Having entered the Christmas season, we ask those who find the work of the Mystagogy Resource Center beneficial to them to help us continue our work with a generous financial gift as you are able. As an incentive, we are offering the following booklet.

In 1909 the German philosopher Arthur Drews wrote a book called "The Myth of Christ", which New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman has called "arguably the most influential mythicist book ever produced," arguing that Jesus Christ never existed and was simply a myth influenced by more ancient myths. The reason this book was so influential was because Vladimir Lenin read it and was convinced that Jesus never existed, thus justifying his actions in promoting atheism and suppressing the Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union. Moreover, the ideologues of the Third Reich would go on to implement the views of Drews to create a new "Aryan religion," viewing Jesus as an Aryan figure fighting against Jewish materialism. 

Due to the tremendous influence of this book in his time, George Florovsky viewed the arguments presented therein as very weak and easily refutable, which led him to write a refutation of this text which was published in Russian by the YMCA Press in Paris in 1929. This apologetic brochure titled "Did Christ Live? Historical Evidence of Christ" was one of the first texts of his published to promote his Neopatristic Synthesis, bringing the patristic heritage to modern historical and cultural conditions. With the revival of these views among some in our time, this text is as relevant today as it was when it was written. 

Never before published in English, it is now available for anyone who donates at least $20 to the Mystagogy Resource Center upon request (please specify in your donation that you want the book). Thank you.



October 27, 2010

Video: Russia's Floating Church



Title: A Ship of God

This trailer presents the first 10 minutes of the CRTN - documentary "A Ship of God"

Production Date: 1998
Duration: 24' 50''

Copyright : CRTN
Language: English, Hungarian, German, French, Russian
Executive Producer: Mark Riedemann
Director: Agnieszka Dzieduszycka

The documentary recounts the first efforts of the Russian Orthodox Church, following communism, to reach out to those villages in the Russian steppe where there are no priests and no churches. It focuses on a very exceptional Orthodox church building in Russia, a floating church on the river Volga in the region of Volgograd, the former city "Stalingrad" known for its cruel siege in World War II. The documentary is based on personal testimonies of Russians, some of which are confronted with the church - the Orthodox Church - for the first time in their lives.


Two priests, Fr. Sergey and Fr. Genadiy, spend most of their time on the ship, the center of which is a large room functioning as a an Orthodox Church. The boat is floating along the river eight months out of the year. Four months the river is frozen so that it is impossible to navigate. Through this churchboat it is possible for the priests to reach out to people living in villages along the river that have no church buildings. The priests teach, baptize and hold ceremonies, liturgies and weddings, bless young and old and "preach the Gospel to every creature".

See also a video feature of the floating church from the Discovery Chanel here.

Read also: Russian Church To Float Down Siberian Rivers

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