Saint Nikolay Pinarsky

Saint Nicholas of Sion (lived in the 6th century, Lycia – December 10, 564) was a Christian saint, Archbishop of Pinara, and abbot of the Sion Monastery in Asia Minor. He is venerated as a wonderworker. In antiquity, his hagiography became conflated with that of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra due to the similarities in their biographies: both were from Lycia, both were archbishops, and both were venerated as saints and wonderworkers. These coincidences led to a long-standing misconception that there was only one "Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker" in church history. Because of this, historical inconsistencies arose in the life of the great Wonderworker. For example, it appeared that Nicholas of Myra had visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Holy Land long before it was founded by Empress Helena. In reality, Nicholas the Wonderworker did not visit the Holy Land; the pilgrimage described in many of his hagiographies was actually performed by Nicholas of Sion. A similar confusion occurred regarding the names of the parents and uncle of Nicholas of Myra. The names Theophanes (Epiphanius) and Nonna, mentioned in his hagiographies, are the names of the parents of Nicholas of Sion.