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.



November 12, 2016

Saint Leo Styppes, Patriarch of Constantinople (+ 1143)

St. Leo Styppes of Constantinople (Feast Day - November 12)

Verses

Leo drives away the demons of the air,
Having come out of this life like a lion from the reeds.

Leo Styppes was Patriarch of Constantinople from May 1134 until his death in January 1143. He was a presbyter at Hagia Sophia before his elevation. He reigned during the rule of Emperor John II Komnenos (1118-1143), and reposed in peace three months before the emperor died in 1143.

Patriarch Leo is known for his severe penances inflicted upon the relatives and servants of a Komnenian princess, who resorted to magical practices at the instigation of certain foreigners. In 1140, he presided over a synod which condemned the alleged Bogomil mystical writings left by the recently deceased lay theologian Constantine Chrysomallos. These writings were withdrawn from circulation and burned. It is believed today, however, that the reading of these texts were probably misconstrued, and in fact they are Orthodox texts in line with the teachings of Saint Symeon the New Theologian.

The fear and condemnation of these texts were probably instigated by the fact that only a few decades earlier, the lay leader of the Bogomils, Basil, entered Constantinople with his twelve disciples and brought many to the Bogomil faith, peasants and wealthy alike, which led to his being burned to death in the hippodrome, and this was followed by a number of Bogomil heresy trials. Also, shortly after this in 1107 an order of preachers had been instituted to act as thought-police keeping the spread of heresy in check, not tolerating any who took it upon themselves to teach others.

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