Saint Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins

Item No. 008285

by Jim Forest, illustrated by Vladislav Andrejev

The figure of Saint Nicholas stands apart from nearly every other Christian saint: his fame spread across empires and generations to make him one of the most recognizable Christian saints in history. But the popular perception of Saint Nicholas today diverges greatly from his original veneration as a compassionate almsgiver and defender of the poor. Saint Nicholas has been reduced to the pop culture figure of Santa Claus, a jolly old man who brings presents to good little boys and girls. This book reacquaints those boys and girls with the authentic Santa Claus—Nicholas, a man who found greatness not simply in spreading "good cheer," but in being a true icon of Jesus Christ in word and deed.

“Well-told stories, like this one of Saint Nicholas, are gis to our children [of] lives well-lived. Forest and Andrejev have created a tale that will enchant little ones with layers of goodness—wrapped in the cloak of iconography. I pray readers will reconsider this man we know as Santa Claus, and come to know him more fully as a man of God.” —Jane Meyer, Author of Woman and the Wheat and Man and the Vine. 

Jim Forest is international secretary of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship and associate editor of its journal and website, In Communion. He is a recipient of the Peacemaker Award from Notre Dame University’s Institute for International Peace Studies, a prolic writer of inspirational, historical, and biographical books, and is also the author of two other children’s books.

Vladislav Andrejev was born in St Petersburg, Russia and received a formal education in fine art book illustration. His search for deeper meaning in art led him to study icon painting. Andrejev is an accomplished iconographer, teacher of iconography, and illustrator of award-winning books manifesting his unique continuation of the ancient Byzantine-Russian tradition. He is also illustrator of St. George and the Dragon. 

Author: Jim Forest

Illustrator: Vladislav Andreyev

Hardcover: 32 pages

Dimensions: 9 X 11 inches