Have you seen at least one temple in which the icon of St. Nicholas would not be in the place of honor? And you will not see. It happens like this: the temple has just been built or has begun to be restored, there is still no altar barrier, only in front of the throne there are two images - the Lord Almighty and the Most Holy Theotokos, but always somewhere nearby, albeit a small one brought from home, the image of Nicholas the Wonderworker.
Why, a temple, any pious family has its own Nikolina icon: either written, or copper casting, or just paper oleography preserved from the time of peddlers and booksellers … Paper ones are even more common - it was easier to hide, save from zealous theomachists. And how many throughout our land - from the Baltic Sea to the Okhotsk Sea and from the White to the Black - Nikolsky churches, side-altars, chapels! Foreigners, wondering how this could touch the mysterious Slavic soul of the bishop from distant Asia Minor, called St. Nicholas "the Russian god."
Nicholas the Wonderworker, the Pleasant of God, in Russia was revered on a par with Jesus Christ and the Mother of God, above all other saints. There was even a legend among the people that he was supposed to become God, but he refused.
The power of the celestial was therefore considered unlimited. Indeed, according to the nature of his actions, the concept of a "savior" also extended to him. It is no coincidence that foreigners stated that the Russians are giving St. Nicholas is the worship that befits the Savior himself - Jesus Christ: "Nicholas … like God they worship Orthodoxy" (Zimnovy Otensky). Foreigners on the territory of Russia also called him "Nikola - Russian God". And in Russian spiritual verses it was noted that “Saint Nicholas, our God is mighty”, and he also acted as “Sea God”, “Burlak God”, even “Common God” (icons were called “Gods” - hence the identification). Finally, there was a cry: "Nikola is with us!", Like the well-known: "God is with us!"
December 19 Nikolin day
Nicholas Day is a holiday of the Orthodox calendar, established in memory of St. Nicholas of Mirlikisky / Nicholas the Pleasant, Nicholas the Wonderworker, St. Nikola (celebrated on May 9/22 (Nikola (Wet) Veshniy), and December 6/19 (Nikola (Dry) Winter).
Promotional video:
The image of St. Nicholas came to Russia along with its adoption of Christianity and for many centuries occupied an absolutely exclusive place in the religious consciousness of the Russian people. The veneration of Nicholas the Pleasant approached the veneration of the Theotokos and Christ himself. Many peasants even believed that the Trinity consists of the Savior, the Mother of God and Nikola the Pleasant. The icon of St. Nicholas was part of the home iconostasis, along with the images of the Savior and the Mother of God. Often the name Nikola was used to refer to an icon in general: "There are no icons like Nikol", "on the chiba of a towel - wipe down, on a chiba to Nikol - pray."
Nikolai the Pleasant, a peasant God, acted in the beliefs of the Russian people as the patron saint of harvest, fruiting, and livestock. The peasants believed that “Mother Earth-Cheese loves him” and that thanks to his cares rye is growing, buckwheat is blooming, barley is ripening: “There is only one God in Mikola's field”. There was a belief that during the harvest he, like a zealous owner, walks through the fields, proud of the fruits of the earth:
Nicholas the Pleasure was also considered a good healer, healer: “On the okyan-sea there is a golden chair, on a golden chair sits St. Nikolai, holding a golden bow, pulls on a silk bowstring, throws a hot arrow, begins to shoot lessons and prizewinners”(Uspensky BA 1982, p. 77). At the same time, it was believed that he could resurrect the deceased, save a person from any disease, and it was widely believed among healers that Nikolin's day was the most favorable for the treatment of serious diseases.
The image of Nicholas the Pleasure in Russian beliefs appears in a wide variety of functions. So, for example, along with Elijah the Prophet, he acts as the patron saint of earthly waters: rivers, lakes, seas. It is believed that St. Nikolai takes care of the waters and everyone floating on them from the day of St. Nicholas Veshny to Ilyin's Day, and Ilya the Prophet - during the rest of the year. Nikolai the Pleasant could also be perceived as the owner of the forest: "In the field and in the forest, there is only Nikola God." An old conspiracy says: "Saint Nicholas unlocks the earthly latitude, the heavenly height and dissolves the white beasts of black-tailed ermine" (Uspensky BA 1982, p. 98). In pursuit of the beast, hunters usually turned to the saint with the words: “Nicholas the Wonderworker! Make it mine."
