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.



October 9, 2017

Who Was the Apostle James the Son of Alphaeus?

St. James the son of Alphaeus (Feast Day - October 9)

James, the son of Alphaeus, was an Apostle of Christ and was numbered among the Twelve Disciples. In the three Synoptic Gospels, his name is listed in the list of twelve (Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:15), but other information about him is not reported. He was perhaps the brother of the Apostle Jude and/or the brother of the Apostle Matthew, though we are never explicitly told that James son of Alphaeus had a brother.

Some believe, according to tradition, that James was a tax collector, who after Pentecost preached in Judea, and then went to Edessa with the Apostle Andrew. He then preached the gospel in Gaza and Eleutheropolis.

Because there are several men named James (or Jacob) in the New Testament, with scant information on each, they are often confused and thus there are various traditions associated with them. For this reason, there are several versions of how James of Alphaeus died and was buried. Some, because they associate him with James the Less, believe he was stoned to death by the Jews, but others believe he was crucified in the Egyptian town of Ostrakine.

Crypt of the Apostles James and Philip at the Church of the Twelve Apostles in Rome

James the son of Alphaeus should be distinguished from both James the son of Zebedee (James the Elder) and James the brother of the Lord (James the Less, or the Younger), who was also the first bishop of Jerusalem and is numbered among the Seventy Apostles. This confusion has led many, including certain Church Fathers, to conclude that James of Alphaeus and James the Less are one and the same. This is why in the Menologion of Basil II depicts him as being stoned to death by the Jews, while the Synaxarion of Constantinople describes him as being crucified by the Egyptians.

Just as James of Alphaeus is confused in the details of his life and death, so also are his relics, which are often identified with James the Less, though it is difficult to know for certain. Locations associated with his relics are the Church of the Twelve Holy Apostles in Rome, the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas in Bari, the Cathedral of Saint Mark in Venice, and the Monasteries of Esphigmenou and Panteleimon in the Holy Mountain of Athos.


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