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 8, 2013

The Prayer of Elder Eumenios That Pleased the Lord


Fr. Eumenios was born in 1931 in Ethia of Monophatsion in the province of Heraklion of Crete, the eighth child of a poor family of faithful Christians. He became a monk at the age of 17; he struggled to cultivate his soul with love and prayer and was tested very harshly by leprosy; but later also, while a priest, by a demonic influence which tormented him in body and soul, but was freed of it after many prayers, vigils and exorcisms in monasteries of Crete, such as the monasteries of Koudoumas and Panagia Kalyviani.

The holy Elder’s personal ascetic struggles are not widely known. However, the following prayer of his is of particular importance; a prayer that is included along with much more information on his life and the witness of many people who had met him (as well as many testimonies about his holy spiritual gifts, in the excellent book by Monk Simon, Fr. Eumenios – The Hidden Saint of our Time, Athens 2010, ed. 2, pp. 133-134 (in Greek).

Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou, Cyprus, narrates the following story:

A very important event from Elder Eumenios’ life that I recall, is a prayer that he had coined:

"Lord Jesus Christ, I want You to save all people.

And God was pleased.

And then I said: Lord Jesus Christ, I want You to save all the Catholics. And all the Protestants, my Christ, I want You to save them.

And God was pleased.

I also want You to save the Muslims and all those who belong to all the religions; I want You to save even the atheists.

And God was very pleased.

And I told him: My Christ, I want you to save all those who have fallen asleep, from the time of Adam until now.

And God was very pleased.

And I told him: My God, I want you to save Judas also. And finally I added: I want you to save the devil also.

And God was saddened."

I asked him: "Why was God sad?"

"Because God wants to, but they don’t (want to be saved)," he replied; "there is not a trace of good will for salvation in the devil."

"Hold on," I told him, "how did you know when God was pleased and when He was sad?"

And he said to me: "If your heart becomes one with Christ’s heart, you feel what He feels."

So, can you perceive the breadth of this man’s heart? This was one of the most powerful things I have ever heard; and I have never heard something like it by anyone else. And he perceived those things from the intensity of Grace. Depending on the degree of Grace, he was able to perceive His sadness or His pleasure, to whatever he said or did.

 
 
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