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.



August 8, 2019

The Turkish Persecutor of Christians Who Was Healed by Saint Myron of Crete in 1840


In the year 1840 there lived on the island of Crete in the village of Archanes which was in the province of Temenos a certain Turk named Hussein Pasha. He had led the massacre that took place in Heraklion on June 24, 1821, remembered in the area as "the great ravage" ("ο μεγάλος αρπεντές"). One day Hussein Pasha came down with an illness that made him blind. He sought the help of doctors, but nothing could be done for him. In a desperate situation, he turned to some Christians who were friends of his, who urged him to visit the tomb of Saint Myron.

Having no other recourse, Hussein Pasha was led to the tomb of Saint Myron. He entered the church and knelt before the tomb. When the Divine Liturgy began, he continued to kneel before the tomb. During the reading of the Gospel, he suddenly cried out: "To God be the glory and honor to the Holy Elder, I can see!" Forever grateful for the gift of sight granted to him by the grace of Saint Myron, he would visit the Church of Saint Myron annually and make an offering of various gifts until his death in 1859.


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