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.



November 25, 2025

Homily Five for the Entrance of the Theotokos (St. John of Kronstadt)


Homily Five for the Entrance of the Theotokos 

By St. John of Kronstadt

We celebrate the Entrance of the Most Holy Virgin Mary into the Temple of God, where She was nurtured in the Holy of Holies by the Lord! A significant feast: it teaches many things. 

The temple is the dwelling of God on earth, the house of God – here the boundless, infinite God seems to be encompassed, descending from His infinity into the small receptacle of the temple; the intangible becomes tangible and is tasted, I understand, in the Mystery of Communion. The temple of God is the earthly heaven, the boundary that connects heaven with earth; here a person recognizes and feels that he is made in the image of God; that he is only a guest and sojourner on earth, that he truly belongs to the heavenly realm; that he is a member of the Church of God or of the God-established community of the saved; that he is a child of God. Here, in contrast to the sinful world, he sees only sanctity, truth, love, and mercy in the faces depicted on the icons, and hears in all readings and chants nothing sinful, as in the world; here, as if in heaven, he, together with the Angels, glorifies the Lord, His eternal glory, His goodness, love for mankind, generosity, His power and kingdom. In this sense, the temple is essential for a Christian, as an inseparable element of his being, just as water is the element for a fish, or free air for a bird, in which it flies and lives and breathes; here he learns the truth, prayer, for only here does he learn the true knowledge of God and of himself; here he learns to love God and his neighbor; here he learns holiness and all virtue, as well as to turn away from sin with all his heart; here he learns to despise the temporary and perishable and to strive for the imperishable and eternal in heaven.

That is why the righteous parents of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, being devout spouses who themselves loved the house of God, in fulfillment of their promise, brought their blessed three-year-old daughter, the Child Mary, into the house of God – to be raised for the Lord in the dwelling of His glory. And here She was instructed by God Himself and by the Angels; She remained continually in prayer, reading the word of God, contemplation of God, and diligent work. She so immersed Herself in prayer, contemplation, and reading the word of God that she often forgot about food, and the Archangels brought her sustenance. Thus, her righteous spirit rose above the needs of her Most Pure body! Here She was inflamed with a seraphic love for God and became worthy, by grace, to be the Mother of God.

Brothers and sisters! Let us also diligently come to the temple of God, learn there our Christian duties, holiness, truth, mercy, patience, obedience, devotion to the will of God, abstinence, non-covetousness, and strive to be temples of God ourselves. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
 

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