St Nicholas and the Unjust Judge

Trouble comes to the town of Myra when Imperial soldiers are despatched to put down a revolt.

313

Roman Empire 27 BC - AD 1453

Introduction

This post is number 5 in the series Miracles of Nicholas

In February 313 the new Roman Emperor, Constantine, and Licinius his junior in the Balkans, decreed religious liberty across the Empire. With astonishing speed, formerly persecuted Christian bishops gained public respect, and if this tale is anything to judge by, deservedly so.

by Clay Lane

IN 328, Constantine the Great conquered a region of Romania inhabited by the Taifals,* some of whom he deported to Phrygia in Asia Minor.* There they raised a rebellion, and the Emperor despatched men and ships to Myra,* where St Nicholas was then Bishop, to crush it.

As soon as they had disembarked, some of the soldiers went to the marketplace and helped themselves to anything they liked. When Nicholas complained, the three officers in command promised to punish whoever was responsible. “But you are responsible for this” Nicholas pointed out. “These are your men.” The property was quickly restored to its rightful owners.

Nicholas invited the officers (their names were Nepotian, Ursus and Erpulion) to dinner, and then accompanied them down to the harbour, before setting off to walk through the town, visiting his flock. It was as he was doing his rounds that he came across a group of men and women weeping bitterly, and he asked them what the matter was.

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The Taifals came from Oltenia, a region of modern-day Romania around the city of Craiova. After the conquest by Constantine they were dispersed, some to Myra and others to the area around Poitiers in France.

Nicholas was Bishop of Myra, now abandoned and lying next to the small village of Demre, on the southwest coast of Turkey. The ancient port was Andriake, and it was here that St Paul embarked an Alexandrian ship on his eventful journey to Italy: see Acts 27:5-6.

A certain Nepotian – not this one, because in St Nicholas Scotches a Rumour he becomes a monk — was the son of Eutropia, half-sister to Emperor Constantine I. He proclaimed himself Emperor in 350, after raising rebellion against Constantine’s son and successor Constans, but held the title he assumed for only twenty-eight days before he was killed, and his band of gladiators crushed, by rival Magnentius. Magnentius, who was rumoured to be the son of a Briton, had used the support of the army in Britannia to usurp the Imperial throne from Constans that year, but committed suicide in 353 after Constantius II, Constantine’s second son and brother of Constans, defeated him at the Battle of Mons Seleucus.

Précis

In the fourth century, when St Nicholas was Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, ships and soldiers came to the town to put down a revolt nearby. The troops abused the town’s hospitality, and Nicholas reminded the officers of their obligations. This established a rapport between the Bishop and the commanders that soon came in very useful.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

What brought three Roman commanders to Myra that day?

Clay Lane The Copybook