Mithraism and Christianity

There is no question that Mithra's cult preceded Christianity, nor is it likely that the Roman Mithra is not essentially the same as the Indian sun god Mitra and Persian-Phrygian Mithra in his major attributes, as well as some of his most pertinent rites. 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, such as Eubulus, who, according to Jerome in Against Jovianus, "wrote the history of Mithras in many volumes" As Robertson states:

There were in antiquity, we know from Porphyry, several elaborate treatises setting forth the religion of Mithra; and every one of these has been destroyed by the care of the Church.

These many volumes doubtlessly contained much interesting information that was damaging to Christianity, such as the important correspondences between the "lives" of Mithra and Jesus, as well as identical symbols such as the cross, and rites such as baptism and the eucharist. In fact, Mithraism was so similar to Christianity that it gave fits to the early Church fathers, as it does to this day to apologists, who attempt both to deny the similarities and yet to claim that these (non-existent) correspondences were plagiarized by Mithraism from Christianity. There are several problems with this argument, the first of which is that the god Mithra was revered for centuries prior to the Christian era.

Furthermore, by the time the Christian hierarchy prevailed in Rome, Mithra had already been the official cult, with pope, bishops, etc., and its doctrines were well established and widespread, reflecting antiquity. Mithraic remains on Vatican Hill are found underneath the later Christian edifices, which proves the Mithra cult was there first. In fact, while Mithraic ruins from the first and second centuries are abundant throughout the Roman Empire, "The earliest church remains, four in Dura-Europos, date only from around 230 CE."

The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, vol. XII, states that Mithra is an "Indo-Iranian deity" who appears in the Vedas as "one of the Adityas, a lightdeity commonly invoked with Varuna, but later giving way to Savitar." Savitar, it will be recalled, is one of the names or personifications of Surya, the Indian sun god. While acknowledging Mithra's pre-Christian origin, Schaff-Herzog nevertheless insists that Mithraism copied Christianity in its many similar myths and rites:

In theory, ritual and practise Mithraism parodied or duplicated, after a fashion, the central ideas of Christianity. The birth of Mithra and of Christ were celebrated on the same day; tradition placed the birth of both in a cave; both regarded Sunday as sacred; in both the central figure was a mediator (mesim) who was one of a triad or trinity; in both there was a sacrifice for the benefit of the race, and the purifying power of blood from the sacrifice was, though in different ways, a prime motive; regeneration or the second birth was a fundamental tenet in both; the conception of the relationship of the worshipers to each other was the samethey were all brothers; both had sacraments, which baptism and a common meal of bread and the cup were included; both had mysteries from which the lower orders of initiates were excluded; ascetic ideals were common to both; the ideas of man, the soul and its immortality, heaven and hell, the resurrection of the dead, judgment after death, the final conflagration by which the world is to be consumed, the final conquest of evil, were quite similar. Of course the rationale behind these conceptions and the ways in which they were carried out were very different, but the general effect is almost startling. The Church Fathers were themselves astounded at the resemblances, and could explain them only by the theory which has so often been applied in the history of the contact of Christianity in its missions to the pagan world--observances of Mithraism were the cunning parodies devised by Satan There were, however, two very important differences between the two faiths: Christianity had as its nucleating point a historic personage; Mithra came out of a distant past with all its accretion of myth and fancy. In the second place, Mithraism, like Buddhism and Brahmanism, was syncretistic, was tolerant of the practises of other cults.

That Christianity had "as its nucleating point a historic personage" cannot be supported by the evidence, and the intolerance of Christianity reflected above and boasted about in the Catholic Encyclopedia is hardly something to be proud of.

