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 8, 2020

Partaking of Holy Communion With Lepers and Those With Infectious Diseases

Elder Eumenios Saridakis

By Spyridon Theodore Koutsochristos

"Drink of this, all of you..."

The exhortation of our Lord Jesus Christ is clear to those who believe in Him.

Holy Communion is a provision of a Christian for the other life, this is what Communion is even for a confessed person on death row.

Orthodox clerics of our homeland communed lepers and tuberculosis patients, and then would consume the remaining Holy Communion, and when they were full of days they would depart from this life.

Examples of this were Saint Anthimos of Chios and Father Eumenios Saridakis, the first at the Leper Colony in Chios, the second at the Hospital of Saint Barbara for Infectious Diseases in Attica.

Saint Anthimos of Chios

By Dr. Irene Artemis, Post-Doc, PhD & MA - 
Associate Professor at the Hellenic Open University

At Sotiria Hospital, there are recorded testimonies of priests as well as metropolitans who used to commune tuberculosis patients with the same spoon and then consumed the remaining Holy Communion themselves. They even did it in front of the congregation, to show that the Divine Eucharist is life and there is no danger in it. Of course, prominent scientists also point this out, as stated by Ms. Eleni Yammarelou, a famous infectious disease specialist in Greece. Another typical example is the priest of Spinalonga, Father Chrysanthos Koutsoulogiannakis. "For ten years, the Hieromonk Chrysanthos Koutsoulogiannakis was the consolation of the lepers in Spinalonga. He would bless and commune the sick by reaching out to them and receiving Holy Communion from the same spoon without fear of the disease and its consequences." And of course, he never got sick.

Fr. Chrysanthos Koutsoulogiannakis and the Leper Colony of Spinalonga



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