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 16, 2024

Introduction to the Life and Miracles of the Holy Great Martyr Euphemia (St. John of Kronstadt)


St. John of Kronstadt wrote the following introduction to the Life of Saint Euphemia that appears to have been published during his lifetime.

"God is wondrous in His saints" (Ps. 68:36).

"Praise God in His saints" (Ps. 150:1).

In the present age, the age of materialism, one can often meet among Christian people those who reject the existence of spirits and do not believe in the rational and conscious existence of human souls after the death of the body; in the eternity of blessedness for the righteous and the eternity of torment for sinners; in the miraculous incorruptibility of holy relics and in the miracles performed by them through the power of the Holy Spirit. One can meet people who treat holy relics and holy icons with disrespect in their speech, and call their due veneration idolatry. Finally, there are people who assert that all our torments and pleasures are only here on earth, and that therefore we must use time to enjoy everything that comes our way, more and faster, while we are alive and death has not overtaken us: for after death we, many of them say, will be destroyed, as if we had never existed. For such carnal people, who do not have the spirit, who "count it pleasure to revel in the daytime" (2 Pet. 2:13), in order to heal them from this disease of the spirit, called materialism, or simply sensuality, carnality ("My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh" - Gen. 6:3), one must advise abstinence, and with abstinence there should be prayer and diligent reading of the word of God and the lives of the saints. Abstinence and prayer will thin the carnality of their hearts ("For the hearts of this people have grown fat" - Matt. 13:15), humble their proud spirit and give access to the grace of the Holy Spirit to their hearts; the word of God will open and enlighten the eyes of their hearts, blinded by unbelief and carnality; and the lives of the saints will confirm to them by their very deeds the truth of the word of God written and given, for example: the truth of the existence of the spiritual world, the truth of the existence of human souls after the death of the body ("For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him" - Lk. 20:38), the possibility of their communication with us living on earth, the truth of future reward, the truth of the veneration of holy relics and holy icons, etc. 
 
Such, by the way, are the present two sacred stories about the sufferings and miracles of the Holy Great Martyr Euphemia, borrowed from her life. Both of them will tangibly convince anyone who reads them that there is life in the future age and future reward for everyone according to their deeds, that human souls continue to live even after the death of the body and anticipate either the blessedness of paradise, or have a presentiment of the torments of hell, and can have communication with people living on earth; that the miraculous incorruptibility of the holy relics of the saints of God is beyond doubt, and the reverence we give to the saints and their relics or icons is a God-pleasing deed, and constitutes on our part a due tribute to their merits before God, to Whom they remained faithful until death. And for us it is very beneficial, for it confirms our faith, hope and love for God and His saints; it unites us with them into one mysterious, spiritual body and nourishes the hope of the future life. Therefore, with God's help, let us begin with the sacred and reliable stories of the sufferings and miracles of the Holy Great Martyr Euphemia the All-Praiseworthy.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
 
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