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Sacraments in Mithraism and Early Christianity
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Andrew CriddleTuesday, July 31, 2007
Justin Martyr in his First Apology chapters 65-67 compares Christian sacraments to those in Mithraism.
But we, after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has assented to our teaching, bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized [illuminated] person, and for all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth, by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation. Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to so be it. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.
And this food is called among us the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, "This do ye in remembrance of Me, this is My body; "and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, "This is My blood; "and gave it to them alone. Which the wicked devils have imitated in the mysteries of Mithras, commanding the same thing to be done. For, that bread and a cup of water are placed with certain incantations in the mystic rites of one who is being initiated, you either know or can learn.
And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.
The immediately odd thing about this is that Justin compares the use of water and bread in Mithraic initiation to the Christian Eucharist which (normally) involves bread and wine (mixed with water). Tertullian in a parallel passage in the Prescription of Heretics has “Mithra there, (in the kingdom of Satan, )... celebrates also the oblation of bread” with no mention of a parallel involving the cup.
Some scholars have paraphrased Justin’s statement about a cup of water in Mithraic initiation as really meaning a cup of wine mixed with water as in the standard early Christian Eucharist. However, water itself is important in the mythology of Mithras (Mithras shoots an arrow to bring water out of a rock) so it is more plausible to take water here as meaning simply water.
One problem is that the phrase from chapter 65 of Justin’s Apology “There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water” should be better translated as “Then bread and a cup of water and mixed wine are brought to the president of the brethren” as at ccel.org . The Greek is ἄρτος καὶ ποτήριον ὕδατος καὶ κράματος. A complication is that codex Ottobianus omits καὶ κράματος here. Harnack and others have suggested that this is the original text. (See McGowan Ascetic Eucharists) However the omission is probably due to homoteleuton, a scribe copying καὶ ποτήριον ὕδατος καὶ κράματος καὶ as καὶ ποτήριον ὕδατος καὶ.
How should we understand ‘a cup of water and mixed wine’? Justin is speaking of a Eucharist after baptism and an important parallel is found in the Apostolic Tradition attributed to Hippolytus and which preserves liturgical practice at Rome from the period shortly after Justin. The baptismal ritual in chapter 21 has, immediately after baptism, the following:
Then the deacons shall immediately bring the oblation. The bishop shall bless the bread, which is the symbol of the Body of Christ; and the bowl of mixed wine, which is the symbol of the Blood which has been shed for all who believe in him; and the milk and honey mixed together, in fulfillment of the promise made to the fathers, in which he said, “a land flowing with milk and honey,” which Christ indeed gave, his Flesh, through which those who believe are nourished like little children, by the sweetness of his Word, softening the bitter heart; and water also for an oblation, as a sign of the baptism, so that the inner person, which is psychic, may also receive the same as the body. The bishop shall give an explanation of all these things to those who are receiving. Breaking the bread, distributing a piece to each, he shall say, “The Bread of Heaven in Jesus Christ.” And the one who receives shall answer, “Amen.” The elders, and the deacons if there are not enough, shall hold the cups and stand together in good order and with reverence: first the one who holds the water, second the one who holds the milk, and third the one who holds the wine. They who partake shall taste of each three times.
Here we have a cup of water drunk, after baptism, for inner cleansing, as well as a cup of milk and honey and a cup of mixed wine. Justin’s statement ‘a cup of water and mixed wine’ should be taken to mean two cups, one of water and one of wine mixed with water, used in the special Eucharist immediately after baptism. If a cup of water was used in the baptismal Eucharist in Justin’s church then the parallel with the Mithraic use of bread and a cup of water in initiation would be apparent. However the similarity to the standard Eucharist involving bread and (mixed) wine would be much weaker.
Hence Justin’s claim that in Mithraism a cup of water was used in initiation should be taken at face value, and the parallels between this initiation ceremony in Mithraism and the Christian Eucharist appear to be based upon a special form of Eucharist used in baptism in his church, rather than upon the standard form of the Eucharist.
Labels: Andrew Criddle, Background, Patristics
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Tuesday Round-Up (7-31-2007)
Yeehaw! It’s Tuesday, and here’sa daily dose of “Round-Up”:. Andrew Criddle of Hypotyposeis explores the similarities between Christian Sacraments and Mithraic rituals in Justin Martyr: “Sacraments in Mithraism and Early Christianity. ... posted by stephen @ Tuesday, July 31, 2007 5:00:26 PM
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2008/10/09
Would they lie? – Copy and Glorify!
Sources:Graham Phillips, The Marian Conspiracy (Sidgwick & Jackson, 2000)Marina Warner, Alone of All Her Sex (Picador, 1976)John Shelby Spong, Liberating the Gospels (Harper, 1996)John Shelby Spong, Born of a Woman (Harper, 1992)Robin Lane Fox, The Unauthorized Version (Penguin, 1991)Leslie Houlden (Ed.), Judaism & Christianity (Routledge, 1988)W.H.C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity (Darton Longman Todd, 1984)Riane Eisle, The Chalice & the Blade (Harper Collins, 1987)
email the author –Kenneth Humphreys
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29.07.08
This article and over fifty others are now available as a book. For your copy order here.
Christ! Mandilo or 'Holy Face of Edessa'
Would You BELIEVE IT?!Self-portrait by the artist Jesus Christ!
Legend has it that Jesus sent his portrait (which miraculously appeared on a cloth pressed to his face) to King Agbar of Edessa.
On the other hand...
Not to be outdone, the Christian West concocted the story of 'Veronica', a good woman who wipes the face of JC and whose cloth then miraculously bears his image.
Good for business, of course...
The Veronica of Jaen (Spain). Not to be confused with the Veronica in Milan or the Veronica in the Vatican. All genuine, of course.In order to withstand obvious doubts about replicated relics (multiple heads of John the Baptist, for example) the Church espoused the wondrous truth that 'self-replication' was further evidence of a relic's miraculous qualities.
"Sudarium of Oviedo"
(that's a dirty stained cloth to the sane)
The 12th century Kingdom of Castile and Leon, with its warriors ravaging Moorish Spain, needed sacred relics to heighten religious tension.
Archbishop Pelayo Meléndez, "the chronicler", came up with "relics from the Holy City of Jerusalem", including a blood stained rag said to be the face cloth of one dead Jesus referred to in John 20.7. Still a prized tourist attraction in the Cathedral.
Oviedo was a small detour from the pilgirm trail to Santiago de Compostela.
Florida Fried Jesus?
Why not start your own shrine?
Christmas 2005 and Jesus shows up in a cooking pan. One lucky fast food worker has now retired to West Palm Beach as thousands flock to see "Grease smear Jesus."
All Liars
'Only lies have our fathers handed down to us, emptiness in which there is nothing of any avail!'
– Jeremiah 16.19
A Lying Prophet
'And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, "Thou mayest certainly recover": howbeit the LORD hath shewed me that he shall surely die.'
– 2 Kings 8:10
Monstrous fiction
'Clearly the Christians have used ... myths ... in fabricating the story of Jesus' birth ... It is clear to me that the writings of the Christians are a lie and that your fables are not well-enough constructed to conceal this monstrous fiction.'
– Celsus (On The True Doctrine, c178 AD)
Celsus was one of the foremost thinkers of his age. His critique of the Christians was so damaging that Christians destroyed every copy of his work they could find.
Useful, Not Truthful
'To confute the opposer ... one argues as one pleases, saying one thing while one means another ... Origen, Eusebius [et al] write at great length ... Sometimes it is true, they are compelled to say not what they think but what is useful.'
– St Jerome, c. 380
It's Official – One-Eyed Men!
'I was already Bishop of Hippo, when I went into Ethiopia with some servants of Christ there to preach the Gospel. In this country we saw many men and women without heads, who had two great eyes in their breasts; and in countries still more southly, we saw people who had but one eye in their foreheads.'
St Augustine
(Sermon 37; quoted in Taylor, Syntagma, 52; Diegesis, 271; Doane, Bible Myths, 437.)
'On Lying'
Believe it or not, Augustine devoted two whole treatises to the topic of lying. The first of these, 'De mendacio' ('On Lying'), written in 395, discussed the pros and cons of lying.
On balance, of the eight kinds of lie which he identified (each with several sub-types!) he excused 'jocular' lies, was 'uncertain' about others (depending on motive and the likelihood of being believed) but questioned the morality of the remainder.
The second tract 'Contra mendacium', written in 422, cautioned the brethren against lying. Evidently they needed the warning.
"One never errs more safely, methinks, than when one errs by too much loving the truth, and too much rejecting of falsehood."
– St Augustine, Retractations, Book I
Father of Lies?
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God"– 2 Timothy 3.16.
"And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie."– 2 Thessalonians 2.11
It's Official – White is Black!
Ignatius Loyola – Jesuit Fuhrer
Pious Forgeries
'The forgery of pious documents of every imaginable character was among the most constant and zealous activities of the holy propagandists of the Christian Faith, from the beginning to the critical era when forgeries were no longer possible or profitable.'– Joseph Wheless (1930)
Suspect
"Unsigned works are a peculiar Christian phenomenon, in works with a dogmatic, apologetic, and propagandistic aim – in other words, works already suspect, and thus made even more so by an author's anonymity."
– Richard Carrier
"Letter of Jesus to the King of Edessa"
Would You BELIEVE IT?! JC replies to a royal fan!
Useful, Not Truthful
"It is usual for the sacred historian to conform himself to the generally accepted opinion of the masses in his time.'– St Jerome (P.L., XXVI, 98; XXIV, 855).
What a Girl! Our Lady of Guadeloupe conveniently turned up to help the murdering conquistadors in the Americas.
‘There is nothing so easy as by sheer volubility to deceive a common crowd or an uneducated congregation.’
– St. Jerome (Epistle. lii, 8; p. 93.)
God's Truth – Lies
Would the partisans of Christ have set out deliberately to lie? Were they such barefaced charlatans that they concocted falsehoods and deceits merely to advance themselves and their designs? By their own admission, YES they were. They may well have been believers, in that they held to a certain faith. On this was built the fanaticism either to die, or to kill others, for that faith. But faith absolves the believer from any fidelity to objective truth.
Religious fantasy advances in small steps by which those who already ‘see a higher truth’ help the less gifted to achieve that sublime state by using various devices. In Jewish tradition, one such a device was ‘midrash’, the teasing out of new, contemporary meanings from antique, sacred texts. By such means, the scribes could resolve a current issue by interpreting what the scripture had ‘really meant’ all along. Was that a lie?
False accreditation was another much used method, common practice during antiquity. Most of the texts in both the Hebrew bible and the New Testament were forged in the names of their authors to give them ‘authority.’ This merely helped others recognise 'the higher truths' presented to them. Who could argue with Solomon, say, or Apostles of the Lord?
A Labyrinth of Deceit
One of the most inveterate forms of imaginative creation was the invention of sayings and whole speeches which, just as fiction-writers do today, they put entire into the mouths of the personages of whom they were writing. Thus, in the Gospel of John, chapters 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 are almost one continuous verbatim monologue – all three thousand six hundred words of it ! – supposedly uttered by the godman, a truly remarkable instance of total recall by the fabled octogenarian author!
The authors of Christianity were fond of allegory and parable. Few people have a head for pure theology. Popularising a convoluted point of theology for the unlearned by an illustrative story gets the point across. What perhaps is missed is that Christian theology is several levels deep: it uses fictional characters to tell fictional stories to make doctrinal points. Some dogmatists no doubt believed (still believe) that one day, long ago, a real whale swallowed a real Jonah. After all, Jesus supposedly said:
"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12.40)
The whole point of Jonah was not about God’s ability to conjure up man-swallowing fish; it was that Yahweh loves even the depraved folk of Nineveh (and their cattle). The sixth century scribe who wrote Jonah used the name of a prophet mentioned in 2 Kings to make a point about the worthiness of evangelising to the heathen. He has his reluctant hero sail from Joppa and encounter a storm. Cast overboard somewhere out at sea, the big fish is a literary device to get Jonah back to Joppa, from where, more enthusiastically, he can set out again for the big, bad city of Nineveh.
The theological point could be made simply – ‘our god loves all who repent, don’t be reluctant, go and tell it to the heathen’ – but would that entertain the crowd? Simple folk of course would start to take the entertaining story as a literal truth. Then, several generations later, when the story falls into the hands of the author of Matthew – who may well believe that the Jonah story is ‘true’ – he has his own fictional Christ figure quote Jonah to give authority to a different theological point: ‘death can be conquered.’
Deception
Thus by small steps a complex weave of fantasy is woven. As indeed the Church Fathers cheerfully admit:
"I will only mention the Apostle Paul. ... He, then, if anyone, ought to be calumniated; we should speak thus to him:‘The proofs which you have used against the Jews and against other heretics bear a different meaning in their own contexts to that which they bear in your Epistles.We see passages taken captive by your pen and pressed into service to win you a victory, which in volumes from which they are taken have no controversial bearing at all ... the line so often adopted by strong men in controversy – of justifying the means by the result."(St. Jerome, Epistle to Pammachus, xlviii, 13; N&PNF. vi, 72-73)
Was Saint Paul an unabashed liar? From this verse in Romans it would appear so:
"For if the truth of God hath more abounded by my lie unto his glory, why yet am I also adjudged a sinner?" (St. Paul, Romans 3.7)
However in context Paul is actually censuring other Christians who say "Let us do evil, that good may come" (that is, from God's judgement). But like Paul we can "take the passage captive" to make a point.
Luminaries of Deception
Jerome is not alone in his candour. Bishop Eusebius, the official propagandist for Constantine, entitles the 32nd Chapter of his 12th Book of Evangelical Preparation:
"How it may be Lawful and Fitting to use Falsehood as a Medicine, and for the Benefit of those who Want to be Deceived."
Eusebius is notoriously the author of a great many falsehoods – but then he does warn us in his infamous history:
"We shall introduce into this history in general only those events which may be useful first to ourselves and afterwards to posterity."(Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 8, chapter 2).
John Chrysostom, 5th century theologian and erstwhile bishop of Constantinople, is another:
"Do you see the advantage of deceit? ...For great is the value of deceit, provided it be not introduced with a mischievous intention. In fact action of this kind ought not to be called deceit, but rather a kind of good management, cleverness and skill, capable of finding out ways where resources fail, and making up for the defects of the mind ... And often it is necessary to deceive, and to do the greatest benefits by means of this device, whereas he who has gone by a straight course has done great mischief to the person whom he has not deceived."(Treatise On The Priesthood, Book 1).
'Golden Mouth' John is notable for his extensive commentaries on the Bible which emphasized a literal understanding of the stories; the style popular at Alexandria until then was to acknowledge an allegorical meaning of the text.
Thus eminent ‘believers’ added falsehood to the beliefs of later generations. ‘For the best of reasons’ they ‘clarified’ obscure points, conjured up characters to speak dialogue that could have been said, invented scenarios that could have happened, borrowed extensively from a wider culture. And this all before they became the custodians of power and had real reasons for lies, inventions and counterfeits. As we shall see, god’s immutable laws became as flexible as putty.
The 5th and 6th centuries was the 'golden age' of Christian forgery. In a moment of shocking candour, the Manichean bishop (and opponent of Augustine) Faustus said:
"Many things have been inserted by our ancestors in the speeches of our Lord which, though put forth under his name, agree not with his faith; especially since – as already it has been often proved – these things were written not by Christ, nor [by] his apostles, but a long while after their assumption, by I know not what sort of half Jews, not even agreeing with themselves, who made up their tale out of reports and opinions merely, and yet, fathering the whole upon the names of the apostles of the Lord or on those who were supposed to follow the apostles, they maliciously pretended that they had written their lies and conceits according to them."
In the ferocious battle for adherents, the propagandists sought to outdo each other at every turn. One example: by the fifth century, four very different endings existed to Mark's gospel. Codex Bobiensis ends Mark at verse 16:8, without any post-crucifixion appearances; it lacks both the 'short conclusion' (of Jesus sending followers to 'east and west') or the 'long conclusion' – the fabulous post-death apparitions, where Jesus promises his disciples that they will be immune to snake bites and poison.
Once the Church had grabbed mastery of much of Europe and the middle-east, its forgery engine went into overdrive.
'The Church forgery mill did not limit itself to mere writings but for centuries cranked out thousands of phony "relics" of its "Lord," "Apostles" and "Saints" … There were at least 26 'authentic' burial shrouds scattered throughout the abbeys of Europe, of which the Shroud of Turin is just one … At one point, a number of churches claimed the one foreskin of Jesus, and there were enough splinters of the "True Cross" that Calvin said the amount of wood would make "a full load for a good ship." ' (Acharya S, The Christ Conspiracy)
Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), the tireless zealot for papal authority – he was the founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) – even wrote:
"We should always be disposed to believe that which appears to us to be white is really black, if the hierarchy of the church so decides."
