Regardless, one consequence of interpreting Christianity as an embellished mystery religion is the conclusion that Christian faith per se is the invention of men, not a revelation from God. The preceding two sentences are similar to a passage in A Study of Mithraism, p. 224 in this volume. . One must avoid any suggestion that there was one common mystery religion. (2) All had secret rites for the initiated. Therefore it is necessary to study the historical and social factors that contributed to the growth of Christianity. It, Christianity, is the expression of the longing of people for light, truth, salvation, security. Christianity was truly indebted to the mystery religions for this contribution, for they had done this part of the groundwork and thus opened the way for Christian missionary work. In fact, it's hard not to place Christianity among the mystery religions (even though Christian apologists refuse to do this). Each following {year} there was a great festival in commemoration of his resurrection, and the very words, The Lord is risen, were probable used. They felt at first that these competitors were not worthy of consideration, and few references to them are found in Christian literature. The festival of all Saints, which is held one day before that of all Souls is also probably identical with it in origin.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. (3) All offered mystical cleansing from sin. Cypress Hall D, 466 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305-4146 40. A query from Stephanie on the Ethical Witches list turned up this paper by Rev. They were themselves, in verying degrees, imperfect examples of the Galilean cult which was to replace them. It was suppressed by the Christians sometime in the latter part of the fourth century a.d.; but its collapse seems to have been due to the fact that by that time many of its doctrines and practices had been adopted by the church, so that it was practically absorbed by its rival.31, Originally Mithra was one of the lesser gods of the ancient Persian pantheon, but at the time of Christ he had come to be co-equal with Ahura Mazda, the Supreme Being.32 He possessed many attributes, the most important being his office of defender of truth and all good things. The preceding paragraph is similar to passages in two of Kings earlier papers: Light on the Old Testament from the Ancient Near East, 14 September24 November 1948, p. 163 in this volume; A Study of Mithraism, p. 212 in this volume. Mystery Religion-Basic Traits. Thus, under identical conditions, new forms of religious communities sprang from similar roots. The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Neoplatonism resonated with the mystery religions because of its idea of (p. 236), The Stoic idea of logos expresses that the world is governed by (p. 235), The Gospels, which presented Christianity as a distinct religion, were written (p. 232) and more. He had left behind the secret whereby men could achieve the goal with him.\[Footnote:] Enslin, op. 126127: But the Christian feast of All Souls, in honour of the dead, likewise falls at the beginning of November; and in many countries lamps and candles are burnt all night on that occasion. there seems little doubt that this custom was identical with the Egyptian festival. the festival of All Saints, which is held one day before that of All Souls and which was first recognised by the Church in a.d. 835, is undoubtedly identical with it in origin. CHRISTIANITY AND THE MYSTERY RELIGIONS SHIRLEY JACKSON CASE, PH.D. Even Christian apologist had to admit that fact. These two great Egyptian deities, whose worship passed into Europe, were revered not only in Rome but in many other centers where Christian communities were growing up. The eucharist, likewise through similar in some respects to the communion meal of Mithraism, was not a rite borrowed from it. cit., p. 113.\18 Such facts led almost inevitably to the view that this idea had a pagan origin, since it appears not only in the legend of Adonis, but also in those of Herakles, Dionyses, Orpheus, Osiris, Hermes, Balder, and other deities.\[Footnote:] Ibid, p. 114.\, The Egyptian mysteries of Isis and Osiris exerted considerable influence upon early Christianity. It lies in the fact that the mystery religions paved the way for the presentation of Christianity to the world of that time. 122123: At this Attis festival a pine-tree was felled on March 22nd, and to its trunk an effigy of the god was fastened, Attis thus being slain and hanged on a tree, in the Biblical phrase. Conservative Evangelical Christians care about their brand . Borrowing was not only natural but inevitable.6. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. Benjamin Cain. ISBN-13 : 978-0486231242. The centres of pagan resistance were Rome, where the old aristocracy clung to the mysteries, and Alexandria, where the pagan Neoplatonist philosophers expounded the mystery doctrines. 