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.



March 13, 2017

Holy Hieromartyr Publius, Bishop of Athens

St. Publius of Athens (Feast Day - March 13);
Icon depicts all the Saints of Athens.


Verses

Streams of blood painted your garment, blessed one,
And now you are seen to be full of the brilliance of the Lord.

According to Saint Dionysios of Corinth (+ 171) in his epistle to the Athenians, and later confirmed by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History and Saint Jerome in his work On Illustrious Men, Narcissus succeeded Dionysius the Areopagite as Bishop of Athens, and in around 120 A.D. Publius succeeded Narcissus as Bishop of Athens. And according to Jerome, "After Publius, Bishop of Athens, had been crowned with martyrdom on account of his faith in Christ, Quadratus, disciple of the apostles, was substituted in his place." Thus in the year 125, during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, Saint Publius suffered martyrdom on behalf of his faith in Christ. Dionysius of Corinth writes that the Athenians had almost apostatized from the faith after the martyrdom of Publius, indicating that when the shepherd was struck, the sheep scattered, but with Quadratus as Bishop the Athenians were brought together again and their faith revived.

It should be noted that in the Roman Catholic Church, Saint Publius is identified with the Publius converted by the Apostle Paul in Malta in Acts 28:7-10 while on his way to Rome. They say he became the first Bishop of Malta and later became Bishop of Athens after Dionysius the Areopagite, where he was martyred under Emperor Trajan. However, there are no ancient sources to verify this association between the Maltese Publius and the Bishop of Athens in the second century.



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