War, on Christmas

"No less was Nicholas known for his zeal for the truth. He was present at the First Ecumenical Council of the 318 Fathers at Nicaea in 325; upon hearing the blasphemies that Arius brazenly uttered against the Son of God, Saint Nicholas struck him on the face. Since the canons of the Church forbid the clergy to strike any man at all, his fellow bishops were in perplexity what disciplinary action was to be taken against this hierarch whom all revered. In the night our Lord Jesus Christ and our Lady Theotokos appeared to certain of the bishops, informing them that no action was to be taken against him, since he had acted not out of passion, but extreme love and piety."

clipped from raphael.doxos.com War on Christmas St Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, was too deeply engrossed in the teachings of Jesus, the man who went to his death offering no defense, the man who said “turn the other cheek. only later do we need to imagine a Bishop punching a heretic in the face and Mary and Jesus blessing him for it. And a lot of folks want to imagine our bishops or clergy or laity should be doing this now: punching infidels in the face. Truth is: we can’t make that relationship happen by punching others in the face, by beating them up in arguments, by forcing them in to the corner with laws, by hitting them over the head with a Bible or an icon. This will stand before the throne of God on judgement day and say, “They knew I was your disciple because I made shop girls say ‘Merry Christmas’ to me after I purchased $500 of toys and blue jeans in the Mall”. Personally, I’m happier the further “Merry Christmas” gets from Wal*Mart, the Mall and Amazon.com.