Did the ancient Mystery Religions get picked up as 'tradition'?

[Hobie]

Is the 'tradition' or 'mysteries' that Christians have been told that the church follows from another origin. If these 'tradtions' or 'mysteries' are not a Christian belief, where does it come from, well lets focus on the origin of these 'Mysteries'. It seems that many corruptions from Greek mythology and Hellenistic philosophy and other non Christian sources such as Gnosticism came into the early church and this included the ancient 'Mysteries'. So lets see what these were..

...The cults of the mystery religions were influenced uniformly by the ideas of the Greek philosophers. A few of them existed before the turn of the Era, but several more appeared at about the turn of the Era. They reached their height of popularity during the times of early Christianity. Christianity was born during a period of proliferation. Christianity itself in the beginning consisted of many cults that existed independently and had very diverse doctrines. Because of such diversity, it is debatable whether Gnosticism was just another cult of Christianity or whether it was a separate religion.

The following features were common to all mystery religions. Admission to the community was by a rite of initiation, a solemn consecration. The initiation was held in secret, which explains why they were called "mysteries."...
Esoteric Christianity: The Greek Mystery Religions and Their Impact on Christianity

Now the problem was that many Christians leaders were influenced or had picked up the pagan 'Mysteries' and mixed it with Christianity. Clement of Alexandria stated that 'what was taught in the Mysteries concerned the universe, and was the completion and perfection of all instruction; wherein things were seen as they were, and nature and her works were made known.'

Clement of Alexandria writings show that he was completely immersed in the pagan 'Myesteries' and are full of terminology taken directly from the language of the Pagan Mysteries. He writes of the Christian revelation as 'the holy Mysteries.' the ';divine secrets',... Clement further states 'I am become holy while I am being initiated.' Clement tells us that in early Christianity there were likewise Lesser Mysteries for beginners on the spiritual path and Greater Mysteries which were a secret higher knowledge, which led to full 'initiation.' The 'secret traditions of true Gnosis,' he explains, had been transmitted 'to a small number, by a succession of masters, and not in writing.'

So then we find the following connection...

"Alexandria was, in addition, one of the chief seats of that peculiar mixed pagan and Christian speculation known as Gnosticism. Basilides and Valentinus taught there. It is no matter of surprise, therefore, to find some of the Christians affected in turn by the scientific spirit. At an uncertain date, in the latter half of the second century, "a school of oral instruction" was founded. "
clement of alexandria

Note, it mixed pagan and Christian speculation, so a combining of paganism into Christianity

 

[Hobie]

So lets look closer at the 'pagan speculation' and see what we find.

'The idea of self-knowledge is central to the purpose of the ancient Mysteries. The Greek Temple of Apollo at Delphi had inscribed 'Gnothi Seauton' or ';Know thy Self.' The Gnosis[8] or knowledge which initiates of the Mysteries sought and Masters taught was the knowledge of self. The Gnostic Book of Thomas stated:

'Whoever has not known himself has known nothing, but he who has known himself has at the same time already achieved Gnosis about the depth of all things.'

"This idea is extremely ancient and we may find interesting connections between our own ritual and that of the ancient Pagan[9] Mysteries of Greece, Egypt, and Persia.

The ancient Mysteries existed for the purpose of satisfying the desire of those who wished to know the nature of themselves and of their creator, their purpose in life, and what might come after life. Plato said that the object of the Mysteries was to re-establish the soul in its primitive purity, and to that state which it had lost..."

"The Mysteries demanded complete adherence to silence among its adherents."

'This demand was taken seriously in the Eleusinian Mysteries as failure to keep vows resulted in death. For this reason very little direct information exists concerning details of the Mysteries- the ritual, passwords, symbols and text."

"..More than five centuries before the arrival of Christianity, at Eleusis (a small town outside Athens) the people established the Eleusinian mysteries.There they reenacted the myth of Demeter's search and her reunion with her daughter Persephone. Every year two Eleusinian ceremonies were held: the Greater mysteries, in honor of Demeter and Kori, and the Lesser mysteries, in honor of Kori alone.

The Lesser mysteries were a preparation for the Greater ones. They were performed at Agrae on the river Ilissus (outside Athens) in the month of Anthesterion (February-March). Because of the oaths for secrecy we have sparse testimony of what exactly took place in the initiation ceremony. Something was recited, something was revealed, and acts were performed. Also, the initiates took an oath of secrecy before preparing for the Greater mysteries. The penalty for revealing the mysteries to outsiders was death. The initiates of the Lesser mysteries waited at least one year until they could participate in the Greater mysteries, which were held at Eleusis in the month of Boedromion (September-October). The Greater mysteries included baptism in the sea, three days of fasting, and the completion of the mysterious central rite. These acts completed the initiation, and the initiate was promised rewards in the life after death..."

Mithraism is an example of a "mystery religion" that flourished in the near east at that time. Mithraism took on the form of a mystery religion, with elaborate rights and ceremonies. It came into the ancient Roman world about 75 B.C. David Ulansey explains it is called such because " ..like the other ancient 'mystery religions,' such as the Eleusinian mysteries and the mysteries of Isis, the Mithraic cult maintained strict secrecy about its teachings and practices, revealing them only to initiates.

Did Christianity Steal From Mithraism? - Come Reason Ministries

The Catholic Encyclopedia has:
Mithraism A pagan religion consisting mainly of the cult of the ancient Indo-Iranian Sun-god Mithra. It entered Europe from Asia Minor after Alexander's conquest, spread rapidly over the whole Roman Empire at the beginning of our era...The origin of the cult of Mithra dates from the time that the Hindus and Persians still formed one people, for the god Mithra occurs in the religion and the sacred books of both races , i.e. in the Vedas and in the Avesta. In Vedic hymns he is frequently mentioned and is nearly always coupled with Varuna, but beyond the bare occurrence of his name, little is known of him (Rigveda, III, 59). It is conjectured (Oldenberg, "Die "Religion des Veda," Berlin , 1894) that Mithra was the rising sun, Varuna the setting sun; or, Mithra, the sky at daytime, Varuna, the sky at night; or, the one the sun, the other the moon. In any case Mithra is a light or solar deity of some sort
Helios Mithras is one god...Sunday was kept holy in honour of Mithra...The 25 December was observed as his birthday, the natalis invicti, the rebirth of the winter-sun, unconquered by the rigours of the season...

Hmm, Christians need to see where these 'traditions' and 'mysteries' come from...

 

[Hobie]

So what connection does it have in Christianity today, well lets look...

"..There are four sets of "Mysteries of the Rosary" (Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious). These four "Mysteries of the Rosary" therefore contain, a total of twenty mysteries. The Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries are then said on specific days of the week (see each set of mysteries below). During private recitation of the Rosary, each decade requires devout meditation on a specific mystery. Public recitation of the Rosary (two or more people), requires a leader to announce each of the mysteries before the decade, and start each prayer (see "The Family Rosary" below)."

