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 1, 2011

The Population of Mount Athos May Be Decreasing


July 28, 2011
Amen.gr

According to the last general census, it appears that the population of Mount Athos is decreasing. According to provisional results announced by the Greek Statistical Authority census of the population, conducted during the period from 10 to 24 May 2011, Mount Athos registered 1,830 inhabitants; the population density amounts to 5.45 inhabitants per square kilometer.

Based on the previous general census of 2001, all who lived on the Holy Mountain stood at 2,262 people, while in 1991 it was 1,536.

"We must await the final census data to see if the number of monks who inhabit are really reduced" said the governor of Mount Athos Aristides Kasmiroglou to Amen.gr. He further noted: "The evidence is generally not known whether the earlier censuses included only the monks, or included workers employed in previous years in restoration work."

According to the Greek Statistical Authority data for the entire population of Greece and by extension of Mount Athos, the information is provisional based on the aggregated number of registered people in 94 counties of the country, and not by supervised individual questionnaires, which will follow. For this reason, the data may differ from the final. The final census data will be disclosed in the second half of 2012.

Interesting data on the population of Mount Athos in the 19th century can be found in the blog "Athonite Memories" here.

Translated by John Sanidopoulos

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