Nicholas the Wonderworker also acted as the head of paradise:
In fairy tales and legends about a journey to the afterlife, he meets the dead at the gates of paradise, unlocking them with a large key. In the XU11 - XU111 c. at the funeral, a "letter to St. Nicholas" was put into the hands of the deceased, asking for the forgiveness of the deceased's sins. In addition, it was believed that Nikolai the Pleasant leads the soul of a person in a lethargic sleep through heaven and hell.
According to the high status of St. Nicholas of Mirliki, in the folk tradition, two days of his memory are celebrated, and both Nikola Veshny and Nikola Winter were interpreted as great holidays.
Until the beginning of the 19th century. Nikolina's days in Russian villages were considered the most important holidays after Easter. Feofan Prokopovich, a well-known educator of the 17th century, said that the Russian people "put the memory of St. Nicholas above the Lord's holidays." These days, the Orthodox Church advised people to postpone all work affairs, to devote time to rest, reflections on the pious life of the Pleasant and his miracles.
However, in many Russian villages of Nikolina, the days were celebrated not so much with prayer as with feasts in honor of the beloved saint. On these days there were male brothers, as well as patronal holidays, celebrated for three or four days by the whole village, with the arrival of guests, the appearance of pilgrims, pilgrims, beggars. Their characteristic feature was general drunkenness, which was of a ritual nature (see. Intoxicating drinks). It was believed that with the help of intoxicating drinks a person brings himself closer to St. Nikolay, and the Pleasant likes it. Foreigners who visited Russia in the 16th - 11th centuries wrote that Russians “consider it indecent and indecent not to get drunk on this day with wine or vodka” (Uspensky BA 1982, p. 46). In the 19th century. in the villages, as well as among the artisan people in the cities, words such as "nikolit" were widely used, i.e. drink, walk, get drunk,"Nanikolitsya" - to get drunk, celebrating Nikolin's day.
In Nikolina days, many ritual actions were performed, which were of a pronounced pagan character. In the northern provinces of European Russia, for example, there was a custom to slaughter in honor of Nikolai the Ugodnik on the winter day of his memory a bull - "Mikolts", which was specially fed for three years by the whole village. The goby meat was partially transferred to the church “for St. Nicholas”, was partially eaten during a collective feast hosted by men that day.
Nikolai the Pleasant, Nikola, Mikola - Christian saint of the first half of the 4th century. In the Slavic folk tradition, Nikola (Mikola) perceives some features of a pre-Christian mythological character, sometimes an evil spirit. Such is the forest spirit of Nikolaj among the Kashubians, who asks riddles to those who have lost their way (guessed ones are taken to the road, and those who have not guessed sell their souls to the devil), the evil spirit Miholaj: cf. East Slavic ideas about Nikolai Duplyansky, who lives in the forest, in a hollow, about Nikolai's connection with hunting, devil. Physical handicaps - lameness or blindness (curvature) of Nikola - also indicate a connection with demonic characters. For the late layer of East Slavic demonology, the custom of curling Nicole's "beard" is characteristic. ("Mikolina's beard", "Mikule's beard"). going back to the ancient ideas of curling a beard for Volos - Veles. With Veles Nicholas is also associated with the functions of the patron saint of cattle breeding and agriculture, the master of earthly waters.
The folk calendar distinguishes between two days dedicated to Nikolai the Ugodnik:
Winter Nikola - December 19, and Spring Nikola (summer) - May 22.
According to the testimony of Nestor the chronicler, the first church in Russia in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is a church in Kiev, erected in the 9th century on the grave of the murdered prince Askold.
