ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY THEN AND NOW: Pascha On Mount Athos With Yannis Tsarouchis

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.

April 16, 2012

Pascha On Mount Athos With Yannis Tsarouchis

Yannis Tsarouchis is a famous painter in modern Greece and acquired a deep love for Orthodoxy and the arts the Church has produced through his mentor Photios Kontoglou. He, along with Kontoglou, helped revive Greek tradition in painting. It is known that Tsarouchis (1910-1989) had a deep attraction to Mount Athos where, even when seriously ill, he would arrive every year as a pilgrim before Holy Week to attend the all-night services and would leave after Pascha. He was enthusiastic by the monastic typicon and fascinated by the Byzantine melodies. In his last years he lived at the Cell of Saint Nicholas of Koutloumouseiou Monastery with Elder Hierotheos, he worshipped at Protaton, and always confessed. Manos Hatzidakis wrote: "Tsarouchis is a Christian, not because he goes to church, but because he knows how to stand in it, with the comfort of a priest and the sanctity of a small child."

Wikipedia: Yannis Tsarouchis

The Greek Painter, Yannis Tsarouchis (Greek)

Ο ΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ ΤΣΑΡΟΥΧΗΣ ΚΑΙ Η ΒΥΖΑΝΤΙΝΗ ΜΟΥΣΙΚΗ