Blasphemy is a terrible sin!
Every time people joke about sacred objects or actions, lack proper reverence
for the saints and all that has to do with the Church, defame clergy or slander
them, this is blasphemy. Beware of this great sin!
--Hieroconfessor Nikolai, http://orthochristian.com/109335.html,
opened 27 Dec. 2017
The
image of Santa Claus has been deeply imprinted on the Western soul, and it is
nothing less than a demonic blasphemy.
Picture
from https://slovobooks.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/twenty-five-books-of-christmas-number-fifteen-christmas-with-norman-rockwell/,
27 Dec. 2017
However,
the Western soul is so full of sickness and confusion that it does not realize
it is harming itself by mocking one of the Orthodox Church’s greatest saints,
St Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra, with its Santa Claus non-sense (see here
for the transformation of St Nicholas in the West, https://johnstrickland.org/2015/12/06/the-image-of-saint-nicholas/):
When we commemorate
whole groups of Saints, we usually mention the great hierarchs among the first,
and we have become used to the three great universal hierarchs and teachers —
Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom — always being at
the head of the hierarchical assembly. They belong there, because each of them
contributed precious gifts [e.g. their writings] to the Church’s theological
and moral treasury. So the Church honors them in particular and has established
a feast for the three of them together, in addition to the solemn services for
their individual feast days. But the feast of the great hierarch whom we
commemorate today, the hierarch and wonderworker Nicholas, has a special place
of its own.
He did not leave us
as rich a spiritual heritage as these three great men, but we all know how
greatly the Church reveres him. The Feasts of Saint Nicholas are so splendid
that they even remind us of the 12 Great Feasts. Why is that so? Because he
lived a life of virtue incarnate: an accessible, comprehensible virtue, close
to every man and every heart, even the heart that rejects every other holy
thing. That virtue is love; love and compassion.
. . .
Source: Metropolitan Philaret, http://orthochristian.com/53683.html,
opened 27 Dec. 2017
Just
how serious is the sin of blasphemy against God and anything made holy by Him,
including saints like the God-pleasing Nicholas, is well illustrated in the
following incident that happened in Soviet Russia:
A true
incident which shocked and brought repentance to hundreds of people in the
Russian Soviet city of Kuibyshev (modern day Samara), in the year 1956.
In the city of Kuibyshev
there lived a family: a pious mother and her daughter Zoë. On the evening of
New Years Eve (December 31) of 1956 Zoë invited seven of her girlfriends - and
just as many young men - over for dinner and dancing. At that time it was the
fast for Christmas* and Zoë’s mother begged her not to plan a dinner, but the
daughter insisted on having things her way. That same evening her mother went
to church to pray.
All those invited
came over, except for Zoë’s fiancé who hadn’t arrived yet. His name was Nicholas.
The young ladies and the boys got in pairs and Zoë was left alone. Not knowing
what to do and without really thinking, she took down the icon of St. Nicholas
the Wonderworker from the wall and said, “I’ll take this Nicholas and I’ll go
dance with them,” not paying any attention to her friends, who advised her not
to commit such a blasphemous act. “If God exists, let Him punish me,” she said.
And so she started to dance, did two or three twirls, when all of sudden there
was a fearful noise in the room, a whirlwind, and a blinding light flashed like
lightening.
The former joy turned
into fright. Everyone fled from the room scared. Only Zoë stood there
motionless, with the icon of St. Nicholas stuck to her chest, petrified and
frozen like marble. The doctors, who arrived quickly, were not able to bring
her to her senses in spite of their attempts. The injection needles, which they
tried to stick in her, bent and broke as they hit her marbleized body! They
wanted to take her to the hospital, but were unable to move her from her spot.
It was as if her feet were nailed to the floor. But her heart was beating! Zoë
was alive. However, she was no longer able to eat or drink…
When her mother came
back and saw what had happened, she fell unconscious and they took her to the
hospital, which she didn’t leave from for a few days. Her faith in the
compassion of God and her warm motherly prayers for the forgiveness of her
unfortunate daughter, by the Grace of God, restored her vitality.
Zoë came to
consciousness and with tears she sought forgiveness and help.
Zoë’s house was
surrounded by a crowd of people for the first few days, faithful who came or,
even yet, walked from afar: the curious, doctors, and spiritual personalities.
But according to an order from the authorities, the house was quickly closed to
visitors. There were always two policemen guarding the house, in alternating
eight-hour shifts. Some of the guards’ hair turned white, even though they were
still young (28-30), from the fright of hearing the terrifying cries that Zoë
made every night.
Night after night her
mother was next to her praying. “Mama, pray! Pray, because I’m lost on account
of my sins! Pray!” Zoë would cry out.
Because of all the
things that were happening they even informed the Patriarch and asked him to
pray for Zoë’s recovery. The Patriarch replied, “The one who is punishing her
will also have mercy on her!”
