Patriarch Alexy II will serve a Divine Liturgy, lead a procession with the cross and read a special prayer to St. Nicholas in the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery, which was founded 625 years ago.
The feast of transferal of St. Nicholas' relics was established in the eleventh century. Simultaneously with the Christian faith, numerous legends of wonders worked by St. Nicholas on land and on sea were spread in Russia, and this saint was deeply revered by ancestors.
Christians believe that the saint still works many wonders to help those who pray to him. Besides, he is believed to be the patron of all travelers.
St. Nicholas was born in the 3rd century in Patara in Asia Minor (today the territory of Turkey). From childhood, he succeeded in studying the Holy Scriptures and prayer, and became a priest later, and then the bishop of Myra in Lycia.
Church legend has preserved evidence that St. Nicholas was also very merciful.
On a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, St. Nicholas calmed the stormy sea and a dead sailor came to life after his prayer.
St. Nicholas died in the middle of the 4th century. He was well aged. Church legend says his relics were imperishable and healed a lot of people.
In 1087, Italian merchants took St. Nicholas' relics out of Myra. They explained their deed by their desire to save the Christian object of worship from being destroyed by Moslem Turks who behaved outrageously in Asia Minor then.
The feast of transferal of St. Nicholas' relics to St. Stephen Church in Bari was accompanied by numerous healings, say church chronicles. In a year, a church named after St. Nicholas was built in the city. It was consecrated by Pope Urban II. The relics are still kept in Bari.
