An Interview with Saint Nicholas by St. A Visit from St. A Garland adapted from Pamela Grenfell Smith. Tres Filiae Three Daughters: A Miracle Play of St. Nicholas by Kathryn Lucchese. Being the Life and Times of St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra by Craig Bertolet. Nicholas Vignettes by Linda Funk St. Pilgrimage to the Holy Land St. Chosen as Archbishop Where was Nicholas? A Chancel Drama from St.
The Miracle of St. Nicholas by Father Clive Lee St. The Legend of St. Translation of traditional French song by Barbara MacArthur. Nicholas Story retold by John Coakley. Another Nicholas Story retold by John Coakley. A Melodrama by Paul E. The Miraculous Journey of Nicholas: The Secret of Santa: The Story of St. A miracle play of olden Italy, which is to be acted upon a bare platform, without drop-curtain or scenery, after the manner of the Ben Greet company in "Everyman. He is clad in a scholar's long robe of black, with a black cap, and a scroll in his hand.
He speaks to the audience. Good gentles all, now listen unto me, As many as in presence seated be. A saintly legend here we shall you show, A tale from the dim days of long ago. Now all ye parents that have children dear, Unto the woes of a young child give ear,v And all ye lads, and pretty maidens too, List to the fortunes of a child like you!
He wears a belted robe, with slip shoes, and a girdle to which is hung a straight, cross-hilted sword. Azzo am I, a proud and puissant lord.
Early life
My vassals tremble, and obey my word. Full oft in savage fight in eastern land I've faced the Paynim foe, with sword in hand, But now in mine old age at last I come To end my days in peace and ease at home. Here have I house and farms and fields full wide, And ships at sea, and mickle gold beside. One single child have I, to heir my store. In this one son is all my hope and joy, Yet he, alas! Lo, who cometh here? Thy pardon, then, for an unlucky wight, Who durst not show himself within thy sight. Aye, by my truth, it is my knavish son! When all is said, the boy is but a child— Yea, and at heart I know him kind and true.
COLA comes in—a gallant, erect little lad of ten or twelve, in a belted kirtle that reaches to the knee, and cross-gartered. And stained and rent behold thy doublet sleeve. Thou hast truant played, down by the sea, With comrades base that I've forbidden thee. That is the truth, which thou dost not deny?
Amongst these lawless ribalds of the street Thou hast been fighting, and thou hast been beat. Nay, father, if the truth thou'lt have me tell, 'Twas I that beat them, soundly too and well. Thou saucy sirrah, hearken well my word: Thou shalt not wander from this 'spot to-day. Here in this orchard on my pleasure stay, And sharper punishment await, thou knave! As he goes out. This is a son would make an angel rave!
Here in the orchard, then, I'll gaily bide. Good faith, I care not what shall me betide! O dear my mother! I have made thee sad. Mother o' me, indeed thou must not weep! Lo, I will fall upon my knees and creep For my lord's pardon, nor will ever rise Until I shall have seen thee wipe thine eyes. Pia she sits upon the bench: Why wilt thou vex him with thy headlong way? Cola , With all my heart I set me to obey, But then upon the breeze I smell the sea.
I think upon the ships, and woe is me! In the dull schoolroom then I cannot bide, I must be ranging with the wind and tide. And the brown ship-boys that I know full well— Hey, but the wondrous tales they have to tell! Yea, I would do as my dear lord hath done— Fare over seas to the far Paynim coast, And with a good sword smite their heathen host. So shalt thou do, my gallant son, one day, But yet for a few years must patient stay Under thy father's roof, as fits thine age, Yea, and learn lessons from the written page.
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Modest and eke obedient, without strife, Be thou to those that may command thy life. For right obedience thou first must learn, Ere thou commandest others, in thy turn. Canst thou not help me, O my mother kind, To hold in the right path my wayward mind? My little son, if it is help thou need, Then thou must seek them that can help indeed.
So great and wise, I doubt for me if they would quit the skies. How should they ever leave their heavenly seat, To help a lad that brawled once in the street? Yea, there is one saint, if thou wilt attend, That to young children always help will lend, Blessed Saint Nicholas, thy name-saint, boy. Call thou on him, whene'er thou hast annoy. He will not make; instead he will help thee. Strive thou thine hardest first, mine own son dear, Then, when thou need'st help, thou shalt find him near.
