[Return to Home Page]

Mithraism and Christianity

1. Introduction
2. Parallels Between Mithraism and Christianity
3. Differences Between Mithraism and Christianity

Introduction

The Greco-Roman world had an abundance of what are called mystery religions, many of which warrant comparison with Christianity. One such mystery religion was Mithraism. An offshoot of Zoroastrianism, Mithraism originated in Persia and became the leading rival of Christianity in the Roman Empire. In Zoroastrianism, Mithra was second in age and honor only to Ahura Mazda the Supreme, and was often considered equal with him. Mythically having 100 ears and 10,000 eyes, he was considered a Light-God and Lord of the countryside of wide pastures. Mithra's club struck the demons, he made the world to grow, he had piercing rays, and he possessed full knowledge. He was strong and sleepless, the most glorious of all gods. The God of all light, Mithra saw all and knew the truth. He was as worthy of prayer and sacrifice as Ahura Mazda, the Creator. The Achaemenid dynasty worshipped Mithra as making a great trinity with Ahura and Anahita.

Mithraism was carried to Babylon and infused with the zodiac mythology and Babylonian astrology. Over time it underwent changes, and it eventually became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Mithraism had become strong in Cilicia, and after the Romans conquered the Cilician pirates, the Roman army adopted Mithraism. The religion was known in Rome as early as 70 BCE, and in 307 CE the Roman emperor officially designated Mithra "Protector of the Army." Roman roads and waterways were dotted with Mithraic sanctuaries bearing the inscriptions "to the sun, invincible Mithra," and before long, the faith had spread to the large cities and trade centers within the empire. Many prominent Romans, including emperors, had interests in Mithraism. Celsus opposed it to Christianity; Lucian wrote of it; Nero (37-68) wanted to be initiated; Commodus (180-192) was received into the Brotherhood; in the 200s, the emperors had a Mithraic chaplain. Aurelian (270-275) made the cult official; Diocletian, Galerius, and Licinius in 307 dedicated a temple to Mithra. However, after the Roman Empire became Christianized, Christians ruthlessly and completely crushed Mithraism, although they had probably copied many details of this mystery religion.

Mithra was a mediator between the indescribable God and man. He was born from a rock, or cave; he vanquished the sun and made it his ally; he was crowned with the rayed crown; and he labored against the cosmic bull. Mithra pursued the bull and sacrificed it. From its body sprang all the useful herbs and wheat; from its blood came grapes and the wine used in the mysteries; from the bull's seminal fluid came all useful animals. The death of the bull was the birth of life. Mithra labored against Ahriman, the "Satan" of Zoroastrianism, who assailed humanity with drought, flood, fire, pestilence, and other difficulties. At the end of his labors, Mithra celebrated a Last Supper with his followers before retiring to heaven, and from there he still protects his worshippers. For humans, the battle against Ahriman continues. Life is warfare and the faithful must uphold Mithraic teachings. They are to avoid sensuality and strive for purity. Mithra helps the devout and he conquers the powers of darkness. At death, his judgement decides the fate of human souls. The savior enables the souls to rise through the seven planetary spheres to heaven, giving up the qualities gained from the soul's embodiment, to be with Mithra in heaven. Ultimately, the world is destroyed, a new pristine bull appears, and Mithra will descend to awaken all men to life. He will separate the good from the bad and will sacrifice the bull using its flesh (fat) and wine to give the good people immortality. A fire will consume the wicked, including Ahriman and his demons.

Several parallels existed between Mithraism and Christianity. St. Augustine later declared that the priests of Mithra worshipped the same deity he did. The leaders of the early Church claimed to be astounded by the resemblances and could only explain them by saying that the observances of Mithraism were cunning parodies devised by Satan to seduce the souls of men from the true faith by a false and insidious imitation of it (Tertuilian De Corona, XV; De praescriptione, xl; Justin Martyr, I Apol. lxvi; Trypho, lxxviii.)

Parallels between Mithraism and Christianity

• Mithra was second in age and honor only to Ahura Mazda the Supreme, and was often considered equal with him. Jesus, Son of God, was second only to God the Father, and was often considered equal with him. (Jn 14:28 "the Father is greater than I"; Jn 10:30 "I and the Father are one.")
  
  
• In earlier times, within Zoroastrianism, Mithra was mythically said to have 100 ears and 10,000 eyes. "The eyes of Yahweh are everywhere beholding both the evil and the good" (Prov 15:3). Rev 4:6 describes the living creatures before God's throne in heaven as being "covered with eyes, front and back." This description of Mithra was probably no more literal than when Jesus was said to have a sword coming out of his mouth (Rev 1:16). The early Mithra was strong and sleepless, just as Yahweh was all-mighty and "he who watches over Israel will neither sleep nor slumber" (Ps 121:4).
  
  
• Mithra's birthday was celebrated on December 25 as the "Birthday of the Unconquered Sun". This date was later appropriated by the Church, in 300 CE, as the birthday of Jesus, whose face shines like the sun in its brilliance (Rev 1:16). This was appropriate since both stories share the same symbolism. Every year the sun, "light of the world" is born again (begins to rise again on the horizon) on Dec. 25 after his death at the winter solstice 3 days before. And the daylight lengthens until day is longer than night (light and life defeat death and darkness) and all vegetation is reborn after the vernal equinox--hence Easter and the resurrection are on the first SUNday after the first full moon after the spring equinox every year.
  
