FRAMED PAPER ICON OF ST. NICHOLAS, MOUNTED OVER UNKNOWN IMAGE WITHIN SILVER FRAME WITH GLASS FRONT.

A large silver from holds this icon of St. Nicholas. The background of the image is a golden landscape, barely visable in the background, and a large blue sky with clouds fills most of the background behind St. Nicholas. In black text at the top reads "Saint Nicholas" in Greek. Each word surrounds his head, with "Saint" located to the left, and "Nicholas" located to the right.

St. Nicholas is centered in the middle of the page. He is shown with gray hair and facial hair. Surrounding his head is a golden "halo". St. Nicholas wears red robes lined with gold material, and with blue material inside of his sleeves. He wears a white and gold lined wrap around his shoulders that has crosses on it. With his left hand, he is crossing his pointer and middle finger and pointing them upward. With his right hand, St. Nicholas holds a blue and gold book that has a gold sun/star burst on the cover.

St. Nicholas was born in present day Turket, in 270 AD. Nicholas was taught to love the Lord with all of his being by his parents. When they died, St. Nicholas used his inheritance to help the poor and misfortuned. After all of the inheritance money was gone, Nicholas decided he wanted to become a monk. After years of living, working, and praying at a monastery, Nicholas decided to study the Law of God and to become a priest. Soon after, the Archnishop of Myra died, and the people were unsure as to who to appoint as the new archbishop. God revealed to one of the bishops that the first person to walk into the cathedral that next morning was to be the new Archbishop. Nicholas, walking in for his simple morning prayers, was the first to enter the Cathedral, thus making him the new Archbishop of Myra. Nicholas passed on December 6, 343. Many people knew him as a "wonderworker", someone who performed many good deeds and led a life of service. Nicholas led such a life of good deeds that he inspired many to also lead holy lives. He is known now all over the world as "Saint Nick" or "Santa Claus". But what many don't know is that Saint Nicholas was a Saint for the Orthodox Church, and gives so much because of his love for God.


Aspioti-ELKA was one of the largest publishing and printing enterprises in Greece. It was opened in 1873, originally as a card making plant, by Gerasimos Aspiotis. Around 1902, the company expanded to printing bonds, shares, advertisements, tickets, and other similar products. The plant along with all of its machinery was destroyed by the Italian Air Force at the start of the Greco-Italian War. In 1992, the company was bought by the National Bank of Greece and was declared bankrupt in 1997.

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