Here is the true account of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker:
6/19 December
Holy Hierarch Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, was glorified as a great saint of God. He was born in the city of Patara in Lycia (on the southern coast of the peninsula of Asia Minor). He was the only son of the pious Theophanes and Nona, who had promised to dedicate him to God. The child Nicholas, fruit of prolonged prayer offered to the Lord by the childless couple, shone forth to the people his future glory as a great miracle-worker. Immediately after giving birth to him, his mother Nona was healed of sickness. From infancy, St. Nicholas set out on a life of fasting. On Wednesdays and Fridays, he accepted his mothers milk only once, after his parents evening prayers.
From childhood, Nicholas became accomplished in learning Divine Scripture. During the day, he did not leave the church, and at night he prayed and read books, building within himself a worthy home for the Holy Spirit. His uncle, Bishop Nicholas of Patara, rejoiced in his spiritual accomplishments. He tonsured Nicholas as a reader, then elevated him to the priesthood, and made him his assistant, assigning him to educate the flock. In serving the Lord, the youth was on fire with the Spirit. In his proficiency with respect to questions of faith, he was like an elder and evoked amazement and profound respect on the part of the faithful. Constantly working and vigilant, remaining in prayer without ceasing, the presbyter Nicholas showed great charity toward his flock, coming to the aid of the suffering, and giving all he possessed to the poor. Hearing of the bitter need and poverty of a formerly wealthy resident of his city, St. Nicholas saved him from committing a great sin. The despondent parent of three adult daughters was contemplating giving them over to a life of fornication in order to stave off starvation. Sorrowing over the perishing sinner, the Holy Hierarch secretly threw three bags of gold through his window during the night, and thereby saved the family from degradation and spiritual ruin. Holy Hierarch Nicholas always strove to do acts of charity in secret, and to hide his acts of kindness.
Upon setting out to venerate the holy sites in Jerusalem, the bishop of Patara entrusted the administration of his flock to St. Nicholas, who assiduously carried out his assignment with love. When the bishop returned, St. Nicholas in turn asked his blessing to travel to the Holy Land. Along the way, the saint predicted the coming of a storm which would put the ship in danger of sinking, for he had seen the devil himself board the ship. In answer to the pleas of the despairing travelers, he used his prayer to calm the waves. By his prayers, a ships crewmember who sustained fatal injuries in a fall from the mast was restored to health.
At the ancient city of Jerusalem, St. Nicholas ascended Golgotha and gave thanks to the Savior of mankind. He bowed down and prayed at all of the holy sites. At night, upon the approach of the great pilgrim, the locked doors of the church on Mt. Zion opened by themselves. Having gone to all of the holy sites connected with the earthly service of the Son of God, St. Nicholas decided to go off into the dessert. He was stopped by a Divine voice which directed that he return to his homeland. Drawn to a life of silence, upon his return to Lycia the saint joined the brotherhood of a monastery known as Holy Zion. However, the Lord once again announced to him that a different path awaited him: Nicholas, this is not field from which I expect you to bring forth My expected fruit. Turn and go back into the world, that My Name will be glorified in you. In a vision, the Lord gave him the Gospels, bound in a richly decorated cover, and the Most-Holy Mother of God gave him an omophorion.