  
• His triumph and ascension to heaven were celebrated at the spring equinox, when the sun begins to rise toward its apogee. Easter in Christianity is likewise linked with astrology/astronomy and the vernal equinox, as stated above.
  
  
• Tradition placed the birth of both in a cave. Mythologically the sun arises from the cave of the earth every day.
  
  
• Mithra, like Jesus, had twelve disciples who likely symbolically represented the twelve signs of the zodiac.
  
  
• Mithra was said to have been the product of a union of the sun god and his own mother (like Jesus as God and the Spirit "overshadowed" his mother Mary, the "mother of God").
  
  
• Many believed that Mithra's mother was a mortal virgin, a belief comparable to the Catholic dogma concerning Mary, the mother of Jesus. (There was also a legend that Mithra had no mother, but was miraculously born of a female rock, the petra genetrix, fertilized by the Heavenly Father's phallic lightning).
  
  
• Mithra's birth was supposedly witnessed by shepherds and Magi who brought gifts to the sacred birth cave of the rock. One of the Gospels, Luke, says that shepherds witnessed the birth of Jesus, and another Gospel, Matthew, says that Magi from the east brought him gifts.
  
  
• He was said to have raised the dead, healed the sick, made the blind see and the lame walk, and to have cast out devils, all of which are characteristics of stories of Jesus.
  
  
• Before returning to heaven, Mithra celebrated a last supper with his disciples, during which worshippers partook of a memorial, sacramental meal of bread with a cross on it. This parallels the story of Jesus' last supper with his disciples.
  
  
• Mithraists, like Christians, celebrated seven sacraments, including baptism and a communion meal of bread and wine.
  
  
• Their common meal was called miza, Latin missa, English mass.
  
  
• Mithra's image was buried in a rock tomb, the same sacred cave that represented his mother's womb. He was withdrawn from it and said to live again. Jesus was also said to have been buried in a rock tomb, and was believed to have been resurrected.
  
  
• Mithraism, like early Christianity, was an ascetic religion.
  
  
• Mithraism, like Christianity was a male-dominated religion.
  
  
• Mithra's enemy, comparable to Satan, was Ahriman, the Great Serpent of Darkness.
  
  
• Their high priest was called "Pater Patrum", the same title Christians later used as Papa, or Pope.
  
  
• Both religions regarded Sunday as sacred. In fact, the Roman Church changed observance of the Sabbath day from Saturday (as in Judaism and many early Christian circles) to Sunday.
  
  
• In both faiths the central figure was a mediator who was one of a triad or trinity.
  
  
• Both centered on a sacrifice for the benefit of the race, and the purifying power of blood from the sacrifice was a prime motive, though in different ways. In the cave depictions of Mithra's slaying of the bull, a stalk of grain, symbolic of new life, is shown springing from the blood. It is believed that initiates into Mithraism had blood poured on them as a symbolic act, just as Christians' sins were to be "washed away" by the blood of Christ.
  
  
• Regeneration, or the second birth (being "born again"), was a fundamental tenet in both. Just as Mithraic cave depictions show a stalk of wheat springing from the blood of the bull, so the Gospel John has Jesus say, "Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds." In Christianity, as in Mithraism, new life springs from a sacrificial death.
  
  
• Christians and Mithraists considered other members of their respective religions as brothers.
  
  
• Both religions had mysteries from which the lower orders of initiates were excluded. In the Roman Catholic Gospels, Jesus spoke in allegory to the crowds, but revealed the meaning of the parables to his select disciples. And there were even levels within the Twelve, as only three were special enough to witness the transfiguration (Mt 17). In 2 Cor 12:4 Paul speaks of special revelations that not everyone is permitted to know. But especially consider Gnostic Christianity. Christianity had multiple levels of initiation before members of the "orthodox" hierarchy began to suppress and deny this.
  
  
• Both taught immortality of the soul, heaven and hell, resurrection from the dead, judgement after death, a final great fire by which the world was to be consumed (2Pt 3:10), and the final conquest of evil by forces of light.
  
  
• Both Mithra and Jesus are associated with light and truth.
  
  
• Virtuous ones (who obeyed the Mithraic priesthood) would join the spirits of light and be saved. Sinful ones would be cast into hell with Ahriman and the fallen angels.
  
  
• They practiced baptism to ascend after death through the planetary spheres to the highest heaven, while the wicked would be dragged down to darkness.
  
  
• Mithra's cave temple on the Vatican Hill was seized by Christians in 376 CE.
  
  
• In 813 CE, the Christian church adopted the Mithraic festival of Epiphany, marking the arrival of Magi, or sun-priests, at the Savior's birthplace.

Differences between Mithraism and Christianity

• Christ is himself both conquerer and sacrifice, whereas Mithra himself is not the sacrifice.
  
  
• Christianity claimed to have started with a more recent historical person, Jesus of Nazareth, whereas Mithra claimed to come from out of a distant past.
  
  
• Mithraism was syncretistic (tolerant of other beliefs) while Christianity, in its Roman Catholic form, was not.
  
  

The above information came mostly from the following sources:

• "Mithra." The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Vol. VII. Ed. Samuel Macauley Jackson. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1977.
  
  
• Leeming, David Adams. The World of Myth: An Anthology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. Pp.197-199.
  
  

Return to Home Page