorodsk.

At Vnukovo airport, the shrine was met by hierarchs and clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church. The ark with the holy relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was solemnly carried through the ranks of the honor guard company of the Preobrazhensky Regiment.

The first vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' for Moscow, Metropolitan Arseny of Istra, performed a prayer service to St. Nicholas at the plane's ramp and an akathist in the airport building.

In a brief interview with media representatives, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk said:

“This event is unprecedented in its significance for our Church. It was the Russian Church, back in the 11th century, several years after the relics of St. Nicholas were transported from Myra Lycia to Bari, that established a holiday in honor of this event. And every time the summer holiday of St. Nicholas, May 22, comes, we hear the words during the service: “The day of bright celebration has arrived, the city of Barsky rejoices, and with it the whole universe rejoices.” That is, the day of bright celebration has come, the city of Bari rejoices, and the whole universe rejoices with it. And today the entire Russian Orthodox Church rejoices along with the Italian city of Bari, because St. Nicholas is visiting the country where the people honor and love him. In Moscow and other cities of Russia, many churches are dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Saint Nicholas is the saint who answers prayers especially quickly, and many people have learned from their own experience that whatever you ask him for, he fulfills all requests. It is because of this that people venerate St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.”

From the airport, the ark with the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was taken to the cathedral Cathedral of Christ the Savior, where the evening service was led by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus'.

Concelebrating with the High Hierarch were: Patriarchal Vicar of the Moscow Diocese, Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna; Metropolitan Sergius of Nekres (Georgian Orthodox Church); Council of Hierarchs and Clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Present at the service were: Apostolic Nuncio to the Russian Federation, Archbishop Celestino Miglior, and Ordinary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Our Lady of Moscow, Archbishop Paolo Pezzi.

Before the polyeleos, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, hierarchs and clergy came out through the western gates of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior to meet the ark with part of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

All church Moscow greeted the relics of the holy saint of God with the ringing of bells from all the capital's churches, which began at 18.00 from the main bell tower of the Russian Orthodox Church - the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Moscow Kremlin.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, hierarchs and clergy descended along the stylobate of the temple to Volkhonka Street. The shrine was taken out of the car that arrived from the airport and placed on a stretcher. His Holiness venerated the venerable relics, after which the ark, accompanied by the singing of the troparion to St. Nicholas, was transferred to the middle of the temple and placed in the prepared place.

After reading the Gospel, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill venerated the relics and addressed those gathered in the church with the Primate’s word:

“I congratulate you all on this great event. People tend to apply the epithet “historical” to many events, but time passes, and nothing remains of the so-called historical event - neither consequences, nor human memory. But the event that is now happening before our eyes and with our participation is a truly historical event, full of many meanings. Perhaps we cannot fully perceive all these meanings, but surely this historical event will affect the life of our Fatherland, the life of our people, the life of our Church.

The relics of Saint and Wonderworker Nicholas arrived to us from Bari on the eve of May 22 (May 9, old style), when our Church glorifies the bringing of relics from Myra Lycia, a city in Asia Minor, to the city of Bari. This happened 930 years ago, and at that time both the inhabitants of Myra Lycia and Christians in general in the East mourned that the relics from the city of St. Nicholas floated to the distant West. That is why this day was never celebrated in the East, but surprisingly, starting from the 16th century or perhaps a little earlier, as soon as the first Russian pilgrims began to visit the city of Bari, the holiday of the transfer of relics from Myra Lycia to Bari became one of the most significant in calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church. Why did this happen? But because the religious consciousness of our people accepted a simple historical truth: if the relics had remained in the house of St. Nicholas, in Myra of Lycia, then nothing would have remained of them. The transfer of the relics to the West, to the city of Bari on the Apennine Peninsula, was perceived by the Russian people as a manifestation of God's providence. It was from those times that more and more Russian pilgrims, overcoming a huge distance for that time, came to Bari to venerate the myrrh-streaming remains of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. And this happened because, from the point of view of popular veneration, the saint and wonderworker Nicholas was and remains the first saint in Rus'. In almost all the homes of Orthodox people, both in the past and today, there are certainly three icons - the Savior, the Mother of God and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

What is the basis for such veneration of St. Nicholas among our people? Any religious veneration is associated with a very important phenomenon - with the answer that a believer receives when turning to heaven. In the consciousness of our people, in their historical memory, many miracles and wondrous deeds are imprinted, which were performed in personal and public life thanks to the prayers of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. That is why the Russian flock is a flock filled with great love for St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. That is why in our minds he is perceived as a Russian saint, although he has never been to Rus' and is in no way connected with our country either by nationality or culture. But he is perceived by us as a Russian saint because he went through the most difficult, bloody history of our people with us. Perhaps, in the most difficult moments of this history, our prayer to St. Nicholas was especially strong, so that with the answer to this prayer we associate the deliverance of our Fatherland from many, many historical catastrophes. We believe that today the saint and wonderworker Nicholas is with us, and, despite the most severe persecutions of the twentieth century, fervent prayers are again offered to him on Russian soil. And those who have the opportunity strive to visit the city of Bari to pray at the tomb of St. Nicholas. But this is only a small part of those who have such a dream, and therefore in our believing people there has always been a glimmer of hope that the moment will come when it will be possible to venerate the holy myrrh-streaming remains here, on Russian soil, so that the flock who loves St. Nicholas can kneel before him and offer your prayer.

