Mithra

(Mitra)

When the Aryan Sun God Barun is mentioned, he is mentioned with Mithra. Mithra is also the Sun God of the Aryans. Mithra and Barun seem to be twin concepts. Both Indian and Persian Aryans worshipped Mithra and Varuna, but with varying degree of importance. The Persians worshipped Mithra, called Ahura Mithra, as the chief deity and Varuna was the chief deity of the Indian Aryans. Other Aryan tribes even further west, as the Mittani, also worshipped Indrah, Varuna (Barun) and Mitra (Mithra). Today the name Mithra is forgotten and so is his religion. However, it may be that, Mithra quietly survives through one of the largest religions, incognito.

Mithra’s earliest record comes from the Vedas and the Persian Litterature from about 1400 BC. Today these ancient Gods have lost their place as supreme deities. In India, the Aryans after a period of demonizing Shiva (Shib) accepted Shiva as their chief God and in ancient Persia, when Zoroastrianism became the dominant religion, Mithra was relegated. Ahura Mithra in the holy book of Zeroastrians is a minor God with a minor function.

However, Mithra religion did not die with the disappearance of Mithraism in Persia. It simply migrated. Mithraists fled from Persia and took with them their faith to different lands. The greatest and longest lasting impact of this exodus was on Rome. In the first century B.C. Mithraism was introduced to Rome and became very popular as the cult of the “Sol Invictus”, which means the invincible Sun.

A most interesting thing is that Mithra’s story is very similar to that of Jesus and Mithra is older. Mithra was born of a virgin in a stable attended by shepherds on the winter solstice – which was quite often on the 25^th of December in the Julian calendar. In 270 A.D. Emperor Aurelian even officially had declared 25^th December to be the birthday of Mithra.

Mithraists believed that Mithra had not died but had ascended to heaven and would return at the end of time when the world would be destroyed by fire to physically resurrect the dead for a final judgement. The good would be sent to heaven and the bad to hell.

The similarity to the Christian belief and tradition is uncanny. Christians believe that Jesus was born on the 25^th of December in a stable and that his mother, Mary, was a virgin. This date for Jesus’ birthday was fixed much later in 313 A.D. by Emperor Constantine, who was a follower of Mithra when he adopted the cult of Christianity as the state religion for Rome. 

Being the Sun God, Mithra was worshipped on Sundays. That was their day of rest. Original Christians worshipped on Saturdays keeping the Israeli tradition. Constantine also changed the Christian weekly holy day from Saturday to Sunday.

The most interesting similarity is that the Mithra religion was ruled from the Vatican Hill by a leader called Papa (Pope). There are other startling similarities. Like Jesus, Mithra was worshipped as the saviour who granted his followers immortal life following baptism. On Sundays the followers of Mithra celebrated sacramenta which was a consecrated meal of bread and wine and was called Myazda which is exactly the same as the Catholic Missa (Mass). They used bells, candles, incense, and holy water for this. And this was in remembrance of the last supper of Mithra!

Another great similarity is in what is believed about the bread and wine. At the last supper Jesus said that salvation is for those who eat the flesh (bread) and blood (wine) of Jesus. Mithra supposedly said something quite the same: those who did not eat his flesh (bread) and drink his blood (wine) would not know salvation.

Many of the Christian traditions that are almost identical to Mithraism do not even have any roots in the Bible. These traditions and beliefs of Mithraism were exclusive to Mithraism until the fourth century A.D. and were not part of Christianity. These similarities are more than coincidence as Constantine directly added some of the Mithra traditions to Christianity.

Had Constantine amalgamated the two religions, Mithraism and the Jesus’s religion, into one Christian religion? The survival of so many elements of Mithraism through Christianity and the changes made by Constantine clearly suggest this. The making of Sunday as the sacred day and keeping the mass (Sunday service) and appointing the 25^th of December, Mithra’s birthday as Jesus’ and most importantly, making the pope the head of the Christian church certainly points to amalgamation. (It is said that the garb of the pope comes from before Christianity.)

Through these moves Constantine guaranteed the survival of Mithraism and worship of Mithra. The ancient Aryan Sun God survives even today. Christianity is his vessel and Christians follow Mithra quite unaware of the fact. He just has a new heritage and lineage of the Jewish persuasion and a new name: Jesus.

Sources:

Franz Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra (1903)
M. J. Vermaseren, Mithras, the Secret God (1963)
David Ulansey, The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries (1989)

http://www.atheist-community.org/mithra.htm

http://web.infoave.net/~toolong/solinvictus.html