From then on, among
those who were allowed to visit Zoë were:
1. A professor of
medicine of high prestige who came from Moscow. He had confirmed that her heart
did not stop beating.
2. Priests, who the
mother had invited in order to take St. Nicholas out of Zoë’s hands. But
neither were they able to pull the icon away from Zoë’s petrified hands.
3. The Hieromonk Seraphim
from the Glinsk desert, who had come to Kuibyshev for the feast of the
Nativity, performed the Holy Water service and had blessed the icon. Afterwards
he said, “Now we must wait for some sign at Pascha! If nothing happens, it
means that the end of the world is drawing near!” showing by these words his
deep faith in miracles.
4. The Metropolitan
Nicholas, who also read the Paraklesis and said, “We must wait till Pascha for
a new miracle,” repeating the saying of the pious hieromonk.
On the eve of the
feast of the Annunciation (which that year fell on the Saturday of the third
week of Great Lent) some genial elder approached the guards and asked them to
allow him to see Zoë. But the police guards refused to allow it. The elder came
again the following day, but neither did those guards allow him. The third
time, on the day of the Annunciation, the guards allowed him in. They heard
with how much compassion he spoke to Zoë as he entered, “Now then, did you get
tired from standing?”
A little time passed
and when the guards wanted to kick the elder out, he wasn’t to be found in the
room… Everyone was sure that it was Saint Nicholas himself.
Thus, Zoë had stayed
there standing for exactly 4 months (128 days) until Pascha, which that year
had fallen on April 23 (May 6 on the New Calendar).
On the night of the
Glorious Resurrection of Christ Zoë started to cry out especially loud: “Pray!”
The nightshift guards
started to tremble and asked, “Why are you crying out so frightfully?” Pay
attention to her answer. “How dreadful, the earth is burning! Pray! The whole
world is lost because of its sins, pray!” From that moment Zoë was revived, her
muscles started to become soft; she came back to life. They eventually put her
on a mattress but she continued to cry out and call all to pray for the world
which is lost because of its sins, for the earth which is burning because of
its lawlessness.
“How did you stay
living up till now? Who fed you?” they asked her. “Doves, doves fed me” was her
answer. From this it was apparent that she had received mercy and forgiveness
from the Right hand of the Lord Almighty. The Lord forgave Zoë’s sins, by the
attendance of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and because of her great
tribulations and her standing for the duration of 128 days.
All of these events
shocked the inhabitants of Kuibyshev and the surrounding areas. Many people
again found their faith in God, having seen the miracles, hearing her screams
and her entreaties for us to pray for the people who are lost on account of
their sins. They returned to the Church with repentance. Those who didn’t wear
a cross started to wear one, when at that time you might have paid with your
life just for that. The return was so en masse that the churches didn’t have
enough little crosses for everyone who sought one.
With fear and tears
the people sought forgiveness for their sins, repeating Zoë’s words, “How
dreadful, the earth is burning, we are lost because of our sins! Pray! The
people are lost because of their lawlessness!”
On the third day of
Pascha Zoë left for the Lord, since she had traveled the difficult road of
standing for 128 days before the face of the Lord for the forgiveness of all of
her sins. The Holy Spirit had preserved her life all of these days for the
resurrection of her soul from the death of sin, just as in that eternal day to
come it will resurrect her bodily for life everlasting; for that matter, just
as her name itself means: Zoë.
. . .
Source: http://orthochristian.com/43644.html,
opened 27 Dec. 2017
The
hardships Zoe suffered for her irreverence were terrible. But the blasphemy of the West toward St
Nicholas is far greater than hers, and it has been going on for hundreds of
years and shows no signs of stopping.
In
the South, too, even in her better days, this carelessness towards St Nicholas
has been present:
. . . he said he got to thinking about last
Christmas when little Paul was just 3 years old and how happy they all were and
he would never forget how on Christmas morning the little fellow got up and saw
that old Santa had come and left him a little red wagon and a boy doll and a
book and how, as he stood there looking at it all, he just trembled all over
like he was having a chill . . .
. . . just about the time he finished in comes
Bubber Hill, old Aunt Hill’s half-wit son, just a bawling because some of the
bad boys out in front of the church had told him old Santa Claus wasn’t coming
this Christmas on account of having the jake paralysis, or something, and we
had to call off the extrasizes till we got him pacified . . .
Source: Clinton Bissell (written Dec. 1930), https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/christmas-at-greenpoint/,
opened 27 Dec. 2017
Western
peoples have not paid for their blasphemy like Zoe with a sudden bodily illness
and young death. Nevertheless, they
continue to fall deeper and deeper into the abyss of spiritual pride and
delusion, believing they are full of life when they are really full of
death. They have sundered themselves
from God; they are rotting; but they will not repent because they are mesmerized
by the deceptive light of the demons.
Holy
Nicholas of Myra, pray for us sinners!
Holy
icon from https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php/cPath/27_50_90/products_id/370,
29 Dec. 2017
--
Holy
Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema
to the Union!