Alternative Religion/ Library

“MITHRAISM”—PRE-CHRISTIAN CHRISTIANITY

“Mithraism is a pagan religion consisting mainly of the cult of the ancient Indo-Iranian Sun-God Mithra. It entered Europe from Asia Minor after Alexander's conquest, spread rapidly over the whole Roman Empire at the beginning of our era, reached its zenith during the third century, and vanished under the repressive regulations of Theodosius at the end of the fourth, [Of late it has been] brought into prominence mainly because of its supposed [?]similarity to Christianity.

“The origin of the cult of Mithra dates from the time that Hindus and Persians still formed one people, for the god Mithra occurs in the religion and sacred books of both races, i.e. in the Vedas and in the Avesta. ... After the conquest of Babylon (538 B.C.) this Persian cult came into contact with Chaldean astrology and with the national worship of Marduk. For a time the two priesthood of Mithra and Marduk coexisted in the capital and Mithraism borrowed much from this intercourse. ... This religion, in which the Iranian element remained predominant, came, after Alexander's conquest, in touch with the Western world. When finally the Romans took possession of the Kingdom of Pergamum (in 133 B.C.), occupied Asia Minor, and stationed two legions of soldiers on the Euphrates, the success of Mithraism was secured. It spread rapidly from the Bosphorus to the Atlantic, from Illyria to Britain. Its foremost apostles were the legionaries; hence it spread first to the frontier stations of the Roman army.

“Mithraism was emphatically a soldier religion; Mithra, its hero, was especially a divinity of fidelity, manliness, and bravery; the stress it laid on good-fellowship and brotherliness, its exclusion of women, and the secret bond among its members have suggested the idea that Mithraism was Masonry among the Roman soldiery.” Several of the Roman Emperors, down to Licinius, colleague of Constantine, built temples to Mithra, and issued coins with his symbols. “But with the triumph of Christianity [after Constantine] Mithraism came to a sudden end. The laws of Theodosius [proscribing it under penalty of death, to please the Christians] signed its death warrant. Though he was still worshiped a thousand years later by the Manichees (p. 402). ...

“Ahura Mazda and Ahriman.—This incarnate evil (Ahriman) rose; with the army of darkness to attack and depose Oromasdes (Ahura Mazda) They were however thrown back into hell, whence they escape, wander over the face of the earth and afflict man. ... As evil spirits ever lie in wait for hapless man, he needs a friend and savior, who is Mithra. ... Mithra is the Mediator between God and Man. The Mithraists... battled on Mithra's side against all impurity,against all evil within and without. They believed in the immortality of the soul; sinners after death were dragged down to hell; the just passed through the seven spheres of the planets, leaving at each planet a part of their lower humanity until, as pure spirits, they stood before God. At the end of the world Mithra will descend to earth, ... and will make all drink the beverage of immortality. He will thus have proved himself Nabarses, ‘the never conquered.' ... ³⁷

“The fathers conducted the worship. The chief of the fathers, a sort of pope,who always lived at Rome, was called ‘Pater Patratus' ... The members below the grade of pater called one another ‘brother,' and social distinctions were forgotten in Mithraic unity. ... A sacred meal was celebrated of bread and haoma juice for which in the West wine was substituted. This meal was supposed to give the participants supernatural virtue. ...

“Three times a day prayer was offered the sun towards east, south, or west according to the hour. SUNDAY was kept holy in honor of Mithra, and the sixteenth of each month was sacred to him as Mediator. The 25 December was observed as his birthday, the Natalis Invictis, the rebirth of the winter-sun, unconquered by the rigors of the season.” (pp. 403-104.) It may be noted that Sunday was made a Pagan holiday by edict of Constantine, In the fifth Tablet of the Babylonian (Chaldean) Epic of Creation, by the great God Marduk, we read,lines 17 and 18: “On the seventh day he appointed a holy day, And to cease from all work he commanded.” (Records of the Past, vol. ix; quoted, Clarke,Ten Great Religions, ii, p. 383.)

To resume with CE.:

“No proof of immorality or obscene practices has ever been established against Mithraism; and as far as can be ascertained, or rather conjectured, it had an elevating and invigorating effect on its followers. [So different from Christianity!] ...

 “Relation to Christianity.—A similarity between Mithra and Christ struck even early observers, such as Justin, Tertullian, and other Fathers, and in recent times has been urged to prove that Christianity is but an adaptation of Mithraism, or at least the outcome of the same religious ideas and aspirations. Some apparent [they are very apparent] similarities exist; but in a number of details—[it is substance that is identical]—it is quite as probable that Mithraism was the borrower from Christianity.—[But these essential identities are found in the Vedas and Avesta, of maybe two thousand years before Christianity; Zoroaster, who, gave final form to the creed, lived some 600 years before the Christ!]—It is not unnatural to suppose that a religion which swept the whole world, should have been copied at least in some details by another religion which was quite popular daring the third century—[and for nine, Or twenty centuries before!] Similarity in words and names means nothing; it is the sense that matters. [To be sure; we proceed to see more of the sense,—the essence—to be identical] ...

