In The Footsteps of SAINT NICHOLAS Author: Andreas C. George ISBN: 1592320872 Format: Paperback, 164pp Publication Date: December, 2005 Publisher: Seaburn Publishing Group Price: $16.95
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In The Footsteps of SAINT NICHOLAS, Andreas C. George

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

In my long journey I found that Saint Nicholas, born in Patara of Asia Minor was a real person that lived in the fourth century during the turbulent and difficult times of early Christianity. He became famous throughout the Christian world for his service to humanity, a pious social worker who did good things without compensation.

How Saint Nicholas became Santa Claus throughout the ages, is legendary approaching a myth. However, Saint Nicholas behind the myth, during his life-time and after his death turned out to be the kind and generous person, a practical Bishop who understood the earthly needs of people, and always on the ready to help or save someone. On the contrary, the modern Santa Claus is less inspiring and kept changing to keep pace with the changing times and the needs of people. In modern day Santa, we see the original role of Saint Nicholas to be distorted to suit the modern world. In this book, I tried to re-discover Saint Nicholas and point out that he was a major figure in the early church whose life and legend should be copied and emulated.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Andreas C. George, known as Andy, was born in Clairton Pennsylvania a small town south of Pittsburgh. When he was one year old, his parents and his two older brothers moved to Cyprus. In 1950 after he graduated from highschool, Andy moved back New York where he lived ever since. During the Korean War he was drafted into the US Army and served for 2 years mostly in Europe. Upon his discharge from the Army in 1954, corporal Andy George settled in New York and began his college career. In 1955, he was married to Katherine Fitos and between 1956 and 1960 they had two girls and a boy. In 1996, after 33 years of Government service, he retired from the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the US Department of Energy (DOE). From 1967-1972, he did research to estimate the radiation exposure of uranium miners from radon. After that, he was called the Radon Guru and received the US DOE Distinguished Service Medal. Andy is a Fellow Member of the Health Physics Society and the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists (AARST). He is an active member of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA). He received the Science Award from AHEPA in 1987. He published more than 95 scientific papers on radioactivity and radiation exposure. He presented scientific papers in many international symposia and lectured at many workshops and meetings. He enjoys biographical books on the leading figures of science, religion and philosophy.

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REVIEWS:

This past summer I chanced to be at Seaburn Books in Astoria, Queens at the precise moment when Andreas George, accompanied by his lovely wife, wandered in with a query. He wanted to know if it was possible that his manuscript might be considered for publication. Just a few months later his question has been answered in the very best way possible, and we the reading public are the beneficiary of a wonderful gift. Less than a year after the publication of a fine Seaburn book on the century’s old pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James in Compostela, Spain, we are to be treated to an even more delightful trip down memory lane. On this occasion the trip is in the company of another saint who is hands down the most popular saint of them all, Saint Nicholas.

Known to generations of children as Santa Claus, this book details the entire history, real and apocryphal, of the saint whose name has become synonymous with gift giving and Christmas. But the book offers much more than a mere hagiography of a man who personifies the Christmas spirit. It is simultaneously a Mediterranean travelogue to the sites that figured in the life of Saint Nicholas, a portrait of the Greco-American Orthodox community in Flushing, New York, where some of the remains of Saint Nicholas now reside, and a scholarly tour of the literary and cultural factors which led to the legend of St. Nicholas in the New World. With this wonderful book Andreas George has expanded wonderfully upon Washington Irving’s attempt to forge a cultural identity for what was then a very young nation. We owe George a debt of gratitude which we can repay by reading and savoring his book. Only by walking in the footsteps of one so beloved by the young can those of an older generation remain young at heart.

— Glenn Statile, Ph.D. St. John’s University