dear brothers and sisters, today we celebrate the memory of st. nicholas, archbishop, miracle worker of myra, this is one of the most famous revered saints in the whole world, whom even people who are far from the faith know about. nicholas the pleasant was born in 270 in the city of patara, which was located in the region of lycia, in asia minor. his parents were very wealthy people, and at the same time they deeply believed in christ and actively helped the poor. from childhood the saint devoted himself to faith and works of piety, spending a lot of time in temple. he has matured. became a reader, and then

he himself was ordained as a priest to serve in the church, where his uncle, bishop nicholas of patarsky, was the rector. after the parents of saint nicholas departed to the lord, he distributed all his inheritance to the poor and continued his church service. when the attitude of the roman emperors towards christians became more tolerant, persecution nevertheless continued. because he was kind, meek, people loved the new archbishop very much, fair, responsive, not a single request to him went unanswered. with all this nicholas was remembered by his contemporaries as an incomparable fighter against paganism and heresies. he destroyed idols and temples. defended

christianity and denounced heretics. during his lifetime , the saint became famous for many miracles. once, with his fervent prayer to christ, he saved the city of myra from a terrible famine. the saint also repeatedly helped sailors drowning on ships and rescued those unjustly convicted from captivity. saint nicholas lived to a ripe old age and died. lord in the middle of the century. his relics turned out to be incorruptible due to miracles performed through prayer saint and his foreign life, and after his blessed death, he received the name wonderworker. and today believers widely revere the great miracle worker. his memory is celebrated twice a year, with major holidays, and in the middle of the week, every thursday,

if there is no holiday , special prayers dedicated to st. nicholas are read in the form of stichera troparions, on each such day people gather in churches, which is what this means, that even today the saint’s prayerful intercession before god is effective, many people feel it by their own example. nicholas reveals to us the importance of the church in the life of a christian who does not walk his earthly path alone, but is a member of the church, and the church is a community of believers. let's imagine that some person has to make a long journey across the ocean; this road is connected. with many

dangers and difficulties, because the weather is not always clear, and a strong storm often rages. is it wise to go out on such a voyage alone in a small boat? the right decision would be to board a big ship, adapted for such journeys, on which many thousands of people have already reached their intended destination. so our earthly life is very similar to such an ocean. in official texts it is compared to the sea of ​​life. moments of cloudless joy are very often replaced by a storm of sorrows, difficulties and other everyday adversities. a person without christ, a person outside the church, is tossed about by the waves of life, as if in a small, fragile boat. he would like to get out of there to a quiet haven, but there is no strength, no knowledge, no support. the grace

of god operating in the church gives the christian strength, and the church experience of the lives of many ascetics of piety endows him with knowledge. an unbeliever, when faced with some difficulties in his life, is often inclined to consider them a huge insoluble problem. a christian, looking at the experience of the church, discovers that thousands of followers of christ have faced such and such a problem at different times, the options for its solutions have long been known and are contained in the spiritual treasury of the church. moreover, more complex and difficult circumstances are known that saints and ascetics overcame piety. you just need to take them and apply them to your life. but a believer gains in the church not only spiritual strength and

knowledge. it happens that some person is so constrained by passions or weaknesses, indecision. that he can no longer get out of the current situation on his own, in this case it is important to remember that he has older brothers and sisters in christ, these are holy ascetics of piety, to whom we turn in prayer with a request for their intercession for us before god. they achieved holiness, completed their earthly journey, and now, contemplating the eternal light, he has boldness before god to ask for us sinners and the weak. this is where the effective participation of saints in our lives is manifested. one of these prayer books for us is st. nicholas. ask, and it shall be given you.

seek and you will find. knock and it will be opened to you. this is what the lord jesus christ tells us. this is an important right of a christian, who at the same time. we must use it with judgment. our prayer requests to the lord, mother god and holy saints should be directed to acquiring spiritual virtues, saving the soul, even when we ask for everyday needs. if a person turns to the saints with prayer about something sinful or insignificant, then he can receive help from god. this is enlightening and we should remember this when we pray. the image of st. nicholas reminds us of another important principle of correct spiritual life. the saint was merciful to everyone who came to him, but

at the same time, he was strict with himself and zealous for preserving the purity of orthodox doctrine. this is precisely the kind of arrangement one should strive for. each of us. this is difficult , and not only because we often want to show condescension towards ourselves, towards those around us , indifference and fatigue appear in a petrified heart, but because the modern world often replaces the importance of doctrinal truths with simple humanistic attitudes towards people, they say so: it doesn’t matter what you believe in, the main thing is... for you to be a good person, being a good person is really important for society, but the fact of the matter is that the moral character of a believer largely depends on the doctrinal foundations a person’s direction of the spiritual path on

which he is walking. saint nicholas clearly understood this, therefore, for all his meekness and kindness, saint nicholas was irreconcilable. he received great gifts of grace from god, but his earthly path was transformed by those virtues that are necessary for every christian, which are shone for each of us. meekness, kindness, mercy and at the same time firmness and zeal in faith. we can cultivate everything to the best of our ability. good qualities of our lives, through which our souls will be transformed, and our hearts become abodes of grace of the holy spirit, may god help us in this through the prayers of the great wonderworker st. nicholas. happy holiday.