Rod's Religion Page

Assimilation of Pagan Mystery Religions 1) Savior Gods "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings." - Hebrews 13:8-9 "Virgin birth stories were farely common in pagan myths. The following mythological characters were all believed to be have been born to divinely impregnated virgins: Romulus and Remus, Perseus, Zoroaster, Mithras, Osiris-Aion, Agdistis, Attis, Tammuz, Adonis, Korybas, Dionysus." - Hayyim ben Yehoshua. " The Myth of the Historical Jesus " "By declaring the logos, the first begotten of God, our master Jesus Christ to be born of a virgin, without any human mixture, we (Christians) say no more in this than what you (pagans) say of those whom you style the sons of Jove. "As to the son of God called Jesus, should we allow him to be nothing more than man, yet the title of the son of God is very justifiable. Upon the account of his wisdom, conside...

by Rudyard Kipling (Hymn of the 30th Legion: circa A.D. 350) Mithras, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall! 'Rome is above the Nations, but Thou art over all!' Now as the names are answered, and the guards are marched away, Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day! Mithras, God of the Noontide, the heather swims in the heat. Our helmets scorch our foreheads, our sandals burn our feet. Now in the ungirt hour — now ere we blink and drowse, Mithras, also a soldier, keep us true to our vows! Mithras, God of the Sunset, low on the Western main — Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again! Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn! Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn! Mithras, God of the Midnight, here where the great bull dies, Look on thy children in darkness. Oh take our sacrifice! Many roads thou hast fashioned — all of them lead to the Light: Mithras, also a soldier, teach us to die aright! Mithras ...

οί δώδεκα θεοί Dr. M. Nicholson, Queen's University The canonical 12 Olympian gods are: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes, Athena, Hephaistos, Hestia. Several later variations include the following: on the east frieze of the Parthenon (5th century B.C.) Hestia was displaced by Dionysos; in Plato's writings, Pluto (also known as Hades, the god of death) displaced Hestia as one of the canonical Twelve. However, Hades, although a brother of Zeus, did not live on Olympus, but in the underworld along with Persephone and Hecate, and so did not really belong with the inhabitants of Olympus. In the agora of Athens there was an altar to the Twelve; it was a sanctuary for suppliants and distances were measured from it. ZEUS: (Roman Juppiter [2 p's is the older spelling], Sanskrit Dyauspitar, Germanic Tiw or Ziu) The bright, shining one. He lives in the sky, he is the sky. Father of gods and men, he rules among all the immortals. He...

Recommended by Prof. Nicholson, Queen's University: The Golden Ass . Apuleius. Penguin Pagan and Christian in the Age of Anxiety . E.R.Dodds. Cambridge Three Greek Romances . M.Hadas. Bobbs Merrill The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook . M.W.Meyer. Harper Collins Christianity in the Roman Empire . H.Mattingly Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism . F.Cumont Confessions . St.Augustine. Penguin Early Christianity . R.H.Bainton. Anvil Early Christian Fathers . H.Bettenson. Oxford Select Satires of Lucian . L.Casson. Norton The Jewish Wars . Josephus. Penguin Pagans and Christians . Robin Lane Fox. Penguin; Harper Collins, 1986 Greek Philosophy After Aristotle . J.L.Saunders. Macmillan, 1966 Origin Contra Celsum . Henry Chadwick. Cambridge U.Pr., 1953 Healing Hand: Man and Wound in the Ancient World . G.Majino As the Romans Did . Jo-Ann Shelton. Oxford U.Pr. Roman Literature and Society . R.M.Ogilvie. Penguin The Christians as the Romans Saw Them . Robert Wilken. Yale U...

One of the New Testament Apocrypha, probably written in the 1st century. It differs from other stories about Paul in describing his relationship with the young Thecla. As Paul was going up to Iconium after the flight from Antioch, his fellow-travellers were Demas and Ermogenes, full of hypocrisy; and they were importunate with Paul, as if they loved him. But Paul, looking only to the goodness of Christ, did them no harm, but loved them exceedingly, so that he made the oracles of the Lord sweet to them in the teaching both of the birth and the resurrection of the Beloved; and he gave them an account, word for word, of the great things of Christ, how He had been revealed to him. And a certain man, by name Onesiphorus, hearing that Paul had come to Iconium, went out to meet him with his children Silas and Zeno, and his wife Lectra, in order that he might entertain him: for Titus had informed him what Paul was like in appearance: for he had not seen him in the flesh, but only in the s...

There were many religions in the Roman era. Mithraism was particularly popular among the common soldiery. From a poem by Rudyard Kipling: The Song of Mithras Mithras, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall! “Rome is above the Nations, but thou art over all!” Now as the names are answered, and the guards are marched away, Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day! Mithras, God of the Noontide, the heather swims in the heat. Our helmets scorch our foreheads, our sandals burn our feet. Now in the ungirt hour – now lest we blink and drowse, Mithras, also a soldier, keep us true to our vows! Mithras, God of the Sunset, low on the Western main – Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again! Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn, Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn! Mithras, God of the Midnight, here where the great Bull dies, Look on Thy children in darkness. Oh, take our sacrifice! Many roads Thou hast fashione...