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.



December 1, 2020

The Story of a Communion Spoon

 

 
The following text was posted by the priest Ioan Valentin Istrati of the parish of Saint Nicholas in Constanta, Romania. His father was also a priest, while his grandfather was a military priest:

"This silver spoon is sanctified (see photo above). My father gave it to me. With it I have communed Christ to thousands of people without transmitting any disease. With the same spoon every time I also consume the Body and Blood of Christ from the Holy Chalice.

My father received the spoon from my grandfather. Tens of thousands of people have communed from it. 1770 is written on it. For 250 years the faithful have been communed Christ with this spoon.

Infants, young people, old people, soldiers, mothers, dying people, saints communed.

It has gone through plague, typhoid, the Spanish flu, the front, Stalingrad, the Tatras. No one contracted any disease, only eternal life."
 
 

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