At the death of Attis, Cybele mourned vehemently until he arose to life again in the springtime. Some held that the sacrament was instituted by Jesus himself. 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. Mystery religions were seen as more vibrant than the more stale state religions. 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. 3. Payam Nabarz reveals the history and tenets of Mithraism, its connections to Christianity, Islam, and Freemasonry, and the modern neo-pagan practice of . 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. This is, of course, a loaded question. 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. 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. Fairbanks, Greek Religion, p. 293: This religion was not blotted out by Christianity. Underneath all expression, whether words, creeds, cults, ceremonies is the spiritual orderthe ever living search of men for higher lifea fuller life, more abundant, satisfying life. The statue of the Good Shepherd carrying his lost sheep and the pastoral themes on Christian sarcophagi were also taken over from pagan craftsmanship. Paris, 1930 . Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, p. 123: There can be no doubt that these ceremonies and beliefs deeply coloured the interpretation placed by the first Christians upon the historic facts of the Crucifixion, burial, and coming again to life of Jesus., 15. Perhaps the most notable difference between Christianity and the mystery religions is Christianity's attitude towards proselytism. 6 Mithraism. 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. The ideas of Greek philosophy penetrated everywhere in this society. Reprinted as The Mystery-Religions: A Study in the Religious Background of Early Christianity (New York, 1975). 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. 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. Various writers, pagan and Christian, gave different versions of the Cybele-Attis myth. The specific variations in all these diverse statements do not concern us, for certain significant elements were common to all the various versions., 11. Eastern Roman Empire is considered among the most influential empires of the . He hears all and sees all: none can deceive him.\[Footnote:] Cumont, Mysteries of Mithra, pp. Dean Inge, e.g. And today the Greeks mourn over the dead Christ, represented most realistically by a wax image borne through the streets on a bier; then at midnight before Easter Sunday the Metropolitan at Athens, the priest in smaller towns, comes out of the church announcing that Christ is risen; the light from his candle is passed to the candles of his companions and on to candles throughout the crowd, guns and firecrackers are discharged, and as they prepare to break their Lenten fast the multitude drop all restraint in the expression of wild joy., 30. The conditions of that era made it possible for these religions to sweep like a tidal wave over the ancient world. 2, 3.\33 Tarsus, the home of Saint Paul, was one of the great centres of his worship; and there is a decided tinge of Mithraism in the Epistles and Gospels. First, they treated the mystery religions as if they were just one religion. (2) December 25 came to be considered as the anniversary of the birth of Mithra and Christ also. The previous five sentences are similar to a passage in Kings earlier paper, A Study of Mithraism, pp. 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.. 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.. The baptismal ceremony in both cases (Christian and Pagan) was supposed to have the effect of identifying the initiate with his savior. The Greco-Roman world in which the early church developed was one of diverse religions. This does not mean that there was a deliberate copying on the part of Christianity. Hydria by the Varrese Painter (c. 340 BC) depicting Eleusinian scenes. However when we come to the idea of Jesus decent into hell it seems that we have a direct borrow from the Adonis religion, and in fact from other religions also. Thus, the religions had a common conceptual framework. The preceding two sentences are similar to a passage in A Study of Mithraism, p. 224 in this volume. 2. The mystery religions exerted some influence on the thinkers of the Middle Ages and the philosophers of the Italian Renaissance. The origin of this cult is obscure and uncertain. Church leaders talked about "initiations, passwords, and mysteries" using exactly the same . Babylon Mystery Religion is a detailed Biblical and historical account of how, when, why, and where ancient paganism was mixed with Christianity. It seems instead to have been carried over from Jewish background and modified by the new ideas and beliefs of the Christians. [also note from page3]: This Dover edition, first published in 1975, is an unabridged and unaltered republication of the second (1928) edition of the work originally published by John Murray, in London, in 1925 under the title The Mystery-Religions and Christianity. The main characterization of this religion is the secrecy associated . 9:11, 12.\ Now to get back to the festival. Martin Luther King Jr. titled "The Influence of the Mystery Religions on Christianity."King wrote it around the . A mystery religion is any religion with an arcanum, or body of secret wisdom. On the contrary it was generally a natural and unconscious process rather than a deliberate plan of action. Screenshots are considered by the King Estate a violation of this notice. Arthur E. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity (n.p. On the whole, early Christians were not greatly concerned about the likenesses between the Mithraic cult and their own. We can understand the Christianity of the fifth century with its greatness and weakness, its spiritual exaltation and its puerile superstitions, if we know the moral antecedents of the world in which it developed.\[Footnote:] Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, p. xxiv.\4 The victory of Christianity in the Roman empire is another example of that universal historical law, viz., that that culture which conquers is in turn conquered. 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. In this earlier stage, Isis had a husband named Osiris. The only one they could offer was quite naive, but it was in keeping with the trends of thought in that age. 6. (2) All had secret rites for the initiated. If the definition is that the religion keeps things secret, then no, because secrets are about maintaining secrecy and exclusivity, and Latter-Day Saints do the . Esotericism has more in common with Gnosticism, Theosophy, and Rosicrucianism than genuine biblical Christianity. Still others felt that, after the death of Jesus, the disciples saw in their common meal an opportunity to hold a kind of memorial service for him. The mystery religions were syncretistic, which means followers could incorporate beliefs from other religions into their own set of views. 1. It's one of the things that made Christianity quite distinct in the ancient world. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. 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 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. It is very common to find claims that Christianity was a mystery religion, similar to the worship of Dionysus, Isis, Orpheus, etc. 