How to Pray the Rosary

"The rosary beads provide a physical method of keeping count of the number of Hail Marys said as the mysteries are contemplated.[43] The fingers are moved along the beads as the prayers are recited. By not having to keep track of the count mentally, the mind is more able to meditate on the mysteries. A five decade rosary contains five groups of ten beads (a decade), with additional large beads before each decade.[47] The Hail Mary is said on the ten beads within a decade, while the Our Father is said on the large bead before each decade. A new mystery is meditated upon at each of the large beads. Some rosaries, particularly those used by religious orders, contain 15 decades, corresponding to the traditional 15 mysteries of the rosary. Both five and 15 decade rosaries are attached to a shorter strand, which starts with a crucifix followed by one large, three small, and one large beads before connecting to the rest of the rosary"

"Five methods of praying the rosary are presented within the works of Saint Louis de Montfort, a French Roman Catholic priest and writer of the early 18th century. Montfort was an early proponent of Mariology, and much of his work is devoted to the subjects of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the rosary. While the rosary contains a fixed set of prayers recited with the use of beads, Montfort proposed a number of methods to pray the rosary with more thorough devotion. Two of the methods are described in his book The Secret of the Rosary, in the fiftieth rose (chapter):

"In order to facilitate the exercise of the holy Rosary, here are several methods to recite it holily, with the meditation of the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries of Jesus and Mary............."

The Mysteries of the Rosary - Prayers - Catholic Online

 

[Hobie]

And its not just beads that are being used, here is from the Vatican Catechism of the Catholic Church:

1378 Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. "The Catholic church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated host with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession."

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, published by Ligouri Publications, English translation © 1994 by the United States Catholic Conference, Inc.--Libreria Editrice Vaticana, bearing the Imprimi Potest of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, page 347.

We also find that transubstantiation was first practiced by ancient religions which had nothing to do with Christianity. The noted historian Durant said that belief in transubstantiation as practiced by the priests of the Roman Catholic system is "one of the oldest ceremonies of primitive religion." The Story Of Civilization, p. 741. The syncretism and mysticism of the Middle East were great factors in influencing the West, particularly Italy. Roman Society From Nero To Marcus Aurelius, Dill. In Egypt priests would consecrate mest cakes which were supposed to be come the flesh of Osiris. Encyclopedia Of Religions, Vol. 2, p. 76. The idea of transubstantiation was also characteristic of the religion of Mithra. The Mysteries are referenced or eluded to in respect to its various branches throughout ancient history and all of the Mysteries had a single root which appears to have been the Mysteries of Isis in Egypt. At a certain level ( or degree) the initiate was told that he would be part of a brotherhood spanning the entire world, which included the Greek Mysteries, Oriental Mysteries, the Jewish Mysteries (Kaballah) and presumably all other Mysteries so this spanned the known world, so its not picked up from any scripture or Biblical truth, it has its own origin.

It just seems to get worse and worse the more you uncover what and where it comes from...

 

[Hobie]

So lets dig a little deeper and see what we have, lets look at the definition...

"Mystery religions, sacred mysteries or simply mysteries, were religious cults of the Greco-Roman world for which participation was reserved to initiates (mystai).[1] The main characterization of this religion is the secrecy associated with the particulars of the initiation and the cult practice, which may not be revealed to outsiders. The most famous mysteries of Greco-Roman antiquity were the Eleusinian Mysteries, which were of considerable antiquity and predated the Greek Dark Ages. The popularity of mystery cults flourished on Late Antiquity; Julian the Apostate in the mid 4th century is known to have been initiated into three distinct mystery cults—most notably the Mithraic Mysteries."

So the Mithraic Mysterys, that was picked up in the Roman Empire and blossomed. As Alexander the Great made conquests, mystery religions came with the territory. The same is true for the Roman Empire. The sun gods and goddesses including Mithra, Phrygian Cybele and the Egyptian Isis, to mention a few, were brought into the empires as annexations were made. And, of course, along with mystery religion came astrology, whose central figure is the sun. Mithraism was popular in the Roman Empire with many Emperors following, not just the populace. It had seven sacraments, the same as the Catholic Church, baptism, and communion with bread and water. The Eucharist hosts were signed with a cross, an ancient phallic symbol which originated in Egypt, and the Egyptian cross (the ankh) still shows the original form which included the female symbol

Rome gained dominance over the Grecian Empire. At the death of Caesar Augustus,the time of Christ, the Roman empire stretched from Spain to the Caspian Sea, including Egypt, the Sinai peninsula, and Israel. Christianity was born and grew up in this setting.

The most significant aspect of the Greco-Roman civilization connection was that of religion. The Greeks and Romans worshipped numerous gods, the Romans picked up the mystery religions of the Greeks and renamed their gods. Religious ceremonies, rites and festivals were very important and many were celebrated. Notable festivals include the Greek festival of Zeus, the birthday of the Roman sun god, and the celebrations in honor of the fertility goddess at the spring equinox. The Romans also picked up and believed in the pagan god named Mithra (or Mithras). He was known, in various forms, in India, Persia, Greece, and throughout the Roman Empire. For the Greeks and Romans in the first century, Mithras was the chief figure in a mystery religion called Mithraism that held prominence in the Roman Empire. remnant of Mithraism is most evident in the Christian Eucharist, which involves the eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood of a deity(Christ). Since the drinking of blood has always been an abomination in Judaism it was not the origin of this rite, it is much more logical to attribute this ritual to Mithraism, which had a much similar ritual. It is clear that Christianity adopted aspects of Mithraism, the setting of the birthday of Christ on December 25th, which was Mithra birthday, and the shifting of the day of worship to the day of the Sun. The celebration of December 25, a tradition that began in the 4th century so it was not from the Apostles, however December 25 was the birthday of the more popular Roman god known as the "Unconquered Sun" with whom Constantine identified himself, who was closely associated with Mithras. Mithras is always described as "sol invictus" (the unconquered sun) in inscriptions.

So we see how this mystery religion came in under Constantine who was the Roman Emperor, and a certainly a supporter of the mystery religion but presented himself as a Christian to gain their support. Here is a good explanation...

During the 1st century CE, a cult of Mithra, made much progress in Rome, after enduring persecution, when some Emperors adopted the religion... Mithra became very popular among the Roman legionaries and later even among the Emperors. The worship of Mithra was first recognized by Emperor Aurelian and he instituted the cult of "Sol Invictus" or the Invincible Sun. Emperor Diocletian also a worshipper of Mithra, the Sun God, burned much of the Christian scriptures in 307 CE

This enabled Emperor Constantine to merge the cult of Mithra with that of Christianity that was developing much. He declared himself a Christian but at the same time maintained his ties to the Mithra cult. He retained the title "Pontifus Maximus" the high priest. On his coins were inscribed: "Sol Invicto comiti" which means, commited to the invincible sun. This new blend of the two faiths, he officially proclaimed as Christianity. Christianity spread all over the Roman Empire and Eastern Europe by massive persecution and brought an end to a variety of religions that flourished there. [...]

Mithraism and Early Christianity

...it is easy to understand that many of the emperors yielded to the delusion that they could unite all their subjects in the adoration of the one sun-god who combined in himself the Father-God of the Christians and the much-worshipped Mithras; thus the empire could be founded anew on unity of religion. Even Constantine, as will be shown farther on, for a time cherished this mistaken belief…it was especially in the western part of the empire that the veneration of Mithras predominated. Would it not be possible to gather all the different nationalities around his altars? Could not Sol Deus Invictus, to whom even Constantine dedicated his coins for a long time, or Sol Mithras Deus Invictus, venerated by Diocletian and Galerius, become the supreme god of the empire? Constantine may have pondered over this. Nor had he absolutely rejected the thought even after a miraculous event had strongly influenced him in favour of the God of the Christians…As pontifex maximus he watched over the heathen worship and protected its rights…It is true that the believers in Mithras also observed Sunday as well as Christmas. Consequently Constantine speaks not of the day of the Lord, but of the everlasting day of the sun.
(Herbermann, Charles, and Georg Grupp. Constantine the Great. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. Nihil Obstat. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 1 Sept. 2008 <CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Constantine the Great>)

 

[Hobie]

Until the fourth century, Mithra and Christianity were distinct but after Constantine, they were blended so that the empire could unite them under a religion for both pagans and Christians.

