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.



July 17, 2020

Saint Marina and the Twelve Year Old Girl Who Was Near Death


By Paraskevas Lambropoulos

Now I will tell you about a certain miracle a woman told me.

This miracle happened to a twelve-year-old girl. It should be noted that the girl, when she was twelve years old, was quite physically developed.

So one day she went with her father to another village, to help a family friend with the harvest. There they met someone who, as soon as he saw the daughter, said to her father:

"Hey, Haralambos, it's time you start looking for a husband! Your daughter grew up."

From that moment the girl got sick. She was dizzy, nauseous and could not stand on her feet. They returned home, but her health gradually deteriorated, until she was confined to bed.

Her voice was lost and her end drew near.

Six months passed and at the end the neighbors who visited her waited for her to die, as she neither ate nor drank for days. All she did was listen to them silently.

Suddenly the door opened and a woman came in and sat next to her.

It was then that the girl moved her arms and legs for the first time.

The people in the house did not see the woman and thought that the little one was dying.

"Do not be afraid, you will be fine. I'm Marina, the woman told her."

She made the sign of the cross over her, stroked it on the head and continued:

"I have a pair of shoes under your bed. With what they have inside, pass your whole body through, from one end to the other."

The girl opened her eyes, did what the Saint told her and after two or three days she began to gather herself, eat and talk.

People did not understand how this happened and they told the priest. He, after hearing what happened, advised them to go to the Church of Saint Marina, which was located in the nearby village Perdikoneri and to anoint her body with the oil that the two oil lamps above the Beautiful Gate have.

Indeed, they put her on the donkey and left.

When they arrived at the church, her parents had another little girl smear her with the oil of the Saint all over her body. As soon as it was over, the daughter got up and left walking!

The lady who told me this miracle, still lives and is married in Vytina, Arcadia.

May we have the blessing of Saint Marina and invoke her Grace for the healing of the soul and the body!

Source: From the book Εμπειρίες μου κοντά στον Άγιο Πορφύριο ("My Experiences Near Saint Porphyrios"), 2015. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.


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