About – Uncut Mountain Press

The Story of UMP

2000

Uncut Mountain Press has its humble beginnings in the year 2000 in Tagarades, Greece, a small town outside of the ancient city of Thessaloniki. It was there that the newly-wed, first-year student of theology at the Theological School of the University of Thessaloniki, Peter Heers, began translating the Αντιαιρετικοί Διάλογοι of Elder Cleopa of Romania. This work would, the following year, be the Press’ first publication with the title The Truth of our Faith: Discourses from Holy Scripture on the Tenets of Christian Orthodoxy.

2001-2008

Describe etween 2001 and 2008 UMP churned out an average of one book a year. In 2001 the Press, in cooperation with the Missionary Society of St. Kosmas, translated and published Apostle to Zaire: The Life and Legacy of Blessed Father Cosmas of Grigoriou. One volume in English, this book is a compilation of the biography of Father Cosmas by his father and the collection of miraculous accounts from the mission field during and after Father Comsas’ repose by Monk Damascene Grigoriatis. happened this year.

2005

In 2005 the Press succeeded in publishing the second volume of Elder Cleopa’s discourses on Holy Scripture: On the Christian Mysteries. Countless seekers and believers have been won over by Elder Cleopa’s simple and wise explanations of difficult passages of Holy Scripture on those key and controversial issues dividing Protestantism and Catholicism from the ancient Faith of the Orthodox.

2006

The Press was approached by our friend and well-known writer of Orthodox Christian books for children in Greece, Mersine Vigopoulos, the author of From I-ville to You-ville, which UMP published in October of that year. This book has since been reprinted three times and become a run-away favorite with Orthodox faithful everywhere.

2007

We had the blessing and honor of publishing the university lectures of the renowned professor of Dogmatic Theology, Fr. John Romanides (+2001), entitled Patristic Theology.

2008-2014

The Press’ founder and head took an extended break from publishing in order to research and write his own book, The Ecclesiological Renovation of the Second Vatican Council: An Orthodox Examination of Rome’s Ecumenical Theology Regarding Baptism and the Church.

2014-2015

Fr. Peter Heers published The Ecclesiological Renovation of Vatican II, first in Greek in 2014 and then in English in 2015. The book has been hailed by leading Greek Orthodox churchmen as a watershed in ecumenical studies and a paradigm shift for ecumenical relations and ecclesiology.

2015

Archimandrite Ephraim of Siatista, Greece graciously blesses us to translate and publish his small but important book of Noetic Prayer as the Basis of Mission and the Struggle Against Heresy, which Gregory Heers began in earnest.

2016

The translation of St. Gregory Palamas’ Apodictic Treatise on the Procession of the Holy Spirit was begun—a project which would last five years and involve two translators with an editor.

2017

Uncut Mountain Press conducted a very successful GoFundMe Campaign just before Christmas of 2017, raising over $20,000 toward the re-launching of the Press. These funds were used to purchase computers, begin translation projects, and later to hire full time staff.

2019

The Press is approached by G.M. Davis, the author of a unique study of the spiritual and historical implications of the phenomenon of globalization—a manuscript that will eventually see publication as Antichrist, The Fulfillment of Globalization: The Ancient Church and the End of History.

2020-2021

New translation projects were undertaken, including the important collection of lives of contemporary elders from Mt. Athos: Athonite Fathers of the 20th Century. Also began were the Life and Witness of St. Iakovos of Evia,On Common Prayer with the Heterodox by Fr. Anastasios Gotsopoulos, and St. Hilarion Troitsky’s Overview of the Dogma Concerning the Church.

2021

An important collective effort of Orthodox scholars, clergy and lay women concerning the Church’s response to the Covid-19 crisis was undertaken, which would see publication in 2022 as Let No One Fear Death.

In the Fall of 2021 John Coffman officially assumes the role of Assistant General Manager of Uncut Mountain Press.

