Showing posts with label Saint Nicholas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saint Nicholas. Show all posts
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The Real Face of St. Nicholas
An article entitled “Have You Seen St. Nick? I Have” showed photographs of a forensic reconstruction of the face of Saint Nicholas of Myra based upon the dear saint’s skull. A link was provided to Anthropology Update: A Visage of Saint Nicholas where some additional information was available.
These are the photographs on that site:
These were compared to one of the ancient icons of Nicholas:
When I first read the comments of “Cool” and the like as well as some of the brief explanations concerning the handling and examination of Nicholas’ skull and bones, I was appalled. But then I thought that perhaps I should learn more on the subject before reacting.
I performed a search for “reconstructed face of Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra” and found a web site with the following article: The Real Face of St. Nicholas. This site gives additional information as well as additional icons of St. Nicholas. Among the information shared was this statement:
So I searched for The Real Face of Santa and found the following three part YouTube movies (about 15 minutes each):
REAL FACE OF ST NICHOLAS Part 1 of 3
REAL FACE OF ST NICHOLAS Part 2 of 3
REAL FACE OF ST NICHOLAS Part 3 of 3
In the third part the statement is made: “If the sixty-two sailors had not stolen the bones of Saint Nicholas, we would not have Santa Claus.”
While the doctor seems to have meant this in a positive perspective, the perversion of the notoriety of the dear saint and his gracious ministry is a travesty. It began with idolatry and greedy grasping for prosperity through desecration of the bones of saints. Worship of relics and of the saints replaced the grace of Christ that the saints proclaimed. This is the worst desecration of all. And eventually the Church becomes a house for tradition and sentimentalism and fantasy. The merits of Christ become secondary and even tertiary and finally entirely buried while works-righteousness is raised up as the way of salvation. Then such horrid doctrines as purgatory are invented and propagated so as to feign relief for those who realize the hopelessness of works-righteousness.
I find myself wondering how much of my investigation into this matter was morbid curiosity. I know that I wanted to know more about the history of the saint.
Does it matter what he looked like? Shall I put confidence in the arrogance of those who imagine themselves able to reconstruct even the hair and skin color with nothing but the shape of a skull and their presumptions regarding the people of that era and locale?
More importantly, should a saint today follow the idolatrous practices of those who save bones and other relics and direct people to pay homage to them, while stealing the pure Gospel and Sacraments from the saints?
If we want to honor the saints, why do we not listen to them regarding what is the right and holy way? Why do we make gift giving equal to the “Christmas spirit” while neglecting the doctrine by which the one true and necessary gift to mankind is received? St. Nicholas reportedly reacted violently to the theft of the true faith that Arius perpetrated among those gathered for the pure proclamation of the Gospel. The Lord Jesus acted similarly in the temple courts on two occasions. Should those professing to be of this faith today take notice of this?
What is more in keeping with the spirit of Christmas, “Ho! Ho! Ho!” or “Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!”? Whose face is the face of Christmas anyway? Whose face did St. Nicholas direct people to seek?
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These are the photographs on that site:
These were compared to one of the ancient icons of Nicholas:
When I first read the comments of “Cool” and the like as well as some of the brief explanations concerning the handling and examination of Nicholas’ skull and bones, I was appalled. But then I thought that perhaps I should learn more on the subject before reacting.
I performed a search for “reconstructed face of Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra” and found a web site with the following article: The Real Face of St. Nicholas. This site gives additional information as well as additional icons of St. Nicholas. Among the information shared was this statement:
The image and the process to create it were featured on a one-hour television documentary, The Real Face of Santa, produced by Atlantic Productions for BBC 2 and also shown on the Discovery Channel.
So I searched for The Real Face of Santa and found the following three part YouTube movies (about 15 minutes each):
REAL FACE OF ST NICHOLAS Part 1 of 3
REAL FACE OF ST NICHOLAS Part 2 of 3
REAL FACE OF ST NICHOLAS Part 3 of 3
In the third part the statement is made: “If the sixty-two sailors had not stolen the bones of Saint Nicholas, we would not have Santa Claus.”
While the doctor seems to have meant this in a positive perspective, the perversion of the notoriety of the dear saint and his gracious ministry is a travesty. It began with idolatry and greedy grasping for prosperity through desecration of the bones of saints. Worship of relics and of the saints replaced the grace of Christ that the saints proclaimed. This is the worst desecration of all. And eventually the Church becomes a house for tradition and sentimentalism and fantasy. The merits of Christ become secondary and even tertiary and finally entirely buried while works-righteousness is raised up as the way of salvation. Then such horrid doctrines as purgatory are invented and propagated so as to feign relief for those who realize the hopelessness of works-righteousness.
I find myself wondering how much of my investigation into this matter was morbid curiosity. I know that I wanted to know more about the history of the saint.
Does it matter what he looked like? Shall I put confidence in the arrogance of those who imagine themselves able to reconstruct even the hair and skin color with nothing but the shape of a skull and their presumptions regarding the people of that era and locale?
More importantly, should a saint today follow the idolatrous practices of those who save bones and other relics and direct people to pay homage to them, while stealing the pure Gospel and Sacraments from the saints?
If we want to honor the saints, why do we not listen to them regarding what is the right and holy way? Why do we make gift giving equal to the “Christmas spirit” while neglecting the doctrine by which the one true and necessary gift to mankind is received? St. Nicholas reportedly reacted violently to the theft of the true faith that Arius perpetrated among those gathered for the pure proclamation of the Gospel. The Lord Jesus acted similarly in the temple courts on two occasions. Should those professing to be of this faith today take notice of this?
What is more in keeping with the spirit of Christmas, “Ho! Ho! Ho!” or “Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!”? Whose face is the face of Christmas anyway? Whose face did St. Nicholas direct people to seek?
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