2G6 THE EEY. W. ST. CLAIR TISDALL_, D.D., OX MITHRAISM. 



(y)Xi6Bpo/jLo<;) and a Fater* PorphjT}' says that the initiated 

 were styled lions, if men