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.



February 25, 2015

Fasting Resource Page

Gluttony, Vatopaidi Monastery
 
Orthodox Fasting 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Secret-Eater Monk 
 
Elder Timothy Tzannis: On Temperance 
 
Fr. Alexander Men: On Keeping the Orthodox Fasts 
 
Dialogue With an Athonite Elder on Fasting 
 
The Power of Prayer and Fasting 
 
Healing By Prayer and Fasting 
 
The Ascetic Corrective (Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople) 
 
Fasting Is Great, But Love Is Greater 
 
Who Should Commune? 
 
To Forgive Is More Admirable Than To Fast 
 
We Ought Not Care More For the Body Than the Soul 
 
Scandalizing By Fasting? 
 
Various Views on Fasting 
 
Should A Child Fast? 
 
A Church Where the Theotokos Confirms the Practice of Fasting 
 
Pouqueville on Greek Fasting Practices in 1798 
 
A Confrontation Between Eugenios Voulgaris and Voltaire 
 
The Man Who Starved to Death While Feeding the Hungry
 
 
Fasting and the Saints  
 
The Lengthy Fasts of the True and False Saints
 
Holy Martyr Hyacinth the Cubicularius of Caesarea 
 
The Childhood Fasting of Hosios Loukas 
 
Saints Anthony, John, and Eustathius of Lithuania 
 
Holy Abba Ares 
 
Saint Aquila the Deacon of the Kiev Caves 
 
The Fragrant Paschal Egg of Saint Iakovos Tsalikes   
 
The Forty Day Fast of Saint Paisios the Athonite for the World

 

General Fasting Rules and Practices

Q & A: Fasting Rules Regarding "No Wine And Oil" Days

Why We Fast From Olive Oil and Not From Olives

Elder Epiphanios Faces Challenging Fasting Questions

Father, Why Don't We Eat Meat During Fasts?


Wednesday and Friday Fasting

The Benefits of Fasting On Wednesdays and Fridays


Day of the Cross Fast (September 14th)

Why Do We Fast on September 14th?

Pontian Customs for the Day of the Cross


The Nativity Fast (November 15-24th)

On the Nativity Fast - When? Why? How?

The Nativity Fast

Why the Nativity Fast Has Been Established

The Nativity Fast and Orthodox Tradition

Reflections On The Nativity Fast

Fasting: "As Old As Humanity"

Christmas With Papa Tychon


Theophany Eve Fast (January 5th)

The Theophany Eve Fast on January 5th

Clarifications and Guidelines for the Observation of Theophany


The Great Fast of Lent (in preparation for Pascha)

Why Orthodox Christians Fast (St. Nikolai Velimirovich)

Why Don't We Fast During the Week of the Publican and the Pharisee?

Advice for Healthy Fasting During Great Lent

Great Lent: A Time of Hunger and Temptation

Tsiknopempti - "Barbecue Thursday"

Why Only No Meat During Cheesefare Week?

Sunday of Cheesefare: Forgiving and Fasting

Let Us Fast With a Fast That is Pleasing To the Lord (St. John Maximovitch)

Great Lent Imitates the Fast of Christ

Why Jesus Fasted After His Baptism

The Holy Forty Day Fast

St. Dorotheos of Gaza: On the Holy Lenten Fast

Sex and Great Lent

Great Lent in Fourth Century Jerusalem

Clean Monday and the First Week of Great Lent

Clean Monday and It's Traditional Observance

How A Cypriot Village Kept the Blessed Three Day Fast

The Year I Kept the Holy Three-Day Fast at the Beginning of Great Lent

Clean Week in the Monasteries of the Holy Land

Homily for Tuesday of the First Week of Great Lent at Great Compline: About Fasting and Its Benefits 

The Fragrant Paschal Egg of Saint Iakovos Tsalikes 

Elder Paisios and the Boiled Milk During Lent

Lagana, the Greek Bread Traditionally Served for Clean Monday

Homily for the First Saturday of Great Lent (St. Symeon the New Theologian)

Metropolitan George of Paphos Interviewed Concerning the Fast of Great Lent

Why Lent Must Rise Again

"You Feed on Men's Flesh and Blood"

St. Theodore the Studite: On Fasting and Dispassion

Concerning the Christians Who Were Massacred in Bulgaria During the Holy Lent, On Account of Meat-eating

Saint Patrick and the Flesh-Meat that Changed into Fishes

Concerning the Diet of the Fathers

Connecticut Diner Observes Orthodox Lent

On our Accomplishing the Days of the Fast Gently and Readily in the Hope of Life Without End

The Man of God From Judah

St. Gregory Palamas on the Fifth Sunday of Lent

Fasting Rules For Annunciation and Palm Sunday

Despite the War, Many of the Greek Soldiers in 1940 Kept the Fasts of the Church 

Lent in Narnia

Your Brain During the Great Fast

A Lenten Lesson


The Apostle's Fast (Second Monday after Pentecost till June 29th)

On the Fast of the Apostles (St. Symeon of Thessaloniki)

A History of the Apostle's Fast

The Fast of the Holy Apostles and the New Calendar

Venerable Macarius' Miracle of the Moose

Holy New Martyr James of Kastoria and his Two Disciples James the Deacon and Dionysios the Monk (+ 1520)


The Dormition Fast (August 1-15th)

The Fast and Preparation for the Feast of the Dormition

Why We Fast for the Dormition of the Theotokos (St. Symeon of Thessaloniki)

The Dormition Fast

The Dormition Fast

Saint John the New Martyr of Monemvasia

The Fasting Maccabees (Demetrios Panagopoulos)


The Beheading of St. John the Forerunner (August 29th)

Orthodox Customs to Honor the Beheading of St. John the Forerunner


Fasting and Science

Fasting and Science

Advice for Healthy Fasting During Great Lent

"Fasting Works Miracles"

"Fasting Works Miracles"

Greek Orthodox Fasting Cleanses Body and Soul

The Health Benefits of Fasting

Does Intermittent Fasting Have Benefits? Science Suggests Yes

If You Want To Avoid Cancer, Live Like A Monk

Vegetative Cures for Cancer

Fasting Reduces Bad Cholesterol

Study Finds A Three-Day Fast Regenerates the Entire Immune System

Health Benefits of Fasting Seen in Dolphins

Study Says Fasting May Help Protect Brain

Effects of Orthodox Christian Fasting on Serum Lipids and Obesity

Fasting for Lent Forces Hyenas to Change Diet


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