The Reformation may have swept away some abuses perpetrated by the priesthood but lying was not one of them. Martin Luther, in private correspondence, argued:
"What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good and for the Christian church ... a lie out of necessity, a useful lie, a helpful lie, such lies would not be against God, he would accept them."– Martin Luther (Cited by his secretary, in a letter in Max Lenz, ed., Briefwechsel Landgraf Phillips des Grossmüthigen von Hessen mit Bucer, vol. I.)
The Forgery Mill
Notable Christian forgeries include:
The Donation of Constantine – 'Without doubt a forgery...' Catholic EncyclopediaA two-part document purporting to be from the first Christian emperor to Pope Sylvester I (314-35). In the 'Confessio' Constantine thanks Sylvester for his Christian instruction and baptism (and consequent cure of leprosy!) In his 'Donatio' Constantine confers on the pope and his successors primacy over all other bishops, including the eastern patriarchs, senatorial privileges for the clergy, imperial palaces and regalia, Rome itself and the western empire!!
In truth, this monstrous eighth century forgery (peppered with anachronisms) was almost certainly written by the future Pope Paul I (757-67) while his equally ambitious brother Stephen II (752-57) sat on the papal throne.
The False Decretals – A riot of more than a hundred fake letters and decrees attributed to pontiffs from first century Clement (88-97) to seventh century Gregory I (590-604). Now attributed to 'Isodore Mercator', a ninth century master forger, almost certainly a papal aide. Like the Donation, the Decretals conferred rights and privileges on the papacy.
'Thundering Legion' Decree of Marcus Aurelius – In this fabricated letter from the emperor to the Senate, Marcus is said to have forbidden persecution of Christians because, in a battle with the Quadi in 174, prayers from Christian soldiers brought on a thunderstorm which rescued the Romans from thirst and dispersed the barbarian opponents. The emperor is said to have accorded the Twelfth Legion the suffix fulminata or fulminea, that is, 'thundering.' Tertullian (c.160 - c.230), north African theologian, made up this nonsense; the twelfth legion had had the suffix legio fulminata from the time of Augustus. The stoic Marcus Aurelius had nothing but contempt for the Christians.
'Letters' of Emperor Antoninus Pius to the Greeks – More fakery, this time from the pen of fourth century Bishop Eusebius (Ecclesiastic History, IV, 13). He has the pious second century pagan forbid 'tumults against the Christians.'
The Clementines – These fancies, twenty books of 'curious religious romance' (Catholic Encyclopedia), masquerade as the work of first century pontiff Clement I. Written in the fourth century, their purpose was to bolster Rome's claim to be the primary see: here we have the 'Epistle of Clement to James' which originated the notion that St. Peter was the first Bishop of Rome.
Correspondence between Seneca and Paul - a fourth century invention of first century letters. They alluded to fires in Rome and to the persecution of Jews and Christians.
Acts of Paul and Thecla – "Love for Paul" was the justification for this particular compendium of fable. None other than Tertullian condemned his rival's handiwork.
"If those who read the writing that falsely bears the name of Paul adduce the example of Thecla to maintain the right of women to teach and to baptize, let them know that the presbyter in Asia who produced this document, as if he could of himself add anything to the prestige of Paul, was removed from his office after he had been convicted and had confessed that he did it out of love for Paul."(Tertullian, De batismo, 17).
'Testimonium Flavianum' - The infamous 'passing reference' to Jesus Christ supposedly written by the first century Jewish historian Josephus (he adopted the family name of the imperial house).
We know in graphic detail the course of the first Jewish War because – remarkably – the history recorded by Josephus somehow survived. Whereas whole libraries of antiquity were torched by the Christians, curiously, this testimony of a Jew made it through the centuries. A subsequent work by Josephus, The Antiquity of the Jews, which iterated and extended his story of the 'chosen people' also survived.
The survival of these two overlapping works was no coincidence because they rather too well 'confirm' from a 'non-Christian source' the existence of the godman.
In short, sometime in the fourth century, while most else of ancient scholarship was being thrown into bonfires, a Christian scribe – probably Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea– 'rescued' the histories of Josephus and 'doctored' them to provide convenient 'proof' that Christ had been flesh-and-blood and was neither a fiction (as pagan critics maintained) nor solely a spiritual being, as gnostics reasoned. (See The authentic pen of lying Christian scribes!)
Mother of All Fakes
The Shroud of Turin
Modern science signalled the decline in the wholesale manufacture of Christian forgeries.
The freethinker Leonardo da Vinci had the last laugh on the Church when he put his own face on a fake so clever that it remained 'authentic' for five hundred years!
Shrouded in Deceit
The Chronicle of Sulpicius Severus - a 5th century disciple of Bishop Martin of Tours invented the lurid story of the Neronian persecution.
The Jewish historian Josephus says nothing about any "persecution" under Nero, though he is not slow to describe him as "acting like a madman" who "slew his brother, and wife, and mother, from whom his barbarity spread itself to others that were most nearly related to him; and how, at last, he was so distracted that he became an actor in the scenes, and upon the theater." (Wars, 13.1)
If a bonfire of Christians had actually happened Josephus would have mentioned it – but he does not, and nor does any early Christian writer.
"In reality, the Neronian persecution never occurred. It is a fiction of the Church, invented for its greater glory." (Arthur Drews, The Legend of St Peter, p63)
Chapter 16 of Life of Nero by Suetonius. This is the origin of the 'Christians burnt as torches' nonsense.
The Lentulus Letter For this pious fancy the forger created a fictitious predecessor to Pontius Pilate, governor of Judaea, calling him "Publius Lentulus". The forger has his creation write to the Roman Senate, reporting Christ's "raising of the dead". He describes Jesus as "the most beautiful of the sons of men."
The letter was first printed in the "Life of Christ" by Ludolph the Carthusian (Cologne, 1474). It was probably composed in 13th/14th century, based on an earlier Greek forgery.
Report of Pilate to Caesar – Pilate's conversion to Christianity – and even the debauched Emperor Tiberius a closet-Christian! Another gem from the pen of Tertullian!
‘All these things Pilate did to Christ; and now in fact a Christian in his own convictions, he sent word of Him to the reigning Caesar, who was at the time Tiberius. Yes, and even the Caesars would have believed on Christ, if either the Caesars had not been necessary for the world, or if Christians could have been Caesars.’ (Tertullian Apol. xxi and Anti-Nicene Fathers, iii, 35)
Letter of Jesus to the King of EdessaNothing less than the handwritten note of the godman himself! This fabrication was supposedly delivered by the apostle Thaddeus, together with a self-portrait by the artist – Jesus Christ (he wiped his face with the canvass)! Actually, the text is borrowed from the 'concordance' of Tatian, compiled in the second century, and known as the 'Diatessaron'. The forgery is almost certainly the work of Eusebius, Christian propagandist of the fourth century. He was the first to mention the letter and claimed to have personally 'translated' it from Syriac (Ecclesiastical History I, xii).
The Virgin Birth FraudThe most colossal blunder of the Septuagint translators, the mistranslation of the original Hebrew text of Isaiah, 7.14, allowed deceitful early Christians to concoct their infamous prophecy that somehow the ancient Jewish text presaged the miraculous birth of their own godman.
The Hebrew original says:'Hinneh ha-almah harah ve-yeldeth ben ve-karath shem-o immanuel.'
Honestly translated, the verse reads:'Behold, the young woman has conceived — and bears a son and calls his name Immanuel.'The Greek-speaking translators of Hebrew scripture (in 3rd century B.C. Alexandria) slipped up and translated 'almah' (young woman) into the Greek 'parthenos' (virgin). The Hebrew word for virgin would have been 'betulah.' The slip did not matter at the time, for in context, Isaiah’s prophesy – set in the 8th century BC but probably written in the 5th – had been given as reassurance to King Ahaz of Judah that his royal line would survive, despite the ongoing siege of Jerusalem by the Syrians. And it did. In other words, the prophesy had nothing to do with events in Judaea eight hundred years into the future!
Justin ‘Martyr’, a pagan Greek from Palestine, fled to Ephesus at the time of Bar Kochbar’s revolt (132 -135 AD). He joined the growing Christian community and found himself competing with the priests of Artemis, an eternally virgin goddess. Justin successfully overcame the sentiments of established Christians and had Mary, mother of Jesus, declared a virgin, citing his Greek copy of Isaiah as 'evidence' of scriptural prescience. The Greek priest who then forged the 'Gospel according to St. Matthew' went one stage further, taking the word 'harah' – in Hebrew a past or perfect tense – and switched it into a future tense to arrive at:
'Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.' (Matthew 1.23)
All this to arrive at the monstrous fiction that ancient scripture foretold of the arrival of an infant actually called Jesus!
Still Lying in 2002
The Pope has chosen to canonise Juan Diego, supposedly a sixteenth century Mexican Indian who had the good fortune to have the Blessed Virgin (in the guise of 'Our Lady of Guadeloupe') impress her own image onto his cloak. Not surprisingly, Diego was a paragon of Catholic devotion, completely submissive to Spanish colonial authorities. Mind you, the story only surfaced a century after its alleged occurrence, at the height of the campaign to eradicate indigenous religions.
Commented David Brading, Professor of Mexican History at Cambridge University:
'When the Pope canonises Juan Diego, he will have elevated to sainthood the hero of a religious work of fiction.' (The Times, 31 June 2002)
Continued The Times:
'An interview with the man given the task in 1947 of restoring Diego's cloak, on which an image of the Virgin appeared, revealed this week that the image was not a miracle. Instead, he said, it had been painted on.'
Whether we look at the Middle Ages and the Reformation, the first centuries of the Christian era or even today, Christianity has always been a fabrication, layer set upon layer of lies and nonsense, a fraud from its very inception.
Related articles
Non-Christian Testimony? – From the authentic pen of lying Christian scribes!
The Apocryphal (and frequently revised) "Word of God"
The "James Ossuary" – a Box of Tricks
Mithraism – First Edition of the Universal Religion
Home
MAJOR SECTIONS
Still holding to the idea that some sort of holy man lies behind the legend? Better check out...Godman – Gestation of a Superhero
A closer look at the glib assertion that the Jesus story "got off the ground quickly and spread rapidly." What DID the Early Christians Believe?
Many currents fed the Jesus myth, like streams and tributaries joining to form a major river. Sourcing the legend – The Syncretic Heritage of Christianity
Much of the mythology of Christianity is a rehash of an older and even more transparent fabrication – Judaism. Jew Story – The Way of the Rabbi
Human ingenuity and cunning is matched by mankind's equally monumental credulity and wishful thinking. Christianity's Fabrication Factory
Church organisation, authority and membership preceded rather than followed the justifying doctrine. As the organisation and its needs changed so has the ‘Testament of God’ adapted accordingly. Dogma – The Word in all its Savage Glory
From religious policeman to grandee of the church, from beast fighter in Ephesus to beheading in Rome, Paul's story has more holes than a swiss cheese. St Paul the Apostle – Dead in the water?
Orchestrated by ambitious Christian clerics, a cancer of superstition, fear and brutality was imposed across Europe. Heart of Darkness – The Criminal History of the Christian Church
The Christian Heaven may have been a vain folly but the Christian Hell has been real enough. Hell on Earth – A Brutal Superstition Spreads Across the World
Raised to the status of State religion the Christian Church reigned over the destruction of civilization. As the centuries passed religious barbarism grew ever more vicious. Winter of the World – The Terrible Cost of "Christendom"
For two millennia Christianity's anti-sexual, puritanical doctrines have inflicted untold damage on the mental, emotional and physical lives of countless millions of people.Those SEXUALLY hung-up Christians – Loved-up for Jesus
With a Jewish father (stern patriarch) and a Christian mother (obsession with guilt and heaven) it is not surprising that Islam grew up a bit of a tartar. Islam's Desert Storm – 'Christendom' Reaps a Whirlwind
Heaven help us. The richest, most powerful nation in history has a psychotic infatuation with Jay-a-sus the Lawd! The Christianizing of the Americas
Copyright © 2004,2007 by Kenneth Humphreys. Copying is freely permitted, provided credit is given to the author and no material herein is sold for profit.
Caught lying again? You may want to do an attorney search and get yourself out of trouble. Using our vast database, you will find the vert best local attorneys in your area. If you have an employment law or labor law issue, we will help clear your name.
Sources:Graham Phillips, The Marian Conspiracy (Sidgwick & Jackson, 2000)Marina Warner, Alone of All Her Sex (Picador, 1976)John Shelby Spong, Liberating the Gospels (Harper, 1996)John Shelby Spong, Born of a Woman (Harper, 1992)Robin Lane Fox, The Unauthorized Version (Penguin, 1991)Leslie Houlden (Ed.), Judaism & Christianity (Routledge, 1988)W.H.C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity (Darton Longman Todd, 1984)Riane Eisle, The Chalice & the Blade (Harper Collins, 1987)
email the author –Kenneth Humphreys
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29.07.08
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Christ! Mandilo or 'Holy Face of Edessa'
Would You BELIEVE IT?!Self-portrait by the artist Jesus Christ!
Legend has it that Jesus sent his portrait (which miraculously appeared on a cloth pressed to his face) to King Agbar of Edessa.
On the other hand...
Not to be outdone, the Christian West concocted the story of 'Veronica', a good woman who wipes the face of JC and whose cloth then miraculously bears his image.
Good for business, of course...
The Veronica of Jaen (Spain). Not to be confused with the Veronica in Milan or the Veronica in the Vatican. All genuine, of course.In order to withstand obvious doubts about replicated relics (multiple heads of John the Baptist, for example) the Church espoused the wondrous truth that 'self-replication' was further evidence of a relic's miraculous qualities.
"Sudarium of Oviedo"
(that's a dirty stained cloth to the sane)
The 12th century Kingdom of Castile and Leon, with its warriors ravaging Moorish Spain, needed sacred relics to heighten religious tension.
Archbishop Pelayo Meléndez, "the chronicler", came up with "relics from the Holy City of Jerusalem", including a blood stained rag said to be the face cloth of one dead Jesus referred to in John 20.7. Still a prized tourist attraction in the Cathedral.
Oviedo was a small detour from the pilgirm trail to Santiago de Compostela.
Florida Fried Jesus?
Why not start your own shrine?
Christmas 2005 and Jesus shows up in a cooking pan. One lucky fast food worker has now retired to West Palm Beach as thousands flock to see "Grease smear Jesus."
All Liars
'Only lies have our fathers handed down to us, emptiness in which there is nothing of any avail!'
– Jeremiah 16.19
A Lying Prophet
'And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, "Thou mayest certainly recover": howbeit the LORD hath shewed me that he shall surely die.'
– 2 Kings 8:10
Monstrous fiction
'Clearly the Christians have used ... myths ... in fabricating the story of Jesus' birth ... It is clear to me that the writings of the Christians are a lie and that your fables are not well-enough constructed to conceal this monstrous fiction.'
– Celsus (On The True Doctrine, c178 AD)
Celsus was one of the foremost thinkers of his age. His critique of the Christians was so damaging that Christians destroyed every copy of his work they could find.
Useful, Not Truthful
'To confute the opposer ... one argues as one pleases, saying one thing while one means another ... Origen, Eusebius [et al] write at great length ... Sometimes it is true, they are compelled to say not what they think but what is useful.'
– St Jerome, c. 380
It's Official – One-Eyed Men!
'I was already Bishop of Hippo, when I went into Ethiopia with some servants of Christ there to preach the Gospel. In this country we saw many men and women without heads, who had two great eyes in their breasts; and in countries still more southly, we saw people who had but one eye in their foreheads.'
St Augustine
(Sermon 37; quoted in Taylor, Syntagma, 52; Diegesis, 271; Doane, Bible Myths, 437.)
'On Lying'
Believe it or not, Augustine devoted two whole treatises to the topic of lying. The first of these, 'De mendacio' ('On Lying'), written in 395, discussed the pros and cons of lying.
On balance, of the eight kinds of lie which he identified (each with several sub-types!) he excused 'jocular' lies, was 'uncertain' about others (depending on motive and the likelihood of being believed) but questioned the morality of the remainder.
The second tract 'Contra mendacium', written in 422, cautioned the brethren against lying. Evidently they needed the warning.
"One never errs more safely, methinks, than when one errs by too much loving the truth, and too much rejecting of falsehood."
– St Augustine, Retractations, Book I
Father of Lies?
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God"– 2 Timothy 3.16.
"And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie."– 2 Thessalonians 2.11
It's Official – White is Black!
Ignatius Loyola – Jesuit Fuhrer
Pious Forgeries
'The forgery of pious documents of every imaginable character was among the most constant and zealous activities of the holy propagandists of the Christian Faith, from the beginning to the critical era when forgeries were no longer possible or profitable.'– Joseph Wheless (1930)
Suspect
"Unsigned works are a peculiar Christian phenomenon, in works with a dogmatic, apologetic, and propagandistic aim – in other words, works already suspect, and thus made even more so by an author's anonymity."
– Richard Carrier
"Letter of Jesus to the King of Edessa"
Would You BELIEVE IT?! JC replies to a royal fan!