Yea, I will always my dear name-saint seek For help, whene'er I find my strength grow weak. Yea, I will pray to him in this same hour. And thou shalt find thy saint of mighty power. So for a little now my leave I take. Weep thou no more for my most worthless sake! For now I have this gracious saint to friend me, Thou'lt see , dear mother, how I shall amend me! Sweet Nicholas, my saint, so kind and gent— I wonder what it was my father meant? Sore punished shall I be, and soon, I trove. Sweet Nicholas, my saint, oh!
Hey, but the wind smells strongly o' the salt I would amend me of my every fault, I would obedient be, and good, and mild, All that beseemeth well so young a child. Hey, but this hour the tide is setting strong! I feel it sweeping all my thoughts along, And the great ships go dancing down the strand, And o'er the sea is the far Paynim land. Great Nicholas, my saint, lo, here I bow—. Mercy save us now! Art thou turned priest that thou art set at prayer? Cola springing up from his knees: Mock'st thou me, Mico?
Nay, then, have a care! Go hence, my Mico, for our love must end.
Nicholas of Myra
Back to my books must I, O Mico mine! Then use this one day, ere it be too late. Come forth with me, for one blithe ramble more. Come, good my Cola, down to the sea-shore! Then boldly come away! Why in a thousand plagues should we delay? There is a deep dell by the shore I know, A sheltered spot, where purple wild grapes grow, And bread have I, and eke a lump of cheese. Upon the rocks we'll lean and feast at ease. Come, good my Cola!
For the waves run high. The clouds scud merrily across the sky. Come forth this one day more and gaily roam. This is no time to mope and pine at home. Strong savour o' the sea where tall ships ride, And brown weed falls and rises with the tide. Have with thee, Mica, and let come what will! One more day I will take o' breeze and brine One blithe day more of roving shall be mine. Saint Nicholas, so kind, pray thee, forgive!
I'll serve thee all the other days I live. They wear full trousers, short jackets, and blouses, with turbans, and sashes full of knives and pistols, and fierce moustaches. They bring with them a little cask to fetch water. They are not historical Paynims, of course, you know, but cousins-german of Captain Hook. Keep wary watch, my comrades!
All be yare, Now that we brave it here in Christian air. From Christian dogs, thou craven, wouldst thou fly? Let them come on, although they be a score! Full oft ere this I've bathed in Christian gore. Arbaces, leave thine empty boasts of slaughter. We come to do no more than draw fresh water. So long the voyage that all our casks are dry.
Seek, if a spring or pool ye may espy. Knave, why dost thou stand? Thou seem'st full loath to budge from the sea-strand. Know ye, perchance, whose broad domains are these? Haply, when known, ye will be less at ease. What care I how the Christian lord is hight Who holds these shores and forests in his might? I doubt me if ye have forgot his name. The haughty Azzo, that long years ago Had wellnigh worked our Sultan's overthrow? May Termagant and Mahound send him harm! Would I had strength to reach him with this arm!
Could we but work on him some great disaster, We should rejoice the Sultan's heart, our master. Yonder 'tis a footstep! Back to the ship, and swift! Nay, but thou shalt not flee. Come hide thyself behind yon rock with me. Aye, let's lie close, and let us all be dumb.
Soon we'll discover who are these that come. Trip, trip, Skip, skip, Pretty pebble-stones! Hop, hop, The water's top, Never break your bones! Stay, stay, good Cola! I am wearied well. Leagues we have trudged since stroke of noontide bell. In truth, this is a spot to me is strange.
Never so far from home I've chanced to range. Black are the rocks and wild. The sea is stern. Turn back, Mico, hast thou heart to say? Art thou a coward that thou'dst run away? And here my share that I will blithely take. The spray of the salt sea shall serve for wine. How good it is, this last free day of mine! Soft is the air, though all the sky be gloom, And kind the savour of the salty spume. Flower o' the foam! My father's a sailor; the sea is my home. Flower o' the tide! My good ship's the steed where I safely shall ride. Flower o' the wave! When I shall die, let the sea be my grave!
Canst thou not sing us, lad, a stave more gay? That is a chant fit for a burial day. Mico the grudging grumbler still thou art; Listen! Is this more welcome to thine heart? Pipe, pretty bird, on the top o' the tree! Pipe, pretty bird, when I whistle to thee!
