Venerable Pachomius the Great, Founder of Coenobitic Monasticism

On May 19, 2017May 19, 2017 By zosimasIn Monastic Calling, Monastic Saints1 Comment

St. Pachomius lived in the Egyptian Thebaid, and is to cenobitic monasticism what St. Anthony the Great is to the eremitic (solitary) way, and what St. Nilus of Sora is to skete life in Russia. He is commemorated on May 15.

From his Life at OCA.org:

St. Pachomius receives the monastic rule and habit from an angelic messenger (14th c. fresco, Mount Athos).

Saint Pachomius the Great was both a model of desert dwelling, and with Saints Anthony the Great (January 17), Macarius the Great (January 19), and Euthymius the Great (January 20), a founder of the cenobitic monastic life in Egypt.

Saint Pachomius was born in the third century in the Thebaid (Upper Egypt). His parents were pagans who gave him an excellent secular education. From his youth he had a good character, and he was prudent and sensible.

When Pachomius reached the age of twenty, he was called up to serve in the army of the emperor Constantine (apparently, in the year 315). They put the new conscripts in a city prison guarded by soldiers. The local Christians fed the soldiers and took care of them.

When the young man learned that these people acted this way because of their love for God, fulfilling His commandment to love their neighbor, this made a deep impression upon his pure soul. Pachomius vowed to become a Christian. Pachomius returned from the army after the victory, received holy Baptism, moved to the lonely settlement of Shenesit, and began to lead a strict ascetic life. Realizing the need for spiritual guidance, he turned to the desert-dweller Palamon. He was accepted by the Elder, and he began to follow the example of his instructor in monastic struggles.

Once, after ten years of asceticism, Saint Pachomius made his way through the desert, and halted at the ruins of the former village of Tabennisi. Here he heard a Voice ordering him to start a monastery at this place. Pachomius told the Elder Palamon of this, and they both regarded the words as a command from God.

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Join us this Sunday at St Herman of Alaska Church in Hudson OH

On March 7, 2017 By zosimasIn Monasteries, Parishes, ProjectLeave a comment

Announcing a special opportunity for those living in Northeastern Ohio (Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown):

Through a very gracious invitation by Fr. Basil Rusen, I will be giving a presentation on Orthodox Christian Monasticism and the North American Thebaid this coming Sunday, March 12, at St Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church, in Hudson, Ohio.

Join us for the Divine Liturgy at 10:00am, and stay for a lenten potluck lunch and my full digital presentation, covering the history of Orthodox monasticism from its formation in the 4th and 5th centuries, through the development of the ‘Northern Thebaid’ in Russia a thousand years later, and on to today.

With Orthodoxy sending down deep roots into the American continent and nearly eighty monasteries in the USA and Canada, we can properly speak of a spiritual geography called the ‘North American Thebaid’. My presentation features some of the most compelling photographs made so far on my pilgrimages.

See my special article, ‘What is a Thebaid?’

Located at 86 Owen Brown St, just off N. Main St and SR 303, St Herman’s is very easy to get to from any direction, being just south of I-80 (Ohio Turnpike). Visit the St Herman’s parish website for directions and map.

If you’ve been curious about the North American Thebaid, and are in the general area, this is a great opportunity.

Hope to see you there!

Market Study confirms: The Thebaid Project is Unique (Updated)

On August 26, 2016August 26, 2016 By zosimasIn Monasteries, Photographs, Project2 Comments

The North American Thebaid is truly unique in the Orthodox Christian world. Market research reveals very few projects similar to this in scope or purpose, and nothing like it in North America. Most photo books on Orthodox monasticism center on exotic and legendary locales such as Mount Athos in Greece, or St. Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai, or on church art and architecture.

Light in DesertBook-OBrien — ‘Light in the Desert’, by Tony O’Brien, University of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe.

