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History of the Church:

Foundations: Paganism

and Roman Religion

Gods, Demigods, Emperors and Cults

Randy Broberg

Grace Bible Church

2002

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Romans 1:18-25 – The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all

the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.

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Traditional Polytheism/Idolatry

• Polytheistic and anthropomorphic

• Sacrifice, respect and bargaining

• No necessary moral meaning

• No sacred writings

Artemis of the Ephesians

• Traditional Religion Dying Out, Skeptic Public

• Popular literature makes fun of beliefs in traditional deities

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Characteristics of Pagan Gods • Have personalities

• Given human shapes (anthropomorphic)

• World is governed by humanlike beings

• Gods fight among themselves

Orpheus

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Pagan “Mother of God”, “Mother Earth”

or “Mother Nature” Deity

Isis, was the Egyptian “Mother

Goddess”, and was often

portrayed as a loving mother,

nursing her baby son Horus.

“Magna Mater” or “Great Mother”

or “Mother of God” Was

associated with Artemis or

Cybelle. She was the mother

of all living things, an earth

mother, goddess of fertility and

nature.

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Notions of Virtue & Piety

• It was also believed that

morality consists not in the

love or habit of virtue but in

having the strength to

resist vice.

• Idleness was considered a

virtue. The contemplative

life was to be prized. Labor

was to be avoided.

• Wealth was a virtue.

• Pax deorum: Religion as contract and correct ritual performance earning favor with gods.

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Polis: Religious Pattern of Life

PATRON DEITY

• Citizens honor patron god of the city

• Paid homage to the city through worship of its gods

“Father Time” was the

God “Kronos” or “Saturnus”

and the god in whose honor

the December “Saturnalia”

feast was celebrated

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2 Corinthians

6:16

What agreement is there

between the temple of

God and idols?

Plan of Greek Temple

House of God, Not Place of

Worship

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Pagan Prayers

• In substance, they reflected bargaining with the gods, “if you grant me this favor, I’ll build an altar for you.”

• In form, Roman prayer was “orant” that is, standing, with the face towards heaven and their arms outstretched with palms upwards to display their purity.

• This form was imitated by early Christians, as we’ll see, but the Christians only extended their arms horizontally, rather than raising their ams and hands to the sky, in order to distinguish themselves from pagans.

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19 Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.

1 Corinthians 10:19-20

Altar in Athens

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Eating Meat Sacrificed to Idols

• "The principal rite of every cult was of course the rite of sacrifice,...it is important to bear in mind, however, that in a Greek or Latin context the word "sacrifice" always implies "feast". Every sacrifice was followed by a dinner in which the immoated victim was cooked on the altar and eaten. Great temples had kitchens and offered the services of their cooks to worshipers who came to sacrifice. The flesh of the victim went to the participants in the ritual, the smoke to the gods. Scraps from the meal were left on the altar, and beggars spirited them away. When sacrifice was made not on a household altar but at a temple, the custom was to pay for the priests services by leaving them a set portion of the sacrificial animal. Temples earned money by selling this meat to butchers. …On feast day people invited their friends to sacrifices in their homes; such invitations were considered a greater honor than mere dinner invitations. Vapors of incense spewed forth from many houses on these great occasions... "A simpler means of sanctifying a meal ....one invited the gods to dinner by removing their statuettes from the house sacred niche and placing them in the dining room during the meal, as platters of food were heaped in.” History of Private Life page 194-196:

• Meat eaten

by by priests

and

sacrificers

• Meat sold in

butcher

shops

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Ritualistic

Worship

Note: The one

making the

sacrifice has

head covered,

others have

uncovered heads

“Cultus: The worship or veneration of a deity,

and correct observance of religious

obligations. Roman religion was one of cultus

(cult) rather than pietas (piety). …For the

Romans it was more important to observe the

correct rituals: the gods were venerated by the

strict observance of rituals to make them

favorably disposed, irrespective of the ethics

and morals of the worshippers.”

From: A Dictionary of Roman Religion

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Roman Religious Practices

Religious processions were common, including the carrying of standards, scepters and maces and ceremonial vessels

Shallow bowls of “holy water” used in ritualistic

washings or for pouring of libations. Priests covered their heads while praying or

sacrificing, to guard against sights and sounds of ill omens

Votive candles and offerings presented by

worshippers at entrance to temples to accompany vows and prayers.

Fingers in Benediction symbol from Jupiter Sabazius

and Magna Mater rituals. Elaborate ceremonies performed by highly trained

priests, dressed in white linen garments, accompanied by music

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Emperor Worship

• State and Religion were unified so loyalty to state and loyalty to religion were also unified.

Altar Dedicated to

Emperor Vespasian, From Pompeii Rome, Altar of Peace

Ara Pacis Augustae

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Ancestor Worship &

Patron Deities • lares (ghosts of the

dead ancestors)

• penates (guardians of

the hearth).