Nicholas the Wonderworker is revered by both the Western Church and the Orthodox world. But it is in Russia that even people far from the church know Nikolai the Ugodnik as the most revered saint by the Russian people. In addition to special holidays dedicated to him, the Church celebrates the memory of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker every Thursday. Saint Nicholas is often commemorated at divine services and on other days of the week.
Siberian Nikola
The Ambassadorial Monastery on the shores of Lake Baikal, whose monks travel to Old Believer villages and hire baptized Buryats to cut the cross on Old Believer churches (“Russian Courier” 1881, “Nos. 11 and 15) 375, lives, in addition to various incomes, also from the saint Nikola.
On the shore of Lake Baikal, opposite to where Posolsk, in the village of Goloustnoye, there is an image of Nikola, chiseled from wood, which the wild Buryats supposedly found in the mountains at this time, and it stood in the Buryat idol. In 1701, a chapel for St. Nicholas was already built in Goloustnoye (in 1866 a church appeared), and then it was transferred to the Ambassadorial monastery.
“To satisfy the religious feelings of the population, including the Buryats and Tungus,” says the diocesan newspaper, “it is recognized that it is necessary once a year to transfer the image of Nicholas from the Posolsky monastery to the place of his appearance (that is, to Goloustnoye), which is for the local Old Believer population, without distinction of faith, an annual holiday”.
Thus, when Baikal becomes, Nikola is solemnly transferred to Goloustnoye, where he hibernates among the Buryats, and along the last winter path he returns to the Posolsky Monastery, from here he is forwarded for prayer in other places (Irkutsk Diocesan Gazette 1879, no. 32) 376 …
Many Tungus and Buryats gather for the solemn meeting of Nikola. Thus, in 1880, “a touching picture was presented by the zeal of young Christians, mainly Tungus, expressed in their reverent, simple-hearted prayer during the divine service performed by the Right Reverend. Even at the end of the service, the temple, which was open to everyone, was packed full of Tungus and Buryats; they prayed as best they could, put candles in front of Nicholas, and, standing in a row, bowed earnestly and asked for his mercy in their simple needs. Their children's faith and reverence served as a sure guarantee that in the course of time the Lord and the rest of the sheep would enter the house of the Lord, and we should bring them. The monk Sophrony, who remained at that time in Goloustov, was invited with Nikolai to the Buryat uluses, which he gladly fulfilled in his sacred duty (ibid., 1880, no. 16).
From spring to winter, Nikola is worn throughout Transbaikalia and beyond. Putting him on a stretcher specially arranged for him, the peasants carry him from village to village, whatever the weather. Behind, a monk accompanying Nicholas is riding in a troika in a tarantass. They certainly stop in every village, are greeted with bells ringing, and in almost every house, prayers are served, collecting abundant gifts. Father Peter, who accompanied Nicholas in 1874, said that in the summer the monastic treasury alone would receive up to 10,000 rubles from Nicholas. The question arises, how much will Father Peter himself receive during his six-month, and sometimes a year's walk, the more that he drinks, eats, assiduously treats himself and travels for free?
Nicola, as far as we could touch him with our fingers and fingernails, carved from wood, about an arshin in height, stands in the closet behind the glass, which opens at the time when they are "applied"; his eyes are made of stones, his face and beard are painted; a cap on his head, dressed in vestments and some orders hanging from his neck. Two hands, also chiseled from wood, are stretched forward, and in one he holds a church carved from wood with several heads, and the other holds a sword. In any case, this is not an icon, but a statue.
The appearance of such Nikola has its own history. It is known that at the beginning of Christianity, the people completely transferred their ancient beliefs to the Christian saints, which corresponded to those or other seasons in which new holidays were established. Nikola became the center of ancient spring and autumn agricultural holidays, is honored with "beer" is called directly the "beer god" (among coastal residents "the sea god"), and the ancient song tells how "Nikola walks through the cellar, looking for Nikola incomplete (wine), uncovered, and where incomplete - he supplemented.”Hence - the spread of the veneration of Nikola throughout the free and still agricultural then north, where in the old days, every step, the church of Nikola, why the proverb:“From Kema to Kola thirty-three Nikola”. This Nikola is purely folk, there is nothing Christian yet, and therefore,Despite the extensive distribution of the name and churches of Nikola throughout the Russian region, his life, which was not widely spread in old collections, was not at all popular, and in the huge mass of later songs of the Kaliks there are no songs about Nicholas at all.
