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.



December 28, 2024

2010 Pastoral Encyclical for Christmas (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)


Pastoral Encyclical

The Sun of Righteousness

Sacred Metropolis of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Christmas 2010

The feast of the Nativity of Christ is celebrated every year not only to remember it and to glorify God for His infinite condescension, but also so that we can, during the short period of our lives, spiritually experience this great event, that Christ assumed human nature, became man in order to deify man. It is difficult, even impossible, to understand logically the events of the divine incarnation, which is why it is necessary to experience them in our inner space, in our hearts.

In the Gospels, the troparia of the Church, and in the homilies of the Holy Fathers, various aspects of this great mystery are presented, and then man is called to confirm it within the limits of his personal life, through repentance, prayer, Divine Communion, and generally through his living relationship with Christ in the Holy Spirit. In the troparia that we sing in the Church, Christ is praised as the “sun of righteousness.” In the apolytikion of the feast, we sing: “to worship you the sun of righteousness.” And in another troparion composed by Saint John of Damascus and proclaiming the goodness of Christ towards the human race, among other things it is written: “The sun of righteousness has set among us... for those who sit in darkness.” Christ is the uncreated sun that shines and radiates in the world, but He is also perfect righteousness.

The value of the created sun is known to all of us. Every day that the sun rises, it spreads light, warmth to people, it illuminates even the darkest places, it is the life of people and the world. Without the sun, there could be no life. Can anyone imagine what would happen to the earth if the sun stopped sending its rays? This is especially true of Christ. He is the uncreated sun that illuminates creation, but especially illuminates our inner world, our heart, our reason, our entire existence. We understand this mainly from the fact that, before the incarnation of Christ, the world was in spiritual darkness, but even today those who are not connected to this spiritual sun live in the darkness of despair, they have no meaning in life.

Christ is the sun of righteousness. Where this sun shines, that is, where people open their hearts to this light, there is justice, injustice flees. When we speak of justice and justification, we do not simply mean the restoration of social injustice, but the restoration of human nature from the corruption created by ancestral sin, but also by our personal sins; we mean the deification of man.

Man was created by God to live in a world full of light, a life of peace, love, and justice, the same life that the first created beings lived in Paradise. Then, with sin, came injustice, division, the corruption of human nature, wars, and social disorder. Thus, we live in a world of hatred, division, injustice, and darkness. When Christ, the sun of righteousness, shines in this world, and we allow our hearts to be illuminated by His rays, then the restoration of our nature occurs, we can live like Adam in Paradise, we are filled with joy, peace, love, fullness of life.

We find this sun of righteousness within the Church, and specifically in its sacramental and ascetic life. We commune with it in the Mystery of the Divine Eucharist and immediately we sing: “We have seen the true light.” This makes our prayers more fervent. This empowers us to spread our love to people who suffer. This illuminates our minds. The Church is the Body of the sun of righteousness, of Christ, and therefore she too is luminous, just as the Body of Christ was radiant on Mount Tabor, when Christ was transfigured and “His face shone like the sun, and His garments became white as the light” (Matt. 17:2).

The Church, which is the Body of the sun of righteousness, as we see it in the lives of the saints, never fails; since it is the inestimable treasure, it will never cease to exist; since it remains in eternity, it does not disappoint the people who are connected to it; and most importantly, the Church is the life of people, the healthy and the sick, the happy and the unhappy, the joyful and the suffering. Christians are inspired by this light and spread joy and love to those around them, they restore the injustice created by people, they help suffering people to overcome their problems and generally restore social injustices, disorders, social problems. People of the sun of righteousness have within them the fullness of life, but they also become light, love and joy to their fellow human beings.

In the difficult period that we are going through from a social and economic perspective, we must feel that Christ who is the sun of righteousness, the Church which is the glorious Body of this uncreated sun, is the consolation of society and people. He drives away despair and hopelessness and offers hope and Light. 
 
On the occasion of today's Great Feast, I wish all the blessed Christians of our Sacred Metropolis to feel this light of the sun of righteousness within their hearts, so that they may continue to illuminate the space in which they live and work.

THE METROPOLITAN

+ HIEROTHEOS OF NAFPAKTOS AND AGIOU VLASIOU
 
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
 

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