2022

The Press successfully sends four titles to print, two old-made-new and two entirely new: The Truth of our Faith and Patristic Theology, along with The Church and the Pope and Antichrist, The Fulfillment of Globalization.

In July the Press launches a new website and many new titles!

The Uncut Mountain: The Holy Virgin Theotokos

THE MEANING BEHIND THE NAME

Our Press takes its name from the uncut mountain in the book of Daniel, the All-Holy Theotokos (Birth-giver of God) and Virgin Mary, from whom the Stone (Christ) was cut without hands (Dan. 2:34-35). St. Justin the Martyr (100-165 AD), in his Dialogue with Trypho, refers to this when defending the virgin birth of Christ thus: “To say that it was cut by no human hand (cf. Dan 2.45) is to show that it is not a work of man, but the work of the will of God who produced it, the Father, God of all” (Justin Martyr, Dial. 76).

St. Irenaeus of Lyon also identifies Christ with the Stone in Daniel thus: “Christ is the ‘stone cut out of the mountain without hands,’ which is to annihilate the temporal kingdoms and bring in the everlasting kingdom, that is, the resurrection of the righteous—for ‘the God of heaven,’ it is written, ‘will raise up a kingdom which will never be destroyed’” (Dan 2.44) (Irenaeus of Lyon, Haer. 4.20). It was Irenaeus who first suggested a connection between the mountain from which the stone was cut and the Virgin Mary in his explanation of the significance of the expression “by no human hand” in the Book of Daniel: “His [Christ’s] coming into this world was not by the operation of human hands, that is, of those men who are accustomed to stone-cutting; that is, Joseph taking no part with regard to it, but Mary alone cooperating with the pre-arranged plan. For this stone from the earth derives existence from both the power and the wisdom of God” (Haer. 3.21). (See: Paul Ladouceur, “Old Testament Prefigurations of the Mother of God,” St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly, 50, 1-2 (2006), 5-57).

The “logo” of our Press shows the Uncut Mountain, the All-Holy Theotokos, hands raised in prayer for the whole world, residing in the Holy Mountain of Athos, her millennium old “garden” of holiness and asceticism and truly an uncut mountain, from which the Stone, which the builders rejected, is forever crushing the kingdoms of this world and being laid as the cornerstone of Faith for many.

The People Behind UMP

MEET THE TEAM

Fr. Peter Heers

Founder and Director

Fr. Peter is the founder and current head of Uncut Mountain Press (founded in 2000), the founder and head of The Orthodox Ethos, and the founder and first editor of “Divine Ascent, A Journal of Orthodox Faith” (begun in 1995). Fr. Peter was also the host of the podcast, Postcards from Greece.

Fr. Peter is the author of The Missionary Origins of Modern Ecumenism: Milestones Leading up to 1920, as well as The Ecclesiological Renovation of the Second Vatican Council: An Orthodox Examination of Rome’s Ecumenical Theology Regarding Baptism and the Church, which was released in November 2015 and is available here. It is also available in Greek.

Fr. Peter is also the translator of several books, including The Life of Elder Paisios (co-translator) and The Epistles of Elder Paisios, The Truth of our Faith (vols. 1 & 2) by Elder Cleopa and Apostle to Zaire: The Life of Fr. Cosmas of Grigoriou, as well as the best-selling children’s book From I-ville to You-ville.

Fr. Peter Heers was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up near San Francisco. The son of an Anglican priest, in 1992 his parents and much of his father’s parish converted to the Orthodox Church. In 1996 he came to Thessaloniki, Greece, in order to visit Mt. Athos, returning in 1998 to begin the Theological School of the University of Thessaloniki. Fr. Peter has undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees in Dogmatic Theology from the Theological School of the University of Thessalonica, all completed under the tutelage of Professor Demetrios Tselingides.

