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.



August 30, 2010

Thousands Attend Funeral of Metropolitan Augoustinos Kantiotes


Thousands of faithful from all over Greece gathered this past weekend to pay their last respects and for the funeral of Metropolitan Augoustinos Kantiotes at the Metropolis of Saint Panteleimon in Florina. The funeral took place this morning, 30 August 2009, following a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy. He will be buried at the Holy Monastery of Saint Augustine in Florina.

Yesterday, 29 August 2010, Archbishop Ieronymos had the following to say about the Metropolitan:

"The Blessed Metropolitan of Florina, Mr. Augoustinos, was a unique personality with much dynamism, a man of learning, with many struggles. He will be a person of history of whom many things will be said for and against. From my own personal perception he was a man that is difficult to meet in life regarding his dynamism and his living example of struggle. Today we feel sadness because the Church owes him much. May God rest his soul and may we imitate him in whatever good he had, and he had much."




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