Much more than a documentary or photo essay, the images selected for the Thebaid book will resonate with Dostoevsky’s famous dictum, “Beauty will save the world.”

Both inspirational and informational, the Thebaid book will be something to linger over and return to again and again, conveying the unseen mystery and beauty of Orthodox monasticism through visual means, and drawing the viewer to “ask, seek and knock”, and to go deeper into the Orthodox Christian faith.

Because of this podvig of seeking to explore the apophatic, hidden life of the Monastic Way using visual means, I have sought to articulate a ‘Theology of Photography’ (see here and here). It is this emphasis which sets the North American Thebaid Project somewhat apart, and which requires some comparison with other photography books on monasticism.

I am deeply indebted to Archimandrite Gerasim (Eliel) of the OCA Diocese of the South who, in a conversation back in February 2016, urged me to conduct an actual “market study”, to survey and identify photographic books both similar to, as well as different from, my concept for the North American Thebaid. What I discovered is both illuminating, and inspiring.

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Week 1: Crowdfunding Recap & Thank You

On July 18, 2016July 18, 2016 By zosimasIn crowdfunding, ProjectLeave a comment

Thank you to all supporters of the North American Thebaid Project so far, especially to you who contributed during the first week of the Crowdfunding campaign.

The Week 1 numbers are very encouraging. As of mid-day July 18:

Our Facebook Launch Announcement reached over 1,400 views, with 64 Facebook shares by supporters and over 100 likes… and counting!
924 views on the official website since our July 12 crowdfunding launch; over 3200 total!
$1,200 (8% of our goal) raised through our Indiegogo Crowdfunding portal alone;
$2,900 total raised (so far) from twelve gifts across all methods (Crowdfunding, PayPal, In-Person/Cash/Check), for an average of almost $250 per contribution;
Great response to the Thebaid feature article by Pravoslavie/Orthodox Christianity last week, with over 300 (so far) clicking through to the Thebaid.org site;
Strong response to the Thebaid Project Announcement over at Byzantine TX blog, with nearly 200 clicking through to Thebaid.org.

Also, I’m very thankful for the opportunity to give talks and introduce the Thebaid Project both at my home parish, Christ the Savior-Holy Spirit in Cincinnati, and at my “home-away-from-home”, St Symeon’s Orthodox Church in Birmingham AL. Had some good conversations about the Thebaid Project and Orthodox monasticism in North America, and look forward to more parish talks and visits as the Project continues.

How You Can Help:

Make a contribution through our Indiegogo Crowdfunding Page; there are rewards for different levels of support starting at only $10 and $25. At $50 and up you will receive the First Edition of the book upon its publication in 2018. At $275 and up you will receive the Deluxe Limited Edition (leather-bound).
Donate via PayPal (from the Thebaid website); you can make a one-time donation, or a recurring, monthly commitment. (You’ll also receive the same “perks” just as via the crowdfunding campaign, but your donations will not count towards the posted crowdfunding totals.)
Tell your friends, family and church: share by email, Facebook, and other social media using the links provided.
Schedule for me to speak at your church and give a brief presentation on the North American Thebaid.

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What is a ‘Thebaid’?

On January 6, 2016January 4, 2016 By zosimasIn Monasteries, Monastic Writings, Project2 Comments

What is a “thebaid”? Per the Catholic Encyclopaedia,

The valley of the Nile, under Roman domination, was divided into four provinces: Lower and Upper Egypt, Lower and Upper Thebaid. The last two comprised the upper part of the valley. During the fourth to fifth centuries it was the chosen land of the monks, who by their sanctity and by the form they impressed on the monastic system greatly influenced the East and the West.

A thousand years after this initial flowering of Christian monasticism in the Egyptian Thebaid, there was already flourishing in Russia a “Northern Thebaid,” and in the mid-1970s, St Herman of Alaska Press of Platina, California, published a collection of the lives of many of the great Russian ascetics in a book bearing that title. The book’s description reads:

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