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.



July 14, 2012

The Eucharist as a 'Continuous' Sacrifice in the New Testament


The King James Version of Hebrews 10:12 and 10:14 reads as follows:

"But He, when He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God."

"For by one offering He had perfected forever them that are sanctified."

The Greek word here translated in the KJV as well as other English versions of the Bible as "forever" is the word "διηνεκες", which denotes something to be "continuous" or "perpetual". In fact, never does the word διηνεκες mean "forever". Hence, the passages above are mistranslated in English versions of the New Testament, including Roman Catholic translations.

Protestant translators mistranslate this text to fit their soteriology. They believe that the one sacrifice of Christ on the Cross is sufficient without need of partaking of the Eucharist, which many believe to be a mere remembrance of the crucifixion without any real transformation taking place. However, Orthodox Christians believe what Holy Scripture truly teaches, that the sacrifice offered once on the Cross by the Lamb of God is continuously repeated on the sacrificial altars of Orthodox churches through the mysterious transformation of the bread and wine into the very Body and Blood of Christ, through the invocation of the Holy Spirit by the priest sacrificing. That Christ Himself affirms that this sacrifice ought to be done continuously, we read in John 6:53: "Verily verily I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you." In the Greek this sentence implies a continuous action. This illuminates Hebrews 10:14 as well, which should say: "For by one offering He hath perfected them continuously that are sanctified." In other words, the sanctification due to the sacrifice on the Cross is continued by the repeated sacrifice that takes place through the sacrament of the Eucharist.

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