Read about the pagan (or more precisely, non-western bar the Bunny) roots of Easter: One of the oldest resurrection myths is Egyptian Horus. Born on 25 December, Horus and his damaged eye became symbols of life and rebirth. Mithras was born on what we now call Christmas day, and his followers celebrated the spring equinox. Even as late as the 4th century AD, the sol invictus, associated with Mithras, was the last great pagan cult the church had to overcome. Dionysus was a divine child, resurrected by his grandmother. Dionysus also brought his mum, Semele, back to life. In an ironic twist, the Cybele cult flourished on todays Vatican Hill. Cybeles lover Attis, was born of a virgin, died and was reborn annually. (...) There was violent conflict on Vatican Hill in the early days of Christianity between the Jesus worshippers and pagans who quarrelled over whose God was the true, and whose the imitation. What is interesting to note here is that in the ancient world, wherever you had popular resurrected god myths, Christianity found lots of converts. So, eventually Christianity came to an accommodation with the pagan Spring festival. Although we see no celebration of Easter in the New Testament, early church fathers celebrated it, and today many churches are offering sunrise services at Easter – an obvious pagan solar celebration.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Apr 2014 06:07:00 +0000
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