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. They encouraged the movement away from the state religions and the philosophical systems and toward the desire for personal salvation and promise of immortality. It should also be noted that early Christianity was an exclusivistic religion while the mystery cults were not. 5. (4) The rebirth of converts was a fundamental idea in the two cults. I do not deny that there are some similarities. These scholars made two errors here. The later non-Greek mysteries were personal, private, and individualistic. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. The existence of this atmosphere was vitally important in the development and eventual triumph of Christianity. It lies in the fact that the mystery religions paved the way for the presentation of Christianity to the world of that time. That is essential. 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. In theology the differences between early Christians, Gnostics (membersoften Christianof dualistic sects of the 2nd century ad), and pagan Hermetists were slight. 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." 3. The purity demanded in the worship of Sol and in the Chaldean fire rites was similar to Christian standards. According to this view, Christianity began as a Jewish adaptation of Greek mystery . 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. 121122: In Rome the festival of his death and resurrection was annually held from March 22nd to 25th; and the connection of this religion with Christianity is shown by the fact that in Phrygia, Gaul, Italy, and other countries where Attis-worship was powerful, the Christians adopted the actual date, March 25th, as the anniversary of our Lords passion., 13. But it was this very date that the festival of Dianna or Artemis was celebrated, with whom Isis was identified. 161 Babylon Mystery Religion; 1966 So through experience, knowledge, as through other forms, the outer manifestations of religion change. The god of death himself stole the beloved daughter away from the life-giver; but the divine mother would not give up her loved one, and in the end she accomplished her daughters resurrection. 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. For an instance, the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist have been mentioned as rites, which were preactice {practiced} by both Christians and pagans. (Pagan Regeneration, p. 115). 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 . " King wrote . 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. Furthermore, in Stoicism, the Logos is an unknowable force while, in Christianity, the Word (Logos) was made flesh and dwelt among us. Men began to die for the lack of food while the sacrifices to the gods decreased in number because the animals were dying out. Moreover, much from the Mysteries has persisted in various modern phases of thought and practice.\[Footnote:] Angus, The Mystery Religions and Christianity, p. viii.\, This is not to say that the early Christians sat down and copied these views verbatim. It is an interpretation of human history that breeds Art redeems. The doctrinal similarity is exemplified in the case of the pagan writer and philosopher Synesius. The Mystery Religions were eventually wiped out by Christianity. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. 40. cit., p. 110\15. The books that the mystery communities used in Roman times cannot possibly be compared to the New Testament. Loisy, Alfred. 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. Grant Showerman, introduction to Franz Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism (Chicago: Open House Publishing Company, 1911), pp. In fact the idea did not appear in the church as a tenet of Christianity until late in the Fourth Century.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. 39. Paperback : 384 pages. 9. In fact, it's hard not to place Christianity among the mystery religions (even though Christian apologists refuse to do this). 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 Christianity, in its earliest days, shared a good deal in common with the many "mystery religions" which became popular in the Roman Empire. 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. : 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. 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. Conservative Evangelical Christians care about their brand . After mourning over the dead Christ, represented most conspicuously by a wax image carried through the streets, there comes an announcement by the priest, on the midnight before Easter Sunday, that Christ is risen. In the spring, those who had shared Demeters grief for the loss of her daughter welcomed the return of Persephone with all the joy that the returning life of vegetation might kindle. Now when Christianity triumphed we find that these same paintings and figures became those of the Madonna and child with little or no difference.\[Footnote:] Ibid, p. 123\ In fact archaeologists are often left in confusion in attempting to distinguish the one from the other.22, It is also interesting to note that in the second century a story began to spread stating that Mary had been miraculously carried to Heaven by Jesus and His angels.\[Footnote:] The spreading of this story has been attributed to Melito, Bishop of Sardis.\ In the sixth century a festival came to be celebrated around this event known as the festival of Assumption, and it is now one of the greatest feasts of Roman Catholicism. purchase. 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 . As for my characterization of Mormonism, it depends on the definition. Please contact Intellectual Properties Management (IPM), the exclusive licensor of the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. atlicensing@i-p-m.comor 404 526-8968. It is evident that in Rome there was a festival celebrating the death and resurrection of Attis. Mythicists confidently assert, "Christianity is nothing more than a patchwork quilt of ancient pagan and mystery religions.". 6. After his death, the pagan opposition to Christianity continued for one more generation. . Greek life was characterized by such things as democratic institutions, seafaring, gymnasium and athletic games, theatre, and philosophy. Esoteric Christianity. There seems little doubt that this custom was identical with the Egyptian festival. Franz Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra (Chicago: Open Court, 1910), pp. 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. When they sat down to write they were expressing consciously that which had dwelled in their subconscious minds. He says: Following the lead of the apostle Paul, the Christian missionaries on gentile soil finally made of Christianity a more appealing religion than any of the other mystery cults. Best Sellers Rank: #329,817 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books) #317 in General History of Religion. In this legend, human beings, who are always loved and lost, are depicted as never or seldom loosing hope for reunion with their God. 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