Useful, Not Truthful
"It is usual for the sacred historian to conform himself to the generally accepted opinion of the masses in his time.'– St Jerome (P.L., XXVI, 98; XXIV, 855).
What a Girl! Our Lady of Guadeloupe conveniently turned up to help the murdering conquistadors in the Americas.
‘There is nothing so easy as by sheer volubility to deceive a common crowd or an uneducated congregation.’
– St. Jerome (Epistle. lii, 8; p. 93.)
God's Truth – Lies
Would the partisans of Christ have set out deliberately to lie? Were they such barefaced charlatans that they concocted falsehoods and deceits merely to advance themselves and their designs? By their own admission, YES they were. They may well have been believers, in that they held to a certain faith. On this was built the fanaticism either to die, or to kill others, for that faith. But faith absolves the believer from any fidelity to objective truth.
Religious fantasy advances in small steps by which those who already ‘see a higher truth’ help the less gifted to achieve that sublime state by using various devices. In Jewish tradition, one such a device was ‘midrash’, the teasing out of new, contemporary meanings from antique, sacred texts. By such means, the scribes could resolve a current issue by interpreting what the scripture had ‘really meant’ all along. Was that a lie?
False accreditation was another much used method, common practice during antiquity. Most of the texts in both the Hebrew bible and the New Testament were forged in the names of their authors to give them ‘authority.’ This merely helped others recognise 'the higher truths' presented to them. Who could argue with Solomon, say, or Apostles of the Lord?
A Labyrinth of Deceit
One of the most inveterate forms of imaginative creation was the invention of sayings and whole speeches which, just as fiction-writers do today, they put entire into the mouths of the personages of whom they were writing. Thus, in the Gospel of John, chapters 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 are almost one continuous verbatim monologue – all three thousand six hundred words of it ! – supposedly uttered by the godman, a truly remarkable instance of total recall by the fabled octogenarian author!
The authors of Christianity were fond of allegory and parable. Few people have a head for pure theology. Popularising a convoluted point of theology for the unlearned by an illustrative story gets the point across. What perhaps is missed is that Christian theology is several levels deep: it uses fictional characters to tell fictional stories to make doctrinal points. Some dogmatists no doubt believed (still believe) that one day, long ago, a real whale swallowed a real Jonah. After all, Jesus supposedly said:
"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12.40)
The whole point of Jonah was not about God’s ability to conjure up man-swallowing fish; it was that Yahweh loves even the depraved folk of Nineveh (and their cattle). The sixth century scribe who wrote Jonah used the name of a prophet mentioned in 2 Kings to make a point about the worthiness of evangelising to the heathen. He has his reluctant hero sail from Joppa and encounter a storm. Cast overboard somewhere out at sea, the big fish is a literary device to get Jonah back to Joppa, from where, more enthusiastically, he can set out again for the big, bad city of Nineveh.
The theological point could be made simply – ‘our god loves all who repent, don’t be reluctant, go and tell it to the heathen’ – but would that entertain the crowd? Simple folk of course would start to take the entertaining story as a literal truth. Then, several generations later, when the story falls into the hands of the author of Matthew – who may well believe that the Jonah story is ‘true’ – he has his own fictional Christ figure quote Jonah to give authority to a different theological point: ‘death can be conquered.’
Deception
Thus by small steps a complex weave of fantasy is woven. As indeed the Church Fathers cheerfully admit:
"I will only mention the Apostle Paul. ... He, then, if anyone, ought to be calumniated; we should speak thus to him:‘The proofs which you have used against the Jews and against other heretics bear a different meaning in their own contexts to that which they bear in your Epistles.We see passages taken captive by your pen and pressed into service to win you a victory, which in volumes from which they are taken have no controversial bearing at all ... the line so often adopted by strong men in controversy – of justifying the means by the result."(St. Jerome, Epistle to Pammachus, xlviii, 13; N&PNF. vi, 72-73)
Was Saint Paul an unabashed liar? From this verse in Romans it would appear so:
"For if the truth of God hath more abounded by my lie unto his glory, why yet am I also adjudged a sinner?" (St. Paul, Romans 3.7)
However in context Paul is actually censuring other Christians who say "Let us do evil, that good may come" (that is, from God's judgement). But like Paul we can "take the passage captive" to make a point.
Luminaries of Deception
Jerome is not alone in his candour. Bishop Eusebius, the official propagandist for Constantine, entitles the 32nd Chapter of his 12th Book of Evangelical Preparation:
"How it may be Lawful and Fitting to use Falsehood as a Medicine, and for the Benefit of those who Want to be Deceived."
Eusebius is notoriously the author of a great many falsehoods – but then he does warn us in his infamous history:
"We shall introduce into this history in general only those events which may be useful first to ourselves and afterwards to posterity."(Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 8, chapter 2).
John Chrysostom, 5th century theologian and erstwhile bishop of Constantinople, is another:
"Do you see the advantage of deceit? ...For great is the value of deceit, provided it be not introduced with a mischievous intention. In fact action of this kind ought not to be called deceit, but rather a kind of good management, cleverness and skill, capable of finding out ways where resources fail, and making up for the defects of the mind ... And often it is necessary to deceive, and to do the greatest benefits by means of this device, whereas he who has gone by a straight course has done great mischief to the person whom he has not deceived."(Treatise On The Priesthood, Book 1).
'Golden Mouth' John is notable for his extensive commentaries on the Bible which emphasized a literal understanding of the stories; the style popular at Alexandria until then was to acknowledge an allegorical meaning of the text.
Thus eminent ‘believers’ added falsehood to the beliefs of later generations. ‘For the best of reasons’ they ‘clarified’ obscure points, conjured up characters to speak dialogue that could have been said, invented scenarios that could have happened, borrowed extensively from a wider culture. And this all before they became the custodians of power and had real reasons for lies, inventions and counterfeits. As we shall see, god’s immutable laws became as flexible as putty.
The 5th and 6th centuries was the 'golden age' of Christian forgery. In a moment of shocking candour, the Manichean bishop (and opponent of Augustine) Faustus said:
"Many things have been inserted by our ancestors in the speeches of our Lord which, though put forth under his name, agree not with his faith; especially since – as already it has been often proved – these things were written not by Christ, nor [by] his apostles, but a long while after their assumption, by I know not what sort of half Jews, not even agreeing with themselves, who made up their tale out of reports and opinions merely, and yet, fathering the whole upon the names of the apostles of the Lord or on those who were supposed to follow the apostles, they maliciously pretended that they had written their lies and conceits according to them."
In the ferocious battle for adherents, the propagandists sought to outdo each other at every turn. One example: by the fifth century, four very different endings existed to Mark's gospel. Codex Bobiensis ends Mark at verse 16:8, without any post-crucifixion appearances; it lacks both the 'short conclusion' (of Jesus sending followers to 'east and west') or the 'long conclusion' – the fabulous post-death apparitions, where Jesus promises his disciples that they will be immune to snake bites and poison.
Once the Church had grabbed mastery of much of Europe and the middle-east, its forgery engine went into overdrive.
'The Church forgery mill did not limit itself to mere writings but for centuries cranked out thousands of phony "relics" of its "Lord," "Apostles" and "Saints" … There were at least 26 'authentic' burial shrouds scattered throughout the abbeys of Europe, of which the Shroud of Turin is just one … At one point, a number of churches claimed the one foreskin of Jesus, and there were enough splinters of the "True Cross" that Calvin said the amount of wood would make "a full load for a good ship." ' (Acharya S, The Christ Conspiracy)
Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), the tireless zealot for papal authority – he was the founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) – even wrote:
"We should always be disposed to believe that which appears to us to be white is really black, if the hierarchy of the church so decides."
The Reformation may have swept away some abuses perpetrated by the priesthood but lying was not one of them. Martin Luther, in private correspondence, argued:
"What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good and for the Christian church ... a lie out of necessity, a useful lie, a helpful lie, such lies would not be against God, he would accept them."– Martin Luther (Cited by his secretary, in a letter in Max Lenz, ed., Briefwechsel Landgraf Phillips des Grossmüthigen von Hessen mit Bucer, vol. I.)
The Forgery Mill
Notable Christian forgeries include:
The Donation of Constantine – 'Without doubt a forgery...' Catholic EncyclopediaA two-part document purporting to be from the first Christian emperor to Pope Sylvester I (314-35). In the 'Confessio' Constantine thanks Sylvester for his Christian instruction and baptism (and consequent cure of leprosy!) In his 'Donatio' Constantine confers on the pope and his successors primacy over all other bishops, including the eastern patriarchs, senatorial privileges for the clergy, imperial palaces and regalia, Rome itself and the western empire!!
In truth, this monstrous eighth century forgery (peppered with anachronisms) was almost certainly written by the future Pope Paul I (757-67) while his equally ambitious brother Stephen II (752-57) sat on the papal throne.
The False Decretals – A riot of more than a hundred fake letters and decrees attributed to pontiffs from first century Clement (88-97) to seventh century Gregory I (590-604). Now attributed to 'Isodore Mercator', a ninth century master forger, almost certainly a papal aide. Like the Donation, the Decretals conferred rights and privileges on the papacy.
'Thundering Legion' Decree of Marcus Aurelius – In this fabricated letter from the emperor to the Senate, Marcus is said to have forbidden persecution of Christians because, in a battle with the Quadi in 174, prayers from Christian soldiers brought on a thunderstorm which rescued the Romans from thirst and dispersed the barbarian opponents. The emperor is said to have accorded the Twelfth Legion the suffix fulminata or fulminea, that is, 'thundering.' Tertullian (c.160 - c.230), north African theologian, made up this nonsense; the twelfth legion had had the suffix legio fulminata from the time of Augustus. The stoic Marcus Aurelius had nothing but contempt for the Christians.
'Letters' of Emperor Antoninus Pius to the Greeks – More fakery, this time from the pen of fourth century Bishop Eusebius (Ecclesiastic History, IV, 13). He has the pious second century pagan forbid 'tumults against the Christians.'
The Clementines – These fancies, twenty books of 'curious religious romance' (Catholic Encyclopedia), masquerade as the work of first century pontiff Clement I. Written in the fourth century, their purpose was to bolster Rome's claim to be the primary see: here we have the 'Epistle of Clement to James' which originated the notion that St. Peter was the first Bishop of Rome.
Correspondence between Seneca and Paul - a fourth century invention of first century letters. They alluded to fires in Rome and to the persecution of Jews and Christians.
Acts of Paul and Thecla – "Love for Paul" was the justification for this particular compendium of fable. None other than Tertullian condemned his rival's handiwork.
"If those who read the writing that falsely bears the name of Paul adduce the example of Thecla to maintain the right of women to teach and to baptize, let them know that the presbyter in Asia who produced this document, as if he could of himself add anything to the prestige of Paul, was removed from his office after he had been convicted and had confessed that he did it out of love for Paul."(Tertullian, De batismo, 17).
'Testimonium Flavianum' - The infamous 'passing reference' to Jesus Christ supposedly written by the first century Jewish historian Josephus (he adopted the family name of the imperial house).
We know in graphic detail the course of the first Jewish War because – remarkably – the history recorded by Josephus somehow survived. Whereas whole libraries of antiquity were torched by the Christians, curiously, this testimony of a Jew made it through the centuries. A subsequent work by Josephus, The Antiquity of the Jews, which iterated and extended his story of the 'chosen people' also survived.
The survival of these two overlapping works was no coincidence because they rather too well 'confirm' from a 'non-Christian source' the existence of the godman.
In short, sometime in the fourth century, while most else of ancient scholarship was being thrown into bonfires, a Christian scribe – probably Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea– 'rescued' the histories of Josephus and 'doctored' them to provide convenient 'proof' that Christ had been flesh-and-blood and was neither a fiction (as pagan critics maintained) nor solely a spiritual being, as gnostics reasoned. (See The authentic pen of lying Christian scribes!)
Mother of All Fakes
The Shroud of Turin
Modern science signalled the decline in the wholesale manufacture of Christian forgeries.
The freethinker Leonardo da Vinci had the last laugh on the Church when he put his own face on a fake so clever that it remained 'authentic' for five hundred years!
Shrouded in Deceit
The Chronicle of Sulpicius Severus - a 5th century disciple of Bishop Martin of Tours invented the lurid story of the Neronian persecution.
The Jewish historian Josephus says nothing about any "persecution" under Nero, though he is not slow to describe him as "acting like a madman" who "slew his brother, and wife, and mother, from whom his barbarity spread itself to others that were most nearly related to him; and how, at last, he was so distracted that he became an actor in the scenes, and upon the theater." (Wars, 13.1)
If a bonfire of Christians had actually happened Josephus would have mentioned it – but he does not, and nor does any early Christian writer.
"In reality, the Neronian persecution never occurred. It is a fiction of the Church, invented for its greater glory." (Arthur Drews, The Legend of St Peter, p63)
Chapter 16 of Life of Nero by Suetonius. This is the origin of the 'Christians burnt as torches' nonsense.
The Lentulus Letter For this pious fancy the forger created a fictitious predecessor to Pontius Pilate, governor of Judaea, calling him "Publius Lentulus". The forger has his creation write to the Roman Senate, reporting Christ's "raising of the dead". He describes Jesus as "the most beautiful of the sons of men."
The letter was first printed in the "Life of Christ" by Ludolph the Carthusian (Cologne, 1474). It was probably composed in 13th/14th century, based on an earlier Greek forgery.
Report of Pilate to Caesar – Pilate's conversion to Christianity – and even the debauched Emperor Tiberius a closet-Christian! Another gem from the pen of Tertullian!
‘All these things Pilate did to Christ; and now in fact a Christian in his own convictions, he sent word of Him to the reigning Caesar, who was at the time Tiberius. Yes, and even the Caesars would have believed on Christ, if either the Caesars had not been necessary for the world, or if Christians could have been Caesars.’ (Tertullian Apol. xxi and Anti-Nicene Fathers, iii, 35)
Letter of Jesus to the King of EdessaNothing less than the handwritten note of the godman himself! This fabrication was supposedly delivered by the apostle Thaddeus, together with a self-portrait by the artist – Jesus Christ (he wiped his face with the canvass)! Actually, the text is borrowed from the 'concordance' of Tatian, compiled in the second century, and known as the 'Diatessaron'. The forgery is almost certainly the work of Eusebius, Christian propagandist of the fourth century. He was the first to mention the letter and claimed to have personally 'translated' it from Syriac (Ecclesiastical History I, xii).
The Virgin Birth FraudThe most colossal blunder of the Septuagint translators, the mistranslation of the original Hebrew text of Isaiah, 7.14, allowed deceitful early Christians to concoct their infamous prophecy that somehow the ancient Jewish text presaged the miraculous birth of their own godman.
The Hebrew original says:'Hinneh ha-almah harah ve-yeldeth ben ve-karath shem-o immanuel.'
Honestly translated, the verse reads:'Behold, the young woman has conceived — and bears a son and calls his name Immanuel.'The Greek-speaking translators of Hebrew scripture (in 3rd century B.C. Alexandria) slipped up and translated 'almah' (young woman) into the Greek 'parthenos' (virgin). The Hebrew word for virgin would have been 'betulah.' The slip did not matter at the time, for in context, Isaiah’s prophesy – set in the 8th century BC but probably written in the 5th – had been given as reassurance to King Ahaz of Judah that his royal line would survive, despite the ongoing siege of Jerusalem by the Syrians. And it did. In other words, the prophesy had nothing to do with events in Judaea eight hundred years into the future!
Justin ‘Martyr’, a pagan Greek from Palestine, fled to Ephesus at the time of Bar Kochbar’s revolt (132 -135 AD). He joined the growing Christian community and found himself competing with the priests of Artemis, an eternally virgin goddess. Justin successfully overcame the sentiments of established Christians and had Mary, mother of Jesus, declared a virgin, citing his Greek copy of Isaiah as 'evidence' of scriptural prescience. The Greek priest who then forged the 'Gospel according to St. Matthew' went one stage further, taking the word 'harah' – in Hebrew a past or perfect tense – and switched it into a future tense to arrive at:
'Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.' (Matthew 1.23)
All this to arrive at the monstrous fiction that ancient scripture foretold of the arrival of an infant actually called Jesus!
Still Lying in 2002
The Pope has chosen to canonise Juan Diego, supposedly a sixteenth century Mexican Indian who had the good fortune to have the Blessed Virgin (in the guise of 'Our Lady of Guadeloupe') impress her own image onto his cloak. Not surprisingly, Diego was a paragon of Catholic devotion, completely submissive to Spanish colonial authorities. Mind you, the story only surfaced a century after its alleged occurrence, at the height of the campaign to eradicate indigenous religions.
Commented David Brading, Professor of Mexican History at Cambridge University:
'When the Pope canonises Juan Diego, he will have elevated to sainthood the hero of a religious work of fiction.' (The Times, 31 June 2002)
Continued The Times:
'An interview with the man given the task in 1947 of restoring Diego's cloak, on which an image of the Virgin appeared, revealed this week that the image was not a miracle. Instead, he said, it had been painted on.'
