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.



September 4, 2010

The Jamaican-Orthodox Grooves of Komba Bakkh


Komba Bakkh: Exponents of “Natural, Jamaican-Orthodox Grooves”

July 24, 2010
Far From Moscow

Komba Bakkh are an all-male outfit from Kostroma, an ancient town first mentioned in chronicles around 1213; some historians date the founding of Kostroma hundreds of years earlier. Today it is home to just under 300,000 people, all of whom are surrounded by a rich architectural and spiritual heritage. Komba Bakkh are acutely aware of threats to this tradition and celebrate it in the strangest of ways: they are avid exponents of Orthodox Christian, primarily acoustic hip-hop. Their name comes from an equivalent of the word "combo" (i.e., ensemble) and an anagram made from the performers' initials.

We first celebrated their work in 2008: "Most of the group – who number up to eight when performing live – met in school and formed friendships around a shared enthusiasm for Russian rappers Detsl and Ligalaiz, plus Canada’s Amon Tobin and New Jersey’s The Fugees. They performed their first ever concert in Moscow only three days ago [in 2008]. The promotional materials have added to this strange melange by noting that Komba had already, while still at school, developed sufficient tech-skills to start mixing samples from Wyclef Jean with Stravinskii…"

"Komba Bakkh now use their music to champion several causes, most notably the value of Orthodoxy for one’s well-being, and the unification of Russia and Belarus for ancient spiritual reasons. As they say: 'We take everything that’s ‘not-modern”… and then we make it modern! We love Russian Folk-Hip-Hop and play it as best we can. Give us a chance and we’ll get you going! We’ve got one hope – that we’ll not live in vain and that people will remember us fondly. Thanks, everyone! God is Love.'”

Read the rest here.

Visit the official website of Komba Bakh here.
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