One of the most important Christian Holyday is Christmas, the day that remember the birth of Jesus the Nazarene. The night between 24th and 25th December has been used conventionally (about 300 years after Jesus’ death) as day of the birth of Jesus and introduced into Christian ritual.
Studying the Scriptures of the New Testament (both in the Canonical Gospels and in the other considered Apocrypha) no references have been found about this date, instead in the pre-Christian tradition, many of the pagan gods are connected to this occasion.
Affinity between Mithra and Jesus
In the Oriental tradition, which spread in Imperial Rome a century before the birth of Jesus, we find rites venerated by entire legions of soldiers, to whom their god promised eternal life. A god who was born in a cave in the East, died at the age of 33, ascended to heaven to resurrect to eternal life, and it is precisely the god of the polytheists Mithra. He was born at least 14 centuries before the Christian Messiah on the night between December 24 and 25, a rather strange coincidence between the Hellenistic/Roman deity and the Christian Messiah.
The Christianity of the first Centuries, having become a new Religion adopted by the Roman Empire, penetrates the faithful adapting to the beliefs already known and in use at that time. The pagans were initially tolerated and only later persecuted and their crypts buried under the Christian churches.
In fact, in Rome, the Christians of the origins begin first to follow the teachings of a Master, a Prophet who announces the Kingdom of GOD, but who never declares himself equal or equal to GOD (YHWH).
Even today, many artistic representations of the birth of Jesus (nativity scenes) are set in a cave, when instead in the Gospel of Matthew it simply speaks of a “house” while the other 3 evangelists are silent on this detail of the Christmas place.
Only the Gospel according to Luke (Lk 2, 7) tells of a “manger” without however specifying if it was the child who was brought into a stable or rather if it was not the manger that was brought into the house.
As for the tradition of the donkey and the ox “assisting” the birth of the Messiah, there is no trace in the four Christian Gospels, while this information is found in some Apocryphal Gospels, including those of James (Protovangel of James) and that of Pseudo-Matthew. This Apocryphal Text (very late compared to others with uncertain dating, but certainly prior to the ninth century) was written when Christianity was by now entirely Romanized, having become the center of the politics of the Roman Empire in distress and in great need of spiritual revival.
That is why Pseudo-Matthew, copying from Luke, places the birth in a stable, but adds an ox and an ass to recall a prophecy of Isaiah to the unbelieving Jewish people:
“The ox knows its master,
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
(Isaiah 1, 3)
Therefore, the ox and the donkey of the nativity scenes, beyond their innocently indifferent appearance, could be a symbol of the split between the Christian people and the Jewish people, a provocation to the chosen people for not having “recognized” the coming of the Messiah in the rabbi (or teacher) Jesus.
Also other pagan gods were born on the night between December 24 and 25 precisely because it was on this date that the length of the day began to increase compared to the length of the night. So this birth date belonged first to Mithra than to Christianity, and only after the 3rd century the Christians will appropriate this holiday.
The idea that the man-god should be born of a virgin is also found in Mithraism, which has Mithra being born of the virgin Anahita, miraculously impregnated by the god Ariman. The Gospel according to Mark, being older, therefore closer to the facts, does not mention at all a miraculous birth of Jesus, and instead outlines very severe traits of the Messiah (even putting at the door his own mother and brothers, and as in the Text according to Mark (Mk 3, 31-35) specifies that the “true family” is the spiritual one (those who share the true faith in GOD) and not the physical one.
In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, which were already after the first generation of Christians, the story of the virgin birth is reported in an “initial addition”, perhaps with the aim of making the new Christian religion coincide with Mithraism in this aspect as well.
In fact, we note that, from a literary point of view, the original beginning of Matthew’s Gospel seems to be Chapter 2, while for Luke’s Gospel it is Chapter 3. Not surprisingly, when Luke mentions Josephus in this Chapter, he does so as if speaking of a stranger, without any reference to Chapter 1 of the same Gospel. (remember that the division into chapters does not belong to the original texts but is a didactic device introduced in 1226)
The Sol Invictus was therefore an appellative of Mithra and often (when he does not have the typical Phrygian cap on his head) then his ringlets are surrounded by the halo of rays that, then in the last 2000 years has been passed on the heads of saints and Madonnas.
According to historical records, the myth of Mithra would have arrived in Pozzuoli with those Cilician pirates, terror of the seas, that Pompey had defeated in 67 BC and deported en masse to Rome to be the arms on his ships. It was just the port of this city south of Rome the most important at that time, Ostia in fact was born about a century later. But it was at the mouth of the Tiber that Mithra triumphed, converting and, after an initiatory journey in seven stages, baptizing crews and merchants promising eternal salvation.
Christ’s victory over the pagan god
With the passing of time the Christian cult dominated over that of the pagan god, but however the numerous similarities do not allow to exclude that, in fact, Christianity has not been modeled precisely on the basis of the pre-existing Mithraism.
Also the story of Krishna of the Hindu tradition shows probable influences on later religions, including Christianity. He was born of a virgin, the one who impregnated her appeared in the form of light, and the newborn was persecuted by a tyrant who ordered the killing of thousands of children. The figure of Krishna is the second person of the Indian trinity, called the shepherd god, who performed miracles and ascended to heaven, and his entire life is full of details that we find in the story told of Christ.