Whether we look at the Middle Ages and the Reformation, the first centuries of the Christian era or even today, Christianity has always been a fabrication, layer set upon layer of lies and nonsense, a fraud from its very inception.
Related articles
Non-Christian Testimony? – From the authentic pen of lying Christian scribes!
The Apocryphal (and frequently revised) "Word of God"
The "James Ossuary" – a Box of Tricks
Mithraism – First Edition of the Universal Religion
Home
MAJOR SECTIONS
Still holding to the idea that some sort of holy man lies behind the legend? Better check out...Godman – Gestation of a Superhero
A closer look at the glib assertion that the Jesus story "got off the ground quickly and spread rapidly." What DID the Early Christians Believe?
Many currents fed the Jesus myth, like streams and tributaries joining to form a major river. Sourcing the legend – The Syncretic Heritage of Christianity
Much of the mythology of Christianity is a rehash of an older and even more transparent fabrication – Judaism. Jew Story – The Way of the Rabbi
Human ingenuity and cunning is matched by mankind's equally monumental credulity and wishful thinking. Christianity's Fabrication Factory
Church organisation, authority and membership preceded rather than followed the justifying doctrine. As the organisation and its needs changed so has the ‘Testament of God’ adapted accordingly. Dogma – The Word in all its Savage Glory
From religious policeman to grandee of the church, from beast fighter in Ephesus to beheading in Rome, Paul's story has more holes than a swiss cheese. St Paul the Apostle – Dead in the water?
Orchestrated by ambitious Christian clerics, a cancer of superstition, fear and brutality was imposed across Europe. Heart of Darkness – The Criminal History of the Christian Church
The Christian Heaven may have been a vain folly but the Christian Hell has been real enough. Hell on Earth – A Brutal Superstition Spreads Across the World
Raised to the status of State religion the Christian Church reigned over the destruction of civilization. As the centuries passed religious barbarism grew ever more vicious. Winter of the World – The Terrible Cost of "Christendom"
For two millennia Christianity's anti-sexual, puritanical doctrines have inflicted untold damage on the mental, emotional and physical lives of countless millions of people.Those SEXUALLY hung-up Christians – Loved-up for Jesus
With a Jewish father (stern patriarch) and a Christian mother (obsession with guilt and heaven) it is not surprising that Islam grew up a bit of a tartar. Islam's Desert Storm – 'Christendom' Reaps a Whirlwind
Heaven help us. The richest, most powerful nation in history has a psychotic infatuation with Jay-a-sus the Lawd! The Christianizing of the Americas
Copyright © 2004,2007 by Kenneth Humphreys. Copying is freely permitted, provided credit is given to the author and no material herein is sold for profit.
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MITHRAISM
IT'S INFLUENCE ON CHRISTIANITY
Dr. Zartosht Ataollahi
(Translated from Farsi)
In name of the creator of life and wisdom.
In the early pre-Christ era, Mithraism was the sole savior and guide to the way of life and was considered a serious contender to Christianity. Because of the parallel presence of the two powerful religious establishments December 25, which was Mithra’s Birthday, became Christ’s Birthday. This is where Mithraism influence on Christianity started.
There are similarities in the stories about Christ and Mitra such as their birth, the shepherds who came to adore the child, the baptism ceremony, celebration of the ascending human-metaphor God, the bread and wine, the day of salvation, and immortality of soul became common among the two religions.
In the beginning, Mithraism was a major part of Christianity. With the passage of time and as Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire; the eastern ideas were filtered out. Even Persian religious songs in Bible, which foretold Christ’s birth and baptism, were not legal and sacred anymore. Starting from 4th century BCE, the Christian world was engaged in brutal internal fights over biblical rights. At this time because of political reasons, referring to Persian traditions became irreversible. Thus Christianity was left with a combination of Mithraism and Zoroastrianism.
The Romans feared being taken over by the Persians and tried to become independent. The Roman Empire was in constant conflict with the Persian Empire. They regarded Iran, the birthplace of Mithraism, and the land of their enemies. Consequently, they felt the need for an independent governing ideology to counter the Persian influence and eastern ideologies. That is how Christianity celebrates its new birth.
In the 4th century Iran, under the Sasanian, the links between religion and government strengthened. Ardeshir orders the collection of all religious material. The Avesta alphabet (Din Dabireh) with its 48 letters became a basis for recording Avesta’s songs. The script was comprehensive, and the songs were recorded on 12 thousand deerskins.
Zurvanism bloomed during the Sasanian reign and was followed by golden era of astronomy, mathematics, literature, and architecture. Iranian religious life became a global treat especially to the Roman Empire. Who organized their own church and ideology to resist Zoroastrianism. Both religions believed in the God of Sun the undefeatable Mitra. They worshipped father Mitra. This meant a spiritual link between the powerful western and eastern empires and could lead to a common government institution. If it had happened the world could have had a different destiny and history.
Constantine was the first Christian emperor who believed in ideological strength of the empire. He believed that Mithraism could not do it. It was an organized ideology based on a rigid discipline, a hierarchy demanding self-sacrifice and promotion to higher ranks was difficult. Eventually, it would loose followers. From this perspective, Christianity was more popular. Each cardinal could create a new branch and using their own charisma, religious teachings and personal interest of people, gather a crowd without being related to Christ teachings. History of Christianity is full of religious innovations. As Christianity distanced from the eastern ideology it became closer to Sufism.
In Mithraism there was no place for religious innovation and trade. Yet Christianity allowed people with opposing believes and views to gather under Christ’s umbrella. These conditions were crucial in the spreading of Christianity. This is how democracy in Christianity and closeness in Mithraism dealt with issues leading to the political defeat of Mithraism.
Mithraism with its Persian roots remained stranger to Romans who viewed it as the official ideology of the Persian Empire. An empire, which deprived them from becoming the world’s absolute power. In Sasanian time, Zoroastrianism was the official ideology of Persians. In the meanwhile, Romans, despite their obvious needs for such an ideology, lacked it. Constantine focus on Christianity was to create religious and ideological independence from Persians.
Mithraism had a broad influence on Christianity. However, because of historical, ideological, and political factors it disappeared and was replaced by Christianity. Neither historical facts nor ideological ones could determine the outcome of the battle between the two powers. Naturally, Mithraism could not be the official Roman ideology and could not satisfy Roman political desires in conquering Persians. Yet, many Christian rituals remained influenced by Mithraism and the eastern ideology penetrated into the European religious institution. Mitra was the Son of God, so was Jesus. Mitra was born from a virgin, so was Jesus.
The story of the birth Jesus is the same as the story of Mitra’s birth. Mitra was born in a dark cave and shepherds were the first people who found out about him. They brought him gold and pleasant scents. Is this similar to the bible story? Mitra and Jesus were both the links between the God and people. They are both sent by the Father to prevail wishes of the Father on the earth. The difference is that Jesus is son of Yahweh and Mitra is son of Ahura Mazda. The Jews believed that Yahweh in Bible is the same as Ahura Mazda. Mitra’s mission was to fight Ahriman and its followers and to bring about the final conquest of brightness over darkness on the judgment day. So is the mission of Jesus from the Christians’ point of view. Return of Mitra to Ahura Mazda following his last missions on the earth is similar to the resurrection of Jesus.
Even Mitra’s symbolism impacted Christianity. Mithraist's drew the cross in a circle, which symbolized the sun. For them the four corners of cross-represented the original solar year. Two of the points were day and night and the two other points showed the solar revolution. The Cross inside a circle can be observed in the portrait of Mitra’s holy dining. In Christianity cross became a symbol of suffering and resistance although it maintained the sun’s symbol.
The Birth of Mitra was on the Holy day of December 25, the longest night of the year, in the darkest cave. Symbolizing birth of the light and hope and renovation of the nature. Christ’s holy birth is also on the same night in the solar calendar.
In the ritual of dining with Mitra the bread was divided into four parts. The bread and sweet wine ceremony was among the holy rituals of Mitraists. They symbolized Mitra’s giving and supporting attitude. They also symbolized Mitra’s joy on the earth and eternity in the kingdom. It has a similar meaning in Christianity other than the bread and wine, which represent Christ’s body and blood. Emotionally, the ceremony is a reminder of Christ’s last supper with his followers.
Baptism in Mitraism meant washing off the sins. Baptism, confession, and forgiving the sins were all transferred from Mitraism to Christianity. The advanced organization of Christian church is a reminder of the well-organized Mitraist institutions. The labeling of the hierarchy in both institutions is similar: the Father, the Papa, the Pope, the Padre (in Vatican). Leaders of Mitraist institutions demanded a rigid discipline such as fasting and obstinate behavior from their followers. That is how Mitraism became a manly religion, a fighters’ religion, and that is how it became successful all over from North to Averlians, Galians, and Divcaltians.
In the non-martial life, religion was the basis of government and maintaining peace in the society. To this time high-ranking Christian religious figures wear a hat named Metropolis, which is named after Mitra, and is inherited from Persian people. The world “Metropolitan” also means city of Mitra or city of sun and was known to mean the capital city but it does not have such a meaning today. These are a few indicators of the Mitraism within Christianity. Unlike Judaism, Christianity has not purified itself from superstitious ideas of other religions and influence of Mithraism remains there.
Mitra’s religion prevailed for some 2000 years among Aryans. In 66 ACE King Tirdad introduced it to Nero and up till 325 ACE it was the official religion of the Roman Empire. In the first century, during Ashkanian reign, Iranian merchants and believers brought Mitraism to Europe and it was mixed with Aristotle's (Aflatoon’s) philosophy.
The Mithraist names of the days of the week have been maintained except for changes in the language, this can be observed.
Mahshid God of Moon, Monday in English, Montag in German.
Bahramshid, day of TeeVis, Tuesday in English and Dienstag in German.
Tirshid the Vedin day, Wednesday in English and Mittwoch in German.
Berjisshid day of Tour, Thursday in English and Donnerstag in German.
Nahidshid day of Erie, god of fertility, Friday in English, Fristag in German.
Keyvanshid, day of Saturn, Saturday in English and Samstag in German.
Mehrshid day of Sun, Sunday in English and Sonntag in German.
In 321 ACE, Constantine declared Sunday a weekly holiday.
Mitra had twelve supporters and these became Christ’s apostles. When repairing old churches around the world including those in Germany, France and Russia there have been numerous signs of Mithraism. Christianity was influenced by variety of traditions and rituals of Mithraism and became the leader of European civilization.
***
IT'S INFLUENCE ON CHRISTIANITY
Dr. Zartosht Ataollahi
(Translated from Farsi)
In name of the creator of life and wisdom.
In the early pre-Christ era, Mithraism was the sole savior and guide to the way of life and was considered a serious contender to Christianity. Because of the parallel presence of the two powerful religious establishments December 25, which was Mithra’s Birthday, became Christ’s Birthday. This is where Mithraism influence on Christianity started.
There are similarities in the stories about Christ and Mitra such as their birth, the shepherds who came to adore the child, the baptism ceremony, celebration of the ascending human-metaphor God, the bread and wine, the day of salvation, and immortality of soul became common among the two religions.
In the beginning, Mithraism was a major part of Christianity. With the passage of time and as Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire; the eastern ideas were filtered out. Even Persian religious songs in Bible, which foretold Christ’s birth and baptism, were not legal and sacred anymore. Starting from 4th century BCE, the Christian world was engaged in brutal internal fights over biblical rights. At this time because of political reasons, referring to Persian traditions became irreversible. Thus Christianity was left with a combination of Mithraism and Zoroastrianism.
The Romans feared being taken over by the Persians and tried to become independent. The Roman Empire was in constant conflict with the Persian Empire. They regarded Iran, the birthplace of Mithraism, and the land of their enemies. Consequently, they felt the need for an independent governing ideology to counter the Persian influence and eastern ideologies. That is how Christianity celebrates its new birth.
In the 4th century Iran, under the Sasanian, the links between religion and government strengthened. Ardeshir orders the collection of all religious material. The Avesta alphabet (Din Dabireh) with its 48 letters became a basis for recording Avesta’s songs. The script was comprehensive, and the songs were recorded on 12 thousand deerskins.
Zurvanism bloomed during the Sasanian reign and was followed by golden era of astronomy, mathematics, literature, and architecture. Iranian religious life became a global treat especially to the Roman Empire. Who organized their own church and ideology to resist Zoroastrianism. Both religions believed in the God of Sun the undefeatable Mitra. They worshipped father Mitra. This meant a spiritual link between the powerful western and eastern empires and could lead to a common government institution. If it had happened the world could have had a different destiny and history.
Constantine was the first Christian emperor who believed in ideological strength of the empire. He believed that Mithraism could not do it. It was an organized ideology based on a rigid discipline, a hierarchy demanding self-sacrifice and promotion to higher ranks was difficult. Eventually, it would loose followers. From this perspective, Christianity was more popular. Each cardinal could create a new branch and using their own charisma, religious teachings and personal interest of people, gather a crowd without being related to Christ teachings. History of Christianity is full of religious innovations. As Christianity distanced from the eastern ideology it became closer to Sufism.
In Mithraism there was no place for religious innovation and trade. Yet Christianity allowed people with opposing believes and views to gather under Christ’s umbrella. These conditions were crucial in the spreading of Christianity. This is how democracy in Christianity and closeness in Mithraism dealt with issues leading to the political defeat of Mithraism.
Mithraism with its Persian roots remained stranger to Romans who viewed it as the official ideology of the Persian Empire. An empire, which deprived them from becoming the world’s absolute power. In Sasanian time, Zoroastrianism was the official ideology of Persians. In the meanwhile, Romans, despite their obvious needs for such an ideology, lacked it. Constantine focus on Christianity was to create religious and ideological independence from Persians.
Mithraism had a broad influence on Christianity. However, because of historical, ideological, and political factors it disappeared and was replaced by Christianity. Neither historical facts nor ideological ones could determine the outcome of the battle between the two powers. Naturally, Mithraism could not be the official Roman ideology and could not satisfy Roman political desires in conquering Persians. Yet, many Christian rituals remained influenced by Mithraism and the eastern ideology penetrated into the European religious institution. Mitra was the Son of God, so was Jesus. Mitra was born from a virgin, so was Jesus.
The story of the birth Jesus is the same as the story of Mitra’s birth. Mitra was born in a dark cave and shepherds were the first people who found out about him. They brought him gold and pleasant scents. Is this similar to the bible story? Mitra and Jesus were both the links between the God and people. They are both sent by the Father to prevail wishes of the Father on the earth. The difference is that Jesus is son of Yahweh and Mitra is son of Ahura Mazda. The Jews believed that Yahweh in Bible is the same as Ahura Mazda. Mitra’s mission was to fight Ahriman and its followers and to bring about the final conquest of brightness over darkness on the judgment day. So is the mission of Jesus from the Christians’ point of view. Return of Mitra to Ahura Mazda following his last missions on the earth is similar to the resurrection of Jesus.
Even Mitra’s symbolism impacted Christianity. Mithraist's drew the cross in a circle, which symbolized the sun. For them the four corners of cross-represented the original solar year. Two of the points were day and night and the two other points showed the solar revolution. The Cross inside a circle can be observed in the portrait of Mitra’s holy dining. In Christianity cross became a symbol of suffering and resistance although it maintained the sun’s symbol.
The Birth of Mitra was on the Holy day of December 25, the longest night of the year, in the darkest cave. Symbolizing birth of the light and hope and renovation of the nature. Christ’s holy birth is also on the same night in the solar calendar.
In the ritual of dining with Mitra the bread was divided into four parts. The bread and sweet wine ceremony was among the holy rituals of Mitraists. They symbolized Mitra’s giving and supporting attitude. They also symbolized Mitra’s joy on the earth and eternity in the kingdom. It has a similar meaning in Christianity other than the bread and wine, which represent Christ’s body and blood. Emotionally, the ceremony is a reminder of Christ’s last supper with his followers.
Baptism in Mitraism meant washing off the sins. Baptism, confession, and forgiving the sins were all transferred from Mitraism to Christianity. The advanced organization of Christian church is a reminder of the well-organized Mitraist institutions. The labeling of the hierarchy in both institutions is similar: the Father, the Papa, the Pope, the Padre (in Vatican). Leaders of Mitraist institutions demanded a rigid discipline such as fasting and obstinate behavior from their followers. That is how Mitraism became a manly religion, a fighters’ religion, and that is how it became successful all over from North to Averlians, Galians, and Divcaltians.
In the non-martial life, religion was the basis of government and maintaining peace in the society. To this time high-ranking Christian religious figures wear a hat named Metropolis, which is named after Mitra, and is inherited from Persian people. The world “Metropolitan” also means city of Mitra or city of sun and was known to mean the capital city but it does not have such a meaning today. These are a few indicators of the Mitraism within Christianity. Unlike Judaism, Christianity has not purified itself from superstitious ideas of other religions and influence of Mithraism remains there.
