By Bishop Grigorios of Mesaoria
Today the Church honours Saint Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, the Wonderworker.
Saint Nicholas pastoral service took place during the era of Emperors Diocletian, Maximian and Constantine the Great. At first he was devoted to ascetic life, but due to his special virtue he was honoured with the post of Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, Asia Minor. From this position he led his flock with love, wisdom and humility. He boldly confessed the truth and thus literally emerged as a “canon of faith and an image of gentleness”, as we hear in the Apolytikion of the day of the Saint’s Feast.
Because of his great ecclesiastical work, he was arrested by jealous local rulers and thrown into prison. But when Constantine the Great ascended the imperial throne, and the Milan Edict of Toleration was issued, then all Christians were liberated, and so Nicholas returned to the archbishop’s throne. In fact, he took part in the proceedings of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea, Bithynia, in 325.
Gifted with the gift of miracle-working by the Holy Spirit, he saved many people while he was still alive, as well as after his death. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, and the National Guard honours him as a patron saint of the Navy.
He died peacefully in the year 330 AD, leaving an example of a great Hierarch and a virtuous man who knows, both in the time of persecution and in the age of freedom, to maintain his true Orthodox faith and to safeguard his sacred legitimacy and tradition.
Source: Church of Cyprus