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 15, 2011

"Civil War" Has Broken Out In the Church of Greece


To read more about the context and real origins of this controversy, read the latest here.

Maria Antoniadou
March 15, 2011
Vema

"Civil War" has broken out in the Church of Greece between the self-proclaimed traditional Orthodox hierarchs and those hierarchs engaged in dialogues with other Christian Churches.

The battle has assumed such proportions that some believers signed a "Declaration and Confession of Walling-Off" which among other things warns Bishops that "to remain in the Orthodox Faith and Truth, we will abstain from ecclesiastical Sacraments and Acts performed by clergy who commune and mention heretics and heretical bishops, and we will request bishops and priests who do not commemorate them and who renounce Ecumenism."

"Rebellious"

The "Declaration and Confession of Walling-Off" is only one of the neoconservative movements in recent years who voice in the most resounding way their views and positions on the Internet.

According to information from almost all over the country, there is being conducted a "guerrilla war" against hierarchs expressing a different position from their own views. It is indicative of the dominating climate which is said to have unfolded in the Church of Thessaloniki, where a well-known clergyman, having anathematized the Pope and urged the faithful to follow him, then criticized the position of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Greece to hold dialogues with Roman Catholics and other Christians as well as their participation in the World Council of Churches.

Piraeus Strikes Again

Two bishops, the Metropolitan's Seraphim of Piraeus and Seraphim of Kythera, have boosted the rebellion.

The Metropolitan of Piraeus requested the withdrawal of the Church of Greece from the World Council of Churches and reportedly managed with his position in the 12-member Holy Synod, on Monday morning, to spark an intense debate about the possibility of continued participation in dialogues by the Church of Greece.

And the whole issue will be discussed again on Wednesday morning when at the Holy Synod meeting there will also be the members of the Inter-Orthodox and Inter-Christian relations.

At the same time Metropolitan Seraphim of Kythera on the Sunday of Orthodoxy stated among other things:

"This pan-heresy of Ecumenism is undisturbed today even in the Orthodox world, since Orthodox Bishops consider those not in communion with the Orthodox in communion, against the Holy Canons; heterodox and heretics sometimes jointly-pray during the Divine Liturgy, dressed in the vestments of the Hierarchy."

Translated by John Sanidopoulos
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