When the Russian people, together with their culture, which then stood incomparably higher than now, influenced the neighboring foreigners from this side, then these savages, becoming settled, also assimilated the then agricultural god Nicholas, and they still sincerely believe in him. although they remain unbaptized. Such, for example, is the high veneration of Nikola among the unbaptized Ostyaks.
Doctor Belyaevsky, during his period in the 30s between Berezovo and Obdorsk, saw a crucifix lying in the corner of a yurt at the station and asked what it was. “Kola (Nikola), the Russian god,” answered the baptized Ostyaks. In the chamber of the Yachin Steppe Duma, in the front corner, stands a large idol of Shigmuni, that is, Shaklamuni, who once rejected all idols and has now descended to the level of a fetish; at a distance from it - the portrait of the sovereign, and in the other corner - the icon of Nikola. A Siberian, entering this cell, does not dare to pray for all these images - he must pray in the back corner.
There is a legend that during the capture of Albazin the Manjurs found the image of Nikola there and, having performed a "test" on him, sent him to Beijing, which is why the Chinese asked to send them a Russian priest. But since the appearance of the national cultural Nikola among the foreigners, centuries have passed, the culture of the Russian people has exhausted, perverted, suffocated, froze, perished, and the people, as we see, are dying out and degenerating, or, headlong, they run out of their home, and now the Russians themselves borrow from the Buryats their ancient fetish, Nikola.
It began, undoubtedly, back in the Muscovite kingdom, when the "simple-haired girl" was deified under the name "Friday". Regarding Peter's reforms in one of the then essays, it was noted about Nicholas: “As for the depiction of saints, his Majesty indicated that the depictions of St. Nicholas never stood in the rooms; he also canceled the custom of sending letters to St. Nikolay ". The image of Nikola, similar to the Buryat described above, is supposedly in Moscow, in the Kremlin, in the church called Nikola Mozhaisky.
A similar image of Nikola was previously in the Church of the Ascension in Berezovo, built in 1605. Athanasius, Bishop of Tobolsk and Siberia, apparently was familiar with Christianity better than the current ambassadorial monks, and under no circumstances would he allow different images of Nicholas to be put, as was usual before, and, at his insistence, such images in 1835-1836 were taken out of churches and kept in sacristy or other secluded places.
The image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker came to us in Russia along with Baptism and the people fell in love with him because he helped everyone who asked - the sick were healed, those who traveled, caught in a storm or storm, were saved through the prayers of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. At the time when Russia was baptized, the memory of Nicholas the Wonderworker all over the world had already dried up, and people forgot about him, but here the glory of a saint was revived again and Russia dedicated many churches to him. Ermak was the conqueror of Siberia, and Nikolai the Wonderworker was depicted on his banners, the carved image of Nikolai Mozhaisky was his patron. This image appeared from the city of Mozhaisk near Moscow: Nikola in archbishop's attire with a sword in his right hand and the Church in his left - this is the prototype of this icon. With this image, our troops won the victory more than once. When Russia was weighed down by the Tatar yoke, a prayer service was served in front of the icon,and Nikola appeared with a sword before the enemies and frightened them, and they departed from the city of Mozhaisk. When Yermak conquered Siberia, these signs were repeated here. Also through prayers, the wondrous elder appeared and dispersed the enemy troops.
So this image of Nikola Mozhaisky has come down to us, slightly modified and supplemented by local artists. And here in Bolshoy Goloustnoye, this miraculous icon, which we have come to worship today, also appeared in a miraculous way. Glory and Praise to St. Nicholas, our intercessor before the Lord and a prayer book for us unworthy."