“Mithra is called a mediator; and so is Christ ... And so in similar instances. Mithraism had a Eucharist, but the idea of the sacred banquet is as old as the human race and existed at all ages and amongst all peoples.—[Not much “divine revelation” in this greatest of Christian mysteries!]. Mithra saved the world by sacrificing a bull—[just as the Jews saved themselves] Christ by sacrificing himself. ... Mithraism was all comprehensive and tolerant of every other cult; Christianity was essentially exclusive, condemning every other religion in the world, alone and unique in its majesty.”

(CE. x, 402-404.)³⁸

The above striking analogies, or identities, between the ages-old Mithraism and the “newer Paganism called Christianity,” compelling as they are of the certainty of “borrowing” by Christianity, are dwarfed by the evidences now to be presented in the confessions of CE., that the Jews first, then the Christians, took over bodily from the Babylonians and the Persians, not only the entire celestial and infernal systems of those two closely related religions,but virtually that high ethic, or moral code—“the highest religious result to which human reason, unaided by revelation, can attain'”—which Christians so loudly pretend is, by “divine revelation” of their God—theirs alone, while all other peoples “sat in darkness and in the shadow of death” without its saving light. Christianity looks with disdain on the Mithraic religion because it is a “dualism”; that is,the Evil Spirit was separately created apart from the Good God; while it is a fundamental tenet of the Christian Faith, that its God himself created the Christian Devil and all evil—and is therefore morally responsible for all his deviltry,

Speaking particularly of Angiology,—though the admission will be found to apply to all the other features to be noticed,—CE. shows that all this is an importation into Judaism from the Persians and Babylonians: “That the Persian domination and the Babylonian Captivity exercised a large influence upon the Hebrew conception—[not, therefore, a revelation]—of the angels is acknowledge in the Talmud of Jerusalem (Rosh Haschanna, 56) where it is said that [even] the names of the angels were introduced from Babylon. ... Stress has been laid upon the similarity of the ‘seven who stand before God' and the seven Amesha-Spentas of the Zend-Avesta. ... it is easy for the student to trace the influence of surrounding nations and of other religions in the Biblical account of angels” (CE. i, 481);—which seriously cripples the notion of divine revelation regarding these celestial messengers of God. Again it indicates the “connection between the angels of the Bible,and the great ‘archangels' or ‘Amesha-Spentas' of the Zend-Avesta”; also “we find an interesting parallel to the ‘angel of the Lord' in Nebo, ‘the minister of Merodach.' ... The Babylonian sukalli corresponded to the spirit-messengers of the Bible; they declared their Lord's will and executed his behests.” ... “The belief in guardian angels ... was also the belief of the Babylonians and the origin of the Bible “cherubim” was the same, as also of guardian angels, “as their monuments testify, for a figure now in the British Museum might well serve for a modern representation.” For detailed accounts, see the articles “Angels” and Guardian Angels.” in CE. And so of Demons and Demonology, and Demoniac possession: “In many ways one of the most remarkable demonologies is that presented in the Avesta”; Ahriman being their chief devil, or Daeva; “the original meaning of the word is ‘shining one,' and it comes from a primitive Aryan root ‘div,' which is likewise the source of the Greek Zeus and the Latin Deus. But while these words, like the Sanskrit ‘deva,' retain the good meaning, ‘daeva' has come to mean ‘an evil spirit.' There is at ³⁹ least a coincidence, if no deeper significance, in the fact that, while the word in its original sense was synonymous with ‘Lucifer,' it has now come to mean much the same as devil” (CE iv, 714-15, passim; 764). Lucifer, in the Bible, having also been originally “a shining one” in Heaven, was cast out into Hell and is now the Devil.

With these preliminaries of identity between the invention of angels and devils of Mithraic Paganism and Hebrew-Christian “revelation,” we will now let CE. confess further identities, both of “revelation” and of the “divinely revealed moral codes,”—summarized from the Mithraic Zend-Avesta. We seem to be reading the Catechism or a tract on “Christian Evidences.”

“The name of the Supreme God of the Avestic system is Ahura Mazda, which probably signifies the All-Wise Lord. ... Ahura Mazda is a pure Spirit; his chief attributes are eternity, wisdom, truth, goodness, majesty, power. He is the creator of all good creatures—not, however, of Evil, of evil being,—[as is the Christian God]. He is the supreme Lawgiver, the Rewarder of moral good, and the Punisher of moral evil. He dwells in Eternal Light,... a kind of manifestation of His presence, like the Old Testament Shekinah.... We find frequent enumerations of the attributes of Ahura Mazda; thus these are said to be ‘omniscience, all-sovereignty, all goodness.' Again He is styled ‘Supreme Sovereign, Wise Creator, Supporter, Protector, Giver of good things, Virtuous in acts, Merciful, Pure Lawgiver, Lord of the Good Creations.' ...