A cage all of gold shalt thou have to thy fee. You shall fare with us over the salt waves. The faithful can find use for Christian slaves. Sell us not in foreign lands! Our friends will ransom us from your dread hands. My comrade, mark you, 'tis a great lord's son. Or quickly I shall make thee peace! First let us know Who is this lord that ransom shall bestow.
Who is thy father? That I am come to this is blame of mine. I'll not declare my father, nor my line. Yea, but thou wilt, by great Mahound I swear! Answer, if for thy safety thou dost care! Methinks this mouse will squeak. Oh, be not rough, for I will speak. Yon lad is Cola, son to a great lord, The valiant Azzo!
What should they intend? I thought to speak would help thee, dear my friend. Speed to thine home, and as thou hopest to live, Speak truthfully the message that I give. Nicholas was often exasperated by the slow pace of the Russian bureaucracy and had a marked preference for appointing generals and admirals to high government rank because of their perceived efficiency. The most notorious case was Prince Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov , a competent brigade commander in the Imperial Army who proved himself out of his depth as a Navy minister.
Tsar Nicholas abolished several areas of local autonomy. Bessarabia's autonomy was removed in , Poland's in and the Jewish Qahal was abolished in As an exception to this trend, Finland was able to keep its autonomy partly due to Finnish soldiers' loyal participation in crushing the November Uprising in Poland. Russia's first railway was opened in , a mile line between St.
Petersburg and the suburban residence of Tsarskoye Selo. The second was the Saint Petersburg — Moscow Railway , built in — Nevertheless, by there were only miles of Russian railways.
Nicholas I
In , the Ministry of National Education , Sergey Uvarov , devised a program of " Orthodoxy, Autocracy and Nationality " as the guiding principle of the regime. The people were to show loyalty to the unrestricted authority of the tsar , to the traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church , and to the Russian language.
These romantic and conservative principles outlined by Uvarov were also espoused by Vasily Zhukovsky , one of the tutors of the Grand Duke Alexander. By order of the Tsar, Shevchenko was kept under strict surveillance and prevented from writing or painting.
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Nicholas disliked serfdom and toyed with the idea of abolishing it in Russia, but declined to do so for reasons of state. He feared the aristocracy and believed they might turn against him if he abolished serfdom. However, he did make some efforts to improve the lot of the Crown Serfs serfs owned by the government with the help of his minister Pavel Kiselyov. During most of his reign he tried to increase his control over the landowners and other influential groups in Russia.
In , Nicholas restricted the votes in the Noble Assembly to those with over serfs, leaving 21, voters. The official emphasis on Russian nationalism fueled a debate on Russia's place in the world, the meaning of Russian history, and the future of Russia. One group, the westernizers , believed that Russia remained backward and primitive and could progress only through more Europeanization.
Another group, the Slavophiles , enthusiastically favored the Slavs and their culture and customs, and had a distaste for westerners and their culture and customs.
Nicholas I | Biography, Facts, & Accomplishments | theranchhands.com
The Slavophiles viewed Slavic philosophy as a source of wholeness in Russia and were sceptical of Western rationalism and materialism. Some of them believed that the Russian peasant commune, or Mir , offered an attractive alternative to Western capitalism and could make Russia a potential social and moral savior, thus representing a form of Russian messianism. However the ministry of education had a policy of closing philosophy faculties because of possible harmful effects.
In the wake of the Decembrist revolt, the tsar moved to protect the status quo by centralizing the educational system. He wanted to neutralize the threat of foreign ideas and what he ridiculed as "pseudo-knowledge. By the tsar, fearing the political upheavals in the West might inspire similar uprisings in Russia, ended Uvarov's innovations. Their main mission was to train a loyal, athletic, masculinized senior bureaucracy that avoided the effeminacy of office work.
Petersburg grew in importance by its recognition and support of artists. Nicholas I decided to control it personally. He overruled it regarding awarding ranks to artists. He reprimanded and humiliated artists whose works he found distasteful. The result was not better art, but just the reverse, compounded by fear and insecurity among members of the art community. Despite the repressions of this period, Russians outside official control produced a flowering of literature and the arts.
