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 27, 2020

Saint John the Russian as a Perpetual Confirmer of the Resurrection of Christ

Metropolitan Chrysostomos before the relics of St. John the Russian

On 27 May 2020, at the Church of Saint John the Russian in Nea Prokopi of Evia, where the incorrupt and wonderworking relics of Saint John the Russian are located, Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Chalkida said the following during the Festal Divine Liturgy, tying together the dual feast celebrated today of the Apodosis of Pascha and Saint John the Russian:

"Venerable John the Russian, through his amazing patience, his earthly struggles, as well as his supernatural miracles, which have been done and are being done through the Saint by our Holy God, is a perpetual confirmer of the truth of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ."

This is similar to what Fr. John Romanides, whose patron saint was Saint John the Russian and who was baptized in his church in Nea Prokopi in 1927, taught about sacred relics, which Saint John the Russian is famous for:

"The purpose of the Church is to make holy relics. It has no other aim. Holy relics include the whole dogmatic structure of the Church."



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