“Opposed to Ahura Mazda, or Ormuzd, is His rival, Anro Mainyus, (later Ahriman),the Evil Spirit. He is conceived as existing quite independently of Ahura Mazda, apparently from eternity, but destined to destruction at the end of time. Evil by nature and in every detail the exact opposite of Ahura Mazda,he is the creator of all both moral and physical.—[But of the Christian God: “I Jehovah create evil”; Isa. xlv, 7]. ...

“The specific name of Ahura Mazda in opposition to the Evil Spirit is Spento Mainyus, THE HOLY SPIRIT: and Ahura Mazda and Spento Mainyus are synonymous throughout the Avesta. [p. 154] ...

“Around Ahura Mazda is a whole hierarchy of spirits, corresponding very closely to our ‘angels.' ... Of the good spirits who surround Ahura, the most important are the Amesha Spentas (‘Holy Immortals' or ‘Holy Saints'), generally reckoned as six in number (but seven when Ahura Mazda is included). ... Most of all Vohu Manah rises to a position of unique importance. ... Vohu Manah is conceived as the ‘SON OF THE CREATOR,' and identified with the Alexandrian LOGOS [of John i, 1]. Asha, also, is the Divine Law, Right, Sanctity (cf. Psalm 118),and occupies a most conspicuous place throughout the Avesta. ... With him are associated in a trio [TRINITY], Rashnu (Right, Justice), and MITHRA.—[These Aryan names sound unfamiliar; but as CE. has assured, “names mean nothing; it is the sense that matters”;—and here we have the whole Jewish-Christian hierarchies of Heaven and Hell a thousand years before Jewish-Christian “revelation” identities!l ... ⁴⁰

“Face to face with the hierarchy of celestial spirits is a diabolical one,that of the daevas (Pers. div or dev) and druj's of the Evil Spirit. They fill exactly the places of the devils in Christian and Jewish theology. ...perhaps the most frequently mentioned of all is Aesmma, the Demon of Wrath or Violence, whose name has come down to us in the Asmodeus (Aeshmo daeva) of the Book of Tobias [Tobit]...

“In the midst of the secular warfare that has gone on from the beginning between the two hosts of good and Evil stands Man. Man is the creature of the Good Spirit, but endowed with a free will and power of choice, able to place himself on the side of Ahura Mazda or on that of Anro Mainyus. The former has given him, through His Prophet Zarathushtra (Zoroaster) His Divine Revelation and law. According as man obeys or disobeys this Divine Law his future lot will be decided; by it he will be judged at his death. The whole ethical system is built upon this great principle, as in the Christian theology—[”revelation”?]. Moral good, righteousness, sanctity (asha)is according to the Divine will and decrees; Man by his free will conforms to, or transgresses, these. The Evil Spirit and his innumerable hosts tempt Man to deny or transgress the Divine Law, as he tempted Zoroaster himself,promising him as a reward the sovereignty of the whole world.—[Exactly Jesus and the Devil.]—‘No,' replied the Prophet, ‘I will not renounce it, even if body and soul and life should be severed!' (Vendidad, xix, 25, 26).—[”Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, for it is written,”—way sound more Godlike but maybe little more heroic.] ...

“The moral teaching is closely akin to our own. Stress is constantly laid on the necessity of goodness in thought, word, and deed.—[”Through the Three Steps, the good thought, the good word, and the good deed, I enter Paradise.”]—Note the emphatic recognition of sin in thought. Virtues and vices are enumerated and estimated much as in Christian ethics. Special value is attributed to the virtues of religion, truthfulness, purity, and generosity to the poor (p. 155). Heresy, untruthfulness perjury, sexual sins,violence, tyranny, are especially reprobated. ...

“The soul of the just passes over the bridge into a happy eternity, into heaven, the abode of Ahura and His blessed angels. The wicked soul falls from the fatal bridge and is precipitated into hell. Of this abode of misery a lively description occurs in the later Pahlavi ‘Vision of Arda Viraf,' whose visit to the Inferno, with realistic description of the torments, vividly recalls that of Dante. ...

“At the end of time, the approach of which is described in the Pahlavi literature in terms strikingly like those of our Apocalypse, will come Saoshyant (SAVIOR) under whom will occur the Resurrection of the dead, the General Judgment,the renewal of the whole world—[”a new heaven and a new earth”]—by a general conflagration and terrible flood of burning matter[”the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat”]. This terrible flood will purify all creatures; even the wicked will be purified from all stains, and even hell will be cleansed and added to the ‘new heavens and new earth.' Meanwhile a ⁴¹ mighty combat takes place between Soashyant [the “Savior”] and his followers and the demon hosts of the Evil Spirit, who are utterly routed and destroyed forever. ...

“The highest religious result to which human reason unaided by Revelation can attain”! (CE. ii, 154-156, passim.)  

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