In 313 A.D., Emperor Constantine declared December 25th to be the birthday of Jesus (December 25th was prescribed earlier as the birthday of Mithra, by emperor Aurelian). Sabbath day, which is literally Saturday (as the Jews still maintain), became Sunday as it was the day of the Sun, another element from the Mithra worship.

Then we have the first Sunday Law enacted by Emperor Constantine - March, 321 A.D.-
On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.(Given the 7th day of March, Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time [A.D. 321].)
Source: Codex Justinianus, lib. 3, tit. 12, 3; trans. in Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 3 (5th ed.; New York: Scribner, 1902), p. 380, note 1.

Transition from Pagan to Christian
[p. 122] This legislation by Constantine probably bore no relation to Christianity; it appears, on the contrary, that the emperor, in his capacity of Pontifex Maximus, was only adding the day of the Sun, the worship of which was then firmly [p. 123] established in the Roman Empire, to the other ferial days of the sacred calendar&#8230;
[p. 270] What began, however, as a pagan ordinance, ended as a Christian regulation; and a long series of imperial decrees, during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, enjoined with increasing stringency abstinence from labour on Sunday.
Source: Hutton Webster, Rest Days, pp. 122, 123, 270. Copyright 1916 by The Macmillan Company, New York.

'It may be mentioned here that the Greeks celebrated the birthday of their sun-god Apollo at the winter solstice. Another important point is the fact that the Christian Church abandoned the Jewish sabbath (contrary to the commandment of their God) in favour of the Mithraic day of the sun.'
"Jesus Versus Christianity" by Alfred Reynolds (1993)1

 

[Hobie]

So we see at that time the cult of Mithraism or sun-worship was the official religion of the Roman Empire. It had its own organization, temples, priesthood, robes, everything. It also had an official worship day on which special homage was given to the sun. That day was called 'The Venerable Day of the Sun.' It was the first day of the week, and when Constantine combined the pagans into the church they were observing the day of the sun for their adoration of the sun god. It was their special holy day. In order to make it more convenient for them to make the change to the new religion, Constantine accepted their day of worship, Sunday, instead of the Christian Sabbath which had been observed by Jesus and His disciples. At that time there was increasing anti-Jewish feelings against those who were accused of putting Jesus to death. Those feelings would naturally condition many Christians to swing away from something which was held religiously by the Jews. It is therefore easier to understand how the change was imposed on Christianity through a strong civil law issued by Constantine as the Emperor of Rome. Those early Christians, feeling that the Jews should not be followed any more than necessary, were ready to swing away from the Sabbath which was kept by the Jews.

We find the following in church history...

Pagan Festivals and Church Policy
The Church made a sacred day of Sunday largely because it was the weekly festival of the sun; for it was a definite Christian policy to take over the pagan festivals endeared to the people by tradition, and to give them a Christian significance.
Source: Arthur Weigall, The Paganism in Our Christianity, p. 145. Copyright 1928 by G. p. Putnam&#8217;s Sons, New York.

Church decrees Sunday sacredness-

Council of Laodicea (343-381?)
[p. 310] Can. 16.'On Saturday [Greek sabbaton,'the Sabbath';] the Gospels and other portions of the Scripture shall be read aloud.'
[p. 316] Can. 29.'Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lords day they shall especially honour, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out [Greek anathema] from Christ.'
[p. 320] Can. 49.'During Lent, the bread shall not be offered, except on Saturday and Sunday.'
Can. 51.'During Lent, no feast of the martyrs shall be celebrated, but the holy martyrs shall be commemorated on the Saturdays and Sundays of Lent.'
Source: Charles Joseph Hefele, A History of the Christian Councils, Vol. 2, trans. and ed. by H. N. Oxenham (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1896), pp. 310, 316, 320.

Councils of the Church enforce Sunday observance.
[p. 105] The Council of Orleans (538), while protesting [p. 106] against an excessive Sabbatarianism, forbade all field work under pain of censure; and the Council of Macon (585) laid down that the Lords Day is the day of perpetual rest, which is suggested to us by the type of the seventh day in the law and the prophets, and ordered a complete cessation of all kinds of business. How far the movement had gone by the end of the 6th cent. is shown by a letter of Gregory the Great (pope 590-604) protesting against the prohibition of baths on Sunday.
Source: M. G. Glazebrook, Sunday, in James Hastings, ed., Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (New York: Scribner, 1928), Vol. 12, pp. 105, 106.

If as many suppose, Christians as a whole observed Sunday in place of the "Jewish" Sabbath from resurrection Sunday forward, then why was it necessary for the church to enact ecclesiastical laws to enforce Sunday worship as a day of rest? Simply put, the issue to the Catholic Church has always been one of authority, authority to declare binding holy festival days. It is a mark of their authority to institute such days, even appropriating previously pagan days and declaring them obligatory, and that one commits a sin if you do not attend services on those days. The Bible is quite silent on Sunday sacredness, so the "Bible Only" Protestants contradict themselves by observing it as a replacement for the Sabbath.

"Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the Sabbatical observance of that day is known to have been ordained, is the edict of Constantine, 321 A.D."--"Chamber's Encyclopedia," article, "Sabbath."

Here is the first Sunday Law in history, a legal enactment by Constantine 1 (reigned 306-331): "On the Venerable Day of the Sun ["venerabili die Solis"--the sacred day of the Sun] let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost--Given the 7th day of March,[A.D. 321], Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time."--The First Sunday Law of Constantine 1, in "Codex Justinianus," lib. 3, tit. 12, 3; trans. in Phillip Schaff "History of the Christian Church," Vol. 3, p. 380.

"This [Constantine's Sunday decree of March, 321] is the 'parent' Sunday law making it a day of rest and release from labor. For from that time to the present there have been decrees about the observance of Sunday which have profoundly influenced European and American society. When the Church became a part of State under the Christian emperors, Sunday observance was enforced by civil statutes, and later when the Empire was past, the Church, in the hands of the papacy, enforced it by ecclesiastical and also by civil enactments."--Walter W. Hyde, "Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire," 1946, p. 261.
"Constantine's decree marked the beginning of a long, though intermittent series of imperial decrees in support of Sunday rest."-- Vincent J. Kelly, "Forbidden Sunday and Feast-Day Occupations," 1943, p. 29.

"Constantine labored at this time untiringly to unite the worshipers of the old and the new into one religion. All his laws and contrivances are aimed at promoting this amalgamation of religions. He would by all lawful and peaceable means melt together a purified heathenism and a moderated Christianity ... Of all his blending and melting together of Christianity and heathenism, none is more easy to see through than this making of his Sunday law: The Christians worshiped their Christ, the heathen their Sun-god ...[so they should now be combined."--H.G. Heggtveit, "illustreret Kirkehistorie," 1895, p. 202.

"If every Sunday is to be observed joyfully by the Christians on account of the resurrection, then every Sabbath on account of the burial is to be regarded in execration [cursing] of the Jews."--Pope Sylvester, quoted by S.R.E. Humbert, "Adversus Graecorum Calumnias," in J.P. Migne, "Patrologie," p. 143.[Sylvester (A.D. 314-337) was the pope at the time Constantine 1 was Emperor.]

"All things whatsoever that were prescribed for the [bible] Sabbath, we have transferred them to the Lord's day, as being more authoritative and more highly regarded and first in rank, and more honorable than the Jewish Sabbath."--Bishop Eusebius, quoted in J.P. Migne, "Patrologie," p. 23, 1169-1172.[Eusebius of Caesarea was a high-ranking Catholic leader during Constantine's lifetime.]

These Gentile Christians of Rome and Alexandria began calling the first day of the week 'the Lord's day.' This was not difficult for the pagans of the Roman Empire who were steeped in sun worship to accept, because they [the pagans] referred to their sun-god as their 'Lord.' "--EM. Chalmers, "How Sunday Came Into the Christian Church," p. 3.

 

[Hobie]

Here is more about Constantine from The Catholic Encyclopedia:

Constantine the Great: Constantine can rightfully claim the title of Great, for he turned the history of the world into a new course and made Christianity...the religion of the State; it is easy to understand that many of the emperors yielded to the delusion that they could unite all their subjects in the adoration of the one sun-god who combined in himself the Father-God of the Christians and the much-worshipped Mithras; thus the empire could be founded anew on unity of religion. Even Constantine&#8230;cherished this mistaken belief&#8230; Could not Sol Deus Invictus, to whom even Constantine dedicated his coins for a long time, or Sol Mithras Deus Invictus, venerated by Diocletian and Galerius, become the supreme god of the empire? Constantine may have pondered over this. Nor had he absolutely rejected the thought even after a miraculous event had strongly influenced him in favour of the God of the Christians... It is true that the believers in Mithras also observed Sunday as well as Christmas. Consequently Constantine speaks not of the day of the Lord, but of the everlasting day of the sun. (Herbermann C., Georg Gp. Constantine the Great. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. Nihil Obstat. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908).
Constantine decreed circa March 7, 321:

Let all judges, the people of cities, and those employed in all trades, remain quiet on the Holy Day of Sunday. Persons residing in the country, however, can freely and lawfully proceed with the cultivation of the fields; as it frequently happens that the sowing of grain or the planting of vines cannot be deferred to a more suitable day, and by making concessions to Heaven the advantage of the time may be lost (Code of Justinian, Book III, Title XII, III. THE JUSTINIAN CODE FROM THE CORPUS JURIS CIVILIS. Translated from the original Latin by Samuel P. Scott. Central Trust Company, Cincinnati, 1932).
Shortly after the above decree, Eusebius recorded this about Constantine:

Accordingly he enjoined on all the subjects of the Roman empire to observe the Lord's day, as a day of rest (Eusebius. Life of Constantine, Book IV, Chapter 18).
Notice that "the Lord's day" became enjoined by a decree of a Roman Empire. Also notice the following:

There is a large body of civil legislation on the Sunday rest side by side with the ecclesiastical. It begins with an Edict of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, who forbade judges to sit and townspeople to work on Sunday (Slater T. Transcribed by Scott Anthony Hibbs. Sunday. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIV Copyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton Company Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight).
The bolded quote shows one of the first official intertwinings of European politics and Catholic doctrine. Despite the fact that he was not baptized nor ordained, the influence of the sun-god worshiping Emperor Constantine, who declared himself a bishop, was highly significant:

So prominent had Christians and their day become that when the Emperor Constantine proclaimed Sun Day as the weekly holy day for all Romans, some Christians believed that it was for their sake. More likely Constantine, like many Roman aristocrats of the time, was simply trying to find common ground for his mixed pagan and Christian subjects, especially his soldiers. Unity was for the good of the state and the emperors' power (Harline C. Sunday: A History of the First Day from Babylonia to the Super Bowl. Doubleday, NY, 2007, p. 17).
However, after a time, Constantine did clearly begin to provide more favor the Roman version of Christianity which (like the pagans, but unlike the Church of God) endorsed Sunday. He, the sun-worshiping emperor, then called for the famous Council of Nicea, which took place in 325 A.D. This council decided that Sunday was to be the day of worship and that Passover was to be observed on Sunday (and that eventually became what is known as Easter). After that council, those in the Church of God who kept the Sabbath were considered to be heretics and outcasts and had to flee in the wilderness.
The Emperor authorized persecution. Around 332, Constantine issued what is known as the Edict Against the Heretics,

Victor Constantinus, Maximus Augustus, to the heretics. 'Understand now, by this present statute, ye Novatians, Valentinians, Marcionites, Paulians, ye who are called Cataphrygians, and all ye who devise and support heresies by means of your private assemblies, with what a tissue of falsehood and vanity, with what destructive and venomous errors, your doctrines are inseparably interwoven; so that through you the healthy soul is stricken with disease, and the living becomes the prey of everlasting death. Ye haters and enemies of truth and life, in league with destruction! All your counsels are opposed to the truth, but familiar with deeds of baseness; full of absurdities and fictions: and by these ye frame falsehoods, oppress the innocent, and withhold the light from them that believe. Ever trespassing under the mask of godliness, ye fill all things with defilement: ye pierce the pure and guileless conscience with deadly wounds, while ye withdraw, one may almost say, the very light of day from the eyes of men. But why should I particularize, when to speak of your criminality as it deserves demands more time and leisure than I can give? For so long and unmeasured is the catalogue of your offenses, so hateful and altogether atrocious are they, that a single day would not suffice to recount them all. And, indeed, it is well to turn one&#8217;s ears and eyes from such a subject, lest by a description of each particular evil, the pure sincerity and freshness of one&#8217;s own faith be impaired. Why then do I still bear with such abounding evil; especially since this protracted clemency is the cause that some who were sound are become tainted with this pestilent disease? Why not at once strike, as it were, at the root of so great a mischief by a public manifestation of displeasure?" (Chapter LXIV.;Constantines Edict against the Heretics. This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Calvin College).

Some of those referred to as Paulians (Paulicians) and Cataphrygians were part of the true Church of God; thus they would have rejected Sunday and other doctrines of the mystery religions and paganism.

 

[Hobie]

Well lets take a look at the next connection, the worship of Mithra and Anahita, the virgin mother of Mithra.

".. Dr. Badi Badiozamani says that a "person" named "Mehr" or Mithra was "born of a virgin named Nahid Anahita ('immaculate')" and that "the worship of Mithra and Anahita, the virgin mother of Mithra, was well-known in the Achaemenian period [558-330 BCE]..." (Badiozamani, 96) Philosophy professor Dr. Mohammed Ali Amir-Moezzi states: "In Mithraism, as in popular Mazdaism, Anahid, the mother of Mithra, is a virgin." (Amir-Moezzi, 78-79) Comparing the rock birth with that of the virgin mother, Dr. Amir-Moezzi also says:...so there is analogy between the rock, a symbol of incorruptibility, giving birth to the Iranian god and the mother of that (same) one, Anahid, eternally virgin and young.

One modern writer ("Mithraism and Christianity") portrays the Mithra myth thus:

According to Persian mythology, Mithras was born of a virgin given the title "Mother of God."

The Parthian princes of Armenia were all priests of Mithras, and an entire district of this land was dedicated to the Virgin Mother Anahita. Many Mithraeums, or Mithraic temples, were built in Armenia, which remained one of the last strongholds of Mithraism. The largest near-eastern Mithraeum was built in western Persia at Kangavar, dedicated to "Anahita, the Immaculate Virgin Mother of the Lord Mithras."....Moreover, concerning Mithra Schaff-Herzog says, "The Achaemenidae worshiped him as making the great triad with Ahura and Anahita." Ostensibly, this "triad" was the same as God the Father, the Virgin and Jesus, which would tend to confirm the assertion that Anahita was Mithra's virgin mother. That Anahita was closely associated with Mithra at least five centuries before the common era is evident from the equation made by Herodotus (1.131) in naming "Mitra" as the Persian counterpart of the Near and Middle Eastern goddesses Alilat and Mylitta. (de Jong, 269-270)

Moreover, Mithra's prototype, the Indian Mitra, was likewise born of a female, Aditi, the "mother of the gods," the inviolable or virgin dawn. Hence, we would expect an earlier form of Mithra also to possess this virgin-mother motif, which seems to have been lost or deliberately severed in the all-male Roman Mithraism.

Early Church Fathers on Mithraism

Mithraism was so popular in the Roman Empire and so similar in important aspects to Christianity that several Church fathers were compelled to address it, disparagingly of course. These fathers included Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Julius Firmicus Maternus and Augustine, all of whom attributed these striking correspondences to the prescient devil. In other words, anticipating Christ, the devil set about to fool the Pagans by imitating the coming messiah. In reality, the testimony of these Church fathers confirms that these various motifs, characteristics, traditions and myths predated Christianity.

Concerning this "devil did it" argument, in The Worship of Nature Sir James G. Frazer remarks:

If the Mithraic mysteries were indeed a Satanic copy of a divine original, we are driven to conclude that Christianity took a leaf out of the devil's book when it fixed the birth of the Saviour on the twenty-fifth of December; for there can be no doubt that the day in question was celebrated as the birthday of the Sun by the heathen before the Church, by an afterthought, arbitrarily transferred the Nativity of its Founder from the sixth of January to the twenty-fifth of December.

In response to a question about Tertullian's discussion of the purported Mithraic forehead mark, Dr. Richard Gordon says:

In general, in studying Mithras, and the other Greco-oriental mystery cults, it is good practice to steer clear of all information provided by Christian writers: they are not "sources," they are violent apologists, and one does best not to believe a word they say, however tempting it is to supplement our ignorance with such stuff. (Gordon, "FAQ")....It is obvious from the remarks of the Church fathers and from the literary and archaeological record that Mithraism in some form preceded Christianity by centuries. The fact is that there is no Christian archaeological evidence earlier than the earliest Roman Mithraic archaeological evidence and that the preponderance of evidence points to Christianity being formulated during the second century, not based on a "historical" personage of the early first century. As one important example, the canonical gospels as we have them do not show up clearly in the literary record until the end of the second century.

Mithra's pre-Christian roots are attested in the Vedic and Avestan texts, as well as by historians such as Herodotus (1.131) and Xenophon (Cyrop. viii. 5, 53 and c. iv. 24), among others. Nor is it likely that the Roman Mithras is not essentially the same as the Indian sun god Mitra and the Persian, Armenian and Phrygian Mithra in his major attributes, as well as some of his most pertinent rites.

Moreover, it is erroneously asserted that because Mithraism was a "mystery cult" it did not leave any written record. In reality, much evidence of Mithra worship has been destroyed, including not only monuments, iconography and other artifacts, but also numerous books by ancient authors. The existence of written evidence is indicated by the Egyptian cloth "manuscript" from the first century BCE called, "Mummy Funerary Inscription of the Priest of Mithras, Ornouphios, Son fo Artemis" or MS 247.


"Regardless of attempts to make Mithraism the plagiarist of Christianity, the fact will remain that Mithraism was first."...Nevertheless, the god Mithra was revered for centuries prior to the Christian era, and the germane elements of Mithraism are known to have preceded Christianity by hundreds to thousands of years. Thus, regardless of attempts to make Mithraism the plagiarist of Christianity, the fact will remain that Mithraism was first, well established in the West decades before Christianity had any significant influence...."

Mithra the Pagan Christ | Mithraism and Christianity | Mithras the Sun God

 

[Hobie]

The Vatican was built upon the grounds previously devoted to the worship of Mithra (600 B.C.). The Christian hierarchy basically brought in the Mithraic version and virtually all of the elements of Orthodox Christian rituals, from miter, wafer, water baptism, alter, and doxology, were adopted from the Mithra and earlier pagan mystery religions. The religion of Mithra preceded Christianity by roughly six hundred years and Mithra, as the sun god of ancient Persia, had the following of which there appears some were brought in to the church:
Mithra was born on December 25th as an offspring of the Sun. Next to the gods Ormuzd and Ahrimanes, Mithra held the highest rank among the gods of ancient Persia. He was represented as a beautiful youth and a Mediator. Reverend J. W. Lake states: "Mithras is spiritual light contending with spiritual darkness, and through his labors the kingdom of darkness shall be lit with heaven's own light; the Eternal will receive all things back into his favor, the world will be redeemed to God. The impure are to be purified, and the evil made good, through the mediation of Mithras, the reconciler of Ormuzd and Ahriman. Mithras is the Good, his name is Love. In relation to the Eternal he is the source of grace, in relation to man he is the life-giver and mediator" (Plato, Philo, and Paul, p. 15).

The International Encyclopedia states: "Mithras seems to have owed his prominence to the belief that he was the source of life, and could also redeem the souls of the dead into the better world ... The ceremonies included a sort of baptism to remove sins, anointing, and a sacred meal of bread and water, while a consecrated wine, believed to possess wonderful power, played a prominent part."

Chambers Encyclopedia says: "The most important of his many festivals was his birthday, celebrated on the 25th of December, the day subsequently fixed -- against all evidence -- as the birthday of Christ. The worship of Mithras early found its way into Rome, and the mysteries of Mithras, which fell in the spring equinox, were famous even among the many Roman festivals. The ceremonies observed in the initiation to these mysteries -- symbolical of the struggle between Ahriman and Ormuzd (the Good and the Evil) -- were of the most extraordinary and to a certain degree even dangerous character. Baptism and the partaking of a mystical liquid, consisting of flour and water, to be drunk with the utterance of sacred formulas, were among the inauguration acts."

Prof. Franz Cumont, of the University of Ghent, writes as follows concerning the religion of Mithra: "The sectaries of the Persian god, like the Christians', purified themselves by baptism, received by a species of confirmation the power necessary to combat the spirit of evil; and expected from a Lord's supper salvation of body and soul. Like the latter, they also held Sunday sacred, and celebrated the birth of the Sun on the 25th of December.... They both preached a categorical system of ethics, regarded asceticism as meritorious and counted among their principal virtues abstinence and continence, renunciation and self-control. Their conceptions of the world and of the destiny of man were similar. They both admitted the existence of a Heaven inhabited by beatified ones, situated in the upper regions, and of a Hell, peopled by demons, situated in the bowels of the Earth. They both placed a flood at the beginning of history; they both assigned as the source of their condition, a primitive revelation; they both, finally, believed in the immortality of the soul, in a last judgment, and in a resurrection of the dead, consequent upon a final conflagration of the universe" (The Mysteries of Mithras, pp. 190, 191).

