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 2, 2025

Prologue in Sermons: December 2


Against False Testimony in Court

December 2

(Commemoration of the Holy Martyr Myrope)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Out of fear, and often a false fear, of responsibility before the court, you, brethren, when summoned thereto, frequently, despite even the oath you take, conceal the truth and speak falsehood. I have even seen those who, returning from the court, with a kind of devilish delight, boasted of their deceit and said that at that very moment they had "eaten" their oath! It goes without saying that these latter, in addition to the sin of oath-breaking, also commit the terrible sins of blasphemy and sacrilege, and therefore are subject to the gravest accountability before God. It is sufficient to say that, in general, concealing the truth in court is an immense evil, for countless innocents have suffered as a result of it! How many robbers and thieves were justified, only to return to their deeds and resume robbing and killing! And who is to blame for this, if not false witnesses? No, not so, brethren, we, the followers of Christ the Savior, must act. Truth must be so sacred for us that we must bear witness to it in court even if we ourselves faced danger for doing so. It is better that we suffer than that others, innocents, suffer because of us. This is how the saints acted; and here is the proof of this.

Saint Myrope, upon hearing of the death of the martyr Isidore, wished to conceal his body, which had been abandoned by the prince of the Island of Chios in some remote thicket and guarded by soldiers. To accomplish this, she, together with some of her maidservants, came to the place where it lay during the night, and, since the soldiers were asleep, she took it without difficulty and honorably buried it in a location of her choosing. Meanwhile, the tormenting prince soon learned of the theft of the body and became enraged with the guarding soldiers. He chained them and ordered them to be taken across the entire island so that they would inevitably find the body of the Martyr; otherwise, he threatened them with death. Myrope learned of this, and seeing the soldiers bound, tortured, and dragged across the island, said to herself: "They are suffering for my sake, yet at the Judgment of God I will suffer for this." And immediately, approaching the soldiers, she said: "Friends, do not toil in vain! The body that was lost to you, I have hidden." They seized her and brought her before the prince for trial. "Is it true what they say about you," he asked, "that you took the body of Isidore?" "It is true," Myrope replied. The prince flew into a rage and handed the Saint over to torment. She was mercilessly beaten with clubs, dragged by her hair across the island, then again beaten on every limb, and finally, barely alive, thrown into prison, where she surrendered her spirit to the Lord.

Thus, you see, brethren, that the saints, for the sake of truth and to save others from judgment, even faced certain death. Should we, in the present time, fear to speak the truth in courts that are just and merciful? Should we refrain from revealing the truth when, even in the case of accusation, we face neither torture nor death? But, suppose we did face the latter as well. Is it righteous for a Christian to lie under any circumstance? Is it fitting for him to betray the innocent? Can anything be hidden from God? For He sees and knows all, and will hold us accountable for everything. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
 

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