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.



February 22, 2014

Study is Intoxicating, Knowledge is Beautiful, Faith is Infinite


By Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaia and Lavriotiki

Study is intoxicating. Our world is made with unimaginable beauty and wisdom. These two things are worth discovering by someone as much as they can. You just have to do it with human humility, not with the audacity of a pseudo-god. It must be approached within its limits.

Human knowledge, understanding and wisdom is not infinite nor complete. And nature itself shows us our limits.

The universe presents the principle of singularity (a mathematical anomaly). It hides its secret. According to the principle of uncertainty, as nature reveals one secret it hides another.

We are blessed to know many and great things, but doomed to not conquer the infinite and the all.

But this infinite and all, which is beyond our senses and knowledge, leads us to God. Whoever is dizzy from their knowledge has lost God. His life is like a chain and each link is one of success. But the final result is total failure and off the mark.

Knowledge is very beautiful, but it does little to liberate you. It has boundaries and it is finite. This is why we need faith. This leads to infinity and to all.

Source: From the book If There Is Life, I Want To Live. Translation by John Sanidopoulos.

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