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 24, 2014

Fatal Easter Traditions


April 22, 2014

One man was killed and another seriously injured from gunshot during a village festival in Crete to mark Easter Sunday.

The victim, named as 25-year-old Yiorgos Gyparakis, was fatally shot on Sunday afternoon in Myriokefala, outside Rethymno, where villagers had assembled to fire off live rounds in the air, in a tradition known as balothies.

According to local media, one of the victim's friends pulled out his gun to fire in the air, but managed to hit Gyparakis and a 23-year-old man. Both were rushed to hospital, where Gyparakis was pronounced dead. The other man is being treated for eye wounds.

After taking statements from eyewitnesses, police later arrested a 40-year-old man suspected of firing the shots.

Meanwhile, the condition of an American tourist injured by a makeshift firecracker on Holy Saturday during the Resurrection service on the island of Santorini was described as critical on Monday evening.

The woman, who was flown to Irakleio hospital in Crete, underwent an abdominal surgery after she was hit by a firework that went off in the courtyard of a church in Oia. It is believed that the firecracker was dropped from the roof of the church. Two suspects, aged 23 and 34, have been arrested.

Two other US citizens and a 50 year-old Greek were also seriously injured in the incident and were taken to the same hospital.

Elsewhere, in the village of Angelokastro, in the western prefecture of Aetolia-Acarnania, a man was seriously wounded in the hand when the firecracker he had tried to light subsequently went off.

The weekend's tragedies follows an incident last week in which a 51 year-old-man on the island of Chios was blown to pieces while working with dynamite. An investigation revealed he had bought the explosives and fuses earlier and was using them to make fireworks.

In their annual crackdown on illegal firecrackers, police said that the carried out 2,354 inspections from 12 March to Easter Sunday, confiscating 120,000 firecrackers, 630 rockets, 24 flares, 245 devices used to launch flares and rockets, 400 cartridges, 570,155 fireworks for children and making 107 arrests.

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