Due to many circumstances, this event could not have happened earlier than the time it did. We believe that the Lord shows us signs of His presence, His mercy, His grace in a visible way when people who turn to Him in prayer most need it. Today we really need the presence of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, so that not only faith is preserved in our people, but so that the great enduring divine truths do not disappear from the life of modern man. Therefore, before the relics of the saint, we will pray not only for ourselves and not only for our countries, united by the Russian Orthodox Church into a single Orthodox family. We will pray for the whole world, so that St. Nicholas may bow to the mercy of God and preserve the faith of Christ in the lives of our contemporaries.

Probably, this wonderful event would never have come true if not for my meeting with His Holiness Francis, Pope of Rome. We met in Havana at a special time when Christians in the Middle East were and, unfortunately, still are going through a very difficult time when attempts are being made to destroy their presence in places with which Christianity has been associated throughout history, where it began. Driven by concern to stop the extermination of Christians in this region, as well as the terrible persecution in other countries, His Holiness Pope Francis and I made a joint decision to meet face to face and call on everyone to pay attention to the tragedy of modern Christianity - and not only in the Middle East, but also in countries that proudly call themselves civilized, but where people renounce the Christian foundations of their culture, their civilization. And the Lord led us to this meeting, during which a decision was made to bring the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker to the Mother See of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

I express my heartfelt gratitude to His Holiness Francis, as well as to everyone who carried out the will of their First Hierarch, and first of all to you, Your Eminence Bishop Francesco, Archbishop of Bari. Words of special gratitude to the brothers of the holy monastery, which takes care of the preservation of the relics of St. Nicholas in the city of Bari, to the civil authorities, learned specialists and everyone who, through their labors, implemented the decision made by the pope and the Patriarch at the meeting in Havana.

We believe that St. Nicholas, who is revered by both the East and the West, stands in prayer before God for all of us. Today we are still divided, because theological problems that came from antiquity do not give us the opportunity to reunite. Nevertheless, as many holy people saw, if the Lord wants to unite all Christians, then this will happen not through their efforts, not thanks to some church-diplomatic steps, not according to some theological agreements, but only if the Holy Spirit again will unite all who profess the Name of Christ. And we believe that Saint Nicholas, hearing the prayers of Christians of the East and West, stands before the Lord, including asking Him to unite the Churches together.

News number one for the residents of Bari: the relics of St. Nicholas have left the city! For the first time in 930 years! There have been more than enough rumors and mystical hints in recent days. After all, this has never happened! The shrine was taken out only once - to a neighboring temple - for the duration of repairs. Just a few years ago it was simply impossible to imagine traveling to Moscow. An event of incredible significance for Orthodox believers took place thanks to the personal meeting of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill and Pope Francis in 2016 in Cuba. For almost a year, in the ancient crypt of the Basilica of St. Nicholas, preparations were made for the bringing of the relics of the Christian saint.

There is a special attitude towards Orthodox Christians in the basilica. Access to the relics is open. Services are permitted in the underground part of the basilica. It is symbolic that while the Catholic padre is reading his sermon above, Orthodox priests are leading a prayer service below. And the whole temple is filled with Old Slavonic prayer. Pilgrims cannot hold back their tears from excess of feelings.

Nicholas the Saint devoted his entire life to Christianity. He was a Greek from Asia Minor who lived in the 3rd century during the Roman Empire. Considered the patron saint of sailors, innocent prisoners and children.

Being from a noble family, Nikolai Ugodnik helped those in need. I tried to do it without anyone knowing. The three bags or three golden balls with which the saint is most often depicted are associated with his first miracle. Nikolai secretly threw gold to his neighbor, who was going to receive income from the beauty of his dowry daughters. Of course, for tourists it’s just a beautiful legend and souvenir. For those whom the saint helped, it is a symbol of mercy and miracles, which Nikolai the Pleasant still performs.

How his relics ended up in the city of Bari is still the subject of historical research. XI century, 700 years have passed since the death of the saint, the Byzantine Empire is going through difficult times. The Turks are ravaging cities and destroying shrines. The small port of Bari needs a patron and decides to rob. In 1087, the shrine was stolen from Myra Lycia. Now this is the territory of Turkey, the city of Demre.

The remaining parts of the relics were taken by the Venetians. Already in the first days of its stay in Italy, the shrine healed 111 people.

The bringing of the shrine was approached from a scientific point of view. At night, when the temple was closed, experts examined the relics and at the same time decided which particle could be taken. Through a small hole - using an endoscope - filming was carried out right inside the tomb! The bones of a man who died 17 centuries ago turned out to be strong.

No one has ever conducted such research. Catholics and Orthodox worked side by side.

Now this piece is in Russia. Especially for the transfer of the relics, craftsmen from Sofrin, Moscow Region, created an ark decorated with precious stones and an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

The reliquary, weighing 50 kilograms, was delivered to Bari from Russia by special plane. A safe lock and armored glass guarantee safety. Eight priests from the basilica will accompany the shrine in Russia.

930 years ago, the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker were brought to Bari, Italy by sea. Today, after signing a special act of temporary transfer and accompanied by an escort, the shrine left the city. But already by air, consecrating a path of thousands of kilometers. In the afternoon, the plane landed at Moscow's Vnukovo airport.

The shrine was taken to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and solemnly handed over to Patriarch Kirill. The festive service was also attended by parishioners who had been waiting since the morning for the relics to be brought. And tomorrow hundreds of pilgrims will come to the temple, for whom the opportunity to worship Nicholas the Wonderworker is filled with special meaning.