Mitra’s religion prevailed for some 2000 years among Aryans. In 66 ACE King Tirdad introduced it to Nero and up till 325 ACE it was the official religion of the Roman Empire. In the first century, during Ashkanian reign, Iranian merchants and believers brought Mitraism to Europe and it was mixed with Aristotle's (Aflatoon’s) philosophy.
The Mithraist names of the days of the week have been maintained except for changes in the language, this can be observed.
Mahshid God of Moon, Monday in English, Montag in German.
Bahramshid, day of TeeVis, Tuesday in English and Dienstag in German.
Tirshid the Vedin day, Wednesday in English and Mittwoch in German.
Berjisshid day of Tour, Thursday in English and Donnerstag in German.
Nahidshid day of Erie, god of fertility, Friday in English, Fristag in German.
Keyvanshid, day of Saturn, Saturday in English and Samstag in German.
Mehrshid day of Sun, Sunday in English and Sonntag in German.
In 321 ACE, Constantine declared Sunday a weekly holiday.
Mitra had twelve supporters and these became Christ’s apostles. When repairing old churches around the world including those in Germany, France and Russia there have been numerous signs of Mithraism. Christianity was influenced by variety of traditions and rituals of Mithraism and became the leader of European civilization.
***
Mithraism- The First Edition of Universal religion
Mithraism –
First Edition of the Universal Religion
Sources:Malachi Martin, The Decline & Fall of the Roman Church (Secker & Warburg, 1981)Kevin Butcher, Roman Syria & the Near East (British Museum, 2003)Dan Cohn-Sherbok, The Crucified Jew (Harper Collins,1992)Michael Parenti, History as Mystery (City Lights, 1999)Leslie Houlden (Ed.), Judaism & Christianity (Routledge, 1988)Alan Hall, History of the Papacy (PRC, 1998)Helen Ellerbe, The Dark Side of Christian History (Morning Star & Lark, 1995)Peter De Rosa, Vicars of Christ (Bantam Press, 1988)John G. Jackson, Christianity Before Christ (American Atheist Press, 1985)S. Angus, The Mystery Religions (Kessinger Publishing, 2003)Antonia Tripolitis, Religions of the Hellenistic Roman Age (Eerdmans,2002)David Ulansey, The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries (OUP, 1991)Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity (Eerdmans, 2003)
email the author –Kenneth Humphreys
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22.01.06
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Variegated
"As far as we can tell, cults such as Mithraism had no equivalent of the Council of Nicaea to determine their orthodoxy. The same deity might be subject of different, contradictory myths or the focus of different types of ritual at different shrines or cities."
– K. Butcher, Roman Syria, p336
Mithras killing his bull, encircled by the signs of the zodiac (c. 150 AD – Mithraeum, London)
A long way from Persia – Mithraeum, London
Syncretic Weakness
"The Mithraic cult ... was the most syncretistic of all the cults and religions ... This caused it to lose its strength, definiteness, and cohesion."
– Antonia Tripolitis (Religions of the Hellenistic Roman Age, p59)
Altar for the 'Invincible Sun' (Invicto Soli).
Note the nimbus (arc of the sun) about his head – copied by the Christians for their own sun god
Helios the sun-god from the time of Aurelian (270 -275). Compare to "JC in the Sky" from the same period.
"The Seven Deadly Sins, which Christians appropriated both iconographically and geographically in their own views of Hell, were a Mithraic formulation which looked back to Zoroastrianism, which gave mystic significance to the number seven.
Mithra also gave us … the Chi-Rho sign which Christians appropriated."
– Alice Turner (The History of Hell, p36)
Priest of Mithras(Dura-Europus, mid-3rd century)
Priest of Christ (4th century)
'Alcimus, slave-bailiff of Tiberius Claudius Livianus, gave the gift to the sun-god Mithras in fulfillment of a vow.'
(Rome 2nd century)
An original wall painting from Wadi Sarga, Egypt, gets transformed into a Coptic story of "3 martyrs in a fiery furnace" and a chorus of Christian saints.
(British Museum)
Bull Slayer
Eclipsed as it was in later centuries by the faith of Christ, Mithraism – or rather, its Romanised form Sol Invictus – was the first ‘universal religion’ of the Greco-Roman world.
Mithraism anticipated Christianity in all major respects bar one, and enjoyed a ‘reign’ of at least five centuries. It peaked around the year 300 AD when it became the official religion of the empire. At that time, in every town and city, in every military garrison and outpost from Syria to the Scottish frontier, was to be found a Mithraeum and officiating priests of the cult.
Mithraism was the ‘religion of choice’ of fishermen, merchants, and in particular, the military who adopted Mithras rather like latter-day soldiers would adopt St. Michael or St. George – Mithras slew bulls, St George slew dragons! Mithraism waged – and lost – a two-hundred year battle with the upstart religion of Christ, into which much of its ritual, and many of its practitioners, were subsumed.
Fatally, Mithraism had excluded women entirely, causing well-heeled Roman matrons with a pious frame of mind to explore first Judaism, and then Christianity. Also, unlike Christianity, it made no special overtures towards the uneducated, downtrodden and marginal elements of society. It was a religion chosen by emperors, not slaves.
Mithras Goes to Rome
The cult of Mithras was actually of very ancient lineage, traceable in one form or another through at least two thousand years. In origin it was the primordial sun-worship – the father of all religion. Iconography showed Mithras, in Phrygian cap and cloak, riding his fiery chariot across the sky. But it was also an eastern religion, reaching the Roman world from India via Persia. Traditional hostility with Persia did not favour Rome adopting a religion of its enemies. This changed however in the 60s BC when Pompey’s legions first entered Syria. Mithraism had so well established itself in the Commagene, Armenia and eastern Anatolia that whole dynasties of kings had called themselves ‘Mithradates’ (‘justice of Mithra’).
Rome’s troops took to the ‘machismo’ faith, with its ceremonies of male-bonding and triumph over death, of self-control and resistance to sensuality. Acolytes were required to descend into a pit, which was then covered by boards filled with holes, and the blood of a sacrificial bull above would shower onto them. Thus sanctified they could re-emerge from the pit ‘reborn’ in Mithras. This sacrament, the ‘taurobolia,’ was the Mithraic forerunner of the Christian baptism. Mithras’ rock tomb (and place of re-birth) – the ‘petra’ – was central to each Mithraeum. The rock connection was later re-worked into the legend of Saint Peter.
Legionaries took the cult with them into Palestine and back to Rome itself. Several hundred Mithraic monuments have been found in Rome (Coarelli, 1979). Adapted for Roman taste, the most popular Romanised form of Mithraism was Sol Invictus, the Unconquerable Sun, whose re-birth was celebrated as the climax of the mid-winter Saturnalia, on 25th December (Celsus tells us that in the Mithraic mysteries the soul moved through seven heavenly spheres, beginning with the leaden Saturn and ending with the golden Sun).
Mithras (right) with his friend 'Sol'.
Looks a little familiar ..?(Dura-Europus)
Egypt – raised hands for sun-worship.
Ahura-Mazda/ Mithras
On his tomb at Nimrud Dag king Antiochus I of Commagene (northern Syria/eastern Turkey) greets a god from Persia .
(1st century BC)
Precursor of Christianity
The theology of Mithraism was centred upon the dying/rising Mithra, emerging fully grown from the ‘virgin dawn’ or rock. The association of gods with rocks or stones is not surprising: fiery rocks falling from the sky (meteorites) and even sparks released by colliding stones would equally strike the simple mind as ‘evidence’ of a godly presence. Holy stones were anointed with oil. Mithra was fathered by the creator god Ahura-Mazda.
Miracle Birth
Roman silver token/coin showing birth of Mithras. He emerges fully formed from a rock.
On reverse Mithras is linked with creator god Ormzad and Egyptian sun god Re.
(Verulamium, England, 2nd-3rd century)
Mithras’s supposed creation had occurred in a ‘time before men’, a cosmic creation in a celestial heaven. At no time was it believed that he had lived as a mere mortal and trod the earth. Mithraism's failure to have anthropomorphised its god into a man – something which was to be accomplished so successfully by Christianity – weakened the cult's appeal to the uneducated and opened the door to the competition.
In all other major respects the theology of the two cults were all but identical.
Mithras had had twelve followers with whom he had shared a last sacramental meal. The evidence from a mithraeum at Dura Europus suggests members of the congregation and thiasos (sacred company) held a banquet in which eating, drinking and musical performances featured as well as religious ceremonial.
"A third-century account for the mithraeum at Dura Europus lists the prices of materials required for a ritual banquet:'Meat, 19 denarii; sauce, 1 denarius; paper, 1 obol; water, 1 denarius; wood, 1 denarius; jar of wine, 28 denarii 11 obols; total 51 denarii 11 obols.' "
– K. Butcher, Roman Syria, p213.
He had sacrificed himself to redeem mankind. Descending into the underworld, he had conquered death and had risen to life again on the third day. The holy day for this sun god was, of course, Sunday (Christians continued to follow the Jewish Sabbath until the fourth century). His many titles included ‘the Truth,’ ‘the Light,’ and ‘the Good Shepherd.’ For those who worshipped him, invoking the name of Mithras healed the sick and worked miracles. Mithras could dispense mercy and grant immortality; to his devotees he offered hope. By drinking his blood and eating his flesh (by proxy, from a slain bull) they too could conquer death. On a Day of Judgement those already dead would be raised back to life.
Popular Motifs
All this may surprise modern Christians but it was very familiar to the Church Fathers [See e.g. Justin, Origen, Tertullian], who filled their ‘Apologies’ with dubious rationales as to how Mithraism had anticipated the whole nine yards of Christianity centuries before the supposed arrival of Jesus – ‘diabolic mimicry by a prescient Satan’ being the standard explanation. Pagan critics were not slow to point to the truth: Christianity had simply copied the popular motifs of a competitive faith.
Mithras was proclaimed the principal patron of the empire by Aurelian in 274 AD (on December 25th he dedicated a temple to the sun-god in the Campus Martius). Mithraism was adopted by Diocletian in 307 AD and by Julian as late as 362 AD. The cult was driven from the scene over the next hundred years by furious and sustained attacks from Christianity.
Who would defend Mithras?
Mithraism lacked a professional clergy; it had no hierarchical organisation disciplined by common rules. Though popular throughout the empire, the cult's ceremonials had remained heavily dependent upon state patronage and support. When state funding was transferred to the Church by Constantine and his successors, Mithraism's fate was sealed.
Fatally, during the reign of Emperor Gratian (367-383 AD), its sanctuaries were sacked of their wealth and closed. Thirty years later, Theodosius made worship of Mithras punishable by death. The god had fallen – but the imagery and iconography of Mithras were expropriated wholesale by the more comprehensive and favoured cult of Christ. Onto Jesus’s head fell Mithras’s sun disc. Christian bishops assumed his headdress and mitre.
‘Today the Vatican stands where the last sacrament of the Phrygian taurobolium was celebrated.’ ( S. Angus, The Mystery Religions, p235)
The Magi attend the birth of Jesus. Their "Adoration" symbolizes the submission of Mithraism to triumphant Christianity.
(From 6th century Thessaly, British Museum)
Faint echoes of the fallen god were to be heard in later Manichaeism.
In the 4th century, ordinary Christians had not yet acquired the abject humility and submissive behaviour that would characterise the brethren of later centuries. In church, they sang, danced and clapped.
And when they prayed it was facing to the East, with hands held wide and with face held up, not down – to greet their sun-god!!
Early Christians pray to their god – the Sun!
Christian Sarcophagus – 3rd century, Rome.
Christian chapel – Roman villa , Lullingstone, Kent 4th century.
"I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting."– St Paul (1 Timothy 2,8)
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Would they lie? – Copy and Glorify!
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Fabricating the Jesus Story – "Mark": Bringing the Celestial Superjew Down to Earth
Copyright © 2004 by Kenneth Humphreys. Copying is freely permitted, provided credit is given to the author and no material herein is sold for profit.
First Edition of the Universal Religion
Sources:Malachi Martin, The Decline & Fall of the Roman Church (Secker & Warburg, 1981)Kevin Butcher, Roman Syria & the Near East (British Museum, 2003)Dan Cohn-Sherbok, The Crucified Jew (Harper Collins,1992)Michael Parenti, History as Mystery (City Lights, 1999)Leslie Houlden (Ed.), Judaism & Christianity (Routledge, 1988)Alan Hall, History of the Papacy (PRC, 1998)Helen Ellerbe, The Dark Side of Christian History (Morning Star & Lark, 1995)Peter De Rosa, Vicars of Christ (Bantam Press, 1988)John G. Jackson, Christianity Before Christ (American Atheist Press, 1985)S. Angus, The Mystery Religions (Kessinger Publishing, 2003)Antonia Tripolitis, Religions of the Hellenistic Roman Age (Eerdmans,2002)David Ulansey, The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries (OUP, 1991)Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity (Eerdmans, 2003)
email the author –Kenneth Humphreys
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22.01.06
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Variegated
"As far as we can tell, cults such as Mithraism had no equivalent of the Council of Nicaea to determine their orthodoxy. The same deity might be subject of different, contradictory myths or the focus of different types of ritual at different shrines or cities."
– K. Butcher, Roman Syria, p336
Mithras killing his bull, encircled by the signs of the zodiac (c. 150 AD – Mithraeum, London)
A long way from Persia – Mithraeum, London
Syncretic Weakness
"The Mithraic cult ... was the most syncretistic of all the cults and religions ... This caused it to lose its strength, definiteness, and cohesion."
– Antonia Tripolitis (Religions of the Hellenistic Roman Age, p59)
Altar for the 'Invincible Sun' (Invicto Soli).
Note the nimbus (arc of the sun) about his head – copied by the Christians for their own sun god
Helios the sun-god from the time of Aurelian (270 -275). Compare to "JC in the Sky" from the same period.
"The Seven Deadly Sins, which Christians appropriated both iconographically and geographically in their own views of Hell, were a Mithraic formulation which looked back to Zoroastrianism, which gave mystic significance to the number seven.
Mithra also gave us … the Chi-Rho sign which Christians appropriated."
– Alice Turner (The History of Hell, p36)
Priest of Mithras(Dura-Europus, mid-3rd century)
Priest of Christ (4th century)
'Alcimus, slave-bailiff of Tiberius Claudius Livianus, gave the gift to the sun-god Mithras in fulfillment of a vow.'
(Rome 2nd century)
An original wall painting from Wadi Sarga, Egypt, gets transformed into a Coptic story of "3 martyrs in a fiery furnace" and a chorus of Christian saints.
(British Museum)
Bull Slayer
Eclipsed as it was in later centuries by the faith of Christ, Mithraism – or rather, its Romanised form Sol Invictus – was the first ‘universal religion’ of the Greco-Roman world.
Mithraism anticipated Christianity in all major respects bar one, and enjoyed a ‘reign’ of at least five centuries. It peaked around the year 300 AD when it became the official religion of the empire. At that time, in every town and city, in every military garrison and outpost from Syria to the Scottish frontier, was to be found a Mithraeum and officiating priests of the cult.
Mithraism was the ‘religion of choice’ of fishermen, merchants, and in particular, the military who adopted Mithras rather like latter-day soldiers would adopt St. Michael or St. George – Mithras slew bulls, St George slew dragons! Mithraism waged – and lost – a two-hundred year battle with the upstart religion of Christ, into which much of its ritual, and many of its practitioners, were subsumed.
Fatally, Mithraism had excluded women entirely, causing well-heeled Roman matrons with a pious frame of mind to explore first Judaism, and then Christianity. Also, unlike Christianity, it made no special overtures towards the uneducated, downtrodden and marginal elements of society. It was a religion chosen by emperors, not slaves.
Mithras Goes to Rome
The cult of Mithras was actually of very ancient lineage, traceable in one form or another through at least two thousand years. In origin it was the primordial sun-worship – the father of all religion. Iconography showed Mithras, in Phrygian cap and cloak, riding his fiery chariot across the sky. But it was also an eastern religion, reaching the Roman world from India via Persia. Traditional hostility with Persia did not favour Rome adopting a religion of its enemies. This changed however in the 60s BC when Pompey’s legions first entered Syria. Mithraism had so well established itself in the Commagene, Armenia and eastern Anatolia that whole dynasties of kings had called themselves ‘Mithradates’ (‘justice of Mithra’).
Rome’s troops took to the ‘machismo’ faith, with its ceremonies of male-bonding and triumph over death, of self-control and resistance to sensuality. Acolytes were required to descend into a pit, which was then covered by boards filled with holes, and the blood of a sacrificial bull above would shower onto them. Thus sanctified they could re-emerge from the pit ‘reborn’ in Mithras. This sacrament, the ‘taurobolia,’ was the Mithraic forerunner of the Christian baptism. Mithras’ rock tomb (and place of re-birth) – the ‘petra’ – was central to each Mithraeum. The rock connection was later re-worked into the legend of Saint Peter.
