8. The Parts Often Skipped About the Santa Claus Legend
Things were often chaotic in early Christianity, with little consensus about the new faith’s doctrine. In 325 AD, Emperor Constantine the Great invited bishops from across Christendom to Nicaea, in today’s Turkey, to sort things out in what came to be known as the First Council of Nicaea. The council settled some things, such as the divine nature of Jesus and his relationship to God, the first part of the Nicene Creed, and when to celebrate Easter. Passions ran high and tempers soared during the debates, though. They were not like modern academic panels, where violence is the last thing expected from professors in bowties and thick glasses. The Council of Nicaea’s participants could and did settle debates with their fists. Passive aggressive cutting remarks were for pikers: early church fathers could pull out knives in the middle of discussions to literally cut each other.
Saint Nicholas was one of the bishops at Nicaea, and he settled a discussion there with his fists. His victim was a priest named Arius, whose teachings had roiled Christianity and caused the convocation of the council in the first place. The controversy’s details come across as esoteric nowadays and make little sense to modern ears. However, they mattered a whole lot to people back then. Arius, who was accused of heresy, was invited by Emperor Constantine to defend his position. He got up and began to do so. His speech angered opponents, whose numbers included Nicholas – by then middle-aged, and apparently short tempered. He reportedly did a Will-Smith-at-the-Oscars, rose from his seat, rushed Arius, and interrupted his speech with a punch to the face. For that, Nicholas was stripped of his bishopric, and imprisoned for a time.
