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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.
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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)
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