• numina spirits of the

dead

A Roman patrician, carrying the busts of his ancestors

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Roman Priests

• Not moral leaders, not concerned with welfare of an congregation

• Part time job, almost never a profession.

• Organized by a hierarchy of leadership, with Pontifex Maximus at top

• Wore “Regalia”

• limit access to sacred rites to enhance power: “To some of these even the common people were given access, but those which applied to sacred rites the pontiffs suppressed, largely so that they could keep the minds of the people under control through religious awe.” Livy, 6.1

The Bishop’s Miter was first worn by pagan priests

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The “Head” of the Pagan “Church”:

The Emperor (Pontifex Maximus)

Augustus Caesar with veil while making a sacrifice

Marcus Aurelius Making Sacrifice to Jupiter (also veiled)

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Precursors to Nuns?

Vestal Virgin How do

we solve a problem

like Maria?

Celibacy and Purity Required

Lived Cloistered Lives

Considered “married” to gods,

were put to death if they lost their

chastity

This is a bridal gown

she’s wearing

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Rome’s Eternal Flame

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Death and Funeral

Practices

Roman Funeral Processions

Incense & candles

• the Romans cremated their

dead until burial became

the custom in the early 2nd

century A.D.

• But Jews and Greeks

buried their dead

(offered in temples

for dead loved ones)

Sarcophogus

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• “There is a road that slopes downhill, all gloomy with funereal yew. It leads to the underworld, through regions mute and silent. There the sluggish Styx breathes forth its mists, and by that path descend the ghosts of those newly dead, the shades of mortals duly laid to rest in their tombs. Far and wide the desolate spot is wrapped in gloomy chill. The ghosts, just lately arrived, do not know where the road lies which leads to the Stygian city, nor whether to go to find the grim palace of dusky Dis. His populous city has a thousand approaches, and gates on every side, all standing open. As the sea absorbs rivers from all over the earth, so that place receives every soul: it is never too small, however great the throng. New crowds arriving make no difference. Lifeless shadows without blood or bones wander about, some jostling in the market-place, some round the palace of the underworld's king, while others busy themselves with the trades which they practiced in the old days, when they were alive. Others are subjected to punishment, each according to his crime.”

• Plutarch, Moralia (Divine Vengeance

Traditional Notions of Hell

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“Wayfarer, do not pass by my epitaph, but stand and listen, and then, when you have learned the truth, proceed. There is no boat in Hades, no ferryman Charon, no Aeacus keeper of the keys, nor any dog called Cerberus. All of us who have died and gone below are bones and ashes: there is nothing else. What I have told you is true. Now withdraw, wayfarer, so that you will not think that, even though dead, I talk too much.”

Epitaph from a Tomb

• Seneca, “Reflect that there are no ills to be suffered after death, that the reports that make the Lower World terrible to us are mere tales, that no darkness is in store for the dead, no prison, no blazing streams of fire, no river of Lethe, that no judgment-seats are there, nor culprits, nor in that freedom so unfettered are there a second time any tyrants. All these things are the fancies of the poets, who have harrowed us with groundless terrors. Death is a release from all our suffering, a boundary beyond which our ills cannot pass - it restores us to that peaceful state in which we lay before we were born.”

More “Modern”

Belief in

Annihilation

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Pagan Concept of “Limbo”

• The poet Virgil described the world of the dead

as divided into a limbo, a hell and a heaven

(Elysium). Elysium (or Elysian Fields) was

vague and it was thought to be in the sky or

beyond the ocean.

• Ideas from Greek myths (such as paying Charon

to cross the river Styx to reach the god Hades)

were possibly believed by the Romans, as coins

were placed in the dead body’s mouth.

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Magic and the Occult

• Bad Luck /Evil Omens

• Seers, Diviners & Fortune Telling

• Astrology

• Curses

• Black Magic

• “Gesundheit”

• Black Cats

• Unlucky Numbers

• Ghosts and “Shades” inhabited places where dead did not receive proper burials

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Roman attitude

toward Harry Potter • Romans believed there was good magic

and black magic, good witches and evil

witches (and warlocks).

• They believed witches cast spells on

innocents.

• Romans issued laws against witches,

allowing their persecutions.

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Mystery Religions • Very Popular

• Secret Meetings

• Common Meals

• Ecstatic Frenzies

• Sexual Activities

• Immortality

• Initiation Ceremonies

• The Egyptian Cults of

Serapis and Isis

• Persian Mithras onal

Immortality

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What to Look For:

Origins of Christian practices

• Liturgy ritualistic worship

• Need for repeated sacrifices

• Pontifex Maximus

• Ceremonial Meals

• Funerary Practices

• Celibacy, nunnery

• Days, Months and Years

• Candles, Incense

• Superstitions

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Questions to Consider

• Has paganism or its modern equivalents influenced our practice of Christianity?

• Who are today’s Pagans?

• Is our view of God too anthropomorphic?

• Do we rely on repeated sacrifices to appease God?

• How superstitious are we?