Reverend Charles Biggs stated: "The disciples of Mithra formed an organized church, with a developed hierarchy. They possessed the ideas of Mediation, Atonement, and a Savior, who is human and yet divine, and not only the idea, but a doctrine of the future life. They had a Eucharist, and a Baptism, and other curious analogies might be pointed out between their system and the church of Christ (The Christian Platonists, p. 240).

In the catacombs at Rome was preserved a relic of the old Mithraic worship. It was a picture of the infant Mithra seated in the lap of his virgin mother, while on their knees before him were Persian Magi adoring him and offering gifts.

Mithra had his principal festival on what was later to become Easter, at which time he was resurrected. His sacred day was Sunday, "the Lord's Day." The Mithra religion had a Eucharist or "Lord's Supper."

The Christian Father Manes, founder of the heretical sect known as Manicheans, believed that Christ and Mithra were one. His teaching, according to Mosheim, was as follows: "Christ is that glorious intelligence which the Persians called Mithras ... His residence is in the sun" (Ecclesiastical History, 3rd century, Part 2, ch. 5).

 

[BlessedPeace]

Pagan roots? Sure. There are many savior gods in history.
The largest church on earth,the Romans Catholic church, and its version of faith in the name of Jesus,was created by a government official centuries after their predecessors killed Jesus for preaching the Gospel.

Sunday worship was the day of worship for the sun god in Roman paganism.

Emperor Constantine was a pagan sun worshipper. Some historic reports say he was so until his deathbed conversion. The then version of what today is known as Pascals Wager.

And more than a few critics back in the day observed Christianity is asking to be saved from the human condition their savior God manifested for all humanity in the beginning. Asking God to save us from God. Because it isn't the devil that judges and sends people to Hell.

If we dig too deep we might not like what we find.

 

[Hobie]

Pagan roots? Sure. There are many savior gods in history.
The largest church on earth,the Romans Catholic church, and its version of faith in the name of Jesus,was created by a government official centuries after their predecessors killed Jesus for preaching the Gospel.

Sunday worship was the day of worship for the sun god in Roman paganism.

Emperor Constantine was a pagan sun worshipper. Some historic reports say he was so until his deathbed conversion. The then version of what today is known as Pascals Wager.

And more than a few critics back in the day observed Christianity is asking to be saved from the human condition their savior God manifested for all humanity in the beginning. Asking God to save us from God. Because it isn't the devil that judges and sends people to Hell.

If we dig too deep we might not like what we find.

The thing is that the Babylonian system of worship has essentially been maintained even is hidden as mysteries or ceremonies or otherwise to modern day and can be seen in some form or another. You can find the female goddess Rhea who was also worshipped as Ishtar, Astarte, or Beltis representing the mother who was referred to as the ‘queen of heaven’, and the ‘wrath subduer’. Its the old Babylonian worship which continues to this day...

 

[Hobie]

Now lets look at the sun worship aspect..

"...In Babylon, Mithra was identified with Shamash, the sun god, and he is also Bel, the Mesopotamian and Canaanite/ Phoenician solar deity, who is likewise Marduk, the Babylonian god who represented both the planet Jupiter and the sun. According to Pseudo-Clement of Rome's debate with Appion (Homily VI, ch. X), Mithra is also Apollo.
In time, the Persian Mithraism became infused with the more detailed astrotheology of the Babylonians and Chaldeans, and was notable for its astrology and magic; indeed, its priests or magi lent their very name to the word "magic." Included in this astrotheological development was the re-emphasis on Mithra's early Indian role as a sun god. As Francis Legge says in Forerunners and Rivals in Christianity:
The Vedic Mitra was originally the material sun itself, and the many hundreds of votive inscriptions left by the worshippers of Mithras to "the unconquered Sun Mithras," to the unconquered solar divinity (numen) Mithras, to the unconquered Sun-God (deus) Mithra, and allusions in them to priests (sacerdotes), worshippers (cultores), and temples (templum) of the same deity leave no doubt open that he was in Roman times a sun-god. (Legge, II, 240)

By the Roman legionnaires, Mithra or Mithras, as he began to be known in the Greco-Roman world was called "the divine Sun, the Unconquered Sun." He was said to be "Mighty in strength, mighty ruler, greatest king of gods! O Sun, lord of heaven and earth, God of Gods!" Mithra was also deemed "the mediator" between heaven and earth, a role often ascribed to the god of the sun.
An inscription by a "T. Flavius Hyginus" dating to around 80 to 100 AD/CE in Rome dedicates an altar to "Sol Invictus Mithras" "The Unconquered Sun Mithra" revealing the hybridization reflected in other artifacts and myths. Regarding this title, Dr. Richard L. Gordon, honorary professor of Religionsgeschichte der Antike at the University of Erfurt, Thuringen, remarks:
It is true that one...cult title...of Mithras was, or came to be, Deus Sol Invictus Mithras (but he could also be called... Deus Invictus Sol Mithras, Sol Invictus Mithras...


As concerns Mithra's identity, Mithraic scholar Dr. Roger Beck says:
Mithras...is the prime traveller, the principal actor...on the celestial stage which the tauctony [bull-slaying] defines.... He is who the monuments proclaim him the Unconquered Sun. (Beck (2004), 274)

In an early image, Mithra is depicted as a sun disc in a chariot drawn by white horses.."

Then we see how it was spread throughout the Roman Empire..

"..Mithra in the Roman Empire

Subsequent to the military campaign of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BCE, Mithra became the "favorite deity" of Asia Minor. Christian writers Dr. Samuel Jackson and George W. Gilmore, editors of The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (VII, 420), remark:
It was probably at this period, 250-100 b.c., that the Mithraic system of ritual and doctrine took the form which it afterward retained. Here it came into contact with the mysteries, of which there were many varieties, among which the most notable were those of Cybele.
According to the Roman historian Plutarch (c. 46-120 AD/CE), Mithraism began to be absorbed by the Romans during Pompey's military campaign against Cilician pirates around 70 BCE. The religion eventually migrated from Asia Minor through the soldiers, many of whom had been citizens of the region, into Rome and the far reaches of the Empire. Syrian merchants brought Mithraism to the major cities, such as Alexandria, Rome and Carthage, while captives carried it to the countryside. By the third century AD/CE Mithraism and its mysteries permeated the Roman Empire...."

"It reached a peak during the second and third centuries, before largely expiring at the end of the fourth/beginning of fifth centuries. Among its members during this period were emperors, politicians and businessmen."

So by the time of Emperor Constantine, we see it reaching beyond the common people and soldiers and to the upper classes and even the Roman Emperors..

Mithra the Pagan Christ | Mithraism and Christianity | Mithras the Sun God

 

[Hobie]

So we see many rites, rituals, sacraments and practices that got picked up and brought into the church, and even festivals and ceremonies coming in slowly as pagans and Christian worship was combined, we find them in the following.

