In our secular world, Santa takes center stage at this time of year. What is interesting is the true history behind the tradition. The origin of Santa Claus, aka St. Nick, began in the 4th century with Bishop Nicholas of Myra in what is present-day Turkey. He was known for his generosity and love of children. As the story goes, there was a poor family whose daughters were about to be sold into slavery, and Nick came to the rescue. He threw some gold coins through their window, which just happened to land in a stocking hung by the fireplace to dry. From there, the story developed into what we have today with all the hubbub about Santa, elves, flying reindeer, and outsourcing jobs to the North Pole.

Now, I’ve nothing against the “jolly old elf” and am even thinking about watching "Red One", the new flick about Santa being kidnapped. However, the image reflected by Hollywood comes way short of the real life individual behind all the stories.

There’s a strange irony about old St. Nick. He was actually a delegate to the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, convened to clarify the church’s belief in the deity of Jesus Christ. The Bishop of Myra was one of the authors of the famous Nicene Creed which affirmed that Jesus is both truly God and truly man. The council also denounced heretics the denied that doctrine, including Arius, the main opponent to this foundational truth. He and his followers refused to confess Christ as God, claiming He was only a man. At one point in the debate, jolly old St. Nick became so infuriated he walked up to Arius and slapped him!

It’s quite amazing that the real St. Nick was a person who actually defended the truth of Jesus Christ. I can’t help but wonder how he would look on today’s celebrations? Maybe we need to dress up like Santa and go out slapping people who sell “holiday trees” and say, “Happy Holidays!” Just kidding. But the true spirit of St. Nick would protest the canceling of carols being sung in public schools and the commercialization of the season that robs it of its true meaning.