Religious procession to the village B. Goloustnoye
Nikola Mozhaisky
Mozhaisk - "House of St. Nicholas" - was the main fortress of the western defensive line.
As already noted, the Mozhaisk image of St. Nicholas differed from all other types of images in that instead of blessing with his right hand and the Gospel in his left hand, an unknown artist put a sword and a city with a temple in the open hands of the Saint. Not only was the image unusual in itself, it was carved out of wood rather than painted with paints. Finally it turned out to be miraculous!
Glory to St. Nikola Mozhaiskom gradually went beyond the borders of Mozhaisk and went through the Russian land to all its borders. At first, of course, the soldiers carried it apart. During the clashes with Lithuania, then Poland, Mozhaisk often served as a gathering place for Russian troops, and the troops often stayed here for a long time. All the soldiers, of course, went to pray more than once or twice to St. Nicole about his salvation. The survivors went home and glorified the Saint with sword and hail in their hands in different parts of Russia, testifying to the miraculousness of his image. From century to century, the pilgrimage of people of different "rank" to the image began to grow. As a result, the "Mozhaisk wave" of the glorification of the Saint turned out to be no less than the "Kiev" or "Moscow" ones. And there is a lot of evidence for this.
In the image of St. Nikola Mozhaisky is interested in everything, down to the smallest detail, nuances.
The shrine is currently in the Tretyakov Gallery and is exhibited there for display simply as a wooden statue - a monument of carved medieval Christian art. Unlike the past centuries, when it was all "strewn" with jewelry, the statue is now available for inspection by every person who visits the gallery.
The exhibit is a figure of the saint, carved from oak in full human growth. At the base is a thick, flat board, and the figure in holy vestments, sculpted only in front and along the contour, has a clear plastic drawing and silhouette. The face, arms with sword and hail, as well as the legs from the bottom were added and attached separately, because they could not be cut immediately from the same base board.
The chiton on the figure is the lower holy garment, the top of the phelonion is a cape with a cutout for the head, but without cutouts for the arms. Having surrounded the neck from the shoulders, an omophorion descends with its edges - a ribbon (was white) with black crosses. The straight sword in the right hand is almost vertical, the fingers of the left hand, bent like on a violin, support a wooden model of the fortress-castle in the palm of your hand, inclined towards the viewer. The walls of the castle form an eighth-measure, on them there are denticles, in front of three spiers there is a large black inscription “city of Mozhae” (“sk” has been erased, disappeared, but existed, judging by the mention of the end of the 16th century). A one-domed little church was removed from the hail and lost in antiquity, which was inserted into it from above like a pocket and secured with a fixing pin (there is a hole behind the hail).
Since the figure has a plane behind and does not have sufficient depth, it looks good only from the front, from the front, as it happened before: against the background of the wall, framed by the icon case, that is, in the former architectural environment. Only in this way, as a plane icon, it was always perceived visually by Russian people. At that time, the following characteristics were best suited to it: "an icon on a cut", "an icon on a cut in a temple", "a carved image", indicating its special appearance, and most importantly, a meaningful, spiritual meaning (!).
Saint Nicholas of Mozhaisky has an oblong face, which differs significantly from the canonical, world-famous "rounded face" of the Saint of Myra.
Indeed, St. Nikola Mozhaisky has slightly bulging eyes with sharply outlined eyelids, prominent cheekbones, a thin almost aquiline nose, and a beard not rounded, but also oblong, lengthening an already oblong face. At first glance, it seems that the artist-carver conveyed not a Greek, not even a European face, but some kind of Persian, Tibetan … A surprisingly strange facial expression that depends on the lighting attracts attention: one can see an indulgent smile, or a serious, even haughty expression. Words cannot convey this - the face must be seen under different lighting conditions.
And now the memorable year 1812. Near the village of Borodino in front of the city of St. Nikola - the grandiose battle of the Russians with the armies of Napoleon. The French and the whole world remember this bloody battle. Here again there was some kind of providence, for even before Moscow, the Russians did not give such a battle, leaving the ancient capital to fire and plunder. The patron saint of the people, as it were, forced the Russians to fight under the walls of their city, although they had already forgotten that this city was considered sacred back in 1612.