The rituals and practices of a priesthood to intercede and rule over the laity
A infallible vicar of Christ
Rote prayer
The Rosary (rote prayer to Mary for intercession)
Scapulars
Worship of Mary or Morther of Mirtha or the Queen of Heaven)
Holy Rituals
Sacraments
Holy water
Eucharistic Christ (The bread and wine becoming the body and blood of Christ whenever conjured up by a priest)

The Christian hierarchy basically brought in the Mithraic version and virtually all of the elements of Orthodox Christian rituals, from miter, wafer, water baptism, alter, and doxology, were adopted from the Mithra and earlier pagan mystery religions. The religion of Mithra preceded Christianity by roughly six hundred years and Mithra, as the sun god of ancient Persia, had the following of which there appears some were brought in to the church:
Mithra was born on December 25th as an offspring of the Sun. Next to the gods Ormuzd and Ahrimanes, Mithra held the highest rank among the gods of ancient Persia. He was represented as a beautiful youth and a Mediator. We find also this..
"Mithras is spiritual light contending with spiritual darkness, and through his labors the kingdom of darkness shall be lit with heaven's own light; the Eternal will receive all things back into his favor, the world will be redeemed to God. The impure are to be purified, and the evil made good, through the mediation of Mithras, the reconciler of Ormuzd and Ahriman. Mithras is the Good, his name is Love. In relation to the Eternal he is the source of grace, in relation to man he is the life-giver and mediator" (Plato, Philo, and Paul, p. 15).

The International Encyclopedia states: "Mithras seems to have owed his prominence to the belief that he was the source of life, and could also redeem the souls of the dead into the better world ... The ceremonies included a sort of baptism to remove sins, anointing, and a sacred meal of bread and water, while a consecrated wine, believed to possess wonderful power, played a prominent part."

Chambers Encyclopedia says: "The most important of his many festivals was his birthday, celebrated on the 25th of December, the day subsequently fixed -- against all evidence -- as the birthday of Christ. The worship of Mithras early found its way into Rome, and the mysteries of Mithras, which fell in the spring equinox, were famous even among the many Roman festivals. The ceremonies observed in the initiation to these mysteries -- symbolical of the struggle between Ahriman and Ormuzd (the Good and the Evil) -- were of the most extraordinary and to a certain degree even dangerous character. Baptism and the partaking of a mystical liquid, consisting of flour and water, to be drunk with the utterance of sacred formulas, were among the inauguration acts."

Notice what is said about baptism from Justins writings:
For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water...And this washing is called illumination, because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understandings&#8230;

Interestingly, one of the objectives of mystery religions like Mithraism was to become illuminated? Notice the following:
Mithraism {provided}...the promise of complete illumination, long withheld, fed the ardor of faith with the fascinating allurements of mystery...The gods were everywhere, and...the light that illuminated their paths, were the objects of their adoration. (Cumont, pp. 104,120,149

Notice what historian and scholar K. Latourette observed:
One of the earliest descriptions of the Eucharist, that by Justin Martyr, not far from the middle of the second century, recognizes the similarity to what was seen in one the mystery cults, Mithraism...it has been repeatedly asserted that in baptism and the Eucharist Christians borrowed from the mysteries and that Christianity was simply another one of these cults...The similarity is striking&#8230; baptized, which Justin calls "illumination"...(Latourette KS. A History of Christianity, Volume 1: to A.D. 1500. HarperCollins, San Francisco, 1975, pp. 198,200)

In the catacombs at Rome was preserved a relic of the old Mithraic worship. It was a picture of the infant Mithra seated in the lap of his virgin mother, while on their knees before him were Persian Magi adoring him and offering gifts.

Mithra had his principal festival on what was later to become Easter, at which time he was resurrected. His sacred day was Sunday, "the Lord's Day." The Mithra religion had a Eucharist or "Lord's Supper."

The Christian Father Manes, founder of the heretical sect known as Manicheans, believed that Christ and Mithra were one. His teaching, according to Mosheim, was as follows: "Christ is that glorious intelligence which the Persians called Mithras ... His residence is in the sun" (Ecclesiastical History, 3rd century, Part 2, ch. 5).

While seven sacraments are observed by many, the Bible never uses the term sacrament and does not list seven, nor were they in the early church in anything resembling that form, but came much later.
Seven sacraments were suggested to be in Mithraism:
We are as poorly acquainted with the liturgy of the seven Mithraic sacraments as we are with the dogmatic instructions that accompanied them (Cumont, pp. 156-157).
There were seven degrees of initiation into the mithraic mysteries. The consecrated one (mystes) became in succession crow (corax), occult (cryphius), soldier (miles), lion (leo), Persian (Perses), solar messenger (heliodromos), and father (pater) (Arendzen, Mithraism).

For those who are unaware, it should be pointed out that there are seven sacraments in Serbian, Greek Orthodox, and Roman Catholicism:
Contemporary Orthodox catechisms and textbooks all affirm that the church recognizes seven mysteria, or "sacraments": Baptism, chrismation, Communion, holy orders, penance, anointing of the sick (the "extreme unction" of the medieval West), and marriage. (Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren. Worship and Sacraments. http://www.kosovo.com/doctrine3.html#Sacraments 8/20/05).
The sacraments are seven in number, and include baptism, chrismation, Holy Easter, repentance, ordination, and holy unction...We see then, first of all, that the priest, as performer of the sacrament, is simply the instrument of the invisible and actual celebrant, the Lord himself...The Orthodox church accepts the above-mentioned seven sacraments, which were known from antiquity in the Orthodox East" (Clendenin, D.B. ed. Eastern Orthodox Theology, 2nd ed. Baker Academic, 2003, pp. 22,23).
...there are seven sacraments of the New Law, truly and properly so called, viz., Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Orders, and Matrimony. (Kennedy D.J. Transcribed by Marie Jutras. Sacraments. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIII. Copyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).Catholics & Protestants Practice Mithraism?

We find a larger list of some non-original doctrines that mainstream "Christianity" "share" with Mithraism:

Monasticism
Christmas (and the birth in a cave)
Confirmation (within Catholicism mainly)
Father being a name for the clergy (mainly the Roman and Orthodox clergy)
Idols and icons
Immortality of the soul
Liturgy (mainly parts of the Roman and Orthodox liturgy)
Mystical Eucharist
Monks
A Roman pope (the Roman Church only, with some similarities within the Orthodox groups)
Seven sacraments
Sunday
A form of Trinitarianism, in the mysteries its a god, the mother and baby.


Monasticism was practiced by Greco-Romans who followed Mithras and formed in Catholic faiths according to Franz Cumont:
The adepts of both formed secret conventicles, closely united, the members of which gave themselves the name of "Brothers." (Cumont, p. 190).

 

[Hobie]

Prof. Franz Cumont, of the University of Ghent, writes as follows concerning the religion of Mithra: "The sectaries of the Persian god, like the Christians', purified themselves by baptism, received by a species of confirmation the power necessary to combat the spirit of evil; and expected from a Lord's supper salvation of body and soul. Like the latter, they also held Sunday sacred, and celebrated the birth of the Sun on the 25th of December.... Their conceptions of the world and of the destiny of man were similar. They both admitted the existence of a Heaven inhabited by beatified ones, situated in the upper regions, and of a Hell, peopled by demons, situated in the bowels of the Earth. They both placed a flood at the beginning of history; they both assigned as the source of their condition, a primitive revelation; they both, finally, believed in the immortality of the soul, in a last judgment, and in a resurrection of the dead, consequent upon a final conflagration of the universe" (The Mysteries of Mithras, pp. 190, 191).