He has lived in the Thessaloniki area for 19 years where he was married to a Thessaloniki native (and blessed with 5 children) and ordained to the diaconate and priesthood in 2003, in the Diocese of Kastoria. In 2014 he was made Protopresbyteros and Spiritual Father of the Diocese of Ierissou and Agion Oros. He was the rector and spiritual father of the parish of the Holy Prophet Elias in Petrokerasa, a small village in the mountains outside of Thessalonica, Greece, from 2006 until 2017.

From January 2017 until May 2018, Fr. Peter was the instructor of Old and New Testament at Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary in Jordanville, New York, and continues now as a Lecturer of Ecclesiology in the Certificate of Theological Studies Program. From May 2018 until December 2019, Fr. Peter was the Headmaster of Three Hierarchs Academy In Florence, Arizona. He is a regular speaker to parish groups in the United States and Canada. Fr. Peter Heers currently resides outside of Coolidge, AZ.

John Coffman

Assistant General Manager

Born on his family farm in Central Illinois, John always had an interest in Scripture, theology, and history which God used to lead him to Holy Orthodoxy. He was baptized into the Body of Christ at Holy Cross Antiochian Orthodox Church in Yakima, Washington, in 2010. After some years he was asked by several clergy to enter into the Antiochian House of Studies, at which his projects focused on catechetical work, culminating in a catechetical analysis of the Wisdom of Sirach in the form of daily readings during Great Lent. After spending about a year of struggle at St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery in Arizona and Philotheou Monastery on Mt. Athos, he received a blessing to return to the world, marry, and finish his Master’s work by writing a thesis entitled: Orthodox Catechism in a Neo-Pagan World: Catechizing Today’s Idolatrous World Following the Example of our Holy Fathers.The text is soon to be published by the Antiochian House of Studies Press. In October of 2020, John became the Assistant General Manager at Uncut Mountain Press. Shortly thereafter he became a senior editor at The Orthodox Ethos. Through the miracles of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, John was married to his wife, Eleftheria, in February of 2022. He is now tasked with the launch of the new Uncut Mountain Press website and book releases, while also developing, editing and publishing articles based upon or by the saints, elders, and ascetics of our time for the benefit and upbuilding of the faithful.

Gregory Heers

Translator/Editor

Gregory was born and raised in the environs of Thessaloniki, Greece. Having studied Ancient Greek and Latin for five years and Russian for two, he remains a lover of history, etymology, and languages. An occasional poet in the English language and chanter in the Romaic style, Gregory is the chief translator and editor for Uncut Mountain Press. Hismagnum opusto date is the translation ofThe Acts of the Eighth Œcumenical Council. Other works of his include assisting in the translation of St. Gregory Palamas'sApodictic Treatise on the Procession of the Holy Spirit, the translation of Noetic Prayer as the Basis for Mission and the Struggle Against Heresy,The Divine Service to the Eighth Œcumenical Council,The Supplicatory Canon to Our Venerable Father Ephraim of Philotheou and Arizona,as well as the editing ofOn Common Prayer with the Heterodox,Athonite Fathers of the 20th Century,as well as several other, forthcoming titles. He is currently writing his own book, Days of Old: A History of the World for Orthodox Christian Children.

Bishop Alexis (Trader)

Translator

Bishop Alexis né John F. Trader was born in Dover, Delaware, and has lived in Greece since 1996. He is the author of Ancient Christian Wisdom and Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Therapy: A Meeting of Minds (Peter Lang, 2012), as well as Let us Pray to the Lord (Precious Veil, 2014). In 2019, Fr. Alexis took up residence at the Monastery of Saint Tikhon in South Canaan, Pennsylvania and was made auxiliary bishop to Metropolitan Tikhon for Stavropegial Institutions on January 25, 2020. He is the translator of Patristic Theology by Fr. John Romanides, published by Uncut Mountain Press in 2007.

