ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY THEN AND NOW: Bulgarian Church Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

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 18, 2013

Bulgarian Church Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

March 16, 2013

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2013 on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the salvation of the Bulgarian Jews during WW2.

The nomination was initiated by Mr. Lachezar Toshev, deputy chairman of the permanent delegation of the Bulgarian national assembly at PACE, and MP from the Blue Coalition. He is also an honorary associate member of PACE and one of the persons entitled to make nominations for this high prize.

The documents for the nomination were submitted at the end of last year in Oslo, where the Nobel Prize is awarded.

“The act of salvation of the Bulgarian Jews from the Holocaust is not known very well internationally, although there are enough documents to prove it. One such nomination will at least shed light on the issue in the course of the discussions,” Toshev said.

“This decision of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is a world precedent and is also praiseworthy, because the church risked its own future in the name of the salvation of a minority of different religion,” he added.