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.



January 7, 2017

A Miracle of the Right Hand of St. John the Baptist in 2006


In June of 2006, when the incorrupt right hand of St. John the Baptist was brought on tour from Montenegro to Russia for the people to venerate it, the media reported the following miracle that took place in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, where people waited for up to eleven hours to venerate the holy relic.

Vladimir Mastukov, a pensioner who lost the use of his legs after a stroke five years prior, bent down to kiss a display case housing the hand. Moments later he cast aside his crutches and skipped out of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in central Moscow. "I felt such lightness in all my body," he was quoted as saying. "Thank you, God."
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