Greek Mystery and Eastern Religions and Gnosticism…

Greek Mystery and Eastern Religions

According to Ferguson, the mystery religions…were bound to the traditional civic cult…initiation in a mystery was usually a matter of individual choice – although the initiation ceremony itself was collective, not individual – and so was a significant expression of personal religionâ€? (Ferguson, 251). Mysteries were native to Greece, but many of the eastern cults adopted mystery initiations when they entered the Greek world…The eastern cults experienced progressive Hellenization in the Greek world and Romanization in the west. The Hellenization of cult was a cultural matter; Romanization was largely a political matterâ€? (Ferguson, 251). When encountering this topic for the first time, it is necessary to define mystery and distinguish our post-modern mindset, “mysterion sing.) meant ‘secret rite’ but had the added sense of ‘something secret’ without any ceremonial associations. It could be used of any secret – philosophy, magic, alchemy, even sexual intercourse (‘the mysteries of Aphrodite’) – and sometimes to be nothing more than a figure of speech. The verb (myeo) in the passive often means ‘to be initiated.’ The idea of secrecy is more prominent that in telete (‘performance’ or ‘sacred rite’), but it is not absolutely necessary… ‘Mystery’ is being used here in its technical sense of a secret cult in which the uninitiated could not participateâ€? (Ferguson, 251). Ferguson, also reveals that initiation was an objective experience (Ferguson 251-252). To further clarify the meaning of “mysteryâ€? to aid our understanding for the background of early Christianity, as Ferguson states, “we may define ‘mystery’ as used here as a secret rite by which selected individuals were brought into a special relationship with a deity and assured certain benefitsâ€? (Ferguson, 252). It is clear that by their very name that what was done in these mystery cults, or secret cults is largely the work of conjecture, however, “authors ancient and modern classify three elements in the rites of initiation: (1) ‘things enacted’ (dromena), (2) ‘things said’ (legomena), and (3) ‘things shown’ (deiknymena) – the most important part of the ceremonyâ€? (Ferguson, 252).

Just as early Greek religion and the function of deities had their roots in agriculture so to “the original Greek mysteries were rooted in the soil and related to the cycle of nature. Most of the local mysteries did not go beyond rites to assure fertility, safety or the like� and “mysteries were in earlier times dedicated to Demeter� (Ferguson, 253).

Mysteries could be local or universal and “in the first century A.D. the only mysteries whose extension may be called universal were the mysteries of Dionysus and those of the eastern gods, especially Isis� (Ferguson, 252). One such local mystery that had “acquired considerable fame and was even transplanted to other sites in Hellenistic and early Roman times was that of the ‘Mother of the gods’ and the Cabiri at Samothrace� (Ferguson, 253).

Moving from local mysteries to universal mysteries, we will first look at the Eleusinian mysteries, “they were local in the sense that one had to come to Eleusis in order to receive initiation. They were universal in Roman times in being open to all who could come to Eleusis, afford the initiation, and meet the standards of purity� (Ferguson, 254). They Eleusinian mysteries went from being controlled by one family and then made public property and it should be noted that “there was a great increase interest in initiation at Eleusis from the first century B.C. to the second century A.D…Syncretism affected Eleusis at the end, for the last known hierophant (leader in the initiation) was also a priest of Mithras� (Ferguson, 254-255). An interesting characteristic of the more important mysteries is the cult myth which was not a secret (Ferguson, 255).

“The Dionysiac mysteries were the only new mysteries of Greek origin that spread widely in Hellenistic-Roman times…their celebration was not confined to any one locality� (Ferguson, 260). Some general features of the Dionysiac mysteries …in classical times are known from Euripides’ play The Bacchae. A period of fasting preceded the winter festival. Weakened by the fasting, the devotees in wild ecstatic dance to the accompaniment of the aulos worked themselves into a delirium. In this frenzy, according to the prevalent interpretation, they ate raw flesh with the blood in it of animals that were seized…since Dionysus was believed to appear in animal form and to be present in the wine, eating the flesh from a living animal and drinking wine could be understood as incorporating the god and his power within� (Ferguson, 261).

