When Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote, "The darkest hour is just before dawn," she did not have in mind the fifth week of Lent on a cold Monday in March. But I can think of no better description of this season. The air is heavy, the sky is dark, and the very earth seems to groan for the coming of spring. "Even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (I Cor. 15:22) and we shall all be rejoicing and shouting "Christ is risen!" while the trees and flower beds around the monastery burst into bloom.
Laura's description could be easily applied to this past winter at STM Press. The season has seemed a particularly dark one. Issues with paper, sizing, files, and printing have obscured the release of several new titles. I have refrained from providing updates, hoping that the dark clouds would finally pass, and I would have brighter news to share.
One bright spot in an otherwise bleak midwinter was the release of Service Book for the Faithful. This highly anticipated second edition nearly sold out by way of pre-orders and we were very anxious for its arrival. Now, that it is in the hands of our eager readers, it has garnered fifty five-star reviews! We have already sent for a second printing.
Glimmers of the coming dawn arrived earlier this month in the form of advance copies of these two titles:
The main shipment of these books is expected by Pascha.
We are also excited to announce that the following titles are nearly ready to send to print:
Small Book of Needs
The Great Book of Needs, volume one
The Complete Little Library of Orthodox Christian Hymns
The Festal Menaion: Analogion Edition
The Holy Psalter: Pocket Edition
For this last title, the pocket psalter, I have been the inspired by those monuments of Anglo-Saxon Christianity, such as the Lindisfarne Gospel, to create a series of illustrations and block capitals. Here are some whimsical examples which began as linocuts:
Work also continues on longer term projects. We expect to have several of these in draft form by the coming summer in order to read through them during the divine services. These include:
Horologion
The Apostol
The Holy Gospel
Services of Holy Week
Common Book of Church Hymns: Sunday Matins
Through God's grace and by your generosity, prayers, and patience the monastery brotherhood has continued to grow and prosper. The brotherhood now numbers nearly twenty:
With this growth in both numbers and stability, a new day is dawning for the monastery's press in which the brotherhood will take a more active role in its operations. The brotherhood has always played an important role in praying through the liturgical texts before their publication, serving as an essential spiritual, liturgical, and musical laboratory. However, the brotherhood will now be assuming those roles previously filled by priests and scholars outside the monastic community.
Over the next year or so, I will be facilitating the gradual transfer of the roles of Editor for Liturgical Texts, Editor for Liturgical Music, and my own position as Managing Editor to members of the brotherhood. Those of us outside the monastic community will still be vital for maintaining the high level of scholarship and editorial precision that our readers have grown to expect. Nonetheless, we will be happy to adapt to more supportive roles and allow the monastery brotherhood to assume leadership of their own press.
Wishing you every joy in our risen Lord on that glorious day of Pascha!
—Priest Mikel Hill, managing editor