Under a Byzantine church in Turkey, archaeologists believe they have discovered the burial place of St. Nicholas, highly revered among Orthodox Christians and known in Western popular culture as Santa Claus.
The burial place of St. Nicholas, the prototype of Santa Claus, was probably discovered after archaeologists discovered the remains of an ancient church in Turkey, which was flooded in the Middle Ages as a result of rising sea levels in the Mediterranean Sea.
As the Daily Mail recalls, the saint, who lived between AD 270 and 343, is best known for giving money to the poor, and in particular for the story of how Saint Nicholas gave bags of gold to three girls to save them from prostitution.
Scholars have found that another church was built on the foundations of an ancient basilica to protect the saint’s tomb, and only recently have archaeologists unearthed the mosaics and stone floor of the previous sanctuary under the one that stands today. This find may have led them to the final resting place of Saint Nicholas.
In support of the discovery, it is claimed that Saint Nicholas lived and died in what is now Turkey. The Byzantine church, built on ancient foundations, was a place of worship for Orthodox Christians between the 5th and 12th centuries and is surrounded by statues of Saint Nicholas. It was also added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1982.
The ancient church on the site was first discovered in 2017 by researchers conducting electronic surveys under the church of Saint Nicholas, who found gaps between the floor and the ground. The team then announced that they may have found the tomb of Saint Nicholas, but continued to work on carefully removing the floor of the Byzantine church without damaging it.
Osman Eravsar, head of the Antalya provincial cultural heritage office, told the Demirören news agency last week: “The first church was flooded due to the rise of the Mediterranean Sea, and a new church was built on top a few centuries later.”
“Now we have reached the remains of the first church and the floor on which St. Nicholas stepped,” he noted. — The floor tile of the first church where St. Nicholas walked was unearthed.”
The Byzantine church was damaged and rebuilt several times during the 8th and 9th centuries, according to the Antalya Heritage Preservation Board. The organization notes that the temple was overhauled by Constantine IX in 1043 and Tsar Nicholas I in 1862. The church was also flooded by the Demre River. It was rediscovered in 1956 and is now a destination for many pilgrims seeking to pay their respects to Saint Nicholas.
Saint Nicholas, known for his gifts and charity to the poor, was born in the village of Patara to wealthy parents who died during an epidemic and left a large fortune to their son. Being a devout Christian, Saint Nicholas followed the teachings of Jesus on the sale of all worldly property and distribution to the poor, which he did.
He is known to have become Bishop of Myra (Lycian Peace) in the 4th century, but shortly thereafter was imprisoned by the Roman emperor Diocletian at a time when Christians were being persecuted, and then released under the rule of Constantine the Great.
Records show that St. Nicholas was buried in a church built in honor of his name. However, the exact location of his body has always remained a mystery.
Researchers now speculate that at the time of his death in AD 343, Saint Nicholas was buried in a church in Demre, where he lay untouched until the 11th century.
It was previously believed that the saint’s remains were smuggled by merchants to the Italian city of Bari in 1087.
However, now Turkish archaeologists suggest that not those relics could be extracted, but those remains that went to Italy allegedly belonged to an anonymous priest, the British edition notes.
Be that as it may, it is generally accepted that the relics of Nicholas are still kept in the Basilica of San Nicola in Bari.
One of the most beloved and revered saints in Russia gained popularity in the West as Santa Claus — in memory of the stories of St. Nicholas, who became famous for working miracles and secretly distributing gold to those in need. The name Santa Claus comes from the Dutch Sinter Klaas, a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas, the Dutch word for Saint Nicholas.