The burial was in a church flooded by the Mediterranean Sea. The church was located under another temple built several centuries later.
During their recent archaeological excavations in Turkey, experts discovered a stunning tomb in an ancient church that belonged to Saint Nicholas, Express writes.
The ancient tomb was flooded after sea levels rose in the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages. But after more than 1,600 years, archaeologists managed to excavate a tomb from a church in the town of Demre in the Antalya region of southern Turkey.
The Byzantine church was built on the ancient foundation of another additional church and was used by Orthodox Christians as a house of prayer between the 5th and 12th centuries. The place is surrounded by sculptures of Saint Nicholas.
Built over the original building as early as 520 to protect the sacred tomb, experts discovered an additional church as early as 2017. The mosaic and the stone floor beneath it helped specialists find the original church, and now the grave of St. Nicholas.
The first church was submerged by the rising Mediterranean Sea, and a few centuries later a new church was built on top.
“Now we have reached the remains of the first church and the floor on which St. Nicholas himself stepped,” the scientists said.
Saint Nicholas lived between 270 and 343 and is known for inheriting money that he gave to the poor. One story of how he donated sacks of gold to three girls to save them from prostitution is particularly famous.
The story goes that Saint Nicholas crept to their windows in the middle of the night and dropped gold into their bedroom as a dowry to save them from public disgrace. He was an early Christian bishop during the Roman Empire and was named Nicholas the Wonderworker.
Although little is known about St. Nicholas, everyone agrees that his gift-giving legend has been seen as the inspiration for Santa Claus. Saint Nicholas was also a devout Christian who followed Jesus’ teachings about selling all worldly possessions and helping the poor.
Source: Фокус