ST. NICHOLAS, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH
Throughout the present discussion of St. Nicholas the fact has been
kept constantly prominent that St. Nicholas is more famed for deeds
than for doctrine. His rôle was not in general that of the apostle
extending the boundaries of Christendom nor that of the expounder of
creed. His fame rests on his kindly acts. But it was inevitable that
the authority of so beloved and so influential a personage should be
invoked in support of orthodoxy. In the Golden Legend mere mention
is made of the presence of St. Nicholas at that meeting of critical
importance, the Council of Nice. But in the Roman Breviary it is
recorded that just before his death he was present at the Council of
Nice and there, “with those three hundred and eighteen church fathers,
condemned the Arian heresy.”
Controversy, particularly religious controversy, has its pitfalls even
for those of most gentle nature, and connected with this momentous
occasion and the part in it played by St. Nicholas, there is a
legendary story[109] which exhibits a side to his character, if less
saintly, at least, more human. The story goes that St. Nicholas at Nice
struck an Arian bishop who spoke against the faith and that, for this
too violent zeal, he was deprived of the right of wearing bishop’s
robes. But, the story adds, in celebrating the mass, he saw angels
bearing him the miter and the pallium as a sign that Heaven had not
blamed his wrath.
The orthodoxy of St. Nicholas is thus put beyond question. If he was a
foe to heresy, he was still more a foe to paganism. In the story from
the Golden Legend already quoted is recorded his activity in uprooting
the worship of Diana in Lycia and the particular hatred of the goddess,
or devil as she was conceived of, that he incurred thereby. Concerning
his zeal in this work, Wace[110] has the following additional details
to offer. “Before the time of St. Nicholas,” he tells us, “devils had
power. People worshiped gods and goddesses: Phœbus, Jupiter, Mars,
Mercury, Diana, Juno, Venus, Minerva. They had painted images with
names written on the foreheads. Diana in particular was a she-devil.
St. Nicholas broke her image and delivered the people from idolatry.”
[Illustration: St. Nicholas Represented (Byzantine style) in the
Mosaics of St. Mark’s in Venice.
Naya]
But it is particularly in the conflict between Christianity and
Mohammedanism that St. Nicholas is prominent as defender of the faith.
The time when St. Nicholas worship was introduced in the West was a
time when this conflict was at its height, the time of the Crusades.
It will be remembered how Jean Bodel in his play, written about the
year 1200, made new use of the story of the image of St. Nicholas set
as the guardian of treasure. It will be remembered that the setting
for the story provided by Bodel was in the wars of Christian against
Saracen, and that the central feature of the story in the play is the
way in which the Christian image of St. Nicholas proved his power to
be greater than that of the Mohammedan idol of Tervagant, and thus led
the Mohammedan king with his seneschal and all his emirs to adopt the
Christian faith.
In Eastern countries the conflict between Christianity and
Mohammedanism, so much alive in Western Europe in the time of the
Crusades, continues in active form in our own time. It must be
remembered, too, that in Eastern countries St. Nicholas occupies a
place even higher than that occupied by him in the West in our time.
It is not unnatural, then, that there he should be looked to as the
defender of the Christian faith. How well he is thought to be able to
represent the Christian cause is well brought out in a naïvely humorous
Albanian folk-tale.[111] The story goes as follows: Mohammed was the
guest of St. Nicholas. When the time to eat came around, Mohammed asked
where were the servants. St. Nicholas replied that no servants were
needed, that at a word from his mouth or a stroke on the table, the
edibles would be ready. He then proceeded to demonstrate that what he
said was entirely true, causing to appear on the table everything that
one could desire to eat and drink.
Mohammed, not to be outdone, on his return home caused his servant to
construct a table which would turn and could thus be closed into the
wall leaving no visible sign. He commanded his servant to make ready
food of every kind, and when he heard a rap, to push the laden table
through the wall. He then invited St. Nicholas to his house, intending
to exhibit powers as great as those shown by St. Nicholas.
But St. Nicholas made all his plans go awry. He made the servant deaf,
so that there was no response to the rap of Mohammed, and St. Nicholas
himself had to get up and bring in through the wall the table laden
with food, naturally to the discomfiture of his host.
The next day Mohammed invited St. Nicholas again, promising to work
a miracle before him. He caused a great number of jugs and cans and
dishes of various kinds to be taken to the top of a hill. At a sign
from Mohammed, these were to be rolled down the hill and a cannon
fired. When St. Nicholas arrived, he bade Mohammed work his miracle.
Mohammed raised his hand, and the expected noise followed. St.
Nicholas, however, gave no sign of fear. Mohammed then bade him work a
miracle. St. Nicholas clapped his hands, and immediately the thunder
rolled and the lightning flashed, overwhelming Mohammed with terror.