The reign of Constantine proved to be a turning point in history. The Edict of Milan helped transform Christianity from a persecuted religion into a popular faith. Christianity spread faster than ever before. Jesus’s message offered comfort in a world full of peril and suffering. His call to love God and neighbor gave meaning to hard lives.

Constantine’s own enthusiasm for Christianity helped promote it through all classes of society. The emperor bestowed presents and property upon Christian congregations. He funded the construction of churches and basilicas, including St. Peter’s in Rome. He declared Sunday a day of rest, placed Christian symbols on his coins, and paid for new copies of the Bible.

When Constantine decided to move his capital from Rome to the eastern part of the empire, he settled on the ancient Greek city of Byzantium. There on the banks of the Bosporus, the narrow waterway dividing Europe and Asia, he erected a glorious new city boasting palaces, gardens, public squares, and theaters. He adorned his capital with magnificent churches, testaments to the new strength of the Christian faith. Constantinople, as Byzantium was eventually renamed, became one of the world’s finest cities and a center of Christianity.

Hundreds of miles away, in Myra, Nicholas shouldered the task of pulling his flock back together. There were deep wounds that needed time to heal. Mothers, fathers, children had been lost in the Great Persecution. Livelihoods had been destroyed. Some Christians, enraged by years of oppression, took brutal revenge against their persecutors. Those who had remained steadfast in their faith often looked with deep bitterness on those who had renounced Christianity or fled to the hills when threatened. Nicholas reminded them all of the words of Jesus: “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34 rsv).

The years in prison had left Nicholas with an inward strength. Others recognized that strength, were drawn to it. People who needed hope, courage, and compassion sought him out. “All the day long he spent in labor proper to his office, listening to the requests and needs of those who came to him,” we are told. “The doors of his house were open to all.”

Not long after Nicholas was released from prison, famine struck Lycia. The rains failed, rivers shrank, crops in the fields withered and died. The granaries at Myra were emptied, and people began to go hungry. As the famine spread, so did disease. The agorai filled with beggars, and every street heard the cries of those mourning the death of loved ones.

One day Nicholas got word that some grain ships en route from Alexandria to Constantinople had stopped off at Myra. He hurried down to Andriake, Myra’s port, to see if the ships’ captains could offer help for his starving people. By the time he got down to the harbor, an anxious crowd had gathered. He pushed his way to the front, spoke to the sailors standing guard on the wharves, and managed to arrange a conference with the captains. Nicholas wasted no time in asking for some of the grain.

“We can’t do it,” they answered. “The cargo was measured in Alexandria. If we arrive in Constantinople with any less, we must answer for it.”

“I’m not asking you to give it away,” Nicholas said. “We have good money to pay. We need grain. Come with me.”

The reluctant captains followed him through the streets, where they saw for themselves the results of the famine.

“Trust in God,” Nicholas told them. “Look into your hearts, and do what you know to be right.”

The captains talked it over at length, and in the end they agreed to unload a portion of their grain. It was enough to help Myra make it through the worst of the crisis, and it provided seed with which to plant new crops.

Many years later, a legend arose. It told how when the grain ships reached Constantinople and the captains unloaded them, they were dumbfounded to find that they had just as much grain in their holds as when they had left Alexandria.

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