Legionaries took the cult with them into Palestine and back to Rome itself. Several hundred Mithraic monuments have been found in Rome (Coarelli, 1979). Adapted for Roman taste, the most popular Romanised form of Mithraism was Sol Invictus, the Unconquerable Sun, whose re-birth was celebrated as the climax of the mid-winter Saturnalia, on 25th December (Celsus tells us that in the Mithraic mysteries the soul moved through seven heavenly spheres, beginning with the leaden Saturn and ending with the golden Sun).
Mithras (right) with his friend 'Sol'.
Looks a little familiar ..?(Dura-Europus)
Egypt – raised hands for sun-worship.
Ahura-Mazda/ Mithras
On his tomb at Nimrud Dag king Antiochus I of Commagene (northern Syria/eastern Turkey) greets a god from Persia .
(1st century BC)
Precursor of Christianity
The theology of Mithraism was centred upon the dying/rising Mithra, emerging fully grown from the ‘virgin dawn’ or rock. The association of gods with rocks or stones is not surprising: fiery rocks falling from the sky (meteorites) and even sparks released by colliding stones would equally strike the simple mind as ‘evidence’ of a godly presence. Holy stones were anointed with oil. Mithra was fathered by the creator god Ahura-Mazda.
Miracle Birth
Roman silver token/coin showing birth of Mithras. He emerges fully formed from a rock.
On reverse Mithras is linked with creator god Ormzad and Egyptian sun god Re.
(Verulamium, England, 2nd-3rd century)
Mithras’s supposed creation had occurred in a ‘time before men’, a cosmic creation in a celestial heaven. At no time was it believed that he had lived as a mere mortal and trod the earth. Mithraism's failure to have anthropomorphised its god into a man – something which was to be accomplished so successfully by Christianity – weakened the cult's appeal to the uneducated and opened the door to the competition.
In all other major respects the theology of the two cults were all but identical.
Mithras had had twelve followers with whom he had shared a last sacramental meal. The evidence from a mithraeum at Dura Europus suggests members of the congregation and thiasos (sacred company) held a banquet in which eating, drinking and musical performances featured as well as religious ceremonial.
"A third-century account for the mithraeum at Dura Europus lists the prices of materials required for a ritual banquet:'Meat, 19 denarii; sauce, 1 denarius; paper, 1 obol; water, 1 denarius; wood, 1 denarius; jar of wine, 28 denarii 11 obols; total 51 denarii 11 obols.' "
– K. Butcher, Roman Syria, p213.
He had sacrificed himself to redeem mankind. Descending into the underworld, he had conquered death and had risen to life again on the third day. The holy day for this sun god was, of course, Sunday (Christians continued to follow the Jewish Sabbath until the fourth century). His many titles included ‘the Truth,’ ‘the Light,’ and ‘the Good Shepherd.’ For those who worshipped him, invoking the name of Mithras healed the sick and worked miracles. Mithras could dispense mercy and grant immortality; to his devotees he offered hope. By drinking his blood and eating his flesh (by proxy, from a slain bull) they too could conquer death. On a Day of Judgement those already dead would be raised back to life.
Popular Motifs
All this may surprise modern Christians but it was very familiar to the Church Fathers [See e.g. Justin, Origen, Tertullian], who filled their ‘Apologies’ with dubious rationales as to how Mithraism had anticipated the whole nine yards of Christianity centuries before the supposed arrival of Jesus – ‘diabolic mimicry by a prescient Satan’ being the standard explanation. Pagan critics were not slow to point to the truth: Christianity had simply copied the popular motifs of a competitive faith.
Mithras was proclaimed the principal patron of the empire by Aurelian in 274 AD (on December 25th he dedicated a temple to the sun-god in the Campus Martius). Mithraism was adopted by Diocletian in 307 AD and by Julian as late as 362 AD. The cult was driven from the scene over the next hundred years by furious and sustained attacks from Christianity.
Who would defend Mithras?
Mithraism lacked a professional clergy; it had no hierarchical organisation disciplined by common rules. Though popular throughout the empire, the cult's ceremonials had remained heavily dependent upon state patronage and support. When state funding was transferred to the Church by Constantine and his successors, Mithraism's fate was sealed.
Fatally, during the reign of Emperor Gratian (367-383 AD), its sanctuaries were sacked of their wealth and closed. Thirty years later, Theodosius made worship of Mithras punishable by death. The god had fallen – but the imagery and iconography of Mithras were expropriated wholesale by the more comprehensive and favoured cult of Christ. Onto Jesus’s head fell Mithras’s sun disc. Christian bishops assumed his headdress and mitre.
‘Today the Vatican stands where the last sacrament of the Phrygian taurobolium was celebrated.’ ( S. Angus, The Mystery Religions, p235)
The Magi attend the birth of Jesus. Their "Adoration" symbolizes the submission of Mithraism to triumphant Christianity.
(From 6th century Thessaly, British Museum)
Faint echoes of the fallen god were to be heard in later Manichaeism.
In the 4th century, ordinary Christians had not yet acquired the abject humility and submissive behaviour that would characterise the brethren of later centuries. In church, they sang, danced and clapped.
And when they prayed it was facing to the East, with hands held wide and with face held up, not down – to greet their sun-god!!
Early Christians pray to their god – the Sun!
Christian Sarcophagus – 3rd century, Rome.
Christian chapel – Roman villa , Lullingstone, Kent 4th century.
"I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting."– St Paul (1 Timothy 2,8)
Back to Home Page
Would they lie? – Copy and Glorify!
Militant Tendencies – Jewish Resistance to Roman Rule
Fabricating the Jesus Story – "Mark": Bringing the Celestial Superjew Down to Earth
Copyright © 2004 by Kenneth Humphreys. Copying is freely permitted, provided credit is given to the author and no material herein is sold for profit.
CHRISTIANITY-CHURCHIANITY'S PLAGIARISM OF MITRAISM
Christianity Has Pagan DNA
If you examine South American Christianity, Celtic Christianity or African Christianity, you will find traces of each ethnic group's pagan pre-Christian religion.Articles on this Page:
•• Pagan Roots in Earliest Christianity
••The Pagan Foundation of Christianity
•• Church Celibacy has pagan rootsMarriage is a sin, Celibacy is the way to go according to Church authorities. But their celibate priests and nuns were actually following a pagan tradition!
••An Unlikely Savior Saves The Church, A Pagan Emperor
••Isis with Horus is Madonna & Child
Pagan Roots in Earliest Christianityarticle originally titled: A Short History of Gnosticismby J H Jensen (J H, if you're out there, please contact us so we can properly credit you!)
The roots of Gnosticism reach far into antiquity and, during much of its history, Gnosticism has faced such persecution as to destroy most records about it.
Gnosticism transcends the boundaries of secular religion. Elements of it can be found among Quakers and Old Catholics, the Hebrew Kabbalah, Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Sufism, Baha'i', in Greek philosophy, and even Polynesian Huna. Kabbalistic Gnosticism (or a predecessor thereof) was probably brought to Palestine from Ur of the Chaldees by Abraham.
Gnosticism even transcends the long-standing war between science and religion. In fact, it was Gnostic philosophers like Pythagoras who were primarily responsible for developing the scientific method. At the other extreme, we can see Hebrew messianic movements (a constant process in Judaism) growing consistently out of Kabbalistic Gnosticism. There is no clear evidence indicating Christianity to be an exception to this rule.
In fact, the earliest recorded schism in Christianity was between the Gnostics and Pistics. Several of the Gospels are clearly Gnostic in orientation, including the Gospels of John, Thomas, Philip, and Mary. Then, it was the Pistics who were the heretics, and they were often hated at that, because it was (and still is) Pistics who would burn Gnostic writings wherever they could find them.
In AD 38, the Church of Antioch was founded by James, Peter and Thomas in Antioch, Asia Minor. In AD 64, Pistic Christianity began growing by leaps and bounds when Nero began throwing Christians to the lions in the arena. Roman courts offered Christians an out: they could denounce their religion and go free. The Pistics refused and died for it. The Gnostics were horrified. They were faced with a veritable Jonestown horror in their midst. Their friends and neighbors were committing suicide by walking willingly into the mouths of lions. While Gnostics respected honesty, they respected life more, and they knew that the man who would brandish a sword at them was not interested in honesty, but only in their obedience. They became hated and scorned by Pistics for refusing to die with them.
Better advertising could not have been bought. No faith, no commitment, could have been more impressive to the spectators. The arena made converts by the droves, and it was Pistic Christians that they sought out to learn more about this powerful religion.
In Ad 325, the Roman Catholic Church was created by a pagan emperor named Constantine. It was only superficially a Christian Church. The First Nicean Council was assembled to work out the details. While it was supposed to have been made up of Christian elders from five major Christian centers (Rome, Athens, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch), it also included elders of all the major Pagan religions of Rome. Bishops from the cults of Mithras, Tammuz, Oannes (Dagon), Ceres, Janus, Bacchus, Apollo, Osiris, Jupiter, and Constantine's own religion: Sol Invictus, were invited. It was Constantine's wish that all of the Pagan religions, then at odds with each other, creating unnecessary conflicts, be unified into one "Catholic" church. "Catholic" means universal. The proceedings of that council were conducted by Constantine with an iron hand, and one of the positions which he insisted upon, and got, was to make Pistis a doctrine of the new church. Gnosticism could not be tolerated, because it encouraged its members to question authority. Pistis was thus politically expedient, because it forbade questioning.
The institution of the papacy was built on the doctrine of being the successors of St. Peter as Bishop of Rome, and the first bishop. History, however, does not show Peter to have been in Rome, or to have ever been a bishop, anywhere. The first bishop of Rome was listed as Linus. "Peter of Rome" took the place of the Pet-Roma, the "Book of Stone" which played a major part in initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries. The statue of Jupiter (Jo-Peter) in Rome came to be worshipped as the image of Peter, with the claim that it always had been the image of Peter.
An effective unification of all of Rome's religions had to not only include the major deities of those religions, but it also had to place them in a position subordinate to the over-god, who was to pull them all together, and to grant him the higher authority. The names of the disciples, then, corresponded to the names of those deities. Matthew was Mithras, Thomas - Tammuz, Mark - Mars, John - Oannes, Peter - Jupiter, Paul - Apollo. Even the Virgin Mary was a variation on older myths. The name "Jesus Christ" was actually a contraction on "Hesus" and "Christos". The use of crosses, as symbols, was almost non-existent before. This was generally regarded as a violation of the second commandment, and the reminder of Christ's suffering was usually deemed inappropriate.
A vote was cast to decide whether women had souls. The women won by one vote. Among early Christians, however, it was the women, as much as the men, who had visions and were accepted for that ability.
The Church of Antioch left the council in disgust. As a consequence, it was persecuted as far away as Malabar, India. The new church was virtually Christian in name only. Early Christians, and not Gnostics alone, were committed pacifists and anarchists. They refused to enter the military, or any kind of government work. After the Nicean Council, this changed, such that within 60 years almost every soldier and civil servant was a Catholic. The traditional Christian virtues of love, tolerance and forgiveness were quickly swept under the proverbial carpet.
Constantine never converted. On his deathbed, when he was too delirious to protest, "Saint Eusebius" entered his chambers, sprinkled holy water on him, and declared him baptized. Constantine, ruthless as he was, had put a stop to the persecution of Christians, but his successors began the persecution of Gnostics in earnest. Emperors Valens and Valentinian were such ruthless butchers as to make even Caligula look like a sweetheart. They were barely the beginning.
· In AD 366, Damasus became pope by the violent removal of his rivals. He hired gangs of thugs to ambush Bishop Ursinus's party in the Basilica. 137 men were left dead, not counting those killed in the previous street fighting.
· In AD 375, Valens had untold thousands slaughtered on basis of name alone, because a magician obtained a prophecy giving the first letters of the name of Valen's successor: Theta-Epsilon-Omega. Anyone whose name began with those letters, whether named Theodore, Theodosius, Theodatus, Theophilus, or Theodora, were sought out and killed. Untold thousands more were also killed on mere suspicion of occult practice. The heads of those executed were piled high in the town squares. Despite his efforts, Valens could not stop the fulfillment of the prophecy. After his death, an official named Theodosius, from an obscure province of Gaul, took power. Theodosius, a Catholic, ordered the continued slaughter of occult practitioners.
· In AD 1209, the entire population of the Albigens was slaughtered at the order of Pope Innocent III. The Albigens, in the south of France, was then the most populous, the most technically, socially, and economically advanced part of Europe. Its population was largely Gnostics and Arian Christians, and were a sanctuary for Jews who were persecuted most every place else in Europe. All of these groups had a high percentage of literacy and read the Bible, which was prohibited by the Vatican. Innocent III was seeking to put a stop to the "Gnostic heresy", but found it to be entrenched throughout Europe. Innocent also reinstated a prohibition against the owning or reading of Bibles by anyone other than clergy, under penalty of death.
· Following the U.S. Civil War, the papacy continued to defend the institution of slavery, even when it had fallen into disfavor most everywhere else.
· The papacy also continued the practice of creating castratos (boys castrated before puberty to keep their singing voices high-pitched) for their own entertainment, long after it had fallen in disfavor throughout Italy.
Neither is Catholicism alone in being responsible for such atrocity. It has, in fact, been endemic to almost every Pistic religion:
· The Aztecs, Mayans and Incas practiced human sacrifice. In the 1300s, the Aztecs alone killed about 20,000 yearly.
· India's Thugee sect, before it was wiped out with the help of the British, claimed the murder of about 20,000 per year.
· Islamic Jihads, mandated by the Koran, resulted in the deaths of millions over a period of 1,200 years, and they are at it again in the modern era.
· Baha'i's have been a peaceful people since the religion was founded in Persia in 1844. Baha'u'lla'h, their leader, taught against too rigid dogma. The Islamics disagreed, and killed thousands of Baha'i's. In 1852, 200,000 Baha'i's were massacred in the streets of Tehran.
· In the early 1900s, Muslim Turks committed genocide against the Armenians.
· Noteworthy is the fact that neither Hitler nor Stalin was tolerant of dissent or disagreement. Hitler believed himself on a mission from God. Stalin enforced atheist communism as a Pistic dogma.
· In 1947, when India won its independence from Great Britain, the Hindus and Muslims began killing each other with religious zeal. A million died, including Ghandi, before it stopped. It is still going on in Kashmir, actually.
Neither can the word of Pistic leaders be trusted. The Vatican, in particular, has a long-standing tradition of fabricating its own history as it went along.
· Constantine burned, along with Christian writings that did not fit his ideas for the new religion, the records of 300 years of Greek philosophy.
Neither would he be the last emperor to burn historical documents to cover his tracks. A controversy was raised by a man named Heirocles, who accused the Council of plagiarizing the library of Apollonius of Tyana to produce the New Testament. Heirocles' own arguments were destroyed, but Eusebius' rebuttal, consisting mostly of ridicule, survived.
· Circa AD 366, It was Damasus who invented the name "pope", derived from a Greek word for father: "pappas", in violation of Christ's commandments. He also invented the doctrine of the pope being the successor to St. Peter, never mind Peter was never a bishop in Rome, nor anywhere else, and it is doubtful he was ever in Rome. Meanwhile, Peter was one of the founders of the Church of Antioch, which had ceceeded from the Catholic Church.
· In AD 378, Emperor Theodosius ordered large numbers of historical documents burned.
· Circa AD 390, Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, incited a mob to burn the Library of Alexandria and brutally murder Hypatia, its female curator and librarian. For these crimes he was sainted. The Library of Alexandria had been the largest, most comprehensive library of the ancient world. Part of it survived to be burned by Pistic Arab Muslims about two centuries later.
· In AD 750, a document surfaced entitled: "The Donation of Constantine" claiming to have been written by Emperor Constantine giving deed of the entire Roman Empire to the Church. Such a greed for power grew out of the acceptance of this story as fact, that there would be as many as four popes take power in a day, each after having his predecessor murdered. It was exposed as a forgery on both linguistic and historical grounds independently by Nicholas of Cues in 1433, and Lorenzo Valla in 1440.
· In AD 1030, Pope Gregory the Great took power, declared himself a saint, and created a staff of forgers to create documents supporting any new policy as already existing. Gregory was later excommunicated by a group of Italian Bishops for "preferring licentiousness to honorable marriage". Many "celibate" popes were actually shameless philanderers and womanizers, but Gregory, in reinstating the doctrine of priestly celibacy, had exiled the wives and children of Roman priests, leaving them helpless, while doing nothing about the prostitutes and concubines kept by the clergy. Many wives committed suicide.
Christian history has, by no means, been all bad. Of special note is the Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers. The Society of Friends, founded in England in the early 1600s, has as its central teaching that everyone has an "Inner Light": "He was the true light which lighted every man who came into the world." John 1:9. As such, they went a long way toward rediscovering the teachings of ancient Gnosticism, even regarding the "Inner Light" as a higher authority than scripture. They have also been one of the most egalitarian forms of Christianity, subjecting major decisions, concerning the group, whether in business or church management, to a consensus. As Saturn Corp. has discovered, this approach is a very effective quality control device, and many a Quaker business has prospered by employing that approach.
