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 18, 2015

What Do the 153 Fish Caught by the Apostle Peter Signify?


By St. Maximus the Confessor

"Simon Peter went up and drew the net to the land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and though there were so many, the net was not torn" [Jn. 21:11].

What does the number of the one hundred and fifty-three fish in the Gospel signify?

By beginning at one and adding until seventeen [1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 + 17 = 153], you will generate this number. Thus, this signifies that precisely through the fulfillment of the ten commandments and through the seven activities of the Holy Spirit, those who are being saved will enter into the kingdom of the heavens; or also, it signifies those who are being saved and made worthy of the kingdom through the Faith of the Holy Trinity and by the hope of things to come - for the number fifty goes beyond the sevenfold [number] of weekly time - and by the operation of the commandments, which is signified by the number one hundred.

From Questions and Doubts, "Question 56," trans. Despina D. Prassas (DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 2009), p. 74.

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