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.



March 24, 2010

Murderer of Hieromonk Grigory Yakovlev Killed By Bear?


Krishnaite Who Cut Krasnoyarsk Priest's Head Could Have Been Killed By Taiga Bear

Moscow, 24 March 2010, Interfax - Ruslan Lyuberetsky who brutally killed the Rector of the Trinity Church in the village of Tura near Krasnoyarsk in 2000 could have fallen victim to a bear in Taiga.

On March 21, 2000, Lyuberetsky killed Hieromonk Grigory (Yakovlev) in the church, cut his head and put it on the altar. The criminal was detained the same day and told he acted on Krishna's instructions, the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily has reported on Wednesday.

The court found Lyuberetsky insane and he was sent to psychiatrists of the prison hospital. However, some time later he was discharged. Hunters found high boots and bloodstained clothes in Krasnoyarsk Taiga in fall 2009. Local residents claim these things belong to Lyuberetsky. Insomniac bears were wandering around the wood exactly at that time.

People in Tura still remember Fr. Grigory. Parishioners come to the tomb of the former Rector of the Trinity Church each year on March 21, the day when he was killed.

Hieromonk Grigory Yakovlev, the rector of the church in the town of Tura, Krasnoyarsk Region, was murdered on March 21, 2000 in the church of the Holy Trinity. The murderer, Ruslan Lyubetsky, 26, severed the priest’s head and placed it on the holy table. The same day he was arrested. He said it was ‘the god Krishna’ who made him do that.

To read more about the murder and Hieromonk Grigory, see here and here.



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