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Mercian Order of St.GeorgeChristianity or Mithraism

It is surprising that Christianity was to become the international religion, when one considers that thealready well-established religion of Mithraism was a natural challenger for that title. Up until the time ofthe Emperor Constantine, it was the latter religion which was more popular within the framework of theRoman Empire, and Christianity was regarded as being only one sect amongst numerous other sects. Itwas only when Constantine decreed that Christianity was to be the state religion, that Mithraism,together with a host of other religions and sects, was put into the melting pot, and ideas of that religion,most suited for the Christian purpose, were absorbed into the new state-approved religion.Mithraism, the religion followed by those who worshipped the sun god Mithra, originated in Persiaabout 400 BC, and was to spread its Pagan ideas as far west as the British Isles. In the early centuries ofthe Christian era, Mithraism was the most wide-spread religion in the Western World, and its remainsare to be found in monuments scattered around the countries of Europe, which then comprised theknown civilised world.Mithra was regarded as created by, yet co-equal with, the Supreme Deity. Mithraists were Trinitarian,kept Sunday as their day of worship, and their chief festivals were what we know of as Christmas andEaster. Long before the advent of Jesus, Mithra was said to have been born of a virgin mother, in acave, at the time of Christmas, and died on a cross at Easter. Baptism was practised, and the sign of the

cross was made on the foreheads of all newly-baptised converts. Mithra was considered to be thesaviour of the world, conferring on his followers an eternal life in Heaven, and, similar to the story ofJesus, he died to save all others, provided that they were his followers.For three centuries both religions ran parallel, Mithraism first becoming known to the Romans in 70 BC,Christianity following a century later, and it wasnt until AD 377 that Christianity became sufficientlystrong to suppress its former rival, although Mithraism was to remain a formidable opponent for sometime after that, only slowly being forsaken by the people. It was only the absorption of many Mithraistideas into Christianity which finally saw its downfall.The big turning point was brought about by the Congress of Nicaea in AD 325. Constantine, a greatsupporter of the Christian religion, although not converting to it until the time of his decease, gatheredtogether 2,000 leading figures in the world of theology, the idea being to bring about the advent of

Christianity as the official state religion of Rome. It was out of this assembly that Jesus was formallydeclared to be the Son of God, and Saviour of Mankind, another slain saviour god, bringing up the tallyof slain god-men to seventeen, of which Mithra, together with such men as Bel and Osiris, was included.Just as Nicaea can be regarded as the birthplace of Christianity, so too it can be regarded as thegraveyard of what we imagine Jesus taught. From that time onwards, Christianity was to absorb thesuperstitions of Mithraism, and many other older religions, and what was believed to have happened toearlier saviour gods, was made to centre around the Nazarene. The coming of Christianity under statecontrol was to preserve it as a religion, and was the death knell of all other sects and cults within theRoman Empire.Had Constantine decided to retain Mithraism as the official state religion, instead of putting Christianityin its place, it would have been the latter that would have been obliterated. To Constantine however,Christianity had one great advantage, it preached that repentant sinners would be forgiven their sins,

provided that they were converted Christians at the time of their Passing, and Constantine had much tobe forgiven for, He personally did not convert to the new religion until he was on his death bed, thereason being that only sins committed following conversion were accountable, so all sins committed by aconvert, prior to conversion, didnt matter, and he could hardly have sinned too much whilst he waslying on his death bed. Mithraism could not offer the same comfort to a man like Constantine, who wasregarded as being one of the worst mass-murderers of his time.The Emperor Julian, who followed Constantine, went back to Mithraism, but his short reign of only twoyears could not change what Constantine had decreed. His defeat, and death, at the hands of thePersians, was used by the Christians as an argument in favour of the new, against the old, being looked

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upon as an omen that Christianity had divine approval. If Julian had been spared to reign some yearslonger, the entire history of international religion would almost certainly have been different.Under Emperor Jovian, who followed Julian, the substitution of Christianity for Mithraism made furtherprogress, and old Pagan beliefs, like the Virgin Birth, Baptism and Holy Trinity, became generallyaccepted as the basis of the state religion. The early Christian idea of Unitarianism was quickly squashedin favour of Trinitarianism, and those who refused to accept the Holy Trinity were put to the sword, thebeginning of mass slaughter in the name of religion, which was to go on for centuries.