On May 21, for the first time in history, the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker will leave the Italian city of Bari and will be delivered to Russia for veneration. The Russian Orthodox Church and the authorities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, where the shrine will be displayed, are preparing for a large-scale influx of pilgrims. Komsomolskaya Pravda spoke with the rector of the Patriarchal Russian Compound in Bari, Archpriest Andrei Boytsov.

How popular is this saint among Orthodox Christians? Are there any figures for our pilgrims coming to Bari?

Approximately 70 thousand per year. 95% of all pilgrims to Bari are Russians.

-What do they ask the saint for? Have you witnessed miracles?

Yes, there are a lot of miracles. Many come with a diagnosis of infertility; there are couples who simply cannot have children for many years. And then a year later they appear here again - to baptize their babies. Healings from cancer and other diseases occur.

Previously, when shrines were brought to Russia, people stood in lines for hours, and only seconds were left to touch them. How to prepare for this moment?

There is no need to be afraid that you only have seconds. He hears us from everywhere. While you're standing in line, pray and ask. When you approach the relics, this is already the climax. This is not some kind of magical battery over which you need to whisper something. This approach is a relic of paganism. Just reverently kiss the ark and ask for the most important thing - help in spiritual life, forgiveness of sins. Say: “Father Nicholas, pray to God for me, a sinner.”

Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis personally agreed on bringing the shrine to Russia during a historic meeting in Cuba. Have there been any attempts to bring relics before?

There were in the 1990s and 2000s, but they were not successful then. Some New Russian believers at one time promised to bring relics, making these statements without any coordination with Catholics and the Russian Orthodox Church. This even caused protest demonstrations by Italians here. Now everything is different. The blessing of the Pope is the highest authority for Catholics.

- How many pilgrims are you expecting in Moscow and St. Petersburg? In 2011, millions stood in line for the Belt of the Virgin Mary.

Several million. The relics are brought for a longer period than the Belt of the Virgin Mary (in 39 days more than 3 million believers in 14 cities of Russia venerated it. - Ed.).

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Saint Nicholas lived in the 4th century on the territory of modern Antalya (Turkey), was a priest and, according to legend, performed numerous miracles. Christians testify that the saint answers their prayers and requests for help - it’s not for nothing that he is called the Wonderworker.

Nicholas the Wonderworker is one of the most revered saints of the Christian world. He is considered the patron saint of travelers, sailors, orphans and prisoners.

ATTENTION!

You can venerate the shrine in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior from May 22 from 14.00 to 21.00, from May 23 to July 12 - daily from 8.00 to 21.00.

It is advised to join the queue, which is planned to begin at the Crimean Bridge, before 17.00 (in order to be in time before the temple closes). In case of great excitement, the beginning of the queue will be moved to Luzhniki. You can find out about its length on the Internet - on the website.

More than 2,000 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be responsible for security, and 10 thousand volunteers intend to help the pilgrims. Believers will be provided with drinking water and food points will be organized along the line at affordable prices.

No special passes will be issued; exceptions will be made for people with diseases of the musculoskeletal system and infants with an accompanying person.

Then the ark will be transported until July 28 to St. Petersburg, to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The schedule will be announced there additionally.

AND AT THIS TIME

A chapel of Nicholas II will be built in Klin

A new place where it will be possible to honor the memory of the last Russian emperor will soon appear in the Moscow region thanks to the famous rock singer Olga Kormukhina. On her initiative and with the support of local authorities, the construction of the chapel of the Holy Tsar-Passion-Bearer Nicholas II begins, which will stand in Klin, near Moscow.

The place where the chapel was built was not chosen by chance - Klin is closely connected with the Romanov dynasty. Here the miraculous Klinskaya Icon of the Mother of God was revealed, which was especially revered in the imperial family.

I’ve been looking for a place for a chapel for several years, and colleagues from the Public Chamber suggested: in Klin, between two capitals,” Kormukhina said. - And for me, as a musician, it’s a good sign, because this place is right opposite the Tchaikovsky House Museum.

The relics of St. Nicholas, which work miracles, will be brought to Russia for the first time

Santa Claus

When is the memory of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker celebrated?

More than one holiday is dedicated to St. Nicholas in the Orthodox church calendar. On December 19, according to the new style, the day of the saint’s death is remembered, and on August 11, his birth. People called these two holidays St. Nicholas Winter and St. Nicholas Autumn. On May 22, believers remember the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas from Myra in Lycia to Bari, which took place in 1087. In Rus', this day was called Nikola Veshny (that is, spring), or Nikola Summer.
All these holidays are permanent, that is, their dates are fixed.

How does St. Nicholas the Wonderworker help?

Saint Nicholas is called a miracle worker. Such saints are especially revered for the miracles that occur through prayers to them. Since ancient times, Nicholas the Wonderworker was revered as an ambulance to sailors and other travelers, merchants, unjustly convicted people and children. In Western folk Christianity, his image was combined with the image of a folklore character - “Christmas grandfather” - and transformed into Santa Claus ( Santa Claus translated from English - St Nicholas). Santa Claus gives children gifts for Christmas.

