PAUL AND THE PAGAN RELIGION OF MITHRAISM

Hugh Fogelman

Scholars are now realizing that the mystery religion that Paul was exposed to in his hometown Tarsus, in the province of Celicia, was NOT Roman Mithraism, but Persian Mithraism. Paul knew all about this religion and used parts of it for his own use. 

Celicia was at the outskirts of the former Persian Empire, right at the border of the Greco−Roman and the Persia world. In fact, Encyclopedia Britannica provides support for this thesis, for it explains how Mithraism was marginalized in its native land, Persia, because of its central ceremony, the sacrifice of the bull. Since Zoraster denounced bull sacrifice, it became an abhorrence for every Zoroastrian. According to Britannica, by the time Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire around 330 B.C.E., the worship of Mithra could no longer be found in Persia. Effectively, Mithraism was forced to migrate due to pressure from Zorastrianism. Local aristocrats in the western part of the former Persian Empire (the region around Tarsus) retained their devotion to Mithra. The kings and nobles of the border region between the Greco−Roman and the Iranian world still worshipped him.”

This explains why the center for Mithra worship moved from Persia to Paul’s birthplace, Tarsus, which was a thriving intellectual hub and a melting-pot of religions in the first century B.C.E.

 Even though some scholars say that Mithraism did not flourish in Rome until the beginning of the second century C.E., the first contact between Mithraism and Christianity most likely happened during the lifetime of Paul in the Hellenistic city of Tarsus, which was an old seaport with a long history of Mithra worship. It is highly likely that Paul, in an attempt to woo the Gentile pagan believers, deliberately incorporated elements of Mithraism into his brand of Gentile Christianity. Or as I prefer to call the Christian theology of today, “Pauline Christology.”

 Today, remnants of Mithraism is most evident in the Christian Eucharist, which involves the eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood of a deity (Jesus). Since the drinking of blood has always been an abomination in Judaism, it is logical to attribute this ritual to Mithraism, which had a similar ritual. In addition, the setting of the birthday of Jesus on December 25th, which was Mithra’s birthday, and the shifting of the day of worship from Friday (Sabbath) to Sunday (the day of the Sun) are further reminders of Christianity’s debt to its pagan predecessor. Mithra was a Persian deity. The Catholic Encyclopedia as well as the early Church Fathers found the religion of Mithra very disturbing, because there are so many similarities between the two religions. Some examples are:

 1)     Hundreds of years before Jesus, according to the Mithraic religion, three Wise Men of Persia came to visit the baby savior―god Mithra, bring him gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense.

2)     According to Mithraism, before Mithra died on a cross, he celebrated a “Last Supper” with his twelve disciples, who represented the twelve signs of the zodiac.

3)     After the death of Mithra, his body was laid to rest in a rock tomb.

4)     Mithra had a celibate priesthood.

5)     Mithra ascended into heaven during the spring (Passover) equinox (the time when the sun crosses the equator making night and day of equal length).

 Therefore, my contention is that Paul’s Jesus was not only "influenced" by hellenization, but if not for the Hellenic influence, the Jesus religion would have only been another cult of Judaism, and not Christianity of today.

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