Desiring to live the Orthodox Christian Faith as fully and radically as possible, in 1988 he entered the Monastery of Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk in Eastern Pennsylvania, and he taught courses in patristics, the spiritual life, and the order of Divine Services in the Orthodox Seminary adjacent to the monastery. In 1996, he went to the Monastery of Karakallou on the Holy Mountain of Athos, located on a remote peninsula jutting into the Aegean Sea, where he worked in the kitchen and was later ordained to the diaconate, the priesthood, and eventually made a father confessor. In 2005, he became the serving priest at a dependency of Karakallou, the Monastery of Saint Demetrios, Nea Kerdyllia, Greece. It is situated high on a hilltop overlooking the Aegean towards Mt Athos, a pastoral place where shepherds can often be seen passing by with their flocks and where visitors can see the restoration of an ancient Byzantine church, where Liturgies were celebrated clandestinely during the Ottoman occupation.

He began his education studying Chemistry and religious studies at Franklin and Marshall College (BA), Divinity at the University of Chicago (MA), and Orthodox theology at Saint Tikhon’s Theological Seminary (MDiv), and he completed his studies in theology at the University of Thessaloniki (PhD). In addition to his own published works, he has also translated a number of books including: Anestis Keselopoulos’s Passions and Virtues According to Saint Gregory Palamas (2004), (2008) Dionysios Farasiotis’s The Gurus, the Young Man, and Elder Paisios (2008), and Elder Isaac’s Elder Paisios of Mount Athos (co-translator, 2012). He has also written the foreword to Greece’s Dostoevsky: The Theological Vision of Alexandros Papadiamandis (August 2011).

In 2020 he was elevated to become an OCA bishop of Bethesda, auxiliary to the Metropolitan for Stavropegial Institutions; Locum Tenens of Sitka and Alaska.

Fr. George Dokos

Translator

Fr. George Dokos is the translator of the three-volume series of the works of St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite published by Uncut Mountain Press in 2006-7.

Fr. George is the rector of St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church in Minneapolis (since 2014). He is married to Presbytera Christa and they have four children. He has a Bachelor’s of Science in Pharmacy from the University of Minnesota (1995), a Master of Divinity from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (1999) and a PhD from the University of Thessaloniki (2010). Fr. George was ordained to Holy Diaconate (12-9-2001) and Holy Priesthood (4-28-2002) by Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver. He served Holy Trinity GOC in Dallas, TX (2001-04), Transfiguration GOC in Sioux Falls, SD (2007-08), and Sts. Peter & Paul GOC in Boulder, CO (2008-14).

Fr. Iakovos Henson

Translator

Fr. Iakovos Henson studied classical languages at Kenyon College, USA; holds an MA in theology from the Cambridge Theological Federation; and in 2016 completed his PhD in Dogmatic Theology at the Theological School of Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece. He is presently translating The Ascetic and Hesychastic Athonite Traditionby Elder Efthymios of Kapsala (in English, entitledAthonite Fathers of the 20th Century) for Uncut Mountain Press, due out in 2022.

Fr. Christopher Moody

Translator

Father Christopher Moody is an orthodox priest of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. He currently serves as an Active Duty Army Chaplain. He is a graduate of the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, 2010, (magna cum laude). He is a graduate of the Army Command and Staff College, Chaplain Captain Career Course, and Officer Basic course. He will be assigned as an Army ethicist. His most recent civilian pastorate was Holy Trinity, GOC, Holyoke, MA. His translations include The Procession of the Holy Spirit, co-translator Gregory Heers, and The Triads, unpublished.

Fr. Nathan K. Williams

Translator

Rev. Nathan K. Williams received his BA in theology from Holy Trinity Seminary in 2005, then went on to receive an MA in Russian from Middlebury College Russian School the following year. In 2017 he was ordained to the priesthood at St. Alexander Nevsky Church in Richmond, Maine, where he now serves as assistant priest. For the past 15 years Fr. Nathan has been working as an independent Russian to English and English to Russian translator and interpreter. His published translations include Flavian and other books by Archpriest Alexander Torik, The Law of God and numerous other works by Rev. Daniel Sysoev, What God has Done For Our Salvation by St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, and more.

The Story of UMP

The Uncut Mountain: The Holy Virgin Theotokos