Christmas of Nicholas the Wonderworker: an ancient tradition returns to the church calendar
Among the Orthodox holidays there is one unique one, celebrated on August 11. This is the day of the birth of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. In the church tradition, birthdays are celebrated only for four persons: Jesus Christ, the Virgin, John the Forerunner and St. Nicholas, which puts him in a special row.
The roots of the celebration go back to the XVI century. It was then that the first evidence of veneration of this event was recorded in Veliky Novgorod. The documents of the Sophia Cathedral mention the procession to the church “on Rozvazh”. In 1556, the monastery of the Nativity of the Saint was founded on Rozvazhey Street. Later, in 1657, a handwritten feast service was compiled there. Decades later, her list was found in the library of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
The holiday has historically developed as a local Russian tradition. He was absent from other local churches. Probably, therefore, in the era of Catherine II, the church-wide celebration of the Nativity of Nicholas the Pleasant was canceled. Only in 2004 Patriarch Alexy II gave the blessing to resume the celebrations at the request of the parishes.
The liturgical texts draw parallels with the Nativity of the Virgin, calling the saint “the dwelling place of the King.” Tradition preserved the details of his infancy. A native of the city of Patara in the family of Theophanes and Nona, he stood in the font for three hours at baptism without support. It is also said that the infant observed abstinence, taking milk only from the right breast, and on Wednesdays and Fridays — only in the evening.
In iconography, the plot of the appearance of the saint into the world took its place, and in the temples on this day special chants sound, glorifying the speedy helper and lampstick to the world.
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