A closer look
Before he was rebranded as a jolly immortal elf who breaks into houses, Saint Nicholas of Myra was an intense Christian mystic with a notoriously short fuse. During the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, a theologian named Arius was arguing a point about the nature of the Trinity that Nicholas fiercely disagreed with. Instead of debating him, Jolly Old Saint Nick walked across the room and slapped the absolute taste out of Arius's mouth. Put that on your Christmas cards.






