Would You Like to
Be An
Inner Light Sponsor?
Inner Light Productions has several photography projects
underway. Our first book has now been completed: Monasticism
in Egypt: Images and Words of the Desert Fathers, which was published in
1998 by the American University in Cairo Press. After that, hopefully to be published in
the year 2000, will be a large-format documentary book which will provide a comprehensive
overview of monasticism in the Eastern Churches at the end of the Second Millennium.
Tentatively entitled, Monks and Monasteries of the Eastern Churches: On the
Threshold of a New Millennium, this book will offer the reader the most
thorough overview available of monastic life in the Eastern Churches of the Middle East,
Africa, the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and North America. If you wish to learn
more about this on-going photographic documentary and how it began, read the enclosed article from The Christian Activist
newspaper.
Producing a documentary work of this magnitude
is a very expensive and time-consuming process. While I am sometimes able to visit and
photograph places of interest in the course of my regular work, I must also make special
trips if all the places of interest to this project are to be covered. The Leica
Camera Corporation has graciously supported this project with the loan of an
extensive array of equipment and other corporate sponsors are being solicited as well.
However, the bulk of the expenses are related to travel costs.
Briefly, the project outline is as follows:
TITLE: Monks and
Monasteries of the Eastern Churches: On the Threshold of a New Millennium
TIME FRAME: 1978 - 2000: The
idea is to document the state of Eastern Church monasticism at the end of the second
millennium throughout the world.
WHERE: All countries that are
historically Eastern or Coptic Orthodox (i.e., non-Roman Catholic Eastern Rite) and
countries with a significant presence of those groups today (through emigration,
evangelism, etc.): USA, Canada, Greece (especially Mount Athos and Meteora), Russia,
Ukraine, Serbia, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Syria, the Holy
Land (Israel and the West Bank), Egypt, Lebanon, and Ethiopia.
WHO: Concentration will, of
course, be on the male monastics for the simple reason that I cannot access communities of
female monastics to the necessary degree. Photos will depict the daily life of monks,
including worship, work, daily routines, etc.
WHAT: Monasteries and the
environments in which they function -- both overall views and details, monastic
"treasures" (icons, reliquaries, manuscripts, etc.), libraries, handicrafts,
details of clothing, monastic environment, caves, hermitages, etc.
THEMES: Images that
communicate the following ideas and themes:
monasteries exist in harmony with their
environment;
monks withdraw from the world, but still provide
services to the world and to lay people;
monasteries as preservatories -- preserving culture,
rites, art, history, etc.;
the ascetic life, the lack of property;
the community -- together in life, together in death;
the Church-centered life;
reaching the outside world: publishing, priestly
services, missionary work, painting churches.
If you agree with me that a project of this
magnitude is worth doing, please consider becoming a sponsor for Monks and
Monasteries of the Eastern Churches. All sponsors who support this project
will be credited in the book itself, in addition to receiving the following gifts for
their support:
$100 -- one 8" x
10" print (on 11" x 14" board) from the country/monastery of choice;
$200 -- one 11" x
14" print (on 16" x 20" board) from the country/monastery of choice;
$300 -- two 11" x
14" prints (on 16" x 20" boards) AND one 8" x 10" print (on
11" x 14" board) from the countries/monasteries of choice.
Larger gifts will be treated as multiple
donations. Prints given to sponsors will NOT entail donations to the monasteries pictured
as the full amount of the donations will go to support the project itself. While the
choices of countries and monasteries will be fully honored, sponsors will not be able to
choose specific images, but rely on the photographer’s judgment.
Please respond by e-mail if you are interested in
becoming an Inner Light sponsor. Your help is needed if this project is
to be completed on time and I am confident you will not be disappointed in the return on
your "investment." Thanks and I hope to hear from you soon!
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