Egyptian Deities: Isis, Osiris, and Sarapis

The Egyptian deities Isis, Osiris and Sarapis “were the first of the eastern deities to come important in the Hellensitic world� (Ferguson, 266). “Osiris was important as the vegetation god and king of the underworld; Isis his sister and wife and the mother of Horus. She took the leading role in the expansion of the cult outside Egypt. TheGreeks contributed two ideas of great importance to the success of Isis. They identified her with Demeter (and later Aphrodite), so making her the most important mother goddess of the Hellenistic world to whim culture and mysteries were attributed. Further they elevated her to an all-encompassing deity…and the propaganda for claimed that other goddesses were but manifestations of her� (Ferguson, 266).

Sarapis, as Ferguson notes, “replaced Osiris in the Greek world…Sarapis was portrayed with the features of Zeus, only with a milder more kindly appearance (similar to Asclepius), and is often acclaimed on inscriptions as ‘one Zeus Sarapis.’� Sarapis is “distinguished from Zeus by his head piece – identified as a modius (a container for measuring grain) or a calathus (a basket for carrying fruit), either of which served as a symbol of fertility� (Ferguson, 268-269). There weren’t any doubts that the following of these Egyptian deities turned into a cult movement. “The worship of Sarapis became an official civic cult about 180 B.C. and a public temple was built, subscribed by the private associations but now having priests annually elected in the Greek manner. Immigration and political considerations…were frequent factors in the spread of eastern cults� (Ferguson, 269). Interestingly enough, Ferguson notes that although these eastern cults were Hellenized they never fully lost their Egyptian flavor. “Authorities in Rome resisted the spread of the Egyptian gods, whose temples had a reputation for immorality� (Ferguson, 269), but this attitude changed when “Caligua erected a temple to Isis on the Campus Martius in A.D. 38, but it was only when Domitian made the temple one of Rome’s most splendid monument that Isis and Sarapis began to enjoy uninterrupted imperial favor� (Ferguson, 269-270).

Not much is known about the initiations into the various mysteries, but Ferguson does point out that “the myth of Osiris has been preserved in Hellenized form from Plutarch� (Ferguson, 270). The importance of the Eleusinian mysteries to the other mysteries is seen in the way the Egyptian cults patterned their initiations after the Eleusinian mysteries.

Pertinent to our discussion of Eastern deities are the Phoenician Deities Astarte and Adonis� The Phoenician Asarte was essentially the same as the Syrian Atargatis and the Phrygian Cybele. The Greeks identified her with Aphrodite. Astarte was the consort of the supreme god of the Phoenician pantheon, Baal Shamim (‘Lord of Heaven’)…Adonis, became quite popular in the Greek world, but was not nearly so important in Phoenicia as was Astarte� (Ferguson, 277). The Phoenician deities do not seem have the significance in the history of early Christianity as the Greek and Roman deities.

Syrian Deities: Atargatis and others

“Each city of Syria had its Baal (‘Lord’ or ‘Master’) and his consort. The Baal was the master of the country and was responsible for its fertility, but he resided in the firmament� (Feguson, 280). The Syrian deities’ presence were also felt in the Roman world and “the best known of the Syrian goddesses was Atargatis of Hierapolis, identified simply as ‘the Syrian Goddess.’ Atargatis herself was a conflation of the three major deities of the older Canaanite Pnatheon – Astarte, Anath, and Asherah – respectively goddesses of love, war, and fecundity, but often merging with each other. The great goddesses of the Near East – Astarte, Cybele, and Atargatis – were characterized as goddesses of nature, fertility and motherhood and as rulers of animals� (Ferguson, 280).

