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.



October 15, 2022

On the Illustrious Holy Martyr Lucian (St. Jerome)


 By St. Jerome

(On Illustrious Men, ch. 77)

Lucian, a man of great talent, presbyter of the Church at Antioch, was so diligent in the study of the Scriptures, that even now certain copies of the Scriptures bear the name of Lucian. Works of his, On Faith, and short Epistles to various people are extant. He was put to death at Nicomedia for his confession of Christ in the persecution of Maximinus,* and was buried at Helenopolis in Bithynia.**

Notes:

* The traditional date ascribed to his execution is January 7, 312, in Nicomedia. It was on this day, the day after the Great Feast of Theophany, that Saint John Chrysostom preached an encomium in his honor. Eventually the Orthodox Church would transfer his feast to October 15th, while the Catholic Church continues to honor him on January 7th.

** According to the 6th-century historian Procopius, Helen's son Emperor Constantine the Great renamed the city of Drepana or Drepanon to "Helenopolis" in 325 to honor her birthplace; but the name may simply have honored her without marking her birthplace. Constantine also built there a church in honor of the martyr Saint Lucian; it soon grew in importance, and Constantine lived there very often towards the end of his life. The Paschal Chronicle records that the emperor Constantine granted Helenopolis immunity from taxation in honor of the martyr Lucian of Antioch.
 
 
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