Life (biography) of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

Nicholas the Pleasant was born in 270 in the town of Patara, which was located in the region of Lycia in Asia Minor and was a Greek colony. The parents of the future archbishop were very wealthy people, but at the same time they believed in Christ and actively helped the poor.
As his life says, from childhood the saint completely devoted himself to the faith and spent a lot of time in church. Having matured, he became a reader, and then a priest in the church, where his uncle, Bishop Nicholas of Patarsky, served as rector.
After the death of his parents, Nicholas the Wonderworker distributed all his inheritance to the poor and continued his church service. In the years when the attitude of the Roman emperors towards Christians became more tolerant, but persecution nevertheless continued, he ascended the episcopal throne in Myra. Now this town is called Demre, it is located in the province of Antalya in Turkey.
People loved the new archbishop very much: he was kind, meek, fair, sympathetic - not a single request to him went unanswered. With all this, Nicholas was remembered by his contemporaries as an irreconcilable fighter against paganism - he destroyed idols and temples, and a defender of Christianity - he denounced heretics.
During his lifetime the saint became famous for many miracles. He saved the city of Myra from a terrible famine with his fervent prayer to Christ. He prayed and thereby helped drowning sailors on ships, and brought unjustly convicted people out of captivity in prisons.
Nikolai Ugodnik lived to a ripe old age and died around 345-351 - the exact date is unknown.

Relics of St. Nicholas

Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker reposed in the Lord in the years 345-351 - the exact date is unknown. His relics were incorruptible. At first they rested in the cathedral church of the city of Myra in Lycia, where he served as archbishop. They streamed myrrh, and the myrrh healed believers from various ailments.
In 1087, part of the saint’s relics was transferred to the Italian city of Bari, to the Church of St. Stephen. A year after the rescue of the relics, a basilica was erected there in the name of St. Nicholas. Now everyone can pray at the relics of the saint - the ark with them is still kept in this basilica. A few years later, the remaining part of the relics was transported to Venice, and a small particle remained in Myra.
In honor of the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas the Pleasant, a special holiday was established, which in the Russian Orthodox Church is celebrated on May 22 in the new style.

Veneration of St. Nicholas in Rus'

Russian people began to venerate Nicholas the Wonderworker soon after the Baptism of Rus'. The first icons of the saint appeared in our country no later than the middle of the 11th century - these are, for example, the frescoes of Hagia Sophia in Kyiv.
There are many churches and monasteries dedicated to St. Nicholas the Pleasant in Rus'. In his name, the holy Patriarch Photius baptized in 866 the Kyiv prince Askold, the very first Russian Christian prince. Over the grave of Askold in Kyiv, Saint Olga, Equal-to-the-Apostles, built the first church of St. Nicholas on Russian soil.
In many Russian cities, the main cathedrals were named after the Archbishop of Myra in Lycia. Novgorod the Great, Zaraysk, Kyiv, Smolensk, Pskov, Galich, Arkhangelsk, Tobolsk and many others. Three Nikolsky monasteries were built in the Moscow province - Nikolo-Grechesky (Old) - in Kitai-Gorod, Nikolo-Perervinsky and Nikolo-Ugreshsky. In addition, one of the main towers of the capital's Kremlin is named Nikolskaya.

Iconography of St. Nicholas

The iconography of St. Nicholas developed in the 10th-11th centuries. Moreover, the oldest icon, namely the fresco in the Church of Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome, dates back to the 8th century.
There are two main iconographic types of St. Nicholas - full-length and half-length. One of the classic examples of a life-size icon is a fresco from the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv, painted at the beginning of the 12th century. Now it is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery. In this fresco, the saint is depicted full-length, with a blessing right hand and an open Gospel in his left hand.
Icons of the half-length iconographic type depict the saint with a closed Gospel on his left hand. The oldest icon of this type in the monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai dates back to the 11th century. In Rus', the earliest surviving similar image dates back to the end of the 12th century. Ivan the Terrible brought it from Novgorod the Great and placed it in the Smolensk Cathedral of the Novodevichy Convent. Now this icon can be seen in the Tretyakov Gallery.
Icon painters also created hagiographic icons of St. Nicholas the Pleasant, that is, depicting various scenes from the life of the saint - sometimes up to twenty different subjects. The most ancient of such icons in Rus' are the Novgorod one from the Lyuboni churchyard (XIV century) and the Kolomna icon (now kept in the Tretyakov Gallery).

TroparionSaint Nicholas the Wonderworker

voice 4
The rule of faith and the image of meekness and abstinence as a teacher show you to your flock as the truth of things: for this reason you have acquired high humility, rich in poverty. Father Hierarch Nicholas, pray to Christ God to save our souls.
Translation:
The teacher showed you the rule of faith, the example of meekness and abstinence, to your flock. And therefore, through humility you acquired greatness, through poverty - wealth: Father Hierarch Nicholas, pray to Christ God for the salvation of our souls.

Kontakion to Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker
voice 3
In Mireh, the holy, the priest appeared: For Christ, O Reverend, having fulfilled the Gospel, you laid down your soul for your people, and saved the innocent from death; For this reason you have been sanctified, as the great hidden place of God’s grace.
Translation:
In the Worlds, you, saint, appeared as the performer of sacred rites: having fulfilled the Gospel teaching of Christ, you, reverend, laid down your soul for your people and delivered the innocent from death. That is why he was sanctified as a great minister of the sacraments of God’s grace.

First prayer to Nicholas the Ugodnik

Oh, all-holy Nicholas, exceedingly saintly servant of the Lord, our warm intercessor, and everywhere in sorrow a quick helper!
Help me, a sinner and sad person in this present life, beg the Lord God to grant me forgiveness of all my sins, which I have sinned greatly from my youth, in all my life, in deed, word, thought and all my feelings; and at the end of my soul, help me the accursed, beg the Lord God, the Creator of all creation, to deliver me from airy ordeals and eternal torment: may I always glorify the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and your merciful intercession, now and ever and unto ages of ages.
Amen.

