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.



May 11, 2020

Holy Martyr Armodios

St. Armodios the Martyr (Feast Day - May 11)

The Holy Martyr Armodios is unknown in the Synaxaria and Menaia, however his memory is preserved in an eleventh century codex from the Abbey of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata (Greek: Mονῆς Κρυπτοφέρρης) near Rome, where there is a Divine Office dedicated to him composed by the abbot Arsenios.

According to Demetrios Z. Sophianos, Saint Armodios lived in the tenth century, and was a fellow soldier with Saint Nicholas of Vounenis (May 9). He served under Nicholas in Larisa. When the Arabs raided Larisa around the year 901 or 902, Armodios followed Nicholas to Mount Tyrnavos in Thessaly. There an angel appeared to them and informed them how the time for their martyrdom drew near.

Indeed, the Arab soldiers surrounded the area, and after a massive slaughter they gathered all the soldiers, except for Saint Nicholas who fled to Vounenis. Armodios and his fellow soldiers were subjected to fierce torture until they delivered their souls into the hands of the Lord.

For a long time their sacred relics remained unburied, until Metropolitan Philip of Larisa, following a divine command, gathered them up and buried them with honors and reverence in Larisa.


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