St. Nicholas is for Sale

Browsing the net can bring its surprises. The most dangerous thing in the world is to blindly type in whatever.com (meaning, “what you’re looking for” .com). Looking for things on St. Nicholas (whose feast is the 6th of December), I simply typed in saintnicholas.com and found a site which said: “Saintnicholas.com is for sale.” I know it was only referring to the internet domain – but it was an inadvertent comment on our culture.

What is for sale will do us no good.

What we need cannot be bought.

What we must have will cost us everything.

God is not for sale, not even His domain.

And neither is St. Nicholas, despite the intrigue of internet domains.

I need God and must have Him. The cost is beyond my ability to pay. Thank God someone else paid the price.

St. Nicholas pray for us!

About Fr. Stephen Freeman

Fr. Stephen is a retired Archpriest of the Orthodox Church in America. He is also author of Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe, and Face to Face: Knowing God Beyond Our Shame, as well as the Glory to God podcast series on Ancient Faith Radio.

Posted

December 6, 2007

Culture, Orthodox Christianity, Saints

Comments

5 responses to “St. Nicholas is for Sale”

Steve

December 6, 2007

This reminds me of a book by Terry Brooks. The title is “Magic Kingdom for Sale! (Sold!)” or something like that.
Audra (Natalya)

December 6, 2007

Fr. Stephen,

I hope you found Saint Nicholas Center at http://www.stnicholascenter.org in your searching for things on Saint Nicholas.

Your post, as usual, cuts right to the heart of the matter. Thanks again for helping me gain perspective.
Margaret

December 6, 2007

Father Bless! Thank you for this posting concerning St. Nicholas and the internet. I do not usually put “.com” after a search word, but googling St. Nicholas brought up the St. Nicholas Center, which has much good info on this saint and contrast to Santa Claus, at http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=23

but nothing about this incident reported in paragraph 1 at
http://www.westsrbdio.org/prolog/my.html?month=December&day=6

“Merciful, wise and fearless, Nicholas was a true shepherd to his flock. During the persecution of Christians under Diocletian and Maximian, he was cast into prison, but even there he instructed the people in the Law of God. He was present at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea [325] and, out of great zeal for the truth, struck the heretic Arius with his hand. For this act he was removed from the Council and from his archiepiscopal duties, until the Lord Christ Himself and the Most-holy Theotokos appeared to several of the chief hierarchs and revealed their approval of Nicholas.”

What a wonderful Saint to learn about and to ask for prayer! I was introduced to St. Nicholas while still Anglican, and I pray that my former denomination will look to this courageous saint in this their time of need.
St. Nicholas, pray for us!
Dean Arnold

December 11, 2007

I own DeanArnold.org, but have been frustrated that someone else owns DeanArnold.com.

Recently, this real estate agent’s domain has become available and I am trying to find a way to purchase it. It’s pricey, and I haven’t succeeded yet.

Not sure if there’s a meaning to all this.

However, I also checked on FatherStephen.com. It’s available for ten dollars. I just purchased it for you.
fatherstephen

December 11, 2007

Merry Christmas. Thank you!

Subscribe to blog via email

Support the work

Your generous support for Glory to God for All Things will help maintain and expand the work of Fr. Stephen. This ministry continues to grow and your help is important. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!

Donate via PayPal now »

Latest Comments

Michael Bauman on Looking Like ChristmasDecember 26, 2024
What gifts I have received or that, I believe most do are gifts of the Holy Spirit in and through…
Michael Bauman on Looking Like ChristmasDecember 26, 2024
Ah, Dee. I have long worried that my total inability to learn any language other than English might be my…
Christa dolejsi on Angels Sing! Merry Christmas!December 25, 2024
Love. A Mystery. God comes as a baby! Oh Heart. Listen and See! Come and worship. Come and receive. Come…
Dee of St Herman on Looking Like ChristmasDecember 25, 2024
Father, Which version of Greek would it be better to learn to obtain the understanding you have gained in the…
Fr. Stephen on Looking Like ChristmasDecember 25, 2024
Matthew, I am not troubled by this phenomenon. “Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God…” according to…