Second prayer to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
O all-praised, great wonderworker, saint of Christ, Father Nicholas!
We pray to you, awaken the hope of all Christians, protector of the faithful, feeder of the hungry, joy of the weeping, doctor of the sick, steward of those floating on the sea, feeder of the poor and orphans, and quick helper and patron of all, may we live a peaceful life here and may we be worthy to see the glory of God’s elect in heaven , and with them unceasingly sing the praises of the one worshiped God in the Trinity forever and ever. Amen.

Third prayer to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
O all-praised and all-pious bishop, great Wonderworker, Saint of Christ, Father Nicholas, man of God and faithful servant, man of desires, chosen vessel, strong pillar of the church, bright lamp, shining star and illuminating the whole universe: you are a righteous man, like a blossoming date planted in the courts of your Lord, living in Myra, you were fragrant with the world, and the myrrh flowed with the ever-flowing grace of God.
By your procession, holy father, the sea was illuminated, when your many-wonderful relics marched into the city of Barsky, from east to west praise the name of the Lord.
O most graceful and wondrous Wonderworker, quick helper, warm intercessor, kind shepherd, saving the verbal flock from all troubles, we glorify and magnify you, as the hope of all Christians, the source of miracles, the protector of the faithful, the wise teacher, those who hunger for a feeder, those who cry are glad, the naked are clothed , the sick physician, the sea-floating steward, the liberator of captives, the nourisher and protector of widows and orphans, the guardian of chastity, the meek chastiser of infants, the old fortification, the fasting mentor, the toiling rapture, the poor and wretched abundant wealth.
Hear us praying to you and running under your roof, show your intercession for us to the Most High, and intercede with your God-pleasing prayers, everything useful for the salvation of our souls and bodies: preserve this holy monastery (or this temple), every city and all, and every Christian country, and people living from all bitterness with your help:
We know, we know, how the prayer of the righteous can do much to advance for good: for you, the righteous, according to the most blessed Virgin Mary, the intercessor to the All-Merciful God, imams, and to yours, most kind father, warm intercession and intercession we humbly flow: you keep us as you are vigorous and kind shepherd, from all enemies, destruction, cowardice, hail, famine, flood, fire, sword, invasion of foreigners, and in all our troubles and sorrows, give us a helping hand, and open the doors of God’s mercy, since we are unworthy to see the heights of heaven, from many of our iniquities are bound by the bonds of sin, and we have not done the will of our Creator nor have we preserved his commandments.
In the same way, we bow our contrite and humble hearts to our Creator, and we ask for your fatherly intercession to Him:
Help us, O Pleasant of God, so that we do not perish with our iniquities, deliver us from all evil and from all things that are resistant, guide our minds and strengthen our hearts in the right faith, in it through your intercession and intercession, neither with wounds, nor rebuke, nor pestilence, he will give me no wrath to live in this age, and he will deliver me from this place, and he will make me worthy to join all the saints. Amen.

Prayer four to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
O our good shepherd and God-wise mentor, Saint Nicholas of Christ! Hear us sinners, praying to you and calling for your speedy intercession for help; see us weak, caught from everywhere, deprived of every good and darkened in mind from cowardice; Try, O servant of God, not to leave us in the captivity of sin, so that we may not joyfully become our enemies and not die in our evil deeds.
Pray for us, unworthy, to our Creator and Master, to whom you stand with disembodied faces: make our God merciful to us in this life and in the future, so that He will not reward us according to our deeds and the impurity of our hearts, but according to His goodness He will reward us .
We trust in your intercession, we boast of your intercession, we call on your intercession for help, and falling to your most holy image, we ask for help: deliver us, servant of Christ, from the evils that come upon us, and tame the waves of passions and troubles that rise up against us, and for the sake of Your holy prayers will not overwhelm us and we will not wallow in the abyss of sin and in the mud of our passions. Pray to Saint Nicholas of Christ, Christ our God, that he may grant us a peaceful life and remission of sins, salvation and great mercy for our souls, now and ever and unto ages of ages.

Fifth prayer to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
O great intercessor, the bishop of God, the Most Blessed Nicholas, who shone miracles under the sun, appearing as a quick hearer to those who call upon you, who always precede them and save them, and deliver them, and take them away from all sorts of troubles, from these God-given miracles and gifts of grace!
Hear me, unworthy, calling you with faith and bringing you prayer songs; I offer you an intercessor to plead with Christ.
Oh, renowned for miracles, saint of heights! as if you have boldness, soon stand before the Lady, and stretch out your holy hands in prayer to Him for me, a sinner, and grant me bounty of goodness from Him, and accept me into your intercession, and deliver me from all troubles and evils, from the invasion of enemies visible and invisible freeing, and destroying all those slander and malice, and reflecting those who fight me throughout my life; for my sins, ask for forgiveness, and present me saved to Christ and be worthy to receive the Kingdom of Heaven for the abundance of that love for mankind, to which belongs all glory, honor and worship, with his beginningless Father, and with the Most Holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages centuries.