So what of the followers, the true believers of Catholicism, Islam, Communism or any other Pistic religion? It is not they who are the evil. They are merely ignorant pawns in someone else's game. To attack them is to miss the point and create an unnecessary enemy. Even the bad apples are merely the symptom of a bad system. If we merely attack bad apples, we condemn ourselves to keep on doing so, like attacking criminals without addressing the causes of crime. To do so is to be short-sighted and ineffectual. It is the Pistic commitment to BELIEF, to the exclusion of evidence, that is at the root of the evil in our world. To believe to the exclusion of evidence is to create a schism between your understanding and your senses. This is nothing less than a breach of integration, and therefore a breach of integrity. Having done so, you leave yourself open to be used as a tool of whatever evil your leaders wish to commit.
Jesus once said that we should beware of false prophets, that we shall know them by their fruits. The fruits of Gnosticism have benefited many. Gnostic teaching has brought us science, prosperity, wisdom and a foundation for peace. The fruits of Pistis have been oppression, deception, book-burning, torture, the falsification of history, mass murder, and even suicide in the name of God. --J H Jensen
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An Unlikely Savior Saves The Church -- And Spawns The Greatest Revision YetPart of a large essay by Scott Bidstrup
313 C.E. to appx. 430 C.E.
In 313, Emperor Constantine and his co-emperor Lucinius sent a series of rather flowery letters to their governors, in which they said it was "salutory and most proper" that "complete toleration" be given to anyone who has "given up his mind to the cult of the Christians" or any other cult which "he personally feels best for himself." The Edict of Milan, as this decree was called, had the effect of legalizing Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. The question history has never adequately answered is why the Edict of Milan was issued in the first place.
Emperor Constantine was a deeply superstitious man. He was a practitioner of several religions, trying to keep his bases covered, even after his 'conversion.' He was arbitrary and capricious. He sent prisoners of war to the lions, committed wholesale acts of genocide in his campaigns in North Africa, and was known for his overbearing, egotistical, ruthless and self-righteous behavior. His nephew Julian said that his appearance was strange, with stiff garments of Eastern fashion, jewelry on his arms and it was all set off by a tiara perched on a dyed wig. Constantine apparently viewed Christianity as just one of the many cults of his realm, and he seemed to practice them all, apparently with the same depth of commitment. He wasn't actually baptized, apparently, until he was on his death bed.
Emperor Constantine for all his strangeness was nothing if not a good politician. He understood well the fact that the Christians were becoming so numerous as to represent a possible political threat should they get their act together and become organized. So to co-opt the threat they represented, he conveniently had a 'miracle' which led to his 'conversion' so he could become their ally. In 312, a year before the Edict of Milan, he fought the battle of Milvan Bridge, against a rival claimant to the emperor's throne. Among his soldiers were many Christians and they were already carrying on their swords and shields the Christian Chi-Rho sign. Well, to hear the stories, the heavens opened up, and the Emperor had a vision. And he was granted victory in his battle. At least this is the story the Christian apologists tell.
Unfortunately, we don't know what exactly happened at Milvan Bridge, because the dear Emperor kept changing his story and telling different versions of the events to different people. At least six different versions have survived from different people who claimed to have heard it from the emperor himself.
As he kept telling these conflicting stories, he remained personally converted to the Mithraic sun-cult common in the Empire at the time. As a monument to his victory at Milvan, some years later, he raised a triumphal arch, which survives to this day. It bears on it a testimony to the "Unconquered Sun" and referred to Jesus Christ "driving his [the sun's] chariot across the sky." He commanded the Christians to hold their services on Sun-day, and the Nativity Feast of Mithra, held on the 25th of December because it was the winter solstice and the rebirth-day of the winter sun, became the Christian nativity feast, Christmas. Constantine became the sole Roman emperor in 324 and convened the First Council of Nicea the following year. His commandment to the bishops: Get your act together and quit squabbling. Come up with a consistent doctrine that would be universal, i.e.catholic, and could be understood and practiced by all.
Of course, the bishops complied. Rather than risk Imperial disfavor, they all met at Nicea, squabbled, squabbled some more, hammered out a few common doctrines (mostly with regard to the creation and the nature of the universe, and the first version of the Apostolic Creed), declared themselves in agreement on it, and departed totally unconverted to each other's views. The emperor who was totally ignorant of the issues, hearing that his bishops had finally agreed on a common doctrine, was pleased. The bishops were certainly pleased to hear he was pleased. And then they went about preaching the same old doctrines as before.
Argument and dissension continued for the next six decades with various factions finding themselves in and then out of Imperial favor. Athanasius, the actual author of the original version of the Apostolic Creed, found himself exiled and 'rehabilitated' on no fewer than six occasions. It was eventually Imperial politics and the wealth of the Roman church, which it shared with the smaller congregations along with instructions for its use, more than theology, that finally governed the form that Christian doctrine would take, as various bishops found themselves in and out of imperial favor at various times. By 430, the council of Nicea had become an ongoing affair, designed to stamp out "heresies" (read: dissent from the Imperial view), and create a formal, universal, i.e. catholic church organization, organized in a manner similar to the political structure of the Roman Empire itself.
The Council of Nicea became, in essence, the enforcer of the Imperial view of how things ought to be. This is why the Catholic Church today resembles in its government the government of the Roman Empire of the period. The headquarters of the church was eventually established at Rome, and the head of the church became known as the pope. New basilicas dotted the landscape, all built with the blessing of the Emperor, and all aligned to the new, imperially blessed, church headquarters in Rome. Constantine sent expeditions off to Palestine to "find" and build basilicas over the sacred sites of the church's early history, and return with faith-promoting "relics" which of course they were happy to acquire or more often, produce. In order to popularize the church with the masses, the doctrinal emphasis was changed significantly. These changes were reflected in the art of the Christian church. When early Roman Christians met secretly in Rome, the art they produced reflected the pastoral nature of Jesus' teachings. Scenes of Jesus feeding the multitudes, blessing the children, and healing the sick were the themes in the art of that period.
After the conversion of Constantine, the character of the art suddenly and dramatically changed to reflect the change in doctrinal emphasis. Gone are the sweet, pastoral scenes of a meek Jesus patiently ministering to his followers. Instead, images of the crucifixion and the scourging of Jesus in the court of Pilate become common. This was to help the suffering masses identify with Jesus who was said to have suffered on their behalf. The church had became a political instrument -- be patient with your suffering under Roman rule, the masses were told, and a better life for you is prepared for you if you believe in Jesus the Savior. The emperor may not provide good living in this life, but Jesus would in the next.
It is at this time that the Chi Rho and the symbol of the fish, representing the miraculous nature of Jesus' message (at least as formulated by the gospel writers), is replaced by the cross, a symbol of death and the defeat of suffering, as the principal emblem of Christianity. --by Scott Bidstrup [see Scott's website for his bibliography and also a list of books related to this topic]
Top
The "Pagan" Foundation of Christianity
Yeshua fulfilled a powerful role as Son-of-God. He seemed to fit the archetype of several existing pagan gods and demi-gods who were personifications of the dying resurrecting god, or the well known solar myth, as reflected by such popular deities as Mithra, Heracles/Hercules, Tammuz, and Dionysus.
Isis With Horus is Madonna & ChildIsis with Osiris is the Pieta (holding the slain God)WHO is ISIS? At the apex of her influence, this Mother Goddess of Rebirth was worshiped throughout the Greco-Roman world. Her temples were finally closed in the 4th century AD, but her role as Mother of God, as well as many other Christian borrowings from her mythos, were assumed by the Virgin Mary.
She and the baby Horus are the icons that were converted into the Madonna and Child by the early Christians. It is said that the worship and love for Isis, the goddess of the home and hearth, was so great she was literally absorbed into Christian iconography. She was loved and adored for her compassion, loyalty, and healing ability.
Isis is pictured in ancient art holding the slain body of her beloved Osiris across her lap, just as Christianity portrayed Mary holding the slain Jesus across her lap, -- called the Pieta.
Isis is also the first winged female to appear in earth's ancient artwork. Middle Eastern / Mediterranean goddesses Astarte and Anat as well as Lilith and Athena Nike were shown as winged women, too. Christianity is full of winged women images these days, they call them angels. We have to remind those artists that most biblical angels were male warrior types with no mention of wings!
"In the beginning there was Isis, Oldest of the Old, the Goddess from whom all becoming arose." -- Egyptian scriptures
"The mother of the stars, the parent of seasons, and the mistress of all the world." -- Lucius Apuleius
Isis origins: Originally Isis was known as Au Set, a predynastic Egyptian Goddess dating from 3000 BCE. She laid upon the dead body of her husband-brother, Osiris (whose annual death symbolized the fertilizing of fields by Nile floodwaters), and conceived Horus, the falcon-headed deity who is the original "son of God(ess)." The name Isis means "throne woman," and she was venerated as the inventor of agriculture, law and medicine, and as the Mother who placed the Sun God Ra in the sky. Isis was called "She of Ten Thousand Names," and in Europe one of her names was Zisa, the wife of Zio who was also the sky god Tiu, Tiw or Tyr -- the god to whom our Teutonic ancestors dedicated the third day of the week: "Tuesday."
Book suggestion: The Mysteries of Isis by DeTraci Regula
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Church Celibacy has very pagan rootsMarriage is a sin, Celibacy is the way to go according to Church authorities. But their celibate priests and nuns were actually following a pagan tradition!Below is an interesting exchange from Magdalene-list@yahoogroups.com regarding the real reasons behind celibacy and the official Catholic Church viewing sex -- even marital sex -- as negative and sinful. The argument leads to an example of yet another bit of Pagan DNA allowed into Christianity. Too bad they let the celibacy part of paganism in.
On 4/13/04 Lore wrote:Roman Catholic Church heroes say the following about marriage:
Marriage is a sin. (St. Augustine)Matrimony is impure and unholy, a means of sexual passion. (Origen)Marriage is a moral crime, more dreadful than any punishment or any death...spurcitiae, obscenity, filth. (Tertullian)Marriage is corruption, a polluted and foul way of life. (Tatian)Marriage is a crime against God. Marriage is prostitution of the members of Christ. Married people ought to blush at the state in which they are living. (St. Ambrose)The primary purpose of a man of God is to cut down the wood of marriage with the axe of virginity. (St. Jerome)
On 4/13/04 chris@goth... responded:I read that a large part of the reason for celibacy in the church was due to the fact that far too much land was being lost to heirs.
On 4/14/2004 deigngerdoll expanded on the thought:
According to the research I've done, that was the pragmatic reason for celibacy. I've read in several places that another reason the church priests became celibate after first being allowed to marry, was due to pagan Roman tradition. There were many pagan Roman priests/priestesses who venerated their gods, such a Vesta/Hestia (vestal virgins) by remaining chaste. They were put to death if they were found to have lost their virginity. Many widowed women also became Vestal priestesses, which influenced the tradition of Catholic widows becoming nuns if widowed. I believe some of the priests/esses of some male gods were chaste, as well. Rome took what it liked from pagan practices (and others) and applied them to their modern church structure.
What a great combo - retain the land and make people wrong for natural sexual urges, wrong for the desire to marry and procreate - the paring of the pragmatic with the traditional.
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If you examine South American Christianity, Celtic Christianity or African Christianity, you will find traces of each ethnic group's pagan pre-Christian religion.Articles on this Page:
•• Pagan Roots in Earliest Christianity
••The Pagan Foundation of Christianity
•• Church Celibacy has pagan rootsMarriage is a sin, Celibacy is the way to go according to Church authorities. But their celibate priests and nuns were actually following a pagan tradition!
••An Unlikely Savior Saves The Church, A Pagan Emperor
••Isis with Horus is Madonna & Child
Pagan Roots in Earliest Christianityarticle originally titled: A Short History of Gnosticismby J H Jensen (J H, if you're out there, please contact us so we can properly credit you!)
The roots of Gnosticism reach far into antiquity and, during much of its history, Gnosticism has faced such persecution as to destroy most records about it.
Gnosticism transcends the boundaries of secular religion. Elements of it can be found among Quakers and Old Catholics, the Hebrew Kabbalah, Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Sufism, Baha'i', in Greek philosophy, and even Polynesian Huna. Kabbalistic Gnosticism (or a predecessor thereof) was probably brought to Palestine from Ur of the Chaldees by Abraham.
Gnosticism even transcends the long-standing war between science and religion. In fact, it was Gnostic philosophers like Pythagoras who were primarily responsible for developing the scientific method. At the other extreme, we can see Hebrew messianic movements (a constant process in Judaism) growing consistently out of Kabbalistic Gnosticism. There is no clear evidence indicating Christianity to be an exception to this rule.
In fact, the earliest recorded schism in Christianity was between the Gnostics and Pistics. Several of the Gospels are clearly Gnostic in orientation, including the Gospels of John, Thomas, Philip, and Mary. Then, it was the Pistics who were the heretics, and they were often hated at that, because it was (and still is) Pistics who would burn Gnostic writings wherever they could find them.
In AD 38, the Church of Antioch was founded by James, Peter and Thomas in Antioch, Asia Minor. In AD 64, Pistic Christianity began growing by leaps and bounds when Nero began throwing Christians to the lions in the arena. Roman courts offered Christians an out: they could denounce their religion and go free. The Pistics refused and died for it. The Gnostics were horrified. They were faced with a veritable Jonestown horror in their midst. Their friends and neighbors were committing suicide by walking willingly into the mouths of lions. While Gnostics respected honesty, they respected life more, and they knew that the man who would brandish a sword at them was not interested in honesty, but only in their obedience. They became hated and scorned by Pistics for refusing to die with them.
Better advertising could not have been bought. No faith, no commitment, could have been more impressive to the spectators. The arena made converts by the droves, and it was Pistic Christians that they sought out to learn more about this powerful religion.
In Ad 325, the Roman Catholic Church was created by a pagan emperor named Constantine. It was only superficially a Christian Church. The First Nicean Council was assembled to work out the details. While it was supposed to have been made up of Christian elders from five major Christian centers (Rome, Athens, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch), it also included elders of all the major Pagan religions of Rome. Bishops from the cults of Mithras, Tammuz, Oannes (Dagon), Ceres, Janus, Bacchus, Apollo, Osiris, Jupiter, and Constantine's own religion: Sol Invictus, were invited. It was Constantine's wish that all of the Pagan religions, then at odds with each other, creating unnecessary conflicts, be unified into one "Catholic" church. "Catholic" means universal. The proceedings of that council were conducted by Constantine with an iron hand, and one of the positions which he insisted upon, and got, was to make Pistis a doctrine of the new church. Gnosticism could not be tolerated, because it encouraged its members to question authority. Pistis was thus politically expedient, because it forbade questioning.
The institution of the papacy was built on the doctrine of being the successors of St. Peter as Bishop of Rome, and the first bishop. History, however, does not show Peter to have been in Rome, or to have ever been a bishop, anywhere. The first bishop of Rome was listed as Linus. "Peter of Rome" took the place of the Pet-Roma, the "Book of Stone" which played a major part in initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries. The statue of Jupiter (Jo-Peter) in Rome came to be worshipped as the image of Peter, with the claim that it always had been the image of Peter.
An effective unification of all of Rome's religions had to not only include the major deities of those religions, but it also had to place them in a position subordinate to the over-god, who was to pull them all together, and to grant him the higher authority. The names of the disciples, then, corresponded to the names of those deities. Matthew was Mithras, Thomas - Tammuz, Mark - Mars, John - Oannes, Peter - Jupiter, Paul - Apollo. Even the Virgin Mary was a variation on older myths. The name "Jesus Christ" was actually a contraction on "Hesus" and "Christos". The use of crosses, as symbols, was almost non-existent before. This was generally regarded as a violation of the second commandment, and the reminder of Christ's suffering was usually deemed inappropriate.
A vote was cast to decide whether women had souls. The women won by one vote. Among early Christians, however, it was the women, as much as the men, who had visions and were accepted for that ability.
The Church of Antioch left the council in disgust. As a consequence, it was persecuted as far away as Malabar, India. The new church was virtually Christian in name only. Early Christians, and not Gnostics alone, were committed pacifists and anarchists. They refused to enter the military, or any kind of government work. After the Nicean Council, this changed, such that within 60 years almost every soldier and civil servant was a Catholic. The traditional Christian virtues of love, tolerance and forgiveness were quickly swept under the proverbial carpet.
Constantine never converted. On his deathbed, when he was too delirious to protest, "Saint Eusebius" entered his chambers, sprinkled holy water on him, and declared him baptized. Constantine, ruthless as he was, had put a stop to the persecution of Christians, but his successors began the persecution of Gnostics in earnest. Emperors Valens and Valentinian were such ruthless butchers as to make even Caligula look like a sweetheart. They were barely the beginning.
