St. Nicholas | Santa Claus | Christmas
6 — St. Nicholas: Amazing Kid & Teen
“Baby Nicholas”: St. Nick’s True Life & Connection to Christmas (A Recreation)
St. Nick’s true story is even better than the legend!
Recap: In Chapter 5 — “Naming Nicholas (A Recreation)” the miraculous public events surrounding Nicholas’s baptism as an infant was recounted.
While this current chapter’s topic of nursing an infant might be a bit uncomfortable for my teenage English student, David, who is helping me edit this enriched biography of Saint Nicholas over his Christmas holiday, it is a crucial aspect of Baby Nicholas’s early life. As David continues to read the chapter, he will come to understand and agree that this detail is so important that it could not be overlooked.
Baby Nicholas (A Recreation)
That Nicholas was like Moses of long before, “fair in the sight of the Lord” was a truth that Theophany and Joanna marveled over in that engaging way of new parents.
“This is in italic so it’s a recreation too? Right?” David asked.
“Right? Are you okay with that?”
“Actually, I think that the story about his baptism was so much more powerful because you recreated it. So yes, I will read this one too. Although I’m not too sure about the title,” he said and grimaced.
The babe’s uncle however, the bishop of Patara, watched Nicholas’ growth in a different way; with a keen spiritual eye.
Since his nephew’s birth and baptism, Bishop Nicholas had already decided that he would not be spending nearly as much time at his mountain retreat, his “Holy Sion.”
Baby Nicholas was a child that studied the world. With eyes that were a deep, steely blue, which were certain with age to turn into the same soft, velvety brown of his father’s, he watched everything around him. His look wasn’t invasive though. Rather, it reached deeply into each soul and caressed. It was as if the young human, fresh from the very arms of God’s creative powers, touched each soul with all that was good.
To Theophany and Joanna, the months following their son’s birth were the best ever. Not even with Joanna often being beset by fever, nor the shaky events in the world around them, could intrude upon the happiness they felt in each other and in their little son. That Nicholas was a miracle child was certain. That Joanna was living on God’s grace was something understood too. The recurring fever constantly reminded them of it.
The present moment was what the three had: The future belonged to their son.
That future was something the parents often thought deeply about. Not only had they the miracles of Nicholas’ birth — where both mother and child lived when really, according to the laws of medicine they shouldn’t have — and his miraculous baptism, but now the babe presented them with yet more indications as to the life he was to lead.
He only nursed from his mother’s right breast! And only once on a couple of days of the week. At first Joanna was alarmed that perhaps she didn’t have sufficient milk for him and, as much as she hated to do so, she was ready to turn him over to a wet nurse.
“Wet nurse?” David asked and made a funny face. I didn’t even want to imagine what he was envisioning!
“Back in older times,” I explained, “a wet nurse was a woman who had recently given birth to a child and who could nurse both her own child and another.”
“Why didn’t they just give him milk?” David was the youngest kid in his house, so he hadn’t been around babies much.
“Because babies require special milk. Either mother’s milk or formulas made to resemble mother’s milk.”
“Okay, okay, okay,” he held up his hand. It was obviously more information than David’s teenager mind wanted to visualize. “Got it.”
But Theophany pointed out to his troubled wife, “The child is thriving. Your milk must be sufficient for him, Joanna.”
“But, what does it mean?” Joanna had her suspicions. But fearful of allowing pride a nook in her heart, she wouldn’t let her ideas leave the confines of her private ponderings.
The parents finally confessed to Theophany’s brother, in his role as their bishop, the strange way the baby was feeding.
With spiritual discernment, the pastor believed he knew what it meant. “By his drinking only from your right breast, Joanna, we are being given a sign as to his future standing at the right hand of God together with the righteous.”
The parents looked at one another in wonder. Even though so many miraculous things had happened, each new one was a further marvel.
The pastor gently continued, “Might I ask, Joanna, on which days does he nurse only once? Have you noticed a pattern?”
“As unbelievable as it might sound, it happens on the same days I fast.”
“Wednesday and Friday?” He prompted. “The day the Lord was betrayed and the day He was crucified?”
Joanna nodded. “But…he’s…just a baby, an infant,” she qualified and gently cupped her hand over her son’s soft little head. “He couldn’t possibly understand the significance of those days, could he?”
“He isn’t anywhere near the age of rational understanding,” Theophany interjected.
Bishop Nicholas smiled at the family. Their desire to remain humble, even when presented with such a special child, proved why such a blessing had come to them. God could trust them.
“Rational understanding has nothing to do with the spiritual things of God,” the pastor finally replied. “Faith is more a product of relationship than reason; of love and trust, rather than the intellect. Who better to understand that than a helpless child?”
Theophany nodded. “You’re right, of course,” he said as he gently took Nicholas from Joanna’s arms and tenderly rocked their child — their very special child — within his own.
However, one might ask, did these miracles associated with St. Nicholas’ birth and infancy actually occur?
“Of course, they did!” David interjected and answered the narrative. “Why not?”
I smiled and knew I had to be honest with David. “David, when I first read about them I was skeptical too.”
“Really? Why?”
“Maybe because I was born and raised in America, in Protestant circles, and not in this Biblical area of the world where believers — the Church — have been located since the first days of Christianity?“ I offered.
“Well, I was born and raised here in Greece and I totally believe it.”
“I do too. Now. But it took some deep, investigative journalism on my part, and lots of prayer, for me to do so.”
“To be honest, Mrs. Melanie, I think it makes it better that you didn’t believe in these miracle, but with investigating the issue, you do now… It’s honest. Something trustworthy,” he said and continued reading before I could comment on how wise he was.
Note from the Author
You know, I must admit that David is right. As you will see in the next chapter the first time I read “Life” accounts about early Christian saints I thought they were fanciful, like fairy-tales, than actual events. But then, Jesus’ words to his disciples in John 14:12, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” really settled into my mind and… Well, read on and see!