More from F. Cumont:

The priest was the intermediary between God and man. His functions evidently included the administration of the sacraments and the celebration of the services. The inscriptions tell us that in addition he presided at the formal dedications, or at least represented the faithful one on such an occasion along with the Fathers; but this was the least portion only of the duties he had to perform; the religious service which fell to his lot appears to have been very exacting. He doubtless was compelled to see that a perpetual fire burned upon the altars. Three times a day, at dawn, at noon, and at dusk, he addressed a prayer to the Sun, turning in the morning toward the East, at noon toward the South, at evening toward the West. The daily liturgy frequently embraced special sacrifices. The celebrant, garbed in sacerdotal robes resembling those of the Magi, sacrificed to the higher and lower gods divers victims, the blood of which was collected in a trench; or offered them libations, holding in his hands the bundle of sacred twigs which we know from the Avesta. Long psalmodies and chants accompanied with music were interspersed among the ritual acts. A solemn moment in the service,--one very probably marked by the sounding of a bell,--was that in which the image of the tauroctonous Mithra, hitherto kept veiled, was uncovered before the eyes of the initiates...

Mithra, identified with the invincible Sun...they also held Sunday sacred, and celebrated the birth of the Sun on the 25th of December, the same day on which Christmas has been celebrated, since the fourth century at least...They both admitted the existence of a Heaven inhabited by beatified ones, situate in the upper regions...they both, finally, believed in the immortality of the soul...

On the other hand, the ecclesiastical writers, reviving a metaphor of the prophet Malachi, contrasted the "Sun of justice" with the "invincible Sun," and consented to see in the dazzling orb which illuminated men a symbol of Christ, "the light of the world." Should we be astonished if the multitudes of devotees failed always to observe the subtle distinctions of the doctors, and if in obedience to a pagan custom they rendered to the radiant star of day the homage which orthodoxy reserved for God? In the fifth century, not only heretics, but even faithful followers, were still wont to bow their heads toward its dazzling disc as it rose above the horizon, and to murmur the prayer, "Have mercy upon us."

...the orthodox and heretical liturgies of Christianity, which gradually sprang up during the first centuries of our era, could find abundant inspiration in the Mithraic Mysteries... it appears certain that the commemoration of the Nativity was set for the 25th of December, because it was at the winter solstice that the rebirth of the invincible god,* the Natalis invicti, was celebrated. In adopting this date, which was universally distinguished by sacred festivities, the ecclesiastical authority purified in some measure the profane usages which it could not suppress. The only domain in which we can ascertain in detail the extent to which Christianity imitated Mithraism is that of art. The Mithraic sculpture, which had been first developed, furnished the ancient Christian marble-cutters with a large number of models, which they adopted or adapted...(Cumont, pp. 166, 193,196-197).

Most of the doctrines, rites, rituals and practices mentioned above were not in the early church or held by the Christians in the time of the apostles.

 

[Hobie]

It may be interesting to note that since Mithras was believed to have been born out of a rock/cavern, that Constantine's mother Helena decided (apparently based upon the old testimony of Justin Martyr and orthers to build the original "Church of the Nativity" over a cave).Notice what Justin Martyr taught:
And when those who record the mysteries of Mithras say that he was begotten of a rock, and call the place where those who believe in him are initiated a cave...they have attempted likewise to imitate the whole of Isaiah's words?...'he shall dwell in the lofty cave of the strong rock. Bread shall be given to him, and his water [shall be] sure...' (Trypho, Chapter 70).
But when the Child was born in Bethlehem, since Joseph could not find a lodging in that village, he took up his quarters in a certain cave near the village; and while they were there Mary brought forth the Christ and placed Him in a manger, and here the Magi who came from Arabia found Him. I have repeated to you what Isaiah foretold about the sign which foreshadowed the cave...those who presided over the mysteries of Mithras were stirred up by the devil to say that in a place, called among them a cave, they were initiated by him (Trypho, Chapter 78).

Justin is confused here--he is apparently claiming that the devil read Isaiah, and thus had the followers of Mithras claim that Mithras came from a cave. Justin's reference to Isaiah 33:16 does not in any way point to the birth of Jesus in a cave ....This is also obvious by the context in Isaiah as the expression "who among us" (Isaiah 33:14, KJV) is a discussion of the plural. Furthermore, while it has been claimed Jesus was born in a cave below ground, even the Douay OT translates a portion of Isaiah 33:16 as "He shall dwell on high, the fortifications of rocks shall be his highness", thus this eliminates a below ground cave. It would seem that Justin, who had been influenced, in my view by one who had exposure to Mithraism, was looking for justification of a position that someone had told him (which he had believed). Justin was apparently trying to claim that the followers of Mithras claimed a cave because of Isaiah--yet those scriptures would clearly disagree with him here.
And here are two accounts related to it and Helena:
Constantine's...mother, Helena, during her famous pilgrimage to the Holy land in 326-7...initiated construction of more basilicas, including...the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem around the cave in which Jesus was supposed to have been born. (Herring G. An introduction to the history of Christianity: from the early church to the Enlightenment. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006, p. 54)
...the Church of the Nativity, said to have been built by the empress Helena. It has suffered much from time, but still bears manifest traces of its Grecian origin; and is alleged to be the most chaste architectural building now remaining in Palestine. Two spiral staircases lead to the cave called the 'Grotto of the Nativity,' which is about 20 feet below the level of the church...we have to place the utter improbability that a subterranean cavern like this, with a steep descent should ever have been used as a stable for cattle, and, what is more, for the stable of a khan or caravanserai, which doubtless the ' inn' of Luke ii. 7 was. Although therefore it is true that cattle are, and always have been, stabled in caverns in the East; yet certainly not in such caverns as this, which appears to have been originally a tomb (Kitto J, Taylor J. The popular cyclopadia of Biblical literature: condensed from the larger work. Gould and Lincoln, 1854. Original from Harvard University, Digitized Oct 23, 2007, p. 150).

Although it is no surprise that the mother of a Mithras-following Emperor would agree on a below ground cave location to honor the birth of a deity--this clearly disagrees with Justin's citation in Isaiah. Furthermore as the Gospel accounts of Jesus' birth do not mention caves at all, it is not likely that Jesus was born in a cave.
Notice also:
Mithratic temples were usually built in caves. In localities where there are no mountains, the 'holy of holies' of the Mithraic temples was given a cave-like appearance by building special domes over it. (Badiozamani B. Iran and America: Re-Kind[l]ing a Love Lost . East West Understanding Pr., 2005, p. 96)

Since Emperor Constantine had been a worshiper of the sun-god Mithras, this may be why many of the church buildings that he commissioned were contained domes. And this has affected the Greco-Roman churches, as well as the mosques of Islam, to this day.Catholics & Protestants Practice Mithraism?

 

[Windmillcharge]

May I suggest you read a different take on mithras.
See:- Is Jesus Simply a Retelling of the Mithras Mythology? | Cold Case Christianity

 

[Hobie]

May I suggest you read a different take on mithras.
See:- Is Jesus Simply a Retelling of the Mithras Mythology? | Cold Case Christianity

Well if the church of Rome had not brought in the rest of the rites, rituals, sacraments, day of the sun, and other manifestation of pagan worship, then you might try to make that case. But the enormity of what they did is still evident today, they renamed some such as the idols or came up with outright subterfuge to excuse them such as the obeliscs and sun images, to say nothing of pagan 'traditions' they brought into the church.

 

[Windmillcharge]

the church of Rome

Who cares what a pagan organisation does, your charge is that Christianity has copied pagan believes.
A charge that you can make stick where the rcc is concerned but not against Christian churches.

 

[Hobie]

Who cares what a pagan organisation does, your charge is that Christianity has copied pagan believes.
A charge that you can make stick where the rcc is concerned but not against Christian churches.

No, that the 'traditions' from paganism continue, even in Christian churches, it is the Babylon that scripture warns us of.