161 Babylon Mystery Religion; 1966 The books that the mystery communities used in Roman times cannot possibly be compared to the New Testament. Data was gathered from books . Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. Since Christianity was a mystery religion that demanded initiation to participate in religious practices, Christian architecture put greater emphasis on the interior. It is well-nigh impossible to grasp Christianity through and through without knowledge of these cults.5 It must be remembered, as implied above, that Christianity was not a sudden and miraculous transformation, springing, forth full grown as Athene sprang from the head of Zeus, but it is a composite of slow and laborious growth. Such designations of our Lord as the Dayspring from on High, The Light, the Sun of Righteousness, and similar expressions seem to come directly from Mithraic influence.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. cit., p. 190.\. This coincidence had led many critics to suppose that the story of the burial and resurrection of Jesus is simply a myth borrowed from this pagan religion.17 Whether these critics are right in their interpretation or not still remains a moot question. So we might say that Eleusinianism was not blotted out by Christianity. Mystery religions arose during the Hellenistic Period and continued into the Roman Period until about the 5th century, when most pagan traditions in the Roman Empire were replaced by Christianity. In theology the differences between early Christians, Gnostics (membersoften Christianof dualistic sects of the 2nd century ad), and pagan Hermetists were slight. The three actors of the Eleusinian tragedy, enacted the mystery of human life and death. The existence of this atmosphere was vitally important in the development and eventual triumph of Christianity. There are also great differences between Christianity and the mysteries. Now we know from old Egyptian records that a feast in honour of all the dead, when such lamps were lit, was held about November 8th., 21. Esotericism has more in common with Gnosticism, Theosophy, and Rosicrucianism than genuine biblical Christianity. During the first two or three decades of the twentieth century, it was thought that the mystery religions constituted a unity based on a common 'mystery theolgoy ,' and that Christianity was simply one of them, or at most, a distinct religion . Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, p. 117: This coincidence has, of course, led many critics to suppose that the story of the burial and resurrection of Jesus is simply a myth borrowed from this pagan religion., 18. While Herodotus fails to give a date for this festival, Plutarch says that it lasted four days, giving the date as the seventeenth day of the Egyptian month Hathor, which, according to the Alexandrian claendar used by him, corresponded to November 13th.\[Footnote:] Frazer, op. This is, of course, a loaded question. Although the mystery religions did move towards advancing a solar god above all the others, this change began after 100 A.D., too late to impact the theology of the New Testament. 213214 in this volume. The Eleusinian myth told of these fundamental human experiences as well as of the life of nature., 29. (Pagan Regeneration, p. 115). The latter method is apt to neglect the distinctive contribution of each cult to the religious life of the age and, at the same time, to attribute to a given cult phases of some other system. The coffin, meanwhile, was washed up on the Syrian coast, and became miraculously lodged in the trunk of a tree, This tree afterwards chanced to be cut down and made into a pillar in the palace at Byblos, and there Isis at length found it. Afterwards, however, he returned to the other world to reign for ever as King of the Dead; and meanwhile Horus, having grown to manhood, reigned on Earth, later becoming the third person of this great Egyptian trinity., 20. In the first century of the Christian era the Eleusinian mystery cult was more favorable known than any of the cults of Greece.24 Its fame and popularity was largely due to the connexion of Eleusis with Athens. The mystery religion of Ancient Babylon is the beginning of the occult, after the great flood that destroyed man . After making herself known, she commanded the people of Eleusis to build her a temple. S. Angus, The Mystery-Religions and Christianity (London: John Murray, 1925), p. vii: These Mysteries covered an enormous range, and manifested a great diversity in character and outlook, from Orphism to Gnosticism, from the orgies of the Cabiri to the fervours of the Hermetic contemplative.. Firstly, she was pictured as the lady of sorrows, weeping for the dead Osiris, and secondly she was commended as the divine mother, nursing her infant son, Horus. In speaking of the indispensability of knowledge of these cults as requisite for any serious study of Christianity, Dr. Angus says: As an important background to early Christianity and as the chief medium of sacramentarianism to the West they cannot be neglected; for to fail to recognize the moral and spiritual values of Hellenistic-Oriental paganism is to misunderstand the early Christian centuries and to do injustice to the victory of Christianity. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. Whatever the religious doctrines of the Masonic sect it is plain that they do not embrace the central Christian . Now this idea has no scriptural foundation except in those difficult passages in the First Epistle of Peter\[Footnote:] I Peter 3:194:6.\ which many scholars have designated as the most ambiguous passages of the New Testament. (4) The rebirth of converts was a fundamental idea in the two cults. March 24th was the Day of Blood, whereon the High Priest, who himself impersonated Attis, drew blood from his arm and offered it up in place of the blood of a human sacrifice, thus, as it were, sacrificing himself, a fact which recalls to mind the words in the Epistle to the Hebrews: Christ being come an High Priest neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood obtained eternal redemption for us. That night the priests went to the tomb and found it illuminated from within, and it was then discovered to be empty, the god having risen on the third day from the dead; and on the 25th the resurrection was celebrated with great rejoicings, a sacramental meal of some kind being taken, and initiates being baptised with blood, whereby their sins were washed away and they were said to be born again., 14. As is commonly known Isis had two capacities which her worshippers warmly commended her for. I learned that as an artistic writer who did a doctorate in philosophy. Clayborne Carson, Ralph Luker, and Penny A. Russell, eds. 125126: Herodotus states that the festival of the death and resurrection of Osiris was held in Egypt each year, though he does not give the date; Plutarch also records the annual Osirian festival, and says that it lasted four days, giving the date as the seventeenth day of the Egyptian month Hathor, which, according to the Alexandrian calendar used by him, corresponded to November 13th. The pagan cults and rites, for example, those of Eleusis, Attis, Osiris, Cybele, and Mithra (see mystery religions, greco-oriental). The similarity of the religious vocabulary is also great. But after being in contact with these surrounding religions and hearing certain doctrines expressed, it was only natural for some of these views to become a part of their subconscious minds. People were free to move from one country to another and became cosmopolitan. It seems instead to have been carried over from Jewish background and modified by the new ideas and beliefs of the Christians. Whereas in these tribal communities almost every member of the clan or the village was initiated, initiation in Greece . In the former capacity she was identified with the great mother-goddess, Demeter, whose mourning for Persephone was the main feature in the Eleusinian mysteries. Franz Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra (Chicago: Open Court, 1910), pp. (3) Baptism and a communion meal were important parts of the ritual of both groups. The present study represents an attempt to provide a survey of the influence of the mystery religions on Christianity. During her short stay at the temple of Eleusis, the whole earth grew barren. At the same time, the . Christianity originated during the time of the Roman Empire, which was also the time at which the mysteries reached their height of popularity. The New Testament gives evidence of at least four styles of Christian worship: temple worship (Acts 2:46), synagogue worship (Acts 16:13, 16), a fellowship meal concluded by the Lord's Supper (1 . 23: In the Avesta, Mithra is the genius of the celestial light. It is because of this crusading spirit and its superb power of adaptability that Christianityahs {has} been able to survive. 511513\, The greatest influence of the mystery religions on Christianity lies in a different direction from that of doctrine and ritual. Answer (1 of 7): Over the years, Christianity has often been compared to the mystery religions of ancient Greece and Rome, both by Christians wishing to emphasize the esoteric nature of their religion and by opponents of Christianity who claim that the resemblance between Christianity and mystery. In a mystery religion, an inner core of beliefs, practices, and the religion's true nature, . While playing she was stolen by Pluto and carried off to the underworld to be his bride. : Putnam, 1928), p. 121: Attis was the Good Shepherd, the son of Cybele, the Great Mother, or, alternatively, of the Virgin Nana, who conceived him without union with mortal man, as in the story of the Virgin Mary., 12. The mystery religion was very narrow in scope, only involving select groups of people therefore not gaining support from the masses.Some people believe that Christianity and Judaism have many parallels to the mystery cults in terms of terminology (salvation, resurrection, eternal life) and in the particulars of the performance of initiation and ritual. But in true Christianity, there is only the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and while they're 3 . The Mystery Religions were eventually wiped out by Christianity. Hardcover, 335 pages. This celebration was held annually from March 22nd to 25th.\[Footnote:] Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, p. 166.\ The influence of this religion on Christianity is shown by the fact that in Phrygia, Gaul, Italy, and other countries where Attis-worship was powerful, the Christians adapted the actual date, March 25th, as the anniversary of our Lords passion.\[Footnote:] Ibid, p. 199\12, Again we may notice that at this same Attis festival on March 22nd, an effigy of the god was fastened to the trunk of a pine tree, Attis thus being slain and hanged on a tree. This effigy was later buried in a tomb. It is improbable, however, that either of these were introduced into Christian practices by association with the mystery cults. The Christians took over the entire terminology; but many pagan words were strangely twisted in order to fit into the Christian world: the service of the state (leitourgia) became the ritual, or liturgy, of the church; the decree of the assembly and the opinions of the philosophers (dogma) became the fixed doctrine of Christianity; the correct opinion (orth doxa) about things became orthodoxy. Grant Showerman, introduction to Franz Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism (Chicago: Open House Publishing Company, 1911), pp. It is this fact that immediately brings to mind the words in the Epistle to the Hebrews: But Christ being come an High Priest neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood obtained eternal redemption for us.\[Footnote:] Heb. The main characterization of this religion is the secrecy associated . Selected Answer: True. The words of St. Paul, They drank of that spiritual rock and that rock was Christ are borrowed from the Mithraic scriptures., 36. In connection with the temple, she established certain ceremonies and rites for her worship. In the end, virtually all the unique teachings of New Testament theology, including the distinctive doctrines on Jesus Christ, God, man, sin, salvation, and so on, are . Knowledge condemns. "The correspondences between Christianity and the other mystery religions of antiquity are perhaps more startling than the differences. The ideas of Greek philosophy penetrated everywhere in this society. To make their case, they cite extensive lists of apparent similarities between . Extremely popular among Roman soldiers, it became one of the ancient Roman mystery cults, religious sects which were restricted to initiates and were generally quite secretive.Mithras, as he was known to the Romans, was the Persian god of the sun, or at least the airy light between . CULT OF CYBELE. Hydria by the Varrese Painter (c. 340 BC) depicting Eleusinian scenes. 124125: The popular and widespread religion of Osiris and Isis exercised considerable influence upon early Christianity, for these two great Egyptian deities, whose worship had passed into Europe, were revered in Rome and in several other centres where Christian communities were growing up. The purity demanded in the worship of Sol and in the Chaldean fire rites was similar to Christian standards. Interpretation in Platonic concepts was also the means by which the Judeo-Christian set of creeds was thoroughly assimilated to Greek ideas by the early Christian thinkers Clement of Alexandria and Origen. In this myth, Persephone is depicted playing in the meadows of Mysia in Asia with the daughters of Oceanus and Tithys. This tree afterwards chanced to be cut down and made into a pillar in the palace at Byblos, and there Isis at length found it. The mysteries of human life and death are vividly enacted by Demeter, Persephone, and Hades. How do we determine conjectured information? In its older Egyptian version, which was not a mystery religion, Isis was regarded as the goddess of heaven, earth, the sea, and the unseen world below. The festival ended with the celebration of his ascention in the sight of his worshippers.16 Needless to say that this story of the death and resurrection of Adonis is quite similar to the Christian story of the death and resurrection of Christ. 6 Mithraism. From the early days of Babylon and the legends surrounding Nimrod, Semiramis, and Tammuz, certain rites and rituals are traced in their various developments, thus providing clues whereby the "mystery . 2d ed. Each year nature passed through the cycle of apparent death and resurrection. Men began to die for the lack of food while the sacrifices to the gods decreased in number because the animals were dying out. 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