Through the works of Aleksandr Pushkin , Nikolai Gogol , Ivan Turgenev and numerous others, Russian literature gained international stature and recognition. Ballet took root in Russia after its importation from France, and classical music became firmly established with the compositions of Mikhail Glinka — Minister of Finance Georg von Cancrin persuaded the emperor of the benefits of inviting Prussian scientist Alexander von Humboldt to Russia to investigate regions that could produce mineral wealth.
The Russian government paid Humboldt's expenses for his eight-month expedition through Russian in , which resulted in diamond finds in the Ural mountains. Humboldt published multiple volumes on his Russian expedition, which he dedicated to the tsar despite his increasing disapproval of the tsar's policies.
In the Jewish population numbered at 2. On 26 August the edict of military conscription "Ustav rekrutskoi povinnosti" was introduced, which required Jewish boys to serve in the Russian military for 25 years from the age of Before that many of them were forcibly conscripted into Cantonist schools since the age of 12, while being a Cantonist did not count into the time of military service.
The poor, village Jews and Jews without families or unmarried Jews were especially targeted for the military service. Some of the Jews that served in the Russian military eventually converted to Christianity. On the other hand, these Jews were exempt from the forced military conscription. Under Nicholas I there were attempts to reform the education of the Jews in attempt of Russification. The study of the Talmud was disapproved as it was seen as a text that encouraged Jewish segregation from the Russian society. Nicholas I further toughened censorship of the Jewish books in Yiddish and Hebrew by allowing these to be printed only in Zhitomir and Vilna.
Nicholas lavished attention on his very large army; with a population of 60—70 million people, the army included a million men. They had outdated equipment and tactics, but the tsar, who dressed like a soldier and surrounded himself with officers, gloried in the victory over Napoleon in and took enormous pride in its smartness on parade. The cavalry horses, for example, were only trained in parade formations, and did poorly in battle.
The glitter and braid masked profound weaknesses that he did not see. He put generals in charge of most of his civilian agencies regardless of their qualifications. An agnostic who won fame in cavalry charges was made supervisor of Church affairs. The Army became the vehicle of upward social mobility for noble youths from non-Russian areas, such as Poland, the Baltic, Finland and Georgia. On the other hand, many miscreants, petty criminals and undesirables were punished by local officials by enlisting them for life in the Army.
The conscription system was highly unpopular with people, as was the practice of forcing peasants to house the soldiers for six months of the year. Curtiss finds that "The pedantry of Nicholas' military system, which stressed unthinking obedience and parade ground evolutions rather than combat training, produced ineffective commanders in time of war.
For much of Nicholas's reign, Russia was seen as a major military power, with considerable strength. At last the Crimean war at the end of his reign demonstrated to the world what no one had previously realized: Russia was militarily weak, technologically backward, and administratively incompetent.
Despite his grand ambitions toward the south and Turkey, Russia had not built its railroad network in that direction, and communications were bad. The bureaucracy was riddled with graft, corruption and inefficiency and was unprepared for war. The Navy was weak and technologically backward; the Army, although very large, was good only for parades, suffered from colonels who pocketed their men's pay, poor morale, and was even more out of touch with the latest technology as developed by Britain and France.
By war's end, the Russian leadership was determined to reform the Army and the society. As Fuller notes, "Russia had been beaten on the Crimean peninsula, and the military feared that it would inevitably be beaten again unless steps were taken to surmount its military weakness. In foreign policy, Nicholas I acted as the protector of ruling legitimism and as guardian against revolution. It has often been noticed that such policies were linked with the Metternich counter-revolutionary system through the Austrian ambassador Count Karl Ludwig von Ficquelmont.
Immediately on his succession Nicholas began to limit the liberties that existed under the constitutional monarchy in Congress Poland. In , Nicholas was outraged when he heard of the Belgian revolt against the Dutch, ordered the Russian Army to mobilize and asked the Prussian ambassador for permission for Russian troops to have transit rights in order to restore Belgium to the Dutch. After the November Uprising broke out, in the Polish parliament deposed Nicholas as king of Poland in response to his repeated curtailment of its constitutional rights. The Tsar reacted by sending Russian troops into Poland.
Nicholas crushed the rebellion, abrogated the Polish constitution, reduced Poland to the status of a province, Privislinsky Krai , and embarked on a policy of repression towards Catholics. In , when a series of revolutions convulsed Europe, Nicholas was in the forefront of reaction. In , he helped the Habsburgs to suppress the uprising in Hungary , and he also urged Prussia not to adopt a liberal constitution. While Nicholas was attempting to maintain the status quo in Europe, he followed a somewhat more aggressive policy toward the neighboring empires to the south, the Ottoman Empire and Persia.