Prayer six to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
Oh, all-good Father Nicholas, shepherd and teacher of all who flow by faith to your intercession, and who call on you with warm prayer, quickly strive and deliver the flock of Christ from the wolves that destroy it, that is, from the invasion of the evil Latins who are rising against us.
Protect and preserve our country, and every country existing in Orthodoxy, with your holy prayers from worldly rebellion, the sword, the invasion of foreigners, from internecine and bloody warfare.
And just as you had mercy on three men imprisoned, and you delivered them from the king’s wrath and the beating of the sword, so have mercy and delivered the Orthodox people of Great, Little and White Rus' from the destructive heresy of the Latin.
For through your intercession and help, and through His mercy and grace, may Christ God look with His merciful eye on people who exist in ignorance, even though they have not known their right hand, especially young people, by whom the Latin seductions are spoken to turn away from the Orthodox faith, may he enlighten the minds of His people, may they not be tempted and fall away from the faith of their fathers, may their conscience, lulled by vain wisdom and ignorance, awaken and turn their will to the preservation of the holy Orthodox faith, may they remember the faith and humility of our fathers, may their life be for the Orthodox faith who have laid down and accepted the warm prayers of His holy saints, who have shone in our land, keeping us from the delusion and heresy of the Latin, so that, having preserved us in holy Orthodoxy, He will grant us at His terrible Judgment to stand on the right hand with all the saints. Amen.

What can you eat on the day of memory of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker?

December 19, according to the new style, falls on the Rozhdestvensky, or Filippov, as it is also called, fast. On this day you can eat fish, but you cannot eat meat, eggs and other animal products.
May 22, 2016 is a Sunday, there is no fast.

Miracles of St. Nicholas

Nicholas the Wonderworker is considered the patron, intercessor and prayer book for sailors and, in general, everyone who travels. For example, as the life of the saint says, in his youth, traveling from Myra to Alexandria, he resurrected a sailor who, during a fierce storm, fell from the mast of a ship and fell to the deck, falling to his death.

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. Word, said at the all-night vigil on the feast of St. Nicholas, December 18, 1973, in the church named after him in Kuznetsy (Moscow)

Today we celebrate the day of the death of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. What a strange combination of words this is: holiday about death... Usually, when death overtakes someone, we grieve and cry about it; and when a saint dies, we rejoice over it. How is this possible?
Perhaps this is only because when a sinner dies, those who remain have a heavy feeling on their hearts that the time has come for separation, at least temporarily. No matter how strong our faith is, no matter how much hope inspires us, no matter how confident we are that the God of love will never completely separate from each other those who love each other, even with imperfect, earthly love, it still remains sadness and longing that for many years we will not see the face, the expression of the eyes, shining at us with affection, we will not touch a dear person with a reverent hand, we will not hear his voice, bringing his affection and love to our hearts...
But our attitude towards the holy is not entirely like that. Even those who were contemporaries of the saints, already during their lifetime, managed to realize that, living the fullness of heavenly life, the saint did not separate from the earth during his lifetime, and that when he rests in body, he will still remain in this mystery of the Church, uniting the living and the departed into one body, into one spirit, into one secret of eternal, Divine, conquering all life.
When they died, the saints could say, as Paul said: I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith; now an eternal reward is prepared for me, now I myself am being made a sacrifice...
And this consciousness is not the head, but the consciousness of the heart, a living feeling of the heart that a saint cannot be absent from us (just as the risen Christ, who has become invisible to us, is not absent from us, just as God, invisible to us, is not absent), This consciousness allows us to rejoice on the day when, as the ancient Christians said, man born into eternal life. He did not die - but was born, entered into eternity, into all the space, into all the fullness of life. He is in anticipation of the new victory of life, which we all expect: the resurrection of the dead on the last day, when all the barriers of separation will fall, and when we will rejoice not only about the victory of eternity, but that God has returned the temporal to life - but in glory, new shining glory.
One of the ancient fathers of the Church, Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, says: the glory of God is a person who has become completely A person... The saints are such a glory to God; looking at them, we are amazed at what God can do to a person.
And so, we rejoice on the day of the death of the one who was on earth heavenly man and having entered eternity, he became a representative and prayer book for us, without leaving us, remaining not only the same close, becoming even closer, because we become close to each other as we become close, dear, our own to the Living God, God of love. Our joy today is so deep! The Lord on earth reaped St. Nicholas like a ripe ear of corn. Now he triumphs with God in heaven; and just as he loved the land and people, knew how to have pity, compassion, knew how to surround everyone and meet everyone with amazing affectionate, thoughtful care, so now he prays for us all, caringly, thoughtfully.
When you read his life, you are amazed that he not only cared about the spiritual; he took care of every human need, the most humble human needs. He knew how to rejoice with those who rejoice, he knew how to cry with those who weep, he knew how to console and support those who needed comfort and support. And this is why the people, the Mirlikian flock loved him so much, and why the entire Christian people honors him so much: there is nothing too insignificant that he would not pay attention to with his creative love. There is nothing on earth that would seem unworthy of his prayers and unworthy of his works: illness, and poverty, and deprivation, and disgrace, and fear, and sin, and joy, and hope, and love - everything found a living response in his deep heart. human heart. And he left us the image of a man who is the radiance of God’s beauty; he left us within himself, as it were, a living, active icon a genuine person.
But he left it to us not only so that we would rejoice, admire, and be amazed; He left his image for us so that we could learn from him how to live, what kind of love to love, how to forget ourselves and remember fearlessly, sacrificially, joyfully every need of another person.
He left us with an image of how to die, how to mature, how to stand before God at the last hour, giving Him your soul joyfully, as if returning to your father’s house. When I was a young man, my father once told me: learn during your life to expect death as a young man anxiously awaits the arrival of his bride... This is how Saint Nicholas waited for the hour of death, when the death gates open, when all bonds fall, when the soul flutters him to freedom when he is given the opportunity to see the God whom he worshiped with faith and love. So it is given to us to wait - to wait creatively, not to wait numbly, in fear of death, but to wait with joy for that time, for that meeting with God, which will unite us not only with our Living God, with Christ who became man, but with every person because only in God are we made one...
The Fathers of the Church call us to live fear of death. From century to century we hear these words, and from century to century we misunderstand them. How many people live in fear that death is about to come, and after death - judgment, and after judgment - what? Unknown. Hell? Forgiveness?.. But that’s not about it fear of death the fathers said. The fathers said that if we remembered that in a moment we could die, how we would rush to do all the good that we can still do! If we constantly thought, anxiously, that the person standing next to us, to whom we can now do good or evil, might die - how quickly we would rush to take care of him! There would then be no need, neither great nor small, that would exceed our ability to devote our lives to a person who is about to die.
I have already said something about my father; Sorry - I'll say one more personal thing. My mother had been dying for three years; she knew it because I told her so. And when death entered our lives, it transformed life in that every moment, every word, every action - because it could be the last - had to be a perfect expression of all the love, all the affection, all the reverence that existed between us. And for three years there were no little things and there were no big things, but there was only a triumph of reverent, reverent love, where everything merged into the great, because all love can be contained in one word, and all love can be expressed in one movement; and that's how it should be.
The saints understood this not only in relation to one person, whom they loved especially affectionately and for some short years for which they had the courage. The saints knew how to live like this throughout their entire lives, day after day, hour after hour, in relation to every person, because in everyone they saw the image of God, a living icon, but - God! - sometimes such a desecrated, such a mutilated icon, which they contemplated with special pain and with special love, as we would contemplate an icon trampled into the dirt before our eyes. And each of us, through our sin, tramples the image of God in ourselves into the dirt.
Think about it. Think about how glorious, how wondrous death can be if only we live our lives like saints. They are people similar to us, differing from us only in courage and fire of spirit. If only we lived like them! And how rich mortal memory could be for us if, instead of being called, in our language, the fear of death, it were a constant reminder that every moment is and can become a door to eternal life. Every moment, filled with all love, all humility, all delight and strength of the soul, can open time to eternity and make our earth a place where paradise is revealed, a place where God lives, a place where we are united in love, a place where everything the bad, the dead, the dark, the dirty was defeated, transformed, became light, became purity, became Divine.
May the Lord grant us to think about these images of saints, and not to each other, not even to ask ourselves about what to do, but to turn directly to them, to these saints, some of whom were at first robbers, sinners, people terrible for others, but who were able to perceive God with the greatness of their souls and grow into measure of the age of Christ. Let's ask them... What happened to you, Father Nicholas? What have you done, how have you revealed yourself to the power of Divine love and grace?.. And he will answer us; with his life and his prayer he will make possible for us what seems impossible to us, because the power of God is made perfect in weakness, and everything is available to us, everything is possible for us in the Lord Jesus Christ who strengthens us.
Amen.

