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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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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