Christian apologist Sir Weigall likewise outlines some of the correspondences with Christianity; yet, he maintains that Christianity copied Mithraism, rather than the other way around:

[Mithra] appears to have lived an incarnate life on earth, and in some unknown manner to have suffered death for the good of mankind, an image symbolising his resurrection being employed in his ceremonies. Tarsus, home of St. Paul, was one of the great centres of his worship, being the chief city of the Cilicians; andthere is a decided tinge of Mithraism in the Epistles and Gospels. Thus the designations of our Lord as the Dayspring from on High, the Light, the Sun of Righteousness, and similar expressions, are borrowed from or related to Mithraic phraseology. The words of St. Paul, "They drank of that spiritual rockand that rock was Christ" are borrowed from the Mithraic sculptures

Weigall's assertion that Mithra appeared "to have lived an incarnate life on earth" would certainly negate the Schaff-Herzog claim of the superiority of Christianity by virtue of having a "historical personage" as its "nucleating point." However, it is also contended that a fatal flaw was Mithraism's inability to point to a "historic founder." Unable to withstand the assault of the "historical godman" Jesus Christ, it is claimed, Mithraism eventually dissolved into Manichaeism and Christianity.

Like the vast majority of the ancient gods, Mithra was never a "real person." In actuality he was originally represented by non-human forms, following the Persian abhorrence of "idols," as related by Herodotus, until being personified or anthropomorphized after his migration to Asia Minor. As Srivastava states:

It isvery significant to note that ancient Iranians themselves did not represent the Sun-god in human form in the earliest times, and they used to represent him by means of symbols. In one of the sepulchres of Darius near Naqshi Rustam, Mithra is represented as a round disc. Next stage was that of human busts of Sun in later Mithraism. The fully anthropomorphic representation of Mithra was due to Hellenic influence, as is evident by a monument set up by Antiochus I...

In one of these earlier images, Mithra is depicted as a sun disc in a chariot drawn by white horses, another solar motif that made it into the Jesus myth, in which Christ is to return on a white horse. Concerning Mithra's solar journey, the Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology states:

In the pre-Zoroastrian period Mithra, often associated with the supreme Ahura, was a god of the first magnitude. His military valour was without rival. He possessed not only strength but at the same time knowledge; for in essence he was Light. As such he led the solar chariot across the sky. From him victory could be expected as well as wisdom, though his anger with cheating or felony was merciless. Beasts were sacrificed to him and he was offered libations of haoma which humans could partake of only provided that scrupulous ritual and penitence were observed.

Larousse clearly states that "beasts were sacrificed" to Mithra, ostensibly in the "pre-Christian Zoroastrian period," which would be at least 600 years before the common era. The libations of haoma, of course, are purely Persian or Iranian.

In reality, despite their later proscription, which would explain why there are no Persian images of Mithra and the Bull, imagery and iconography were used in Persia for thousands of years, beginning at least during the seventh millennium BCE and continuing into the second millennium. Such imagery was resumed in the eighth century BCE. Of the numerous Persian pottery images and figurines of both humans and animals, it is probable that many of them represents gods and goddesses.

In his famous work, Cumont evinced that Mithraic art also was utilized within Christianity: One example is Mithra "shooting at the rock," from which flowed water, a scene that became "Moses smiting the rock" in Christian iconography. Mithra as Helios rising with the sun became Elijah in his chariot of fire, and Mithra slaying the bull was figured as Samson killing the lion. Cumont also argued that the images of "heaven, earth, ocean, sun, moon, planets, the zodiacal signs, the winds, the seasons, and the like, found on Christian sarcophagi and in mosaics and miniatures areadaptations of Mithraic models." The Moses-Mithra parallel has been commented upon by a number of scholars, including Robertson in Pagan Christs, who suggests a common origin of the motif in both mythologies. As another example of this mythical motif, the Greek sea god Poseidon, in a contest with Athena to win over the inhabitants of Athens, is depicted as striking a rock, from which a spring appears.

Further correspondences between Mithraism and Christianity can be found in the Christian catacombs--another similarity to Mithra worship, which was practiced in caves--where there are numerous images of Christ as the Good Shepherd:

although it is generally ageed that the figure of Jesus carrying a lamb is taken from the statues of Hermes Kriophorus, the kid-carrying god, Mithra is sometimes shown carrying a bull across his shoulders, and Apollo, who in his solar aspect and as the patron of the rocks is to be identified with Mithra, is often called "the Good Shepherd." At the birth of Mithra the child was adored by shepherds, who brought gifts to him.