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. About the vocation of a Christian.

A word spoken at the liturgy on the day of remembrance of St. Nicholas on December 19, 1973, in the church named after him in Kuznetsy (Moscow)
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
I congratulate you on the occasion!
When we celebrate the day of such a saint as Nicholas the Wonderworker, whom not only the Russian heart, but universal Orthodoxy perceived as one of the most perfect images of the priesthood, we become especially reverent in serving and standing before the Divine Liturgy; because before he became the secret man of the apostles, Saint Nicholas was a genuine, true layman. The Lord Himself revealed that it was he who had to be made a priest - for the purity of his life, for the feat of his love, for his love for worship and the temple, for the purity of his faith, for his meekness and humility.
All this was not a word in him, but was flesh. In our troparion we sing to him that he was rule of faith, image of meekness, teacher of abstinence; all this appeared to his flock as a matter of fact, as the radiance of his life, and not just as a verbal sermon. And he was still such a layman. And with such a feat, such love, such purity, such meekness, he acquired for himself the highest calling of the Church - to be appointed a bishop, bishop of his city; to be before the eyes of the believing people (which itself is the body of Christ, the seat of the Holy Spirit, the divine destiny), to stand among the Orthodox people like a living icon; so that, looking at him, one can see in his eyes the light of Christ’s love, in his actions one can see and experience with one’s own eyes Christ’s divine mercy.
We are all called to follow the same path. There are no two paths for a person: there is the path of holiness; the other path is the path of renunciation of one’s Christian calling. Not everyone reaches the height that is revealed to us in the saints; but we are all called to be so pure in our hearts, our thoughts, our lives, our flesh, that we can be, as it were, the embodied presence in the world, from century to century, from millennium to millennium, of Christ Himself.
We are called to be so completely, so completely given over to God that each of us becomes, as it were, a temple where the Holy Spirit lives and works - both in us and through us.
We are called to be daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father; but not allegorically, not only because He treats us as a father treats his children. In Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit we are called to truly become His children, like Christ, sharing His sonship, receiving the Spirit of sonship, the Spirit of God, so that our lives are hidden with Christ in God.
We cannot achieve this without difficulty. The Fathers of the Church tell us: shed blood and you will receive the Spirit... We cannot ask God to dwell in us when we ourselves do not work to prepare for Him a holy, purified, consecrated temple. We cannot call Him into the depths of our sin again and again if we do not have a firm, fiery intention, if we are not ready when He descends upon us, when He seeks us out like a lost sheep and wants to carry us back to our Father’s house, to be taken and carried away forever in His Divine arms.
To be a Christian is to be an ascetic; to be a Christian is to fight to overcome everything in oneself that is death, sin, untruth, impurity; in a word - to overcome, to defeat everything because of which Christ was crucified and killed on the Cross. Human sin killed Him - mine, and yours, and our common one; and if we do not overcome and overcome sin, then we commune either with those who, through negligence, coldness, indifference, frivolity, gave Christ up to be crucified, or with those who maliciously wanted to destroy Him, to erase Him from the face of the earth, because His appearance, His preaching , His personality was their condemnation.
To be a Christian is to be an ascetic; and yet it is impossible for us to be saved ourselves. Our calling is so high, so great, that a person cannot fulfill it on his own. I have already said that we are called to be, as it were, grafted into the humanity of Christ, as a twig is grafted into a life-giving tree - so that the life of Christ wells up in us, so that we are His body, so that we are His presence, so that our word is His. in a word, our love is His love, and our action is His action.
I said that we must become a temple of the Holy Spirit, but more than a material temple. The material temple contains the presence of God, but is not permeated by it; and man is called to unite with God in the same way, as, according to the word of Saint Maximus the Confessor, fire penetrates, iron penetrates, one thing becomes with it, and one can (says Maxim) cut with fire and burn with iron, because it is no longer possible to distinguish where the combustion is and where the fuel is , where is man and where is God.
This we cannot achieve. We cannot become sons and daughters of God just because we ourselves want it or ask and pray for it; we must be accepted by the Father, adopted, we must become, through God’s love for Christ, what Christ is for the Father: sons, daughters. How can we achieve this? The Gospel gives us the answer to this. Peter asks: Who can he be saved? - And Christ answers: What is impossible for man is possible for God...
By feat we can open our hearts; protect your mind and soul from impurity; we can direct our actions so that they are worthy of our calling and our God; we can keep our flesh pure for the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ; we can open ourselves to God and say: Come and dwell in us... And we can know that if we ask for it with a sincere heart, if we want it, then God, Who wants salvation for us more than we know how to want it for ourselves, will give it to us. He Himself tells us in the Gospel: If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him...
Therefore, let us be with all the strength of our human weakness, with all the burning of our dull spirit, with all the hope of our heart yearning for fullness, with all our faith, which cries out to God: Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief!, with all the hunger, with all the thirst of our soul and body, let us ask God for Him to come. But at the same time, with all the strength of our soul, with all the strength of our body, we will prepare for Him a temple worthy of His coming: cleansed, dedicated to Him, protected from all untruth, malice and impurity. And then the Lord will come; and will perform, as He promised us, with the Father and the Spirit, the Last Supper in our hearts, in our lives, in our temple, in our society, and the Lord will reign forever, our God to generation and generation.
Amen!