In 1933, St. Nikola Mozhaisky. Actually, it was not he himself that was needed, but his fabulous attire for wealth. The shrine was initially “freed” on the spot from its age-old jewels, then sent to Moscow to the restoration workshop of I. Grabar (!). Using a completely scientific method, they dug out gold and silver from a wooden statue under the guise of restoring the original image, and then the statue itself was transferred to the Tretyakov Gallery. There it was "attached" to the same "freed from jewels" other shrines of the Russian people, collected from other holy places.
Nikola Amchensky
… In 1415, the inhabitants of Mtsensk, as the legend tells, witnessed an unprecedented sight: along the Zusha River, right against the current, floated … a large stone with the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. On the stone, an unknown hand carved the image of the Cross. "And he found the image of St. Nicholas, like a warrior, he has an ark in his hand, in it is the pledge of the body and blood of the Lord."
At the foot of Mount Samorod, at the place where the stone with the icon stuck to the shore, a spring flowed, which was later revered by local residents. In the 19th century, it was landscaped. And on the top of Mount Samorod, above the place where the miraculous image was found, in 1415 the wooden St. Nicholas Church was cut down, and the "Nikola Amchenskii" was installed in it. All "living around the country" came to Mtsensk to bow to Nicholas and "free of any disease."
Orthodox gypsies revere Nikolai the Pleasant as their patron
The worship of Nicholas the Wonderworker by the Kalmyks-Buddhists was one of the most prominent successes of Kalmyk Christianization. "Mikola-Burkhan" was included in the pantheon of the master spirits of the Caspian Sea and was especially revered as the patron saint of fishermen. Another Buddhist people of Russia - the Buryats - identified Nicholas the Wonderworker with the deity of longevity and prosperity, the White Elder.
In 1582, by the decree of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible, the seniority of the Siberian Cossack army was determined, which grew out of Yermak's squad and was originally considered the "Tsar's army". The day of the founding of the Siberian army is celebrated precisely on the day of memory of St. Nicholas, Archbishop Mir of Lycia, the Wonderworker.
“On the day of the Miracle Worker Nicholas (December 19), a prayer service was served in all the village huts with a special rite. A large bowl of wine was placed on the table, and around four candlesticks with candles. When the Priest began to glorify the Pleasant with a welcome, four old men took the cup, and, singing the glory, shook it over the candles. At the end of the prayer service, they brought the cup to the priest, then the old men and others drank from it in turn. The feasting on Nikolin's day lasted for a whole week.
Since ancient times, the Siberian Cossacks have especially venerated St. Nicholas
Who is the most famous saint in Russia? All - believers and not so much - will be right to name the name of Nicholas the Wonderworker. Since ancient times, the name of Saint Nicholas, a gray-bearded old man with a rude peasant face, is deeply loved and revered by the Russian people. Why is this saint, by the way, a Greek by origin, that most churches and chapels throughout Russia are dedicated? It is also known that Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker is revered by both Orthodox and Catholic churches. Even Muslims and pagans turn to him for help. Nicholas the Wonderworker is rightfully called the simplest and fastest to fulfill the request of the saints. Those who turn to St. Nicholas for help very quickly receive it. Why?
For 17 centuries his name has been the most beloved among the people. After Jesus Christ and the Mother of God, people pin all their hopes on St. Nicholas, Archbishop Mir of Lycia (today it is the territory of Turkey). This is an amazing puzzle that still needs to be solved.
Saint Nicholas the Pleasant is always quick to help and helps everyone who calls him in a difficult moment. There is a known case when a Chinese man drowning in the sea, remembering an icon of Nicholas the Wonderworker he had seen somewhere at a railway station in Russia, began to shout: "Nicholas, who is at the station, help me!" The saint came and pulled him out of the deep sea.
Many healings take place at the relics of St. Nicholas in the picturesque Italian city of Bari. And in Moscow there is a famous miraculous icon of St. Nicholas, painted at the relics of the saint. It is located in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.
