The rule of faith and the image of meekness, / self-control teacher / show you to your flock / even the truth of things; / for this reason you have gained high humility, / rich in poverty, / Father Nicholas, / pray to Christ God, / to save our souls.
The rule is here: a measure, a sample. The image is here: sample. Reveal - revealed. Even things, truth is the subject of a sentence, placed at the end of it, and means knowledge of the truth. High – here: greatness. Rich - wealth. The priest is the head of the clergy, that is, the bishop (vocal case).
This troparion is also a general troparion to the saint - that is, a troparion that can be applied to any saint. Thus, Saint Nicholas appears before us both as the “rule and image” of the saint in general.
The rule of faith and the image of meekness, self-control, the teacher, show you to your flock as things are true. In the manuals of the early twentieth century, the following understanding of this expression is given: even things, truth was translated as “knowledge of the truth”: “Knowledge of the truth has made you for your flock a measure of faith, a model of meekness, a teacher of abstinence”; For this sake: for the sake of Christ, for Him (although, of course, a simple understanding of the expression “for this sake” as a preposition: “thanks to this,” “therefore”) is also possible.
You have acquired high humility, rich in poverty. He acquired greatness (the height of heaven) through humility, and wealth (paradise) through poverty. These kinds of oppositions (antinomies) are characteristic of New Testament thinking; they permeate the Gospel: He who exalts himself will be humiliated, and he who humiliates himself (in the Church Slavonic Gospel: humble yourself) will be exalted (Matthew 23:12; also Luke 14:11, 18:14); For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that through His poverty you might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9).