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 10, 2025

The Experiential Study of Holy Scripture


By Archimandrite Kyrillos Kostopoulos

Study is an important element in man’s journey in search of truth.

To this end, from the earliest Christian times, believers were called to study the Law of God, the Old Testament. The Prophet David exclaimed: “How I love your law, O Lord! It is my study all day long” (Ps. 118:97).

Then the New Testament was added, in which the now revealed Truth is found, without the types and patterns of the Old Testament, insofar as our Lord Himself revealed about Himself that “I am the truth” (John 14:6).

Study is the voice of God to man, just as prayer is the voice of man to God. Saint Chrysostom tells us: “But the reading of the Scriptures is the speech of God” (PG 50, 90). He who loves the study of Holy Scripture, according to Clement of Alexandria, becomes a “theodidact” (cf. Stromata, Book 1, 20, 98, etc.).

However, this study of Holy Scripture must be kept away from two elements that hinder its correct understanding. The first is the scholastic logical analysis of its content and the second is emotional rambling. Therefore, whoever wishes to find the deepest and true meaning of what he studies in Holy Scripture must not remain in personal logical or emotional interpretations, but must reveal the word of the Holy Spirit. For the testimony of the Holy Spirit animates the written texts. And this can only be achieved within the space of the One Church, where the Apostolic and Patristic tradition is preserved.

The Holy Fathers, as the successors of the Holy Apostles and possessors of their succession, are the authentic interpreters of Holy Scripture. And this is because they lived and thought “in the Holy Spirit,” experiencing the unity of faith and the life of the Church, which is the organic unity of Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. In this way, they demonstrate the timelessness of the texts of Holy Scripture and confirm its essential and basic teaching that the Triune God through it addresses the entire Church and aims at the redemption of every believer, through the Incarnation of God the Word. The Holy Fathers themselves have personal experience of living this revealed Truth within the Church.

Orthodox spirituality is Biblical. That is why the Holy Fathers not only lived by Holy Scripture, but also thought and taught with Holy Scripture. As a result, they identified with the Holy Gospel and became its authentic interpreters.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
 

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