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.



July 11, 2017

History of the Current Reliquary of St. Euphemia at the Ecumenical Patriarchate


When Joachim III was Ecumenical Patriarch, he got into a bitter argument with the Russian embassy over the conduct of Russian Murzsteg inspectors following the Murzsteg Agreement, signed 2 October 1903. In return Russian prelates and laypeople gave a gift to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, by which Joachim was very moved. In 1904 Archbishop Anthony of St. Petersburg raised funds to commission a gilded and enameled silver reliquary for the remains of Saint Euphemia, preserved at the Cathedral of Saint George in the Phanar. The Russian-made reliquary with the relics of the Saint still occupies a prominent place in the Cathedral of Saint George. As a token of appreciation for the beautiful present, Joachim III sent that same year to Archbishop Anthony a reproduction of the rare Byzantine icon of the Theotokos.



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