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 30, 2010

Relics of John the Baptist Work the First Miracle


Russian and Romanian pilgrims were the first to venerate the relics

Elena Dimitrova
August 30, 2010
Standart News

The relics of John the Baptist that have been recently discovered in the Bulgarian Black Sea resort town of Sozopol have already worked one miracle, the locals have spread the rumor.

The incredible story circulates in town, Minister of Diaspora Bozhidar Dimitrov told the media. “People say that a Russian lady who got numb and deaf after the Chechen terror attack in Moscow underground recovered speech after a prayer before the holy relics of John the Baptist.”

Dimitrov said Thousands came to Sozopol, where the relics of St. John the Baptist were recently uncovered, on the day the Eastern Orthodox Church marks St. John’s martyric death.

Pilgrims included not only holidaymakers in and around Sozopol, but also people from across Bulgaria, as well as Romanians, Russians and Georgians.

On August 29 the Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates the day King Herod ordered St. John the Baptist’s head cut off at the behest of his daughter Salome.

St. John the Baptist is especially venerated by the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church. The principal day of veneration of the saint is January 7.
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