Mystical Mythology of the World

Home Mystical


 

 

RELIGION MITHRAISM

The last state pagan religion in Europe was Mithraism. The worship of Mithras, the Invincible Sun god was practiced throughout the Roman Empire, including the British Isles.

Roman Mithras was perhaps the greatest rival to early Christianity for many reasons. As well as being a popular pagan religion practiced by the Roman Army, Mithraism had many similarities to Christianity. Mithras was born of a virgin, remained celibate, his worship involving baptism, the partaking of bread marked with a cross and wine as sacrificial blood, held Sundays sacred and Mithras was born on 25th of December. Mithraist called themselves 'brother' and were led by a priest called 'father' (Pater). The symbol of the father were a staff, a hooked sword, a ring and hat.

These similarities frightened the early Christian leaders - that almost 500 years before arrival of Christ all of the Christian mysteries were already known. To combat this, Christian writers said that the Devil knew of the coming of Christ in advance and had imitated them before they existed in order to denigrate them.

As Christianity gained strength and became the formal religion of the Roman Empire, the Cult of Mithras was one of the first pagan cults to come under attack in the fifth century; Temples of Mithras, like most other pagan Temples, were destroyed and Churches built on them.

The Temples in London and along Hadrian Wall can still be seen today as well some remains in Wales and York. There is no written formal documentation of the Western style of Mithraic mysteries, the Roman Cult of Mithras. The underground Temples and their paintings, statues and few anti-pagan documents by early Christian are all that remain.

Mithra/Mitra was the prototype to Roman Mithras who are represented by hymns in Hindu and Zoroastrian holy texts. This gives us some insight into the energy of this deity before it became fused with the great mass of Greco-Roman magical ideas. The evolution of this deity from god of the green land, wild pastures and the solar light to one of that Invincible Sun god, who moves the cosmos by slaying constellation Taurus, has been the subject of much interest to historians and magicians.

Mithras, God of the sunset, low on the western main,
Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again!
Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn
Mithras also a solider, keep us pure till the dawn!

Rudyard Kipling, Hymn to Mithras (Mithras: God of the Morning)


 

   Site Index

© Copyright 2006-2023 Bella Terreno; all rights reserved.