Don’t miss Bank of Book’s Book Signing with author A.C. Karras on Saturday, July 17 from 1-3pm.

About the Author

Mark Athanasios Constantine Karras was born in 1927 in Miami, FL. His parents together with his two siblings went to live in Greece where they experienced the Nazi and Fascist occupation of WWII. On their return to the USA, he was drafted into the US Armed Forces serving in Japan and in Europe, receiving honorable WWII and Korean War discharges.

He studied at Columbia, University, NYC and at the University of Miami, FL and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. His subsequent marriage was followed by a residence in Chile with his family and a vested involvement in the ranching business.

Their return to the USA included his earning of a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Miami. This was followed by a business venture for the manufacture of a soil stabilizing material for road and runway construction.

Apart from his secular activities, his Christian devotion — both his grandfathers in Greece being eminent Orthodox priests — resulted in his consecration to the Eastern Orthodox Episcopate. His religious work was misrepresented by the author, publishers, and film-makers of the book and film known as “The Exorcist,” against whom he brought legal action. He advocated and continues his spiritual/ecclesiastical mission as the Universal Faith; and following his earlier academic work, he earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Trinity Seminary, Newburgh, IN, accredited by the University of Liverpool, UK.

He is appointed to the Supreme Prelacy of the Byzantine Order of Saint Constantine the Great and the Order of Saint Helen. He authored the books, “Christ Unto Byzantium” and “Seven Gates to Freedom: Awareness and Consciousness.” He administers the Website: WWW.NEW-BYZANTIUM.ORG. His doctoral dissertation is tilted: “Leadership Style of Constantine the Great: Significance for Leadership Development in the Church” (Re: ProQuest, Catalog No. 3114803, www.il.proquest.com; and Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC, www.doaks.org).

His marriage of over sixty years to Evangeline Victoria (Greek, Basiliki) nee Karnezis has given them the blessing of a daughter and two sons as well as three grandchildren. The Byzantine House Lascaris Comnenus of Constantinople has anointed him with the Byzantine nobility titles of the County of Ayla and of the Grand Duchy of Hesperia with inheritable rights in both.