· In AD 366, Damasus became pope by the violent removal of his rivals. He hired gangs of thugs to ambush Bishop Ursinus's party in the Basilica. 137 men were left dead, not counting those killed in the previous street fighting.
· In AD 375, Valens had untold thousands slaughtered on basis of name alone, because a magician obtained a prophecy giving the first letters of the name of Valen's successor: Theta-Epsilon-Omega. Anyone whose name began with those letters, whether named Theodore, Theodosius, Theodatus, Theophilus, or Theodora, were sought out and killed. Untold thousands more were also killed on mere suspicion of occult practice. The heads of those executed were piled high in the town squares. Despite his efforts, Valens could not stop the fulfillment of the prophecy. After his death, an official named Theodosius, from an obscure province of Gaul, took power. Theodosius, a Catholic, ordered the continued slaughter of occult practitioners.
· In AD 1209, the entire population of the Albigens was slaughtered at the order of Pope Innocent III. The Albigens, in the south of France, was then the most populous, the most technically, socially, and economically advanced part of Europe. Its population was largely Gnostics and Arian Christians, and were a sanctuary for Jews who were persecuted most every place else in Europe. All of these groups had a high percentage of literacy and read the Bible, which was prohibited by the Vatican. Innocent III was seeking to put a stop to the "Gnostic heresy", but found it to be entrenched throughout Europe. Innocent also reinstated a prohibition against the owning or reading of Bibles by anyone other than clergy, under penalty of death.
· Following the U.S. Civil War, the papacy continued to defend the institution of slavery, even when it had fallen into disfavor most everywhere else.
· The papacy also continued the practice of creating castratos (boys castrated before puberty to keep their singing voices high-pitched) for their own entertainment, long after it had fallen in disfavor throughout Italy.
Neither is Catholicism alone in being responsible for such atrocity. It has, in fact, been endemic to almost every Pistic religion:
· The Aztecs, Mayans and Incas practiced human sacrifice. In the 1300s, the Aztecs alone killed about 20,000 yearly.
· India's Thugee sect, before it was wiped out with the help of the British, claimed the murder of about 20,000 per year.
· Islamic Jihads, mandated by the Koran, resulted in the deaths of millions over a period of 1,200 years, and they are at it again in the modern era.
· Baha'i's have been a peaceful people since the religion was founded in Persia in 1844. Baha'u'lla'h, their leader, taught against too rigid dogma. The Islamics disagreed, and killed thousands of Baha'i's. In 1852, 200,000 Baha'i's were massacred in the streets of Tehran.
· In the early 1900s, Muslim Turks committed genocide against the Armenians.
· Noteworthy is the fact that neither Hitler nor Stalin was tolerant of dissent or disagreement. Hitler believed himself on a mission from God. Stalin enforced atheist communism as a Pistic dogma.
· In 1947, when India won its independence from Great Britain, the Hindus and Muslims began killing each other with religious zeal. A million died, including Ghandi, before it stopped. It is still going on in Kashmir, actually.
Neither can the word of Pistic leaders be trusted. The Vatican, in particular, has a long-standing tradition of fabricating its own history as it went along.
· Constantine burned, along with Christian writings that did not fit his ideas for the new religion, the records of 300 years of Greek philosophy.
Neither would he be the last emperor to burn historical documents to cover his tracks. A controversy was raised by a man named Heirocles, who accused the Council of plagiarizing the library of Apollonius of Tyana to produce the New Testament. Heirocles' own arguments were destroyed, but Eusebius' rebuttal, consisting mostly of ridicule, survived.
· Circa AD 366, It was Damasus who invented the name "pope", derived from a Greek word for father: "pappas", in violation of Christ's commandments. He also invented the doctrine of the pope being the successor to St. Peter, never mind Peter was never a bishop in Rome, nor anywhere else, and it is doubtful he was ever in Rome. Meanwhile, Peter was one of the founders of the Church of Antioch, which had ceceeded from the Catholic Church.
· In AD 378, Emperor Theodosius ordered large numbers of historical documents burned.
· Circa AD 390, Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, incited a mob to burn the Library of Alexandria and brutally murder Hypatia, its female curator and librarian. For these crimes he was sainted. The Library of Alexandria had been the largest, most comprehensive library of the ancient world. Part of it survived to be burned by Pistic Arab Muslims about two centuries later.
· In AD 750, a document surfaced entitled: "The Donation of Constantine" claiming to have been written by Emperor Constantine giving deed of the entire Roman Empire to the Church. Such a greed for power grew out of the acceptance of this story as fact, that there would be as many as four popes take power in a day, each after having his predecessor murdered. It was exposed as a forgery on both linguistic and historical grounds independently by Nicholas of Cues in 1433, and Lorenzo Valla in 1440.
· In AD 1030, Pope Gregory the Great took power, declared himself a saint, and created a staff of forgers to create documents supporting any new policy as already existing. Gregory was later excommunicated by a group of Italian Bishops for "preferring licentiousness to honorable marriage". Many "celibate" popes were actually shameless philanderers and womanizers, but Gregory, in reinstating the doctrine of priestly celibacy, had exiled the wives and children of Roman priests, leaving them helpless, while doing nothing about the prostitutes and concubines kept by the clergy. Many wives committed suicide.
Christian history has, by no means, been all bad. Of special note is the Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers. The Society of Friends, founded in England in the early 1600s, has as its central teaching that everyone has an "Inner Light": "He was the true light which lighted every man who came into the world." John 1:9. As such, they went a long way toward rediscovering the teachings of ancient Gnosticism, even regarding the "Inner Light" as a higher authority than scripture. They have also been one of the most egalitarian forms of Christianity, subjecting major decisions, concerning the group, whether in business or church management, to a consensus. As Saturn Corp. has discovered, this approach is a very effective quality control device, and many a Quaker business has prospered by employing that approach.
So what of the followers, the true believers of Catholicism, Islam, Communism or any other Pistic religion? It is not they who are the evil. They are merely ignorant pawns in someone else's game. To attack them is to miss the point and create an unnecessary enemy. Even the bad apples are merely the symptom of a bad system. If we merely attack bad apples, we condemn ourselves to keep on doing so, like attacking criminals without addressing the causes of crime. To do so is to be short-sighted and ineffectual. It is the Pistic commitment to BELIEF, to the exclusion of evidence, that is at the root of the evil in our world. To believe to the exclusion of evidence is to create a schism between your understanding and your senses. This is nothing less than a breach of integration, and therefore a breach of integrity. Having done so, you leave yourself open to be used as a tool of whatever evil your leaders wish to commit.
Jesus once said that we should beware of false prophets, that we shall know them by their fruits. The fruits of Gnosticism have benefited many. Gnostic teaching has brought us science, prosperity, wisdom and a foundation for peace. The fruits of Pistis have been oppression, deception, book-burning, torture, the falsification of history, mass murder, and even suicide in the name of God. --J H Jensen
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An Unlikely Savior Saves The Church -- And Spawns The Greatest Revision YetPart of a large essay by Scott Bidstrup
313 C.E. to appx. 430 C.E.
In 313, Emperor Constantine and his co-emperor Lucinius sent a series of rather flowery letters to their governors, in which they said it was "salutory and most proper" that "complete toleration" be given to anyone who has "given up his mind to the cult of the Christians" or any other cult which "he personally feels best for himself." The Edict of Milan, as this decree was called, had the effect of legalizing Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. The question history has never adequately answered is why the Edict of Milan was issued in the first place.
Emperor Constantine was a deeply superstitious man. He was a practitioner of several religions, trying to keep his bases covered, even after his 'conversion.' He was arbitrary and capricious. He sent prisoners of war to the lions, committed wholesale acts of genocide in his campaigns in North Africa, and was known for his overbearing, egotistical, ruthless and self-righteous behavior. His nephew Julian said that his appearance was strange, with stiff garments of Eastern fashion, jewelry on his arms and it was all set off by a tiara perched on a dyed wig. Constantine apparently viewed Christianity as just one of the many cults of his realm, and he seemed to practice them all, apparently with the same depth of commitment. He wasn't actually baptized, apparently, until he was on his death bed.
Emperor Constantine for all his strangeness was nothing if not a good politician. He understood well the fact that the Christians were becoming so numerous as to represent a possible political threat should they get their act together and become organized. So to co-opt the threat they represented, he conveniently had a 'miracle' which led to his 'conversion' so he could become their ally. In 312, a year before the Edict of Milan, he fought the battle of Milvan Bridge, against a rival claimant to the emperor's throne. Among his soldiers were many Christians and they were already carrying on their swords and shields the Christian Chi-Rho sign. Well, to hear the stories, the heavens opened up, and the Emperor had a vision. And he was granted victory in his battle. At least this is the story the Christian apologists tell.
Unfortunately, we don't know what exactly happened at Milvan Bridge, because the dear Emperor kept changing his story and telling different versions of the events to different people. At least six different versions have survived from different people who claimed to have heard it from the emperor himself.
As he kept telling these conflicting stories, he remained personally converted to the Mithraic sun-cult common in the Empire at the time. As a monument to his victory at Milvan, some years later, he raised a triumphal arch, which survives to this day. It bears on it a testimony to the "Unconquered Sun" and referred to Jesus Christ "driving his [the sun's] chariot across the sky." He commanded the Christians to hold their services on Sun-day, and the Nativity Feast of Mithra, held on the 25th of December because it was the winter solstice and the rebirth-day of the winter sun, became the Christian nativity feast, Christmas. Constantine became the sole Roman emperor in 324 and convened the First Council of Nicea the following year. His commandment to the bishops: Get your act together and quit squabbling. Come up with a consistent doctrine that would be universal, i.e.catholic, and could be understood and practiced by all.
Of course, the bishops complied. Rather than risk Imperial disfavor, they all met at Nicea, squabbled, squabbled some more, hammered out a few common doctrines (mostly with regard to the creation and the nature of the universe, and the first version of the Apostolic Creed), declared themselves in agreement on it, and departed totally unconverted to each other's views. The emperor who was totally ignorant of the issues, hearing that his bishops had finally agreed on a common doctrine, was pleased. The bishops were certainly pleased to hear he was pleased. And then they went about preaching the same old doctrines as before.
Argument and dissension continued for the next six decades with various factions finding themselves in and then out of Imperial favor. Athanasius, the actual author of the original version of the Apostolic Creed, found himself exiled and 'rehabilitated' on no fewer than six occasions. It was eventually Imperial politics and the wealth of the Roman church, which it shared with the smaller congregations along with instructions for its use, more than theology, that finally governed the form that Christian doctrine would take, as various bishops found themselves in and out of imperial favor at various times. By 430, the council of Nicea had become an ongoing affair, designed to stamp out "heresies" (read: dissent from the Imperial view), and create a formal, universal, i.e. catholic church organization, organized in a manner similar to the political structure of the Roman Empire itself.
The Council of Nicea became, in essence, the enforcer of the Imperial view of how things ought to be. This is why the Catholic Church today resembles in its government the government of the Roman Empire of the period. The headquarters of the church was eventually established at Rome, and the head of the church became known as the pope. New basilicas dotted the landscape, all built with the blessing of the Emperor, and all aligned to the new, imperially blessed, church headquarters in Rome. Constantine sent expeditions off to Palestine to "find" and build basilicas over the sacred sites of the church's early history, and return with faith-promoting "relics" which of course they were happy to acquire or more often, produce. In order to popularize the church with the masses, the doctrinal emphasis was changed significantly. These changes were reflected in the art of the Christian church. When early Roman Christians met secretly in Rome, the art they produced reflected the pastoral nature of Jesus' teachings. Scenes of Jesus feeding the multitudes, blessing the children, and healing the sick were the themes in the art of that period.
After the conversion of Constantine, the character of the art suddenly and dramatically changed to reflect the change in doctrinal emphasis. Gone are the sweet, pastoral scenes of a meek Jesus patiently ministering to his followers. Instead, images of the crucifixion and the scourging of Jesus in the court of Pilate become common. This was to help the suffering masses identify with Jesus who was said to have suffered on their behalf. The church had became a political instrument -- be patient with your suffering under Roman rule, the masses were told, and a better life for you is prepared for you if you believe in Jesus the Savior. The emperor may not provide good living in this life, but Jesus would in the next.
It is at this time that the Chi Rho and the symbol of the fish, representing the miraculous nature of Jesus' message (at least as formulated by the gospel writers), is replaced by the cross, a symbol of death and the defeat of suffering, as the principal emblem of Christianity. --by Scott Bidstrup [see Scott's website for his bibliography and also a list of books related to this topic]
Top
The "Pagan" Foundation of Christianity
Yeshua fulfilled a powerful role as Son-of-God. He seemed to fit the archetype of several existing pagan gods and demi-gods who were personifications of the dying resurrecting god, or the well known solar myth, as reflected by such popular deities as Mithra, Heracles/Hercules, Tammuz, and Dionysus.
Isis With Horus is Madonna & ChildIsis with Osiris is the Pieta (holding the slain God)WHO is ISIS? At the apex of her influence, this Mother Goddess of Rebirth was worshiped throughout the Greco-Roman world. Her temples were finally closed in the 4th century AD, but her role as Mother of God, as well as many other Christian borrowings from her mythos, were assumed by the Virgin Mary.
She and the baby Horus are the icons that were converted into the Madonna and Child by the early Christians. It is said that the worship and love for Isis, the goddess of the home and hearth, was so great she was literally absorbed into Christian iconography. She was loved and adored for her compassion, loyalty, and healing ability.
Isis is pictured in ancient art holding the slain body of her beloved Osiris across her lap, just as Christianity portrayed Mary holding the slain Jesus across her lap, -- called the Pieta.
Isis is also the first winged female to appear in earth's ancient artwork. Middle Eastern / Mediterranean goddesses Astarte and Anat as well as Lilith and Athena Nike were shown as winged women, too. Christianity is full of winged women images these days, they call them angels. We have to remind those artists that most biblical angels were male warrior types with no mention of wings!
"In the beginning there was Isis, Oldest of the Old, the Goddess from whom all becoming arose." -- Egyptian scriptures
"The mother of the stars, the parent of seasons, and the mistress of all the world." -- Lucius Apuleius
Isis origins: Originally Isis was known as Au Set, a predynastic Egyptian Goddess dating from 3000 BCE. She laid upon the dead body of her husband-brother, Osiris (whose annual death symbolized the fertilizing of fields by Nile floodwaters), and conceived Horus, the falcon-headed deity who is the original "son of God(ess)." The name Isis means "throne woman," and she was venerated as the inventor of agriculture, law and medicine, and as the Mother who placed the Sun God Ra in the sky. Isis was called "She of Ten Thousand Names," and in Europe one of her names was Zisa, the wife of Zio who was also the sky god Tiu, Tiw or Tyr -- the god to whom our Teutonic ancestors dedicated the third day of the week: "Tuesday."
Book suggestion: The Mysteries of Isis by DeTraci Regula
Top
Church Celibacy has very pagan rootsMarriage is a sin, Celibacy is the way to go according to Church authorities. But their celibate priests and nuns were actually following a pagan tradition!Below is an interesting exchange from Magdalene-list@yahoogroups.com regarding the real reasons behind celibacy and the official Catholic Church viewing sex -- even marital sex -- as negative and sinful. The argument leads to an example of yet another bit of Pagan DNA allowed into Christianity. Too bad they let the celibacy part of paganism in.
On 4/13/04 Lore wrote:Roman Catholic Church heroes say the following about marriage:
Marriage is a sin. (St. Augustine)Matrimony is impure and unholy, a means of sexual passion. (Origen)Marriage is a moral crime, more dreadful than any punishment or any death...spurcitiae, obscenity, filth. (Tertullian)Marriage is corruption, a polluted and foul way of life. (Tatian)Marriage is a crime against God. Marriage is prostitution of the members of Christ. Married people ought to blush at the state in which they are living. (St. Ambrose)The primary purpose of a man of God is to cut down the wood of marriage with the axe of virginity. (St. Jerome)
On 4/13/04 chris@goth... responded:I read that a large part of the reason for celibacy in the church was due to the fact that far too much land was being lost to heirs.
On 4/14/2004 deigngerdoll expanded on the thought:
According to the research I've done, that was the pragmatic reason for celibacy. I've read in several places that another reason the church priests became celibate after first being allowed to marry, was due to pagan Roman tradition. There were many pagan Roman priests/priestesses who venerated their gods, such a Vesta/Hestia (vestal virgins) by remaining chaste. They were put to death if they were found to have lost their virginity. Many widowed women also became Vestal priestesses, which influenced the tradition of Catholic widows becoming nuns if widowed. I believe some of the priests/esses of some male gods were chaste, as well. Rome took what it liked from pagan practices (and others) and applied them to their modern church structure.
What a great combo - retain the land and make people wrong for natural sexual urges, wrong for the desire to marry and procreate - the paring of the pragmatic with the traditional.
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