Phrygian Deties: Cybele and Attis
Cybele was the more important and she was similar to the other mother goddesses of the Near East who included Ma from Commagene (identified by the Romans with Bellona, goddess of war) and Bendis from Thrace (identified by the Greeks with Artemis)…Cybele was occasionally called Agdistis, but the latter was sometimes worship separately� (Ferguson, 281). Attis on the other hand was considered to be a god of vegetation and was Cybele’s youthful lover. Ferguson notes, “that cult of Cybele was the first of the eastern religions to received officially into Rome at the time of the crisis posed to Italy by Hannibal. The Senate officially invited the Great Mother to Rome in response to a consultation of the Sibylline Books. Presumably the introduction of this foreign cult was intended to gain a new emotional outlet…Cybele is Hellenistic-Roman art is generally shown seated on a throne, wearing a mural crown (as city protectress) or the calathus (for fertility), carrying a patera and tympanum, and flanked by lions or holding one in her lap. Attis is frequently shown as a largely naked youth but wearing the Phrygian cap� (Ferguson, 282-283). Emasculation or the shedding of blood was associated with these two cults. Ferguson makes an interesting statement about the importance of these cults for the backgrounds of Christianity, “much attention has been drawn to the taurobolium in the cult of Attis, although nearly all of the evidence belongs to the second century and later. The word meant capturing a bull by thwoing a rope around it, but the word came to mean a particular sacrifice of a bull� (Ferguson, 285).

Persian Deities: Mithras

Ferguson notes, “that only one god with a Persian name became important in the Roman Empire – Mithra (in Latin and Greek, Mithras)…Literary refrences by others to Mithraism in the Roman period are meager, so the religion is known almost exclusively from the numerous Mithraic sanctuaries and their art that have been discovered� (Ferguson, 287).

We owe much of the theorizing of the origins of this cult to Franz Cumont, “who traced the religion to ancient Persians. According to this theory, the Aryans, who worshipped Mithras carried him to India and Iran…as the worship of Mithras spread into the Hellenized world, it borrowed from astrology and the mysteries…the central cult of Mithraic sanctuaries was Mithras slaying a bull…the positioning of images in the scene has been shown to correspond to the locations of constellations at a certain time�(Ferguson, 287-289). The scene of the bull slaying has “cosmic significance, indicating the end of the Age of Taurus, when the spring equinox occurred in the constellation of the Bull, and the beginning of a new age when the spring equinox entered Aries� (Ferguson, 290).

Gnosticism.

Ferguson gives us insight into the philosophical ideology known as Gnosticism. The Greek noun gnosis means ‘knowledge,’ especially perception, insight, acquaintance. Plato coined the word gnostikos for what gives intellectual knowledge in contrast to practical skill…The first attested use for persons in a distinct social entity occurs in the Christian anti-heretical writer Irenaues in the late second century…The word referred to a school of thought and then to its members� (Ferguson, 300-301). There is quite a bit of debate centering on what constitute the beliefs of Gnosticism, however, “the most nearly common features of the sources…are a distinction between the creator(s) and controllers of the material world and the ultimate transcendent divine being, an interest in speculation about the nature of divinity and the heavenly realm, consideration of the cause of the human condition with a focus on the soul’s eventual transcendence of the created order, patterns of spirituality consistent with this worldview…�(Ferguson, 301).

What was understood of Gnosticism has been furthered in recent years “by the discovery of a ‘library of Gnostic writings’ near Nag Hammadi� for previously much of what is known of Gnosticism was found through the writings of the church fathers in the passionate defense of traditional church doctrine. Some of the more famous Gnostic works that have been discovered are:

The Gospel of Thomas “a collection of 112-118 sayings attributed to Jesus…The Gospel of Thomas is perhaps the earliest of the new texts in the collection demonstrates the existence of collections of sayings of Jesus (a sayings gospel) in the early church� (Ferguson, 305)

The Gospel of Truth “may be identified with a work that name Irenaeus attributes to the followers of Valentinus…not properly a ‘Gospel’ but a meditation on the truth of redemption. Its theme is that the human state is ignorance, and salvation is by knowledge imparted by Jesus� (Ferguson, 305).

Another Gnostic Gospel is the Gospel of Philip, a “sayings of discourse gospel, also from Valentinian circles� (Ferguson, 305).