Santa Claus

In Western Christianity, the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was combined with the image of a folklore character - “Christmas grandfather” - and transformed into Santa Claus ( Santa Claus translated from English - St Nicholas). Santa Claus gives children gifts on St. Nicholas Day, but more often on Christmas Day.
The origins of the tradition of giving gifts on behalf of Santa Claus is the story of the miracle that St. Nicholas the Pleasant performed. As the life of the saint says, he saved the family of a poor man who lived in Patara from sin.
The poor man had three lovely daughters, and need forced him to think something terrible - he wanted to send the girls into prostitution. The local archbishop, and Nicholas the Wonderworker served them, received a revelation from the Lord about what his parishioner was up to in despair. And he decided to save his family, secretly from everyone. One night he tied the gold coins that he inherited from his parents into a bundle and threw the bag to the poor man through the window. The daughters' father discovered the gift only in the morning and thought that it was Christ himself who had sent him the gift. With these funds, he married his eldest daughter to a good man.
Saint Nicholas rejoiced that his help brought good fruit, and also, secretly, he threw a second bag of gold out the window of the poor man. He used these funds to celebrate his middle daughter’s wedding.
The poor man was eager to find out who his benefactor was. He did not sleep at night and waited to see if he would come to help his third daughter? Saint Nicholas did not have to wait long. Hearing the ringing of a bundle of coins, the poor man caught up with the archbishop and recognized him as the saint. He fell at his feet and warmly thanked him for saving his family from a terrible sin.

Nikola Winter, Nikola Autumn, Nikola Veshny, “Nikola Wet”

On December 19 and August 11, according to the new style, Orthodox Christians remember, respectively, the death and birth of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. According to the time of year, these holidays received popular names - Nikola Winter and Nikola Autumn.
St. Nicholas of the Spring (that is, spring), or St. Nicholas of the Summer, was the name given to the feast of the transfer of the relics of Saint and Wonderworker Nicholas from Myra in Lycia to Bari, which is celebrated on May 22 in the new style.
The phrase “Nicholas the Wet” comes from the fact that this saint in all centuries was considered the patron saint of sailors and, in general, all travelers. When the temple in the name of St. Nicholas the Pleasant was built by sailors (often in gratitude for the miraculous salvation on the waters), people called it “Nikola the Wet.”

Folk traditions of celebrating the day of memory of Nikolai Ugodnik

In Rus', Nicholas the Ugodnik was revered as the “elder” among the saints. Nikola was called “merciful”; Temples were built in his honor and children were named - from ancient times until the beginning of the 20th century, the name Kolya was the most popular among Russian boys.
About St. Nicholas the Winter (December 19), festive meals were held in the huts in honor of the holiday - fish pies were baked, mash and beer were brewed. The holiday was considered “old people’s”; the most respected people of the village pooled a rich table and had long conversations. And the youth indulged in winter entertainment - sledding, dancing in circles, singing songs, preparing for Christmas gatherings.
On St. Nicholas of the Summer, or Spring (May 22), peasants organized religious processions - they went to the fields with icons and banners, performed prayer services at wells - asked for rain.

On the screensaver there is a fragment of a photo spda/www.flickr.com

KIKTENKO Elizaveta
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