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.



September 12, 2019

Vespers in the Ruins of a Church Dedicated to the Virgin Mary in a Deserted Albanian Village


17 kilometers from Berat in Albania, on the outskirts of Mount Tomor, in the uninhabited village of Melisova, there is a ruined church dedicated to the Nativity of the Theotokos, where yesterday evening, for the Leavetaking of the feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos, a priest and three laymen celebrated Great Vespers.

The priest and the three laymen did not allow the church which is now in utter ruin to be without a celebration for its feast and forgotten. Amidst the cluttered stones, between dense vegetation, among the ruins, the Mother of God was hymned and the light dominated. Thus the past greatness of this sacred site was restored for even a moment.

Silence dominated this secluded spot, where nature was allowed to take its course. But for the four people who arrived at the ruined church, high up on a mountain, the presence of the Mother of God is stronger than the presence of corruption and death. In its loneliness there is not an absence, but it permeates with her presence.








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