The Apocryphon of John “appears to have been the most popular of the Gnostic works� (Ferguson, 306)

The Epistle to Rheginus, On the Resurrection “sets forth a position close to that of orthodox in terminology but emphasizes a resurrection of the soul� (Ferguson, 306)

The Apocryphon of James, “like many documents in the collection, is a post resurrection revelation of Jesus. He gives blessings and woes through Peter and James� (Ferguson, 306)

The Hypostasis of Archons, “describes the effots of the world rulers to deceive humankind in Genesis 1-6� (Ferguson, 306)

The Triparetite Tractae, “is the most ambitious and comprehensive theological undertaking in the Nag Hammadi corpus� (Ferguson, 306)

Eugnostos the Blessed and The Sophia of Jesus Christ, “are two versions of the same document, thje former a letter by a teacher to his discplkies and the latter a revelation discourse of Jesus to his followers�(Ferguson, 306).

There are many questions to the origins of Gnosticism, however, “most forms of Gnosticism that we know seem to contain elements from pagan thought, Judaism, and Christianity. Elements of Gnosticism bear striking similarities to Neopythagoreanism and Middle Platonism suggesting that some form of Greek speculative thought brought about Gnosticism� (Ferguson, 307).

Some scholars see a relationship to Judaism, especially in light of the high view of the Old Testament in many Gnostic works. “The early church fathers traced Gnostic heresies back to Simon Magus in Samaria (Acts 8)�… “but Gnosticism seems to have grown up concurrently with Christianity in a similar environment (but from different roots), with the two having some interactions in the first century before Gnosticism developed into a separate religion in the second century…modern scholars have delineated two principle expressions of Gnosticism – Valentinianism, which was more Christian and hence of special concern to the church fathers, and Sethianism, apparently an earlier form and possibly non-Christian in origin� (Ferguson 307-308).

Pertinent to our discussion here is to point out some of the general characteristics of Gnosticism: (The following will be found on Ferguson, 310 and 311)
(1) The problem of evil. Several Gnostic systems ‘kicked the problem upstairs’ by locating it ultimately in the divine rather than in human beings
(2) Sense of alienation from the world.
(3) Desire for special and intimate knowledge of the secrets of the universe. The Gnostic salvation was from ignorance and not from sin.
(4) Dualism. There are different kinds of dualism: for example, ethical dualism (good and evil…), eschatological or supernatural dualism (this age and the age to come…), and psychological dualism (body and soul)Gnosticism isn an amalgam of psychological and ethical dualism with a cosmic dualism of this material world and the super celestial spiritual world
(5) Cosmology. The pleroma or divine world contains gradations of being that are emanations or devolutions from the first principle
(6) Anthropology. Valentinianism offered three classes of human beings according to their nature: the pneumatics or spirituals who had the divine spark in themselves and were destined for salvation, the psychics who could be saved by the ministrations of the church, good works, and the hyllics who belonged to the material world and were hopelessly lost
(7) Radically realized eschatology…the kingdom of God was an interior kingdom. As a religion of personal salvation it taught that the pneumatic experienced his ture condition now and at death went immediately to the pleroma
( Ethical implications. As the pneumatic was free from fate, so he was free from the moral law.� Some of course took this extreme measures, while the “more characteristic deduction from Gnostic premises, however, was asceticism. One sought to frustrate the flesh by denying it.

While Gnosticism especially in the second century “showed greater interest in leadership roles for women and less interest in structured hierarchy� this is “stands in contrast the distrust of the feminine that is basic to Gnostic thought� (Ferguson, 311).
The record of the New Testament writings give striking evidence to the combating of the Gnosticism that was prevalent in the second century. “Colossians and the Pastoral Epistles oppose errorists who served angelic mediators, practiced asceticism, had secret teachings, claimed superior knowledge, and denied the Christian doctrines of creation and resurrection…The Joahinnine literature too opposes teachers who had left the Christian fold, denied the incarnation, held an individualistic and libertine view of salvation and emphasized knowledge. The troubles at Corinth over the resurrection and enthusiastic spiritual gifts have also been traced to Gnostic thinking� (Ferguson, 312).

Works Cited:
1. Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity, 3rd. Ed. Eerdmands, 2003