Like Christ, Mithra was considered the remover of sin and disease, the creator of the world, God of gods, the mediator, mighty ruler, Kng of kings, lord of heaven and earth, Good Shepherd, Sun of Righteousness, etc.

Mithra as the Mediator is unquestionably a concept that predated Christianity by centuries, and the deliberate reference to Christ as the Mediator at Hebrews 9:15 is an evident move to usurp Mithra's position. Concerning the Mediator, CMU relates:

The next dogma we shall notice is that of the Saviour, or Mediator. This is evidently derived from the Christna of the Hindoo trinity, who, as the Redeemer of the human race, was the most important of the three. This personification of the sun seems to have been adopted by the Persian lawgiver, Zoroaster, under the name of Mithra (which still meant Mediator), when he founded the religion of the Mithraics, or worshippers of the sun. According to Plutarch, Zoroaster taught that there existed two principles, one good, and the other evil; the first was called Oromazes, "the ancient of days," being the principle of good or light; the other, Ahrimanes, was the principle of evil, or cold and darkness. Between these two personified principles, he placed his Mithra, who, as the source of genial heat and life, annually redeems the human race from the power of evil, or cold and darkness. From this beautiful allegory of the sun is derived the Christian dogma of the Saviour, of which proof may be found even amongst the fathers. (See Tertullian, Adv. gentes.)

The similarities between Mithraism and Christianity included their chapels, the term "father" for priest, celibacy and, most notoriously, the December 25^th birthdate. Apologists claiming that Mithraism copied Christianity nevertheless admit that the December 25^th birthdate was taken from Mithraism. As Weigall says:

December 25^th was really the date, not of the birth of Jesus, but of the sun-god Mithra. Horus, son of Isis, however, was in very early times identified with Ra, the Egyptian sun-god, and hence with Mithra

Another correspondence is that the Mithraic "Lord's Day," like that of other solar cults, was celebrated on Sunday, adopted by Christianity from Paganism. Robertson elucidates various other Mithraic-Christian correspondences:

From Mithraism Christ takes the symbolic keys of heaven and hell and assumes the function of the virgin-born Saoshyant, the destroyer of the Evil One. Like Mithra, Merodach and the Egyptian Khousu [Khonsu], he is the Mediator; like Horus he is grouped with a divine Mother; like Khousu he is joined with the Logos; and like Merodach he is associated with a Holy Spirit, one of whose symbols is fire.

Robertson thus compares Mithra with the virgin-born "Saoshyant," the Savior of the Persian religion. Roberston further asserts that the Mithraic mysteries included the "burial and resurrection of the Lord, the Mediator, and Savior (buried in a rock tomb and resurrected from that tomb)," as well as the bread-and-water communion and the "mystic mark" upon the forehead. Like the death and resurrection of Osiris, these mystical Mithraic rites were practiced and represented anterior to Christianity.

Lundy describes Mithra's death and resurrection:

Dupuis tells us that Mithra was put to death by crucifixion, and rose again on the 25^th of March. In the Persian Mysteries the body of a young man, apparently dead, was exhibited, which feigned to be restored to life. By his sufferings he was believed to have worked their salvation, and on this account he was called their Saviour. His priests watched the tomb to the midnight of the vigil of the 25^th of March, with loud cries, and in darkness; when all at once the light burst forth from all parts, the priest cried, O sacred initiated, your God has risen. His death, his pains, and sufferings have worked your salvation.

Lundy cites the original French writings of Dupuis, which were multi-volume and condensed in the English translation, in which this Mithra information was expurgated. Dupuis wrote a century before Cumont, so he obviously did not use the latter's work; nor did Lundy rely on Cumont, who wrote in the decades following Lundy. In fact, Lundy takes much of his information from an unpublished book on Mithra by Layard, the English archaeologist and excavator of Assyrian antiquities.

