"Monasticism in Egypt: Images and Words of the Desert Fathers" by: Michael McClellan I . . . ordered your photography book and have it on my coffee table. It's a gem! -- Carolyn Silva, Los Gatos, California Published by the American University in Cairo Press, this beautifully printed, hardbound, "gift book" contains all the photos contained in our on-line gallery, as well as a few others. Each photo is "illustrated" by quotations from the Desert Fathers as recorded by Palladius in Paradise of the Fathers, and there is extensive information about the development of monasticism in Egypt (including a special section on St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai) written by the noted German scholar of the Coptic and Eastern Churches, Dr. Otto Meinardus. This book brings to life the words of the ancient saints of the Egyptian desert by showing the Desert Fathers of today who walk those same paths and live in the same places as those monks of 1600 years ago. This volume, incidentally, is the first of several we plan to publish over the coming years on monasticism throughout the world, both in the Christian tradition and in other traditions. Here's a review of the book from the publisher's catalog: Christian monasticism began in Egypt over 1600 years ago, in the barren desert between the Nile Valley and the Red Sea, from where it spread far and wide through various Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant traditions. But in the deserts of Egypt, sixteen centuries after the Desert Fathers, monasticism still thrives, and it is to these isolated monasteries in one of the world's most inhospitable environments that photographer Michael McClellan here turns his lens. Through his peaceful and timeless black-and-white images, McClellan reveals the quiet, spiritual world of today's desert fathers in the Coptic monasteries of the Red Sea Mountains, Wadi al-Natrun, and Upper Egypt, and in the Greek Orthodox monastery of St. Catherine at the foot of Mount Sinai. Illuminating the photographs are extracts from the "Paradise of the Fathers," tales of the Desert Fathers collected by Saint Palladius. To order a copy of this book at a discount, just click here and we'll take you to Amazon.com where you can order it safely on line.  Thank you for your interest! Portfolio -- Landscapes & Nature | Portfolio -- Monks & Monasteries | Portfolio -- People & Portraits | Portfolio -- Still Lifes | Statement of Philosophy | Exhibitions | Reviews and Articles | BOOK: "Monasticism in Egypt" | CD with Photos | Photographer's Resume | Inner Light Productions | Home | E-Mail  © Michael McClellan, 2002