Who is Santa Claus and Where Did He Live?

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18 Mar 2024

Who are Santa Claus and St. Nicholas?

What comes to our mind when we think of Christmas? Fir trees, snow, gifts, Santa Claus etc. So why does Christmas remind us of these? Why does Christmas evoke such things? Is this Christmas image real?

For this, we need to look at 2 important questions:
1- What is Christmas?
2- Who is Santa Claus?

What is Christmas?

The word Christmas comes from "natus", the past tense of the Latin word "nasci". It came to modern Turkish from French. This word is actually used to describe the birth of Jesus Christ.
So why is the birth of Jesus Christ important? The birth of Jesus Christ is heralded in the Old Testament, beginning in Genesis:

“I will make you and the woman, her offspring and your offspring, enemies of each other. His descendants will crush your head, and you will attack his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son; He will call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

Christmas is the fulfillment of prophecies stated in pre-Biblical scriptures. In the Gospel of John, this event is described as follows:

In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. In the beginning He was with God. All things came into being through Him, and nothing came into existence without Him. In Him was life, and life was the light of men. The light shines in the dark. The darkness could not defeat him. (John 1:1-5) The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We have seen his glory—glory as the only begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Early Life of St. Nicholas

The person called Santa Claus is actually AD. He was a cleric named Nikolas, who was born at the end of the 3rd century in a small village of the ancient Patara region in Antalya, Turkey. As the only child of a very wealthy family, Nikolas grows up with Christian values. He loses his parents at a very young age due to an illness. He tries to use the inheritance left to him according to the command of Jesus Christ: “If you want to be complete, go, sell all you have and give the money to the poor; so you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me” (Matthew: 19:21)

Here, Nikolas used all his wealth to help the sick, the elderly and those in need of care. He devoted his life to serving God and people, and thus became Bishop of Myra at a young age. Bishop Nicholas was renowned throughout the world for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors.

During the time of Emperor Diocletian (AD 244 – 311), who put brutal oppression on Christians, Bishop Nicholas also lived in exile and imprisonment because of his faith. He was released when Constantine became emperor and participated in the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.

The Importance of St. Nicholas in Christianity

Bishop Nicholas famously debated with Arius or an Arian bishop at the Council of Nicaea. As is known, Arius claimed in the Council of Nicaea that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, but that he was created by God and had a lower status than God the Father. Bishop Nicholas strongly opposed this idea. He argued that Jesus Christ is on the same level with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the nature of God, defined as the Trinity (Father - Son - Holy Spirit).

There are many stories about St. Nicholas. The most famous of these concerns the three daughters of a poor man in his village. In those days, the larger a young girl's dowry, the greater her chances of marriage. If they had no dowry, the girls were given as slaves. Since this poor man's daughters have no dowry, they are about to be sold into slavery. One day, three bags of gold are thrown through the window of this poor man's house. These bags fall next to the shoes placed in front of the stove to dry. It turns out that the bags of gold were thrown away by St. Nicholas. This has now become a tradition that children follow as they long for the gifts of St. Nicholas, aka Santa Claus.

Christmas, Santa Claus and New Year

In the 20th century, especially after the secularization of the world; St. Nicholas turned into Santa Claus, that is, Santa Claus. St. Nicholas, a true believer of Jesus Christ and a faithful servant of God and his people, has been transformed into an imaginary character.

The feast of St. Nicholas, normally celebrated on December 6, has now been combined with Christmas and New Year, one of the most important religious holidays in the West celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Therefore, Christmas is not about the coming of Jesus Christ, that is, God in human flesh, to our world as a baby; It has become an artificial cultural element from which everyone receives gifts in order to keep the world economy alive.

The greatest misfortune of St. Nicholas is that such a humble life devoted to God was overshadowed by secular marketing concerns in the 20th century, the day Jesus Christ came to earth.