In the Archaeological Park of Ostia there are twenty Mitrei (temples of Mithra), as well as in San Clemente, in Rome, at the third layer underground, the Irish priests have found, behind a wall, a Mitreo with an altar for the god who, as usual, must sacrifice the bull so that the Earth and its crops can be reborn, and these temples were similar to underground churches in which the rites that marked the faith took place. Carlo Pavia, in his book “Oro, incenso e Mitra”, (Gangemi editore) has made a census of them: Santa Prisca; the Mithraeum under Palazzo Barberini; the one at the Circus Maximus; at the Baths of Caracalla; in the Vatican Necropolis… Or on the Cassia, in Sutri. There, among mosses and ferns, in the tuff under the Church of the Madonna del Parto, there is one of the most beautiful. But also in Marino, on the Castles of Rome, with strong paintings that still ring out, along the Flaminia, and around Europe: it was a widespread cult among the military. He stole the hearts and souls of legionaries and generals with his promise of eternal life for those who died in battle on the right side. So from the emperors Diocletian to Septimius Severus, as well as Nero, Commodus, Caligula, Heliogabalus, this religion of order, which also spurred the soldiers, liked a lot. Wherever the legions of Rome arrived, so did Mithra. In England and Germany, lands to be held in fist with daggers, Mithras turned up by the hundreds.
Origins of Mithra’s cult
In Rome this cult seems to have come from afar, even from Persia, as evidenced by some engravings found, and put him among the gods of state of Mesopotamia around 1400 BC. In those distant places he is worshipped as the god of light, protector of pacts, witness of oaths, of fidelity, of truth. We find him in the Vedas and in the Iranian Avesta, but also (VII, VI centuries before Christ) with Zarathustra and his monotheism. Finally, in the Mediterranean culture there are similarities with the god Apollo, with the Sun always at his side and the raven nearby, a sacred animal for both.
In Rome
There was also a period in which the two cults in Rome stole faithful to each other. Mithra, however, was a god for men only, Christ instead, called to follow him both sexes. With the priests of both factions constantly saying, “Beware of confusions…”. Ruggero Iorio, who is a diocesan priest and teaches Ancient Church History and Christian Archaeology, posed this problem many years ago when he took students to visit the Mithraea, and they often made strange confusions. Partly because the Mithraea seem to be part of the Churches above them, and partly because the more he taught, the more, with all these coincidences, the confusions increased. In the battle of Ponte Milvio, on October 28, 312, Constantine, not yet baptized, presented himself against Maxentius with his troops and double insignia: crosses of Christ and banners of Mithra, dear to his soldiers and perhaps a little to him.
That union of believers won together a very important battle, but only the followers of Christ later on really triumphed, and the Christian religion became the state religion. The Mitrei were walled up alive under the first churches, the gods of the past were cursed, their followers persecuted, sometimes massacred or converted, the new religion will claim to be universal (“catholic” means “universal”) and will propose to dominate over the whole world, under the pretext of “evangelizing peoples”.
It seems that the defeat of the Mithraic religion by the Christians is the proof that Christianity was formed on the basis of pre-existing religions and not on the original teaching of the Jewish Master Jesus who condemned the “ecclesiastical” authorities (Jews of the time, or the “clergy” of his day: Scribes and Pharisees) preaching love for the One God, love for one’s neighbor and the fall of institutions. When in the Gospel according to Mark the Master is asked for a “summary” of his doctrine, Jesus irrefutably declared:
29 “Jesus answered, “The first of all the Commandments is, Hear, Israel. The LORD is our GOD the LORD is One; 30 You shall therefore love the LORD your GOD with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. 31 And the second is like unto this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no other Commandment more important than these.”
(Mk 12, 29-31)
A simple and clear message that only with the intervention of man in the following centuries has changed its doctrines to make them more “pleasing” and easily assimilated by the devotees to be subjugated. It would seem with the passing of the Centuries until today, a doctrine more Political than Spiritual, where in the first place is not put the personal relationship between GOD and the believer, but between the believer and the Ecclesiastical institutions.
References
- (EN) Christmas, in Catholic Encyclopedia, New York, Encyclopedia Press, 1913.
- Bowler, Gerry, The World Encyclopedia of Christmas (October 2004: McClelland & Stewart). ISBN 978-0-7710-1535-9
- Comfort, David, Just Say Noel: A History of Christmas from the Nativity to the Nineties (November 1995: Fireside). ISBN 978-0-684-80057-8
- (EN) Frances Margaret Young, Margaret Mary Mitchell, K. Scott Bowie, The Cambridge History of Christianity, vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-81239-9.
- Count, Earl W., 4000 Years of Christmas: A Gift from the Ages (November 1997: Ulysses Press). ISBN 978-1-56975-087-2
- Federer, William J., There Really Is a Santa Claus: The History of St. Nicholas & Christmas Holiday Traditions (December 2002: Amerisearch). ISBN 978-0-9653557-4-2
- Kelly, Joseph F., The Origins of Christmas (August 2004: Liturgical Press). ISBN 978-0-8146-2984-0
- Natale, su Treccani.it – Enciclopedie on line, Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana.