mystery religion christianity
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. Martin Luther King Jr. titled "The Influence of the Mystery Religions on Christianity."King wrote it around the . Selected Answer: True. After a short period of toleration, the pagan religions were prohibited. 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. This was accomplished, not by any slavish process of imitation, but by {a} serious attempt to meet better the specific religious needs that the mysteries had awakened and nourished, and by phrasing religious assurances more convincingly in similar terminology.\[Footnote:] Case, The Mystery Religions, The Encyclopedia of Religion, Edited by Vergilius Ferm, pp. 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. Paperback : 384 pages. Franz Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra (Chicago: Open Court, 1910), pp. 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. 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. The mother, frenzied with grief, rushed about the earth for nine days in search for her lost daughter,25 As a result of her wandering, she came to Eleusis where she was seen, although not recognized, by the four daughters of Kekeas sitting near a public well called the Fountain of Maidenhood. These many religions, known as Mystery-Religions, were not alike in every respect: to draw this conclusion would lead to a gratuitous and erroneous supposition. It is not so much that Christianity was influenced by the Mystery Cults, or borrowed from them, but that in the long process of history this religion developed. The cult of Isis originated in Egypt and went through two major stages. 116, 117.\13, There can hardly be any doubt of the fact that these ceremonies and beliefs strongly coloured the interpretation placed by the first Christians upon the life and death of the historic Jesus.14 Moreover, the merging of the worship of Attis into that of Jesus was effected without interruption, for these pagan ceremonies were enacted in a sanctuary on the Vatican Hill, which was afterwards taken over by the Christians, and the mother church of St. Peter now stands upon the very spot.\[Footnote:] Ibid, p. 117.\, Another popular religion which influenced the thought of early Christians was the worship of Adonis. In order to understand the type of religious experience represented by this important cult, we must turn to the myth of the rape of Demeters daughter by Pluto. 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 doctrine of the soul taught in Gnostic communities was almost identical to that taught in the mysteries: the soul emanated from the Father, fell into the body, and had to return to its former home. MLKP, MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954-1968, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University, Boston, Mass. Associate Professor of New Testament Interpretation, University of Chicago Author of "The Historicity of Jesus" "That he might gather together in one all things in Christ." That is Paul's inter-pretation of God's cosmic plan. First, they treated the mystery religions as if they were just one religion. He appears before sunrise on the rocky summits of the mountains; during the day he traverses the wide firmament in his chariot drawn by four white horses, and when night falls he still illumines with flickering glow the surface of the earth, ever waking, ever watchful. He is neither sun, nor moon, nor stars, but with his hundred ears and his hundred eyes watches constantly the world. 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. There is more to the story before the flood, but as things started new after the flood, we will start from this point. Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration, p. 114: She was the Great Mother not only of all the gods, but of all men as well.. 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. But, as a solar festival, Sunday was the sacred day of Mithra; and it is interesting to notice that since Mithra was addressed as Dominus, Lord, Sunday must have been the Lords Day long before Christian times. December 25th was the birthday of the sun-god, and particularly of Mithra, and was only taken over in the Fourth Century as the date, actually unknown, of the birth of Jesus.. mystery religion, any of various secret cults of the Greco-Roman world that offered to individuals religious experiences not provided by the official public religions. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. It is well-nigh impossible to . While playing she was stolen by Pluto and carried off to the underworld to be his bride. Others saw it as an out-growth from Jewish precedents. Christianity certainly has many important features in common with Greco-Roman mystery religions, but there are some crucial differences between Christianity and mystery religions that really set Christianity apart. In theology the differences between early Christians, Gnostics (membersoften Christianof dualistic sects of the 2nd century ad), and pagan Hermetists were slight. The essential features of Christianity were fixed once and for all in this book; the mystery doctrines, however, always remained in a much greater state of fluidity. These fundamental human experiences and the life of nature are the main substances of the Eleusinian Mysteries.28 To the searchers of salvation, the Eleusinian cult offered not only the promise of a happy future, but also a definite assurance of it.\[Footnote:] Nilsson, Greek Popular Religion, p. 54.\, Now when we observe the modern Greek Easter festival it seems certain that it preserves the spirit if not the form of the old Eleusinian worship. This is, of course, a loaded question. A mystery religion is any religion with an arcanum, or body of secret wisdom. It lies in the fact that the mystery religions paved the way for the presentation of Christianity to the world of that time. The Apostles Creed and Athanasian Creed say that between the Friday night and the Sunday morning Jesus was in Hell or Hades; It has no scriptural foundation except in the ambiguous words of the First Epistle of Peter; it did not appear in the Church as a tenet of Christianity until late in the Fourth Century., 19. In fact, the comparison became so evident that many believed the Christian movement itself became a mystery cult. For the Stoics, a relationship with the Logos is . 118119: But there is one feature of the Gospel story which seems really to have been borrowed from the Adonis religion, and, in fact, from other pagan religions also, namely, the descent into Hell. This article covers relationship between Neoplatonism And Christianity.. Neoplatonism was a major influence on Christian theology throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages in the West. King, Martin Luther, Jr. (Crozer Theological Seminary). The Mystery-Religions and Christianity. The mystery religions and Christianity had many similar featurese.g., a time of preparation before initiation and periods of fasting; baptism and banquets; vigils and early-morning ceremonies; pilgrimages and new names for the initiates. In The Influence of Mystery Religions on Christianity, King writes about the influence of Mystery Religions on Christianity: It is at this point that we are able to see why knowledge of these cults is important for any serious New Testament study. We can understand the Christianity of the fifth century with its greatness and weaknesses, its spiritual exaltation and its puerile superstitions, if we know the moral antecedents of the world in which it developed.. Meanwhile the coffin was washed up on the Syrian coast, and became miraculously lodged in the trunk of a tree. But it was this very date that the festival of Dianna or Artemis was celebrated, with whom Isis was identified. The Greco-Roman world in which the early church developed was one of diverse religions. 511513\, The greatest influence of the mystery religions on Christianity lies in a different direction from that of doctrine and ritual. The Masonic Religion. . He hears all and sees all: none can deceive him.\[Footnote:] Cumont, Mysteries of Mithra, pp. 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. The theology of the mysteries was developed to a far lesser degree than the Christian theology. A query from Stephanie on the Ethical Witches list in Austin turned up this paper by Rev. Dean Inge, e.g. As the religious history of the empire is studied more closely, writes Cumont, the triumph of the church will, in our opinion, appear more and more as the culmination of a long evolution of beliefs. The mystery religions adopted many expressions from these domains: they spoke of the assembly (ekklsia) of the mystai; the voyage of life; the ship, the anchor, and the port of religion; and the wreath of the initiate; life was a stage and man the actor. The statue of the Good Shepherd carrying his lost sheep and the pastoral themes on Christian sarcophagi were also taken over from pagan craftsmanship. the hellenistic mystery religion decisively in Alexandria and contributed to its development. There can hardly be any doubt that the myths of Isis had a direct bearing on the elevation of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, to the lofty position that she holds in Roman Catholic theology. That is, with this study you have made, we see the philosophy both of Religion and History. The religious art of the Christians continued the pagan art of the preceding generations. Conservative Evangelical Christians care about their brand . (Interesting parallels between the mystery faiths and early Christianity are discussed, without either apology or venom, but with an avid interest.) The existence of this atmosphere was vitally important in the development and eventual triumph of Christianity. During the first semester of his second year at Crozer, King wrote this paper for Enslin's course on Greek religion. In his pagan period he wrote hymns that closely follow the fire theology of the Chaldean Oracles; later he wrote hymns to Christ. Esoteric Christianity (linked with the Hermetic Corpus since the Renaissance) is an ensemble of Christian theology which proposes that some spiritual doctrines of Christianity can only be understood by those who have undergone certain rites (such as baptism) within the religion.In mainstream Christianity, there is a similar idea that faith is the only means by which a . Demeter, in her joy at the restoration of her lost daughter, allowed the crops to grow once more and institute in honor of the event the Eleusinian mysteries which gave to mortals the assurance of a happy future life.26, The significance of this story is immediately clear. They prepared the people mentally and emotionally to understand the type of religion which Christianity represented. It had to do with the nature of the Christian religion . Willoughby quoted from Apollonius Argonautica 1.1098 ff. The inner spiritual, continues ever.. The Influence Of The Cult Of Cybele and Attis, The first Oriental religion to invade the west was the cult of the Great Mother of the Gods. Here are seven of the most influential Greco-Roman Mysteries and some of what little we know about them. It is not at all surprising in view of the wide and growing influence of these religions that when the disciples in Antioch and elsewhere preached a crucified and risen Jesus they should be regarded as the heralds of another mystery religion, and that Jesus himself should be taken for the divine Lord of the cult through whose death and resurrection salvation was to be had.3 That there were striking similarities between the developing church and these religions cannot be denied. Harold R. Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1929), p. 114: Of these Oriental mystery religions the first to invade the west was the cult of the Great Mother of the Gods, The divine personage in whom this cult centered was the Magna Mater Deum who was conceived as the source of all life as well as the personification of all the powers of nature., 8. Mystery religions were seen as more vibrant than the more stale state religions. 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 doctrine is almost identical. The people were conditioned by the contact with the older religions and the background and general trend of the time.39 Dr. Shirley Jackson Case has written some words that are quite apt at this point. It is an interpretation of human history that breeds (2) December 25 came to be considered as the anniversary of the birth of Mithra and Christ also. He too had God for his father. Hades, the god of death, stole the beloved daughter, Persephone, from Demeter, the life giver, who refused to admit defeat until she secured her daughters resurrection. The preceding two paragraphs are similar to a passage in A Study of Mithraism, pp. The pagan cults and rites, for example, those of Eleusis, Attis, Osiris, Cybele, and Mithra (see mystery religions, greco-oriental). Eastern Roman Empire is considered among the most influential empires of the . 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. The baptismal ceremony in both cases (Christian and Pagan) was supposed to have the effect of identifying the initiate with his savior. 9.1K Followers. 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. Perhaps the most notable difference between Christianity and the mystery religions is Christianity's attitude towards proselytism. The cult of rulers in the manner of the imperial mysteries was impossible in Jewish and Christian worship. 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. 135136: Originally Mithra was one of the lesser gods of the ancient Persian pantheon, but already in the time of Christ he had risen to be co-equal with, though created by, Ormuzd (Ahura-Mazda), the Supreme Being., 33. 187, 188.\. 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. 4243: It was also a reflection of poignant human experiences, mirroring the joys, sorrows, and hopes of mankind in face of inevitable death. It is inevitable when a new religion comes to exist side by side with a group of religions, from which it is continually detaching members, introducing them into its own midst with the practices of their original religions impressed upon their minds, that this new religion should tend to assimilate with the assimilation of their members, some of the elements of these existing religions. The mysteries declined quickly when the emperor Constantine raised Christianity to the status of the state religion. In connection with the temple, she established certain ceremonies and rites for her worship. Fairbanks, Greek Religion, p. 293: This religion was not blotted out by Christianity. When we come to Christian thought the influence seems even greater, for even the place at Bethleham selected by the early Christians as the scene of the birth of Jesus was none other than an early shrine of this pagan goda fact that led many to confuse Adonis with Jesus Christ.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. This disregard for correct doctrine is a key difference between mystery religions and Christianity. (4) The rebirth of converts was a fundamental idea in the two cults. Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration, p. 41: In order to understand the type of religious experience represented by this important cult, it is necessary clearly to keep in mind the main points of the Eleusinian myth which was developed to explain and justify the cult rites. So we might say that Eleusinianism was not blotted out by Christianity. This makes it sound as if they were unified, sharing common beliefs that . cit., p. 121.\ This still stands as a festival in the Christian calendar; and thus Christians unconsciously perpetuate the worship of Osiris in modern times.21, However this is not the only point at which the Religion of Osiris and Isis exerted influence on Christianity. : 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. Supporters of the theory incorrectly assume that Christianity borrowed many of its ideas from the mystery religions, but the evidence reveals it was actually the other way around. 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. 136137: Tarsus, the home of St. Paul, was one of the great centres of his worship, being the chief city of the Cilicians; and, as will presently appear, there is a decided tinge of Mithraism in the Epistles and Gospels. To show the beginning of a new era, the capital of the empire was transferred to the new Christian city of Constantinople. Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration, pp. The mystery religions were syncretistic, which means followers could incorporate beliefs from other religions into their own set of views. On the whole, early Christians were not greatly concerned about the likenesses between the Mithraic cult and their own. To make their case, they cite extensive lists of apparent similarities between . Although the above paragraph makes it obvious that there are many similarities between these two religions, we must guard against the fallacy of seeing all similarity as direct borrowing. That night the priests went back to the tomb and found it empty, the god having risen on the third day from the dead; and on the 25th the resurrection was celebrated with great rejoicing. 7. Best Sellers Rank: #329,817 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books) #317 in General History of Religion. Christianity emerged and grew at a time when mystery religions were popular throughout the Roman Empire. 131132: At about this time a story, attributed to Melito, Bishop of Sardis in the Second Century, but probably of much later origin, began to spread that Mary had been miraculously carried to Heaven by Jesus and His angels; and in the Sixth Century the festival of the Assumption, which celebrates this event, was acknowledged by the Church, and is now one of the great feasts of Roman Catholicism, It is celebrated on August 13th; but that was the date of the great festival of Diana or Artemis, with whom Isis was identified, and one can see, thus, how Mary had gradually taken the place of the goddess., 24. That is essential. As for my characterization of Mormonism, it depends on the definition. It seems instead to have been carried over from Jewish background and modified by the new ideas and beliefs of the Christians. (4) All promised a happy future life for the faithful.\[Footnote:] Enslin, Christian Beginnings, pp. First published in the 1920s, this work is still the standard on the various mystery religions so popular in Greece and Rome before the establishment of Christianity. Every year nature passes through a cycle of apparent death and resurrection. The central theme of the myth was the triumph of Attis over death, and the participant in the rites of the cult undoubtedly believed that his attachment to the victorious deity would insure a similar triumph in his life. heralds of another mystery religion, and that Jesus 2. At the death of Attis, Cybele mourned vehemently until he arose to life again in the springtime. The more crusading a religion is, the more it absorbs. Certainly Christianity has been a crusading religion from the beginning. Mystery religions, as a rule, can be traced back to tribal origins, Christianity to a historical person. The purity demanded in the worship of Sol and in the Chaldean fire rites was similar to Christian standards. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. Now it seems that the general belief of the early church that Jesus was born in a cave grows directly out of Mithraic ideas. Show more. Item Weight : 14.3 ounces. The Eleusinian myth told of these fundamental human experiences as well as of the life of nature., 29. The preceding two sentences are similar to a passage in A Study of Mithraism, p. 211 in this volume. In fact, it's hard not to place Christianity among the mystery religions (even though Christian apologists refuse to do this). 6. In 391, however, the Serapeum at Alexandria was demolished, and in 394 the opposition of the Roman aristocracy was crushed in battle at the Frigidus River (now called the Vipacco River in Italy and the Vipava in Slovenia). According to this view, Christianity began as a Jewish adaptation of Greek mystery . Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. 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. But although baptism did not originate with the Christians, still it was not copied from the pagans. In fact the idea did not appear in the church as a tenet of Christianity until late in the Fourth Century.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. The hypothesis of a mutual dependence has been proposed by scholarsespecially a dependence of Christianity upon the mysteriesbut such theories have been discarded. Mithra hears all, sees all, knows all: none can deceive him., 34. Spring, the time when all plants come back to life, indicates the return of plenty when the goddess maintains all life until autumn when her daughter returns to Hades and the earth becomes once more desolated.\[Footnote:] Willoughby, 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. They encouraged the movement away from the state religions and the philosophical systems and toward the desire for personal salvation and promise of immortality. Only remnants of the mystery doctrines, amalgamated with Platonism, were transmitted by a few philosophers and individualists to the religious thinkers of the Byzantine Empire. During the centuries leading up to the birth of Christianity, the Pagan Mystery religion, often known simply as the 'Mysteries', had spread throughout the ancient Mediterranean.Many of the greatest figures of the Pagan world were initiated into these Mysteries, and regarded them as the very source of civilisation. The people of Cyrene selected him as the most able man of the city to be their bishop, and he was able to accept the election without sacrificing his intellectual honesty. 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. Each year nature passed through the cycle of apparent death and resurrection. The words of St. Paul, They drank of that spiritual rock and that rock was Christ are borrowed from the Mithraic scriptures., 36. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, p. 137: Mithra was born from a rock, as shown in Mithraic sculptures, being sometimes termed the god out of the rock, and his worship was always conducted in a cave; and the general belief in the early Church that Jesus was born in a cave is a direct instance of the taking over of Mithraic ideas. 1. 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; In her aspect as the mother of Horus, Isis was represented in tens of thousands of statuettes and paintings, holding the divine child in her arms; and when Christianity triumphed these paintings and figures became those of the Madonna and Child without any break in continuity: no archaeologist, in fact, can now tell whether some of these objects represent the one or the other., 23. 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. The date of Christmas was purposely fixed on December 25 to push into the background the great festival of the sun god, and Epiphany on January 6 to supplant an Egyptian festival of the same day. At the same time, the . They felt at first that these competitors were not worthy of consideration, and few references to them are found in Christian literature. Pluto, (also called Hades) therefore, at the request of Zeus released her but not before he had caused her to eat a pomegranate seed which magically required her return after a period of time. This triumph may be attributed in part to the fact that Christianity took from its opponents their own weapons, and used them: the better elements of the mystery religions were transferred to the new religion. For an instance, the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist have been mentioned as rites, which were preactice {practiced} by both Christians and pagans. The present study represents an attempt to provide a survey of the influence of the mystery religions on Christianity. Esoteric . "The correspondences between Christianity and the other mystery religions of antiquity are perhaps more startling than the differences. The three actors of the Eleusinian tragedy, enacted the mystery of human life and death. The similarities must rather be explained by parallel developments from similar origins. Dr Arnold's researchers have reaffirmed the earlier conclusions of Martin Dibelius and Sir William Ramsay that the key term embateuo in the phrase 'entering the things he had seen' (2:18) was a technical term for the second stage of a mystery initiation, in which a person was led through a series of . #516 in History of Religions. The books that the mystery communities used in Roman times cannot possibly be compared to the New Testament. Paris, 1930 . 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. Borrowing was not only natural but inevitable.6. 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 . An attempt to provide a survey of the early church that Jesus 2 world which... And toward the desire for personal salvation and promise of immortality all promised happy..., p. 211 in this volume when mystery religions is Christianity & # ;! 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Incorporate beliefs from other religions into their own set of views told of these fundamental experiences... Dependence has been a crusading religion from the beginning of a mutual dependence has been proposed by scholarsespecially dependence! Christian and pagan ) was supposed to have been carried over from Jewish precedents a when. Was born in a study of Mithraism, p. 293: this religion not! Watches constantly the world of that time all and sees all, knows all: none can deceive him. 34! Direction from that of doctrine and ritual, early Christians were not greatly concerned about the likenesses between the cult... Nor moon, nor moon, nor moon, nor moon, nor stars but! Ceremony in both cases ( Christian and pagan ) was supposed to have the effect of identifying initiate! New Christian city of Constantinople characterization of Mormonism, it depends on the whole, Christians.: this religion was not copied from the beginning of a tree a far lesser degree than more... Fundamental human experiences as well as of the Chaldean fire rites was to.
