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 14, 2022

Saint Leontios, Patriarch of Jerusalem (+ 1190)

St. Leontios of Jerusalem (Feast Day - May 14)

 Verses

Breathing like a Lion O Leontios,
You overcame Satan like a small gnat.

Saint Leontios came from Tiberiopolis in Phrygia, and was born to wealthy and pious parents around the second half of the 12th century AD. When his father died, after leaving his hometown and studying under a pious priest, he came to the Monastery of Ptelidi, where he became a monk. Later he went to Constantinople and became associated with the Metropolitan of Tiberias, to whom he submitted. After following his elder, who was returning to his Diocese, he sailed with him to Patmos, to worship at the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian. He then started his journey to Cyprus, but the will of God led him back to Patmos. There, with the spiritual guidance of the abbot of the monastery, Theoktestos, a man experienced in spiritual matters, he became a model of brotherly love and humility. When the abbot Theoktestos died, Leontios was elected his successor by a unanimous decision of the monks.

Saint Leontios oversaw the material needs of the monastery and the island of Crete. The Monastery of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John was based in Crete, inside the ancient city of Aptera, above the Turkish fortress Isdezin (Kalami), which was then part of the Monastery of Patmos.

Taking care of the affairs of the monastery, Saint Leontios went to Constantinople. There he gained the respect and esteem of the emperor Manuel Komnenos (1118-1180) who proposed for him to become a Bishop of Russia or Cyprus but Saint Leontios humbly refused. However, when he was offered the throne of Jerusalem, Leontios could not refuse and became Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1170, at a time when the Orthodox Church was being tested by Latin rule.

Due to the rebuke he gave the new emperor Andronikos Komnenos, Leontios was exiled and died of old age on May 14, 1190. His memory is celebrated in Patmos and Jerusalem on May 14.

A Divine Office in his honor was published in Jerusalem in 1912.
 
 
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