How Nikola Mozhaisky helped Yermak to conquer Siberia
Before the performance in the squad of Ermak there were already up to one and a half thousand sabers.
The Cossacks were accompanied by three priests - "to sing molebens before the battles, to serve the requiem for those killed after the battle, to commune and confess the seriously wounded and to perform God's services." Each hundred Cossacks received from the Stroganovs on the road, as if as a blessing, according to an icon, and these images became the most precious shrine of the Cossacks. With these images, they always entered the battle, took care and protected them, like regimental banners. Tradition says that among the shrines of the first conquerors - the icons of the Savior Not Made by Hands, the Lord Almighty Tsar of Glory on the throne, the Mother of God with the Eternal Child, the Honorable Life-giving Cross, the sign of victory, the Archangel Michael and the image of St. in another.
It is known that Yermak himself greatly venerated Saint Nicholas. In the upper reaches of the Sylva River, which is near Chusovaya, in the places of the ataman's first feats of arms, the Ermakovo settlement is still preserved, a place fortified by a moat and high ramparts. Here, according to legend, Ermak spent the winter. He ordered to build a chapel for the image of St. Nicholas, and he always prayed there.
On the night of October 23, 1581 (according to the old style), before the capture of the capital of the Tatar Khanate, Yermak and five Cossacks appeared in a dream, Saint Nicholas himself, promised them support and assistance in the future battle. And they won this battle with God's help!
The second appearance of Nicholas the Wonderworker to the Ataman is mentioned in the book "Siberian Shrine": "… of the same 7092 (1584), May 9, praying Ermak and the Cossacks to God and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for the aid of a call, came out of the city secretly and came to to carachins, and attacking them at night … But I appeared to Ermak praying with weakness and Saint Nicholas of Mozhaisky as a man at night, commanding a clean life and diligent fasting, and all sorts of virtue pass by with brotherly love; and the prophecy: there will be a house on Red Mountain in a dwelling for God and for me henceforth. But if you don’t listen to me, I will cease to help you, and soon you will die for your sins, do not listen to virtue, fall into malice. And this vision Yermak announced to everyone."
This appearance of Saint Ermak became prophetic. Apparently, the voivode was unable to restrain the violent temper of his Cossacks. In the same 1584, Kuchum insidiously lured Ermak with a small squad into an ambush, and here our hero died in a mortal battle with the enemies - he drowned in the Irtysh in heavy combat armor. But Russia will forever keep a grateful memory of this great son, and we, the current inhabitants of Siberia, the heirs of his great conquest, carefully cherish all the legends and monuments of the times of the feats of arms of the brave Ermak and his squad. Among the surviving icons of that time, there is one of St. Nicholas, in the temple of the city of Berezovo. She is in a chaise made of a silver plated sheet, drawn on top and chased on the bottom, of an ancient beautiful work, probably by the masters of the glorious icon-painting school of Stroganov.
Nikola "Moskovsky"
On the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers of the Moscow Kremlin, gate icons were found that were walled up during the years of Soviet power and were considered lost for a long time.
Most often, the names of the Kremlin towers are associated with the icons that were located on them. The Spasskaya Tower got its name from the icon of the Savior; above the gates of the Nikolskaya tower there was an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
The Nikolskaya Tower is a powerful quadruple with a driveway, a diverter arrow and a drawbridge. The gates were fitted with protective gratings - gers. Usually those people who went to the boyar and monastery courtyards of the Kremlin entered through the Nikolskaya tower. The name of the tower is associated with the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, placed on the facade of the strelnitsa, and, possibly, with the St. Nicholas Greek Monastery, which was once located on Nikolskaya Street. According to the existing tradition, at this tower in front of the icon of St. Nicholas - the saint of God, the most revered in Russia - the townspeople resolved their controversial issues. In 1612, during the struggle against the Polish gentry invaders, the people's militia, led by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, fought their way into the Kremlin through these gates.
