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 16, 2023

The Chapel of Saint Longinus the Centurion in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre


The Chapel of Saint Longinus the Centurion is located inside the Church of the Resurrection (or Church of the Holy Sepulchre).

The Patriarchate of Jerusalem erected the chapel in honor of Saint Longinus, just behind the sanctuary of the church.

The chapel belongs to the Orthodox and inside it is kept portions of the pieces of Golgotha, which were cut for the reconstruction of the Church of the Resurrection in the year 1810.

According to one source of information, in the location where the chapel is located, the body of the Saint was buried, while according to others, it is the spot in which the Saint was standing when a drop of blood and water from the side of Christ that he pierced with his spear fell into his "suffering eye" during the crucifixion of the Lord, and it healed him.

The actual namesake for the Chapel of Saint Longinus is thought to have come from the Latinized version of the Greek word “longche” or spear, since he is the one who is said to have pierced the body of Jesus on the Cross.

The Gospel of Nicodemus (a pseudepigraphical work) is the only mention of the name Longinus. It wasn’t used by the Greeks until Patriarch Germanos in the early 8th century. This Gospel of Nicodemus was the sole source of the anonymous Roman soldier’s identification. 
 
 

 
 

  

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