It seems that this year the children will have to write about their good deeds and desired gifts not to the Santa Claus residence in Rovaniemi, but to the Turkish city of Demre - exactly there, according to local archaeologists, is the grave of Saint Nicholas!
The researchers reported that they had discovered a temple and intact burial under the church of St. Nicholas in the city of Demre, which was built on the ruins of the ancient Lycian city of Myra, where, as everyone knows, the Holy Wonderworker lived in the 3rd-4th century of our era!
Today the Church of St. Nicholas in modern Demre is the main tourist attraction and "bait", as well as an important place for pilgrimage of Christians.
For more than 20 years, archaeologists have been studying this location using computerized tomography and radar. And today, when the work is nearing completion, they have something to declare.
"We will reach the land and perhaps find the untouched body of St. Nicholas," says Chemil Karabayim, director of the department of geodesy and monuments in Antalya to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet. "We were fortunate that the temple was almost untouched and inaccessible due to stone reliefs. But now it's difficult to get to it because of the mosaic on the floor, which we are going to explore a piece by piece ... "
As it was known to this day, after his death St. Nicholas was buried in a church in the city of Myra (Demre) around 345 AD. Most of his relics in 1087 from the Turkish-conquered Seljukid dynasty of Mira were taken by Italian merchants and transported to the city of Bari (now they are kept in the Basilica of St. Nicholas), and a smaller part was seized by the Venetians during the first crusade and brought them to Venice, where on the island Lido built the church of St. Nicholas.
Turkish archaeologists, in turn, argue that all known relics are the remains of an unknown local priest, and not a revered saint. And as evidence, mention the documents found on this site, but later burned after the theft in the church.
And if in the near future they show the world their find, Christians of the whole world will have another holy thing, and children have the exact address for letters to their beloved Miracle Worker!