The holy saint of God was depicted in the likeness of his Mozhaisk image - with a sword in one hand and with a temple in the other.
And in the invasion of the French to the Russian land in 1812, he clearly showed himself to be an indestructible guardian of the sacred place for the Russians. When, after a forty-day stay in Moscow, Napoleon left the Kremlin, along with other shrines, he decided to blow up the Nikolsky Gate as well. The explosion was very strong: stones, iron, logs from the walls flew into a huge space; the walls were shaken not only in China, but also in the White City, and the crackling and roar were heard far in the vicinity of Moscow, as if an earthquake had occurred. After that, what should have remained of the Nikolskaya Tower and its gates? But something unexpected happened, a clear sign of the power and glory of Nicholas the Wonderworker, as eyewitnesses said. Archbishop Augustine of Moscow, in his speech on the celebration of the consecration of the renewed Assumption Cathedral in 1813, listing various miracles of God's mercy,revealed during the enemy invasion, this is how he represented what had happened: “Solid fences and high loopholes fell, but the glass covering the face of the Pleasant of God, amid their terrible destruction, remained unharmed. The Nikolskaya Tower is half destroyed from above; the wall on the north side was torn off, but the image above the gates of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the glass that covered the face of this Pleasant were not in the least damaged. The very lantern in front of the icon, hung on a weak rope, was not torn off by the explosion of the tunnel, which destroyed half of the arsenal and the Nikolskaya tower.but the image above the gates of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the glass that covered the face of this Pleasant were not in the least damaged. The very lantern in front of the icon, hung on a weak rope, was not torn off by the explosion of the tunnel, which destroyed half of the arsenal and the Nikolskaya tower.but the image above the gates of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the glass that covered the face of this Pleasant were not in the least damaged. The very lantern in front of the icon, hung on a weak rope, was not torn off by the explosion of the tunnel, which destroyed half of the arsenal and the Nikolskaya tower.
During the battles in October 1917, the gateway image of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisky on the Nikolskaya Tower was riddled with bullets and shrapnel, but the face itself did not suffer, which was perceived by believing Muscovites as a miracle. At the end of April 1918, before the first official celebration of May Day, the facade, including the icon, was draped all over with red calico, but on the eve of the proletarian holiday, strong gusts of wind, twisting the cloths, released the image. On May 22, 1918, Patriarch Tikhon celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square, after which he headed the procession to the Nikolsky Gate, where a solemn prayer service was held to St. Nicholas in front of his image over the gate.
Nikola Pleasant - Santa Claus
And also Nikola the Pleasant is the prototype of our Russian Santa Claus and the western Santa Claus. In many European countries there is a belief that on the night of Christmas Saint Nicholas rides on a white horse (in some places they are sure that he rides reindeer) and gives gifts to good children. All the children on Christmas evening are full of impatient expectations: will "good grandfather St. Nicholas" give them something?
Saint Nicholas is the prototype of Santa Claus. Initially, it was on behalf of this saint that gifts were presented to children in Europe on their day of veneration of the saint according to the church calendar - December 6/19. However, during the period of the Reformation, which opposed the veneration of saints, in Germany and neighboring countries, Saint Nicholas was replaced as a character giving gifts to the infant Christ, and the day of giving gifts was postponed from December 6/19 to the period of Christmas fairs, that is, to December 24. During the Counter-Reformation period, the image of St. Nicholas returned to use, but he was already strongly associated with the Christmas holidays, where he began to act as a gift giver. Moreover, if in England in the 17th century. the image of an abstract "Father of Christmas" appeared, then in Holland Sinterklaas continues to give gifts to children, that is, St. Nicholas,who is portrayed as a stately old man in red bishop's vestments; some of the Dutch give gifts to children on December 6, some for Christmas, and some for both holidays. In North America, the Dutch Sinterklaas turned into Santa Claus (apparently in New York, founded by the Dutch; first mentioned in 1772), an image that finally broke away from its historical and church prototype, acquired new mythological details and was commercialized.overgrown with new mythological details and commercialized.overgrown with new mythological details and commercialized.