Nicholas was widely believed at the time to be following the traditional Russian policy of resolving the so-called Eastern Question by seeking to partition the Ottoman Empire and establish a protectorate over the Orthodox population of the Balkans , still largely under Ottoman control in the s. Nicholas always thought of Russia as first and foremost a European power and regarded Europe as more important than the Middle East.
At another meeting with Ficquelmont in , Nicholas, speaking with the "Greek Project" of Catherine the Great in mind said: I wish to maintain the Turkish empire It if falls, I do not desire its debris. In —28, Nicholas fought the Russo-Persian War —28 , which ended with Persia forced to cede its last remaining territories in the Caucasus.
Russia had conquered all the territories of Iran in both the North Caucasus and South Caucasus , comprising modern-day Georgia , Dagestan , Armenia , and Azerbaijan , through the course of the 19th century. Russia fought a successful war against the Ottomans in —29 , but it did little to increase Russian power in Europe. Whereas Alexander I had never quite abandoned dreams of change, Nicholas I was determined to defend the existing order in his motherland, especially autocracy.
The new regime became preeminently one of militarism and bureaucracy. The emperor surrounded himself with military men, to the extent that late in his reign there were almost no civilians among his immediate assistants. Also, he relied heavily on special emissaries, most of them generals of his suite, who were sent all over Russia on particular assignments to execute immediately the will of the sovereign. In fact, the entire machinery of government came to be permeated by the military spirit of direct orders, absolute obedience, and precision, at least as far as official reports and appearances were concerned.
Corruption and confusion, however, lay immediately behind this facade of discipline and smooth functioning. In his conduct of state affairs, Nicholas I often bypassed regular channels and generally resented formal deliberation, consultation, or other procedural delay. The importance of the Committee of Ministers, the State Council, and the Senate decreased in the course of his reign. Instead of making full use of them, the emperor depended more and more on special bureaucratic devices meant to carry out his intentions promptly while remaining under his immediate and complete control.
As one favourite method, Nicholas I made extensive use of ad hoc committees that stood outside the usual state machinery. As a rule, the committees carried on their work in secret, adding further complication and confusion to the already cumbersome administration of the empire. The failure of one committee to perform its task merely led to the formation of another. The departments of the Chancery served Nicholas I as a major means of conducting a personal policy that bypassed the regular state channels. During his entire reign the emperor strove to follow the principle of autocracy—to be a true father of his people concerned with their daily lives, hopes, and fears.
Yet Nicholas I could do little for them beyond the minutiae. Determined to preserve autocracy, afraid to abolish serfdom, and suspicious of all independent initiative and popular participation, the emperor and his government could not introduce in their country the much-needed basic reforms. In practice as well as in theory they looked backward. Important developments took place only in a few areas in which change would not threaten the fundamental structure of the Russian Empire. Thus, Count Mikhail Speransky codified law, and Count Pavel Kiselev changed and improved the lot of the state peasants, but even limited reforms became impossible after Frightened by European revolutions, Nicholas I became completely reactionary.
A dauntless champion of legitimism and a virtual hegemony of eastern and central Europe following the revolutions of —49, Nicholas—in part because of his own miscalculations, rigidity, and bluntness—found himself alone fighting the Crescent the Ottoman Empire , supported by such countries of the Cross as France, Great Britain, and Sardinia. Although it is unlikely that Nicholas committed suicide, as several historians have claimed, death did come as liberation to the weary and harassed Russian emperor.
An ordinary cold picked up in late February turned into pneumonia, which the once mighty but now apparently exhausted organism refused to fight. To the end the autocrat retained lucidity and dignity. His last words to his heir and his family were: After Russia, I loved you above everything else in the world. Another daughter, Grand Duchess Alexandra, had died in We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles. You can make it easier for us to review and, hopefully, publish your contribution by keeping a few points in mind.
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The Russian Orthodox Church became an important vehicle for the Russification…. A public trial exonerated the Polish leaders of complicity but made Russo-Polish relations tense. The outbreak of revolutions in Belgium and France in hastened the arrival of the November Insurrection. After its inception as a conspiratorial act…. Help us improve this article!