Revisiting the early stages of the Thebaid Project has been the key to its successful fulfillment in the near future.

Over the last few weeks I have been revising my text contributions to the North American Thebaid photo book, at the direction of Fr Mikel Hill, manager of St Tikhon’s Monastery Press and Bookstore, and editor of the Thebaid book. Specifically, Fr Mikel gave me the task of combining two separate articles of mine into one, and provided a word count limit, which has been a welcomed but grand challenge (as those who know me can imagine!).

Part of my wordsmithing process has included revisiting other earlier blog posts here on the Thebaid website, which has been nothing short of a revelation. Looking back three and four years to my earliest expressions of the nature of the Thebaid Project, my writings on photography and monasticism, and the many articles and features which I have reposted from an array of excellent Orthodox Christian sites, monastic writers, and respected photographers, has been a joyous journey indeed, one which I think you all might enjoy as well.

With this in mind, I have reworked the right hand panel here, removing some older features, and replacing the Recent Posts with a Blog Archive, organized by month in reverse chronological order. Though there are several worthy entries from the site launch in late 2015 and early 2016, the blog really takes off in August 2016, where you’ll find some of my articles on photography, followed by my first postings on the actual monastery visits in September and following.

Of course, in addition to the blog posts, I encourage you to revisit the numerous photo galleries, which bring this project to life and remind us all of the heart of the North American Thebaid Project, a photographic pilgrimage revealing glimpses of Orthodox monastic life in America. And be sure to watch for new galleries coming soon, from the later stages of my travels.

With the first week of Great Lent now behind us, we will be going deeper into the proofing and editing process as we prepare the book to go to press. As the last few weeks have proven, we have a breath of wind in our sails, and can see the harbor of publication on the horizon and drawing near.

My thanks to several of you for your recent pre-orders, and a reminder that the Deluxe Limited Edition in Bonded Leather, Signed and Numbered, is only available through pre-order, and will not be sold through online or retail outlets. Once we go to press, the number of the Deluxe Limited Edition will be set at the preorder quantity, plus a small number of copies for my personal use.

As always, that you for your prayers and support!