Other elements found within Mithraism that are paralleled in (and copied by) Christianity include the miter or mitre, the bishops' headdress; the mizd, or "hot cross bun," which was shaped like the sun with a cross in the middle; and the mass. Another remnant of Mithraism within Christianity can be found in the phrases "soldiers of Christ" and "putting on the armor of Christ."

Moreover, the initiate into the Mithraic mysteries was considered the "son of Mithra," who became one with Mithra; he was also the "son of the Pater Patrum" ("Father of Fathers"). During the Mithraic mysteries, the initiate was often blindfolded, to be suddenly blinded by a great light, which represented the "moment of revelation," when the initiate became one with God. Obviously, Paul's conversion experience with the blinding light is a wink and a nod towards other initiates in the mysteries, who would certainly recognize it. It also served to validate that Paul was qualified to preach on the "good news" and the "kingdom of heaven."

Regarding the various names of Mithra and his similarities to Christ, Berry says:

Both Mithras and Christ were described variously as "the Way," "the Truth," "the Light," "the Life," "the Word," "the Son of God," "the Good Shepherd." The Christian litany to Jesus could easily be an allegorical litany to the sun-god. Mithras is often represented as carrying a lamb on his shoulders, just as Jesus is. Midnight services were found in both religions. The virgin mother Isis was easily merged with the virgin mother Mary. Petra, the sacred rock of Mithraism, became Peter, the foundation of the Christian Church.

The very ancient god Dionysus was also identified with the bull, which in Arcadia was carried to his sanctuary during the winter Dionysian festival. Moreover, on the isle of Tenedos a calf was sacrificed in the stead of the divine child.

Mithra's Birth

Mithra's genesis out of a rock, analogous to the birth in caves of a number of gods, including Jesus, was followed by his adoration by shepherds, another motif that found its way into the later Christianity. In The Christ Myth, Evans says:

early writers, including several of the [Church] Fathers, decided upon a cave as the true place [of Christ's birth], a decision exactly in accordance with the legend of a virgin, in a cave, on the 25^th of December, symbolizing the renewed birth of the sun after the winter solstice.

Regarding the birth in caves likewise common to pre-Christian gods, and present in the early legends of Jesus, Weigall relates:

the cave shown at Bethlehem as the birthplace of Jesus was actually a rock shrine in which the god Tammuz or Adonis was worshipped, as the early Christian father Jerome tells us; and its adoption as the scene of the birth of our Lord was one of those frequent instances of the taking over by Christians of a pagan sacred site. The propriety of this appropriation was increased by the fact that the worship of a god in a cave was commonplace in paganism: Apollo, Cybele, Demeter, Herakles, Hermes, Mithra and Poseidon were all adored in caves; Hermes, the Greek Logos, being actually born of Maia in a cave, and Mithra being "rock-born."

Weigall further states that the "swaddling clothes" motif in the gospel story is taken from the story of Hermes, who was likewise wrapped and placed in a "manger," which in the original Greek referred to a basket. Furthermore, Dionysus and Ion, the father of the Ionians, were each born in a cave and placed in a basket/manger.

Unlike various other rock- or cave-born gods, Mithra is not overtly depicted as having been given birth by a mortal woman or a goddess; hence, it is claimed that he was not "born of a virgin." However, a number of writers over the centuries have asserted otherwise, including Roberston and Evans. In Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth Jackson states:

Mithra, a Persian sun-god, was virgin-born, in a cave, on December 25. His earliest worshippers were shepherds, and he was accompanied by twelve companions.

In The Christ Myth, Drews says that the Goddess "appears among the Persians as the 'virgin' mother of Mithras." And, in Pagan and Christian Creeds, Carpenter relates:

The saviour Mithra, too, was born of a Virgin, as we have had occasion to notice before; and on Mithraist monuments the mother suckling her child is not an uncommon figure.

Carpenter's assertion is backed up by John Remsburg in The Christ (ch. 7), in which he relates that an image found in the Roman catacombs depicts the babe Mithra "seat in the lap of his virgin mother," with the gift-bearing Magi genuflecting in front of them. Such iconography was common in Rome as representative of Isis and Horus, so it would not be unexpected to find it within Mithraism. In fact, there was a pre-Christian "virgin of the mysteries"; as is well known, Mithraism was a famous mystery religion.

Stating that the Romans added "much of the ritual of their most popular cult, Mithraism, to Christianity, Berry then says, "Mithras was supposed to have been born of a virgin, the birth being witnessed by only a few shepherds."

Berry further relates:

As Mithraism moved westward it proved a fertile ground for the addition of mystic meaning. Practically all of the symbolism of Osiris was added to the Mithraic cultus, even to the fact that Isis became the virgin mother of Mithras.

One recent writer 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."

If this last, quoted part is truly from an inscription, it would seem to lay the matter to rest. Anahita is certainly an Indo-Iranian goddess of some antiquity, dating back at least four or five centuries prior to the common era. Moreover, concerning Mithra the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia 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."

As noted, Robertson likewise maintained that Mithra was a virgin-born god:

It seems highly probable that the birth-legend of the Persian Cyrus was akin to or connected with the myth of Mithra, Cyrus (Koresh) being a name of the sun, and the legend being obviously solar.

It was further practically a matter of course that his mother should be styled a virgin, the precedents being uniform. In Phrygia the God Acdestis or Agdistis, a variant of Attis, associated with Attis and Mithra in the worship of the Great Mother, is rock-born. Like Mithra, he is two-sexed, figuring in some versions as female Further, the Goddess Anahita or Anaitis, with whom Mithra was anciently paired, was pre-eminently a Goddess of fruitfulness, and as such would necessarily figure in her cultus as a Mother.

Moreover, Mithra's prototype, the Indian Mitra, was born of a female, Aditi, the "mother of the gods," the inviolable or virgin dawn. The pervasive virgin birth motif of other gods and men, especially the sun gods, could certainly not have been unknown to Mithraic initiates. It is possible that the macho, warrior cult rejected the inclusion of a female progenitor and struck upon the rock-born status, as the epitome of masculinity. Getting rid of all things female would represent a "Gnostic" concept of female/matter being "evil." One possible example of such demonization may be found in the alteration of the good Indian god Aryaman into the evil Persian god Ahriman:

M. Maury, regarding the name Ahriman as identical with the Vedic Aryaman, sees in the Iranian demon a degradation of the Hindu sun-god

Maury's reasoning is that Aryaman, once benevolent, later becomes the "l'Aditya de la mort, le soleil destructeur," which is to say, the Aditya of Death, the destructive sun. Aryaman presided over unmarried girls, and the bride was to be released by him to the bridegroom; it may be that, in making the ostensible protector of unmarried girls into an evil being, the chauvinistic Persians were attempting to suppress and dominate the female.

It could be suggested that Mithra was born of "Prima Materia," or "Primordial Matter," which could also be considered "First Mother," "Virgin Matter," "Virgin Mother," etc. In Roman Catholicism, the Mother of God is called "Mater Creatoris," which could also be translated "Creative Matter." In fact, in the cosmology of the Naassenes, a pre-Christian sect that eventually became Christianized, there exists the "uncreated," called "hyle," or "primordial matter."

Also, the "cave" motif represents in the original astrotheological myth the womb of Mother Earth, giving birth to the sun god, daily and annually. In any case, while Mithra may not precisely have been perceived as "born of a virgin," certainly he was considered the product of a "miraculous birth."

As the "rock-born," Mithras was called "Theos ek Petras," or the "God from the Rock." As Weigall says:

Indeed, it may be that the reason of the Vatican hill at Rome being regarded as sacred to Peter, the Christian "Rock," was that it was already sacred to Mithra, for Mithraic remains have been found there.

Mithra was "the rock," or Peter, and was also "double-faced," like Janus the keyholder, likewise a prototype for the "apostle" Peter. Hence, when Jesus is made to say (in the apparent interpolation at Matthew 16:12) that the keys of the kingdom of heaven are given to "Peter" and that the Church is to be built upon "Peter," as a representative of Rome, he is usurping the authority of Mithraism, which was the official Roman cult at the time, precisely headquartered on what became Vatican Hill.

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