The original burial place of Father Christmas, also known as St. Nicholas, has just been found by archaeologists in Turkey.
The location of the saint's final resting place was a mystery because he was stolen around 700 years after his death.
The church's similarity to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the placement of a fresco depicting Jesus suggest that St. Nick's body was laid to rest there.
There is a possible Crusader ring that depicts St. Nicholas.
RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU...
The Church of St. Nicholas is located on top of an older church in the town of Demre.
Legend has it that Nicholas saved three girls from prostitution, chopped down a demon-possessed tree, and resurrected three murdered children, but little is known about his life. The legend of St. Nick as Santa Claus stems from Nicholas giving away his wealth to the poor.
The body of the most blessed confessor of Christ, Nicholas, was taken away from the city of Myra by some wise and illustrious men of Bari. They were going to break open the floor of the church and take the corpse away. Most of the remains of St. Nicholas and a broken sarcophagus were carted away by the group.
The church of St. Nicholas in Demre has survived for more than a millennium despite the fact that it was destroyed. The foundations of the earliest church were found through this work. Osman Eravar, chairman of the Antalya Cultural Heritage Preservation Regional Board, announced last week the location of the tomb of St. Nicholas.
According to Eravar, the floor on which St. Nicholas's feet stepped was found in the current excavations. The first find from that period is an important one, according to Eravar.
Eravar says that the original burial place of St. Nicholas has been found. The Bari contingent obscured their original location when they removed the saint's bones. Eravar said that the sarcophagus must have been placed in a special place. The fresco depicts Jesus holding a bible in his left hand and making a sign of blessing with his right hand. His exact grave could be marked by a marble floor tile with "as grace" written on it.
The church is supported by that hypothesis. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of St. Nicholas at Myra both have unfinished domes. The dome was never finished after Alexander II of Russia restored it. The dome may have been designed to link St. Nicholas with the story of Jesus' ascension into the sky.
William Caraher, an archaeologist at the University of North Dakota who was not involved in the excavation, told Live Science that it was not unusual for churches to be built atop one another. The presence of an earlier church on a site has been a reason for a church to be built.
Caraher thinks that the marble floor tile with Greek letters could have been re-used in antiquity.
There are churches and chapels dedicated to St. Nicholas in the Mediterranean. Caraher said that many people have at some point in their lives hoped to get a glimpse of the real St. Nick.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
