Veith has a great article today up on his blog about the real St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas was known for his giving to the children, but that is probably not his most important contribution to the history of the Church.
It turns out that St. Nicholas was one of the bishops that gathered at the Council of Nicaea to stand up for the Deity of Christ. At the time there had been a major split about to happen in the Church between those who denied the Deity of Christ (the Arians) and those who held to the Orthodox position. It is said that St. Nicholas was so passionate that Christ be worshipped as God, that when Arius spoke about Christ in less than worshipful ways, Nicholas walked up to him and slapped him! His zeal apparently overwhelmed him! He actually was supposed to be disciplined for acting in such an unbishoply manner, but he apologized.
So the real Santa Claus' greatest gift to the world was not toys on Christmas day, but his defense of who it is we celebrate on Christmas day. Dr. Veith suggests in his article that this might change the way we "do Christmas." Check out the article, "Santa Claus is Coming to Slap."
Update: More on the real Santa Claus from Rev. Bill Cwirla called "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
1 comment:
I particularly like the new Christmas shows and songs:
"And we’ll need new songs and TV specials (”Santa Claus Is Coming to Slap,” “Deck the Apollinarian with Bats of Holly,” “Frosty the Gnostic,” “How the Arian Stole Christmas,” “Rudolph the Red Knows Jesus”)."
Do I see a re-write of the children's Christmas program???
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