Giving back with your help

Thank God for you and your help!

This morning Reader John and I reflected on the huge outpouring of support for the Lectionary Bible and all our past projects. In gratitude, we want to share this book with our future clergy and students. So, right out of the gate we are going to give back to our community by offering $500 worth of our books to seminarians, prison ministries, students, and clergy. (More on this shortly.)

I am incredibly grateful to Fr. Dan Daly and the iconographers who worked at St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church, who patiently helped me come home to Orthodoxy. I found that as I got to the witnesses of the Faith, I got to the truth. If someone hadn’t taken the time to guide me to this place of peace, I would never have found it. Where would I be now?

By God’s grace we are blessed to help others strengthen their link in the unbroken chain through our books at Saint Ignatius Orthodox Press and our icons at our sister company, Legacy Icons. We are eager to place the Lectionary Bible in your hands, and with your support, we look forward to what is next.

When many of us were growing up “back in the 1900s” (as I like to say), we could not have comprehended the things today’s youth are facing. They are being horribly pursued by toxic and evil spiritual powers like never before. The next generation is a critical link in the historic chain of Orthodox Christianity. Our responsibility is to pass the torch and prepare them to carry it on into the future. To help strengthen them, we are going to share these books with Orthodox schools and students.

If you share our vision, we want to invite you to join us. We will continue giving $500 worth of our titles (the Lectionary Bible, prayer books, Holy Gospel, Holy Apostle, Psalter, etc.) with every additional $1000 we raise on this campaign, to the benefit of suitable Orthodox organizations. We have a list of organizations we are considering, but please comment on this post with suggestions.

Not many know about why we are so driven to fight for the truth. It’s hard to balance sharing facts and coming across as self-glorifying. So I generally avoid it. But in this case, I think you may appreciate some context.

For over ten years I was the spokesman and biographer of the last American survivor of WWI. He and I did a lot of historical work together, much of it in Washington DC, trying to restore memorials and honor the 4.7 million Americans who served. “Memory eternal” has a deep meaning for me. And I know firsthand that if history is not valued, it will be eroded and erased.

My life experience made incredibly real how critical history is, and how irreplaceable the words of a first-hand witness are. Our publications stand for the history, teachings, and worship of the Orthodox Church. These things must be preserved and accessible to all, so that its light only grows. We want to pass on and spread these critical artifacts of our Faith, to help as many as possible to grow in the life of Christ. This responsibility drives us every day.

Thank you again for your help. We are humbled by the love and support.

Yours in Christ,

David DeJonge,
Saint Ignatius Orthodox Press