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.



December 3, 2018

Holy New Hieromartyr Gabriel II, Patriarch of Constantinople (+ 1659)

St. Gabriel the Hieromartyr, Patriarch of Constantinople (Feast Day - December 3)

Verses

Gabriel the New received a double crown,
As a hierarch and athlete of the Lord.

Gabriel was elected Metropolitan of Ganos and Chora on 23 March 1648 for a first term which lasted until 26 November 1651, and again in 1654. After the execution of Parthenios III he was appointed as the new Ecumenical Patriarch on 23 April 1657 with the support of the Greek Orthodox nobility. However the Holy Synod considered him uneducated and unsuitable for the throne, and deposed him seven days later, on 30 April 1657.

After his deposition, besides his diocese of Ganos, he was given the position of administrator (proedros) of the vacant Metropolitan See of Prousa (Bursa). Here he was accused by the Jewish community to have baptized a Muslim, even if actually the baptized was a Jew and not a Muslim. He was also charged with maintaining good relations with the Russians, at the time at war with the Ottoman Empire.

Sultan Mehmed IV was in those days in Prousa, and his Grand Vizier Mehmed Koprulu imprisoned Gabriel, and promised him freedom and honor in exchange for conversion to Islam. Gabriel refused and was tortured and finally hanged on 3 December 1659. He was buried at the Monastery of Kamariotissa in Halki.


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