On the Pagan roots of Transubstantiation its not to hard to make the connection....
"The doctrine of Transubstantiation in the Roman Catholic Church is defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as: “By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1640; 1651).”1)Catechism of the Catholic Church (Complete and Updated with modifications from the Editio Typica), Doubleday (New York, NY: 1997), p. 395; para 1413 ...
The Catholic’s only Biblical passage to support this doctrine is
John 6:51-58. However, if one takes this passage in the sense of physically eating Christ’s flesh and drinking His blood, there becomes major inconsistencies in the interpretation of this passage. First, Christ Himself said, “the words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and
they are life.” (
John 6:63) Thus they are meant to be understood in a spiritual sense, not physical. Second, if they are taken in the physical sense than the same physical sense must be applied to His words “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (
John 6:51) In this case, eating the Eucharist should keep a person from physically dying. Third, consider the Lord’s words in
John 6:35 “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” If understood in the spiritual sense that Christ Himself said it ought to be interpreted, never spiritually hungering or thirsting would confirm the sufficiency of His one time sacrifice not needing to be repeated."..
History of the Heresy of Transubstantiation | Truth Watchers
"How did that simple worship evolve into the carefully choreographed practice of a Roman Catholic Mass? In looking at possible reasons, I think it worth taking another look at the practices of the cult of Mithras, which Christianity replaced as the official state religion of the Roman Empire. Justin Martyr accused the devotees of Mithraism of copying the Christian Eucharistic practice:
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.--Justin Martyr,
Op. cit,, Chap 66, p. 343..
During Justin's lifetime and for a millennium after, that powerful and supposedly infallible Teaching Authority of the Roman Church debated the issue of transubstantiation. It was settled, at least for those in submission to the Roman high priest, in 1215, when Pope Innocent III declared transubstantiation to be a dogma of the church.
The worship of Mithras was older by nearly two millennia than Christianity. Does it seem reasonable that the priests of Mithras copied Christian sacrificial practice? Or is it more likely that some in the infant church had begun to assimilate doctrine and practice from the official state religion of Rome.
Mithraism, the soldier's cult and official religion of Rome in Justin's time, celebrated a ritual meal. Archaeological evidence indicates that this sacrificial community meal occupied a central position in Mithran worship. In this "divine" meal, worshipers ate the flesh of a sacrificed bull and drank its blood. When no bull was available, bread or fish were used as substitutes for the meat and wine took the place of blood. Mithran initiates believed that, by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the bull, they would be born again and would have eternal life.
He who will not eat of my body, nor drink of my blood so that he may be one with me and I with him, shall not be saved.--M. J. Vermaseren,
Mithraic Communion, Mithras, "The Secret God"...
Though the Worship of Mithras can be traced back nearly 4000 years, it was not until sometime in the 2nd century that the cult became powerful in Rome. It is unlikely it in any way colored the writings of the New Testament.
The flowering of Mithraism occurred after the close of the New Testament canon, much too late for it to have influenced anything that appears in the New Testament. Moreover, no monuments for the cult can be dated earlier than A.D. 90-100, and even this dating requires us to make some exceedingly generous assumptions. Chronological difficulties, then, make the possibility of a Mithraic influence on early Christianity extremely improbable. Certainly, there remains no credible evidence for such an influence.--Dr. Ronald H. Nash,
Was the New Testament Influenced by Pagan Religions?
Some would disagree with Dr. Nash, pointing out that, in the Mithran practice, the highest of seven levels of attainment for the faithful was that of "pater" (father) and that the senior father was a kind of pope, or senior bishop, whose permanent residence was in Rome.
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). . . Crows, occults and soldiers formed the lower orders, a sort of catechumens; lions and those admitted to the other degrees were participants of the mysteries. The fathers conducted the worship. The chief of the fathers, a sort of pope, who always lived at Rome, was called "Pater Patrum" or Pater Patratus." The members below the degree of pater called one another "brother," and social distinctions were forgotten in Mithraic unity.--J.P. Arendzen,
Mithraism, "Catholic Encyclopedia", © 1911 by the Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version Copyright © 2007 by Kevin Knight
As Christianity gathered momentum and eventually became the Roman Empire's state religion, Mithraism was shoved to one side and fell out of fashion. However, there was much in the pagan practice that the new state religion adapted for its own use, arguing that they were doing these things to make it easier for them to draw converts from the cult to the bosom of the increasingly Roman Church.
The Mithraic clergy's duty was to maintain the perpetual holy fire on the altar, invoke the planet of the day, offer the sacrifices for the disciples, and preside at initiations. The Mithraic priests were known as
Patres Sacrorum, or Fathers of the Sacred Mysteries. Today, the Catholic parish priest is to maintain a vigil flame burning before the tabernacle or other place where the consecrated host is kept, offers sacrifices for the disciples and presides at initiations (baptisms, confirmations, holy orders). Of course, everyone knows Catholic priests answer to the title of "Father."...
The Pagan Roots of Transubstantiation
"Transubstantiation has it's origin in ancient pagan religion, not in Christianity.
a. "Where did this teaching and practice really come from? Like many of the beliefs and rites of Romanism, transubstantiation was first practiced by pagan religions. 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, by Dill.)" (Mark Edward Sohmer, The Gospel of Rome, Part 15: Transubstantiation,
www.sohmer.net)
b. "In Egypt, priests would consecrate meat cakes, which were supposed to become the flesh of Osiris! (an ancient Egyptian god of the lower world and judge of the dead - Encyclopedia of Religions, Vol. 2, p. 76.) The idea of transubstantiation was also characteristic of the religion of Mithra whose sacraments of cakes and haoma drink closely parallel Catholic Eucharistic rites. (Ibid.)" (Mark Edward Sohmer, The Gospel of Rome, Part 15: Transubstantiation,
www.sohmer.net)
c. "The idea of eating the flesh of deity was most popular among the people of Mexico and Central America long before they ever heard of Christ; and when Spanish missionaries first landed in those countries, "their surpass was heightened when they witnessed a religious rite which reminded them of communion... an image made of flour... and after consecration by priests, was distributed among the people who ate it... declaring it was the flesh of deity." (Prescott's Mexico, Vol. 3.)" (Mark Edward Sohmer, The Gospel of Rome, Part 15: Transubstantiation,
www.sohmer.net)"...
Communion (Part 5) - Origin of Transubstantiation; Eucharist in One Kind; Eucharist Worship | The Excelsior Springs Church