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 11, 2020

Consecration of the Church of the Theotokos Eleousa in Constantinople

Pantocrator Monastery in Istanbul. From left to right, one can see the apses of the Church of Christ Pantocrator, the Imperial Chapel and the Church of the Theotokos Eleousa.

On this day, the 11th day of August, we celebrate the Consecration of the revered and most-beautiful house and divine Temple of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos Eleousa.

We have no other specific information about this church. It may perhaps refer to the northern church of the Monastery of the Pantocrator (currently the Zeyrek Mosque). Between 1118 and 1124 the Roman Empress Irene of Hungary built a monastery dedicated to Christ Pantocrator. The monastery consisted of a main church (katholikon) also dedicated to Christ Pantocrator, a library and a hospital. After the death of his wife, shortly after 1124, Emperor John II Komnenos built another church to the north of the first dedicated to the Theotokos Eleousa ("the merciful Mother of God"). This church was open to the population and served by a lay clergy.

The Church of the Theotokos Eleousa was where the famous Icon of the Hodegetria was displayed on specific days. Huge crowds accompanied the procession of the icon from its shrine in the Great Palace. When the icon was at the the Theotokos Eleousa it was continuously thronged with the townspeople of Constantinople. The shrine that held the icon was surrounded with masses of flowers, lamps and candles. The air was full of incense and the icon was honored with round-the-clock chants and prayers to Christ and His Mother. In the complex of the Pantocrator Monastery this was the only church that was always open to the public.



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