St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press makes it Official…

STMP announcement includes link for retail pre-orders…

Dear Friends & Supporters, Fellow Pilgrims All,

After several more rounds of reviews and edits since my November update, we are confident the book is ready, and St. Tikhon’s is sending the Thebaid Book file to Gomer Press next week.

Accompanied by several images and sample pages from the book, St. Tikhon’s announcement begins as follows:

We are grateful to finally be able to announce that The North American Thebaid is being sent to print next week!

This is an incredible, beautiful and unique book demonstrating, through stunning photographs, the vibrancy of Orthodox monastic life in America.

Presented in a large, clothbound edition of over two hundred full color pages and printed in Great Britain, this is a book that will ornament any coffee table or church library.

I am certainly quite moved by the publisher’s blurb. I hope people agree, and that the book finds its audience, and contributes in some small way to the spread of Orthodoxy in America, and the ongoing flourishing of the monastic way so central to the life of the Church.

The STM Press announcement made special mention of all you Thebaid supporters who pre-ordered the book to help fund the travel and photography, and then helped get us to publication:

We are grateful for the many who have supported the Thebaid Project by pre-ordering through Ralph H. Sidway’s website.

If you have not already pre-ordered, we invite you now to pre-order through our website.

St. Tikhon’s Press has set up their Thebaid Product Page, with several sample images and page spreads from the book, and are inviting new pre-orders on their website. If you haven’t pre-ordered yet but would like to, you are welcomed to do so now through the actual publisher. Feel free to leave a comment here and let me know if you ordered, and of your thoughts on the book.

Regarding PreOrders:

It has long been my intent to ship all pre-orders before the book goes into retail distribution. Some of you have been waiting some six to eight years since placing your pre-orders, so it is only right for you to receive your copy (or copies!) before we start distributing to resellers and stores, and filling orders in real time. In fact, to achieve this end, St. Tikhon’s Press and I discussed some time ago plans for me to travel to the Monastery in order to assist with the distribution process. I have already begun preparing the matted & signed Thebaid Fine-Art Prints which will accompany the majority of the 2016-2024 pre-orders, and I will be bringing those to St. Tikhon’s to package and ship with the books.

St. Tikhon’s Press has included in their announcement a target date for pre-order distribution:

We expect to receive the books from the printer and to send pre-orders by April 1.

To reaffirm and expand on the St. Tikhon’s Press announcement:

• Pre-Orders placed from 2016-2024: If you have already pre-ordered, whether through our Thebaid crowdfunding campaigns on Indigogo (2016) and GoFundMe (2017-2018), or via the Thebaid Store (2018-Spring 2024), or direct from me (2024), you can expect your pre-order to be shipped by April 1 of this year. This includes orders for both the Standard Edition and the Deluxe Limited Edition with Leather Cover, and also includes the Thebaid Fine Art Prints, which will accompany most of these pre-orders.
• Pre-orders from STM Press, January 2025 forward: If you have not already pre-ordered, or if you would like to pre-order additional copies of the Standard Edition, you are invited to do so through the St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press website. STM Press 2025 pre-orders are also expected to be shipped by April 1.
• See below for additional notes on the Deluxe Limited Edition and the Thebaid Fine Art Prints.

What more to say on this milestone event?

First of all, Congratulations! All of you have been an important and even essential part of this project, some of you from the very beginning. Those of you who pre-ordered or even contributed at the Digital Rewards Level during our initial crowdfunding campaign in 2016, helped fund the travel and photography. Even the smallest tier contribution filled my gas tank and got me another 400 miles down the road!

Secondly, to all who supported or prayed for this project, Thank You! Every prayer, every kind thought, every share on social media, all who shared links to the photo galleries or shared the images, or perhaps other actions I cannot imagine, you helped spread this unique photographic pilgrimage not only across this continent, but around the world.

So, for many of us, this has been a shared journey. Some of you I have had the pleasure of corresponding with or at least exchanging messages or comments. Some I have even had the joy of meeting in person! Now that we approach the fulfillment of The North American Thebaid Pilgrimage, let us all resolve to make pilgrimages to these holy monasteries, even as we continue to travel the inner pilgrimage to the Kingdom of Christ in our hearts, and the weekly pilgrimages to our home parishes.

With great thanksgiving and joy, I remain,

your fellow pilgrim,

Ralph/Zosimas

Notes on the Deluxe Limited Edition and the Thebaid Fine Art Prints:

• The Deluxe Limited Edition, Leather Bound, signed & numbered, was only available through pre-order from 2016-2024, as has been posted from the beginning on this website and our other platforms. Only 100 copies of this edition are being printed, and there will not be any reprints of this edition.
• The Thebaid Fine Art Prints, matted and signed on the mat, offered on our various platforms from 2016-2024 with pre-order of either the Standard Edition or the Dlx Ltd Edition, will be distributed with the pre-ordered books by April 1 of this year. The Thebaid Fine Art Prints are not available with the pre-orders from St. Tikhon’s Press, and are not available separately.