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.



January 15, 2021

Pilgrimage to the Holy Peak of Mount Sinai

 
At 2400 meters and after a three hour walk and an ascent of 750 stairs from the Monastery of Saint Katherine, a pilgrim arrives at the Holy Peak of Mount Sinai, where he is greeted by the Chapel of the Holy Trinity on the spot where the Prophet Moses received the Ten Commandments from the Lord. As he enters the chapel and shows us the iconography of the chapel, mainly related to the journey of the Israelites in the wilderness led by Moses and Aaron, the priest leads the faithful in chanting the dismissal hymns to Saint Katherine and the Prophet Moses. Exiting the chapel, he takes us to the cave where Moses stayed for many days on the peak (around the four minute mark). Then he shows us the peak opposite the mountain where the body of Saint Katherine was found, and then the area where the Israelites set up their camp at the foot of Mount Sinai. He concludes by showing their next destination as they descend the mountain - the Monastery of Saint Katherine.
 

 


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