You guys don't know about your Saint.
He killed his wife & son AFTER Nicea...
Unless you want to claim he wasn't converted pre-Nicea.
He also murdered 100,000+ by imperialism after Nicea.
He was **baptized** on his death bed, not converted.
Regeneration..... pfft. Let's go pull a Hitler and get Baptized by a "master", that'll do it.
This is a perfect reason that draws people away from FAITH. Here is a MONSTER that you people legitimize. A MONSTER.
If you don't have a wife or child, you have no right to comment on the audacity of him executing them.
Someone is forgetting about the prodigal son.
Or St. Dismas.
I'm sure Crispas and Fausta believe that a man who squandered his inheritance, lived in drunkeness, etc., and returning to father, would not be comparable to the man who killed them, along with hundreds of thousands of others...
Look, there are MANY other wonderful saints. LOTS of them that are wonderful role models. This guy does not compare. He merely stopped persecuting those he persecuted.... Then he holds Nicea, then kills his wife, child, and 100,000+ others. Then deathbed baptism, and he's a saint.
No comparison with St. Tikhon. No comparison with St. Catherine. No comparison with St. Jude, St. Nicholas (all of them), St. Basil (all of them). He lived a horribly wicked life full of blood and warfare. Deathbed confession is great. Deathbed baptism is great. A saint? Sorry, can't agree.
So yes, I will state that I feel like a good Christian when I read of St. Nicholas.
I teach my children about hymns, Christ, Moses, the commandments, apostles... I don't murder them.
I pray with my wife, love her, pray for her, and she me ... I don't murder her.
I try to love my enemies, and I've never killed anybody.... Let alone hundreds of thousands of people.
No I never legalized Christianity, nor did I persecute it at the sword.
My mom didn't find the cross either - but she loves God and her family.
Now, if we get into sins... I'm not perfect. Can I say his sins are worse than mine? Absolutely.
I'm still a sinner, and I do fall on my face before God. I don't say that in boast or pride. But come on people 100,000+ DEAD on his behalf (not including his own troops) in 1 campaign? His own wife? His own child?
Compare him with St. Tikhon. No comparison.
I feel depressed when reading fine examples of other saints because I know I should do better as them.