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 23, 2024

Homily One on the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)


Homily One on the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos

By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov

(Delivered in 1961)

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Dear brothers and sisters, today the entire Christian world festively and joyfully celebrates the day of the radiant repose of the Mother of God. Although it seems that the event being celebrated is sad, full of tears, because here we encounter death, nevertheless the Holy Church is now clothed in the garments of triumph, rejoices and is glad, and calls us to this. Why should we rejoice today, on the day of the Dormition of the Mother of God? Because the very word "dormition" shows that the death of the Mother of God was extraordinary. It was a dream that was soon followed by a joyful awakening.

A few days before the Dormition, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Most Holy Theotokos with the news of Her imminent departure from this life. Filled with deep faith in the life to come, the eternally blessed life, She accepts this news not with fear and sorrow, but with a feeling of the liveliest joy and the greatest gratitude to God. At the same time, the almighty power of God from all over the world gathers the Apostles to Jerusalem so that they would give honor to the Mother of God and bury Her. At the very hour of death, an extraordinary light illuminates the temple of the Most Holy Theotokos, and in the open heaven those present behold the Lord of Glory Himself with the Angels and Saints, coming forth to meet His Mother. The Apostle Thomas, according to the special dispensation of God, appears after the burial of the Most-Pure One, wishes to venerate Her, the tomb is opened for his sake, but the body of the Mother of God is no longer found in it.

In such a wondrous death of the Most-Blessed Virgin Mary, to the consolation of all Christians, the power and majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ were especially solemnly manifested, Who by His Death and Resurrection crushed the sting of death and from terrible and painful made it joyful and blessed for His faithful followers.

Before the coming of Christ to earth, death was very terrible for man, because it snatched him away like a fierce beast its prey, irretrievably, and there were no means to get rid of it, for sin reigned over people. But after the appearance of the Lord in the flesh and His victory over sin and death, the horror of death disappeared, it became like a peaceful sleep, after which the joyous morning of the universal Resurrection would come. To the extent that each of us conquers the sin that still lives in us, the fear of death also disappears, so that the triumphant conquerors of sin greet it with joy and no longer die, but as if they fall asleep in peace. The most obvious example of the triumph over death we see today in the Dormition of the Most-Pure Virgin Mary. She leaned into the coffin only for a short rest. Behind the Mother of God we see the Apostles, Martyrs and all the Saints, who met death with joy, as the greatest friend, who, in return for the transient blessings of this world, its sorrows and misfortunes, grants them eternal blessedness.

The Holy Church tries to instill in us the same fearlessness towards death, exhorting us to drive away fear by gradually eradicating sins in ourselves, and calls her dead deceased, that is, as if they had fallen asleep, because immortal life in the future is so indubitable for a Christian that he truly looks upon death only as a dream. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
 

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