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.



September 14, 2016

Holy Martyr Papas of Lycaonia

St. Papas of Lycaonia (Feast Day - September 14 & March 16)

Verses

For September 14
Pappas was ashamed to groan at his wounds,
For he had God as helper by his side.

For March 16
Bound with fetters to a tree, O Papas you ascended,
Like Zacchaeus you were inspired to see Christ.

Saint Papas lived during the reign of Emperor Maximian (286-305) and Governor Magnus, in the city of Laranda in Lycaonia. Seeing the whole world entrenched in idolatry, Papas persuaded many of the region to believe and confess Christ as King and God, and he was arrested and brought before the governor, whom he shamed by his steadfast confession.


He suffered various and many kinds of torments for his faith in Christ. After throwing him on the ground and beating him, they broke his jaw by striking his face with a rock. Then they hung him upside down and scourged him, ripped at his flesh with iron claws, and burned his wounds with a lit lamp. Enduring these torments bravely the tormentors then forced him to wear iron shoes covered with nails and had him run from Laranda to Diocaesarea in Isauria and on to Seleucia, in front of the horses of the governor.

Lastly they tied him to a withered fruit tree, from which immediately emerged leaves and flowers and fruit, and there he delivered his soul into the hands of God, and received from Him the crown of martyrdom. His holy relic was a treasure and source of miracles and joy to the Christians of Lycaonia.*

Notes:

* The life of Saint Papas celebrated on September 14th is almost exactly the same with Saint Papas celebrated on March 16th, except that the former does not say he died tied up to a tree. Therefore we can assume they are not two different people, but one. The dual commemoration may be due to the fact that his feast was transferred from September 14th due to the focus on the Exaltation of the Honorable Cross celebrated on that day (for which the feast of the Dormition of Saint John Chrysostom was transferred from September 14 to November 13), or he had two feasts due to his local popularity. This is testified to the fact that in the Menologion of Basil II for September 14th, the image depicts Saint Papas being beaten by a tree, even though the one difference between the two lives is that only in the March 16th version was a tree involved in the story.



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