LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4559, 13 April 1942, Page 5

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

STUDY OF RELIGION Sir, —The bibliography on religion is so vast that it takes a life-time to study it, and yet we find that the majority of Christians know very little about religion apart from thfeir own, and this they know very imperfectly. One of the best ways to examine Christianity is to go back to its infancy and learn something about the religions that preceded it or were contemporary with it. One of the most astounding was Mithraism, the most widespread religion of the Roman Empire, and introduced in the century before Christianity. This was particularly the religion of the Roman army, and although not a single monumental trace of Christianity during the, four centuries of the Roman occupation of Britain have been found, remains of the military Mithraic cult are frequent. Mithraism was a semiprjvate esoteric cult, and not by any means universal. Women were excluded from it; also, the uncultured citizens and slaves had no part in it. The cult of Mithra was fascinating, and had elaborate initiations, baptisms, probations, sacraments, and mysteries, which were kept at a very high level of moral stringency, and it gave promise of immortality. Mithra was the most august of the gods of war, and is an Aryan deity figuring in the Vedas, and his most ancient lore is contained in the Zendavesta. Of Persian origin, Mithra means “ The Sun ” and “ The Friend,” and signifies love and goodwill. He was mediator between Ormuzd and Ahriman, the Persian contending principals of good and evil, becoming a Saviour, Redeemer, and Preserver—in other words, a Christ or Christos. Mithra figured- as a lion-headed god bearing two keys, also as “ slayer of the bull ” He was worshipped in caves on Sunday, the first day of the week, known as “ The Lord's Day ” (lord was one of his titles), which was consecrated to Mithra from ancient times, and he was known as “ the Rock-born.” Besides being a sungod, Mithra was a vegetation-god, and the two chief Mithraic festivals were held, one at the winter solstice and the other at the vernal equinox (our Christmas and Easter), but these festivals also belonged to Osiris, Athis, Adonis, and Dionysis, all vegetation and sun-gods. Mithra was born of a virgin goddess, and monuments show him as a new-born babe adored by shepherds offering him first-fruits. Mithraism contains the doctrines of the “ Logos ” and the “ Trinity,” and Christianity is indebted to it for many other forms, such as the bishop’s mitre and red boots, Peter as the rock Petra, bearing the keys of heaven and hell; indeed, Mithra was canonised as “ St. Peter ” holding the keys. The high priest of Mithra was called “ Papas ” or “ Father,” and was really the Pope’s predecessor, and he sat in the Mithraic temple, which once occupied the Vatican Hill. The phrase, “ Washed in the blood of the Lamb ” comes from one of the most striking of Mithraic rites. A young ram or bull was slain over a grating, under which stood the initiate, so that the blood dripped all over him, and thus he was “born again for eternity.” This blood rite had many forms of imitation, such as the Taurobolia and Criobolia of the Romans. Baptism by water was also an initiation ceremony in the Mithra cult, but baptism in some form was a ritual in many “ pagan ” cults, and one common form was by blood, from which we get the Anglo-Saxon “ bledsian ’ ’or blessing, meaning to redden with blood. The Mithraist ritual appears to have been the actual source of the Christian mystery-play, as Mithra was liturgically represented as dead, buried in a rock tomb, mourned over, and raised again amid rejoicing. The sign of the cross, made on the forehead, was the supreme symbol of Mithraism. The mystical partaking of an atoning or inspiring “ body and blood ” as a sacrificial banquet in his honour was certainly part of the great Asiatic cult of Mithra, and some of the Mithraists actually ate a lamb and drank its blood. Mithra was also known as “ The Branch,” the principle of life. Surely this selected information shows us where Christianity got many of its forms, but this is only one source; there are many others—l am, etc., OLIVER.

Sir, —Without the lease desire of entering into discussion with “Roland” concerning the mass of contradictions contained in Scripture, I should deem it a favour for the opportunity of beseeching your correspondent to state what sanction he or she may have for affirming the Bible to be the world’s greatest and most reliable histocifal document. Personally, I much prefer the deliberations of the world’s greatest scholars as compared with the purely conjectural observations of one who indulges so copiously in wishful thinking. The testimony of “ The Encyclopedia Biblica,” and especially “ The Encyclopedia Britannica ” under “ Bible and Genesis,” is unquestionably the finest antidote for counteracting the evil effects of so much pious insensibility. Incidentally the Bible is one of twenty-sven books for which divine origin is claimed. “Roland ” denies the divinity of all sacred books but his own. I deny the divinity of only one more than he does.—l am, etc., C. B. TELENIUS.