St Herman Press and the future of The Orthodox Word

The St Herman Monastery Brotherhood announced recently their decision to change their publishing model for The Orthodox Word from subscription-based to individual annual issues.

The First Issue, Jan-Feb 1965

I was recently shopping on their website, and in reading the announcement, realized I was under the mistaken impression that they were ending publication of their venerable and beloved periodical permanently. This is incorrect, and because I was unclear as to the future of The Orthodox Word, I suspected others might be also, and would appreciate an update as to the Press's future plans for their longtime flagship publication.  

The Orthodox Word was, of course, founded in 1965 by Eugene Rose and Gleb Podmoshensky — the future Fr Seraphim and Abbot Herman, and was one of the first Orthodox Christian periodicals in the English language. These excerpts from the announcement on the St Herman Press website provide the essential information (emphasis added):

With more than a little regret, we have decided to discontinue The Orthodox Word as a subscriber-based periodical at the end of the current volume (no. 59). Our last issue will be no. 353...

The good news is that we will continue publishing one double-sized issue of The Orthodox Word per year, which can be purchased individually, rather than by subscription. As before, these issues will be made available in both print and digital editions.

Among our future plans is the publication, in book form, of compilations of past articles from The Orthodox Word, so that this material will be available to a wider readership and have greater permanency.

You can read the full announcement here for further details and the Brotherhood's reasoning behind this change, but the main point I wished to convey here is that The Orthodox Word is, God willing, not going away, it is merely changing in frequency of publication and purchase model. 

May it last for many years, until the Lord's Parousia, if I may be so bold as to say!