The iconography above depicts St Nicholas
punching the heretic Arius at the Council of Nicea
punching the heretic Arius at the Council of Nicea
When President Teddy Roosevelt was a college student, he taught a Sunday School class for elementary school children. During this time, Roosevelt awarded a dollar to a boy in his Sunday School class for beating the snot out of a bully who tormented little girls. "You did exactly right," said Roosevelt with pride. However, the congregation disagreed. They immediately dismissed Roosevelt for teaching the "un-Christian" principle of laying the smack down on those who have it coming to them.
Well, if tradition is true, that little boy was also richly rewarded by Jolly Old Saint Nicholas since the good Saint Nick allegedly "h-slapped" ("heretic slapped") the heresiarch Arius. You see, Arius wrongly taught that Christ was not fully divine but rather a mere creature. Arius taught that Christ had been created by God the Father.
During the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea (AD 325), Arius was called upon to defend his position on the inferiority of Christ. Saint Nicholas just couldn't listen to all of Arius' nonsense and so he stood up and laid in to Arius with his fist.
The Emperor Constantine and the bishops present at the Council were alarmed by Nicholas' act of violence against Arius. They immediately stripped Nicholas of his office as a bishop by confiscating the two items that marked out a man as a Christian bishop: Nicholas' personal copy of the Gospels and his pallium (the vestment worn by all bishops in the East).
Now if that were the end of the story, we probably wouldn't know about Saint Nicholas, and our children wouldn't be asking him for presents. However, after Nicholas was deposed, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary visited Nicholas who was being held in a prison cell for his fist-fight with the heretic.
Our Lord Jesus Christ asked Saint Nicholas, "Why are you here?" Nicholas responded, "Because I love you, my Lord and my God."
Christ then presented Nicholas with his copy of the Gospels. Next, the Blessed Virgin vested Nicholas with his episcopal pallium, thus restoring him to his rank as a bishop.
Traditional icons of Saint Nicholas depict this miracle as in the image below:
Notice Christ (left) holding out the book of the Gospels,and Mary (right) holding out the episcopal pallium,
Nicholas (center) holding the Gospels and wearing the pallium
When the Emperor Constantine heard of this miracle, he immediately ordered that Nicholas be reinstated as a bishop in good standing for the Council of Nicea. Today we recite the Nicene Creed every Sunday so we know how the controversy played out. The bishops at Nicea sided with Saint Nicholas and Saint Athanasius and they condemned Arius as a heretic. To this very day, we still recite in the Creed that Christ is "God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten not made, one in being with the Father."
I leave you with one last painting of the legendary event:
Nicholas is on the left holding up his fist, Arius is on the ground with his hands up. The guy on the throne is Constantine.Saint Nicholas, pray for us.
8 COMMENTS : please leave a comment by clicking here:
Thanks for this article. I too blogged on the cantankerous nature of St. Nicholas and mentioned him punching Arius. But I was unaware of the picture which is delightful. Thanks for your work on this post!
Now that`s what I`m talking about. Go Santa!
Why not a video game where you stand in for St Nick and battle it ot with the heretics!? the kids wold love it!
can someone with musical ability please compose a Christmas carol telling this story?!?!
this was so much fun to read, i kept looking up to my url field to double and triple check that i wasn't reading the onion.
priceless, thank you.
Well, the story about Roosevelt is a great one. But it's very different from what is likely to have happened at the council in Nicea. Teddy supported a boy that stood up for the weak and defenceless. You make the Council story sound like Nicholas was driven to violence in order to defend the truth (not a little girl, or an old man being mugged by robbers). I don't think Nicholas would lower himself like that. Murder (or close to it) at council? Isn't it more likely Arius was so eloquent that he totally frustrated Nicholas? Rattled and humiliated he was driven to extremes to defend his own dignity. You are on thin ice, I think, if you are promoting violence to defend of the truth. When did Jesus ever suggest to his disciples that it would be okay to burn heretics (or smack them) at the stake? "Should we call down fire from heaven? huh? can we? please, can we, huh? ...You do not know what spirit you are of.... "
I didn't know this info about St. Nic., Its is very funny.. Thanks for posting..
Robert has a point. Teddy Roosevelt was encourged the little boy to stick up for the defenseless. St. Nick hit someone with a difference of opinion. The story is an interesting one and thank you so much for sharing!
Love it! My brother commented on this on FB. He said, punch me in the face and I will make a great effort to turn the other cheek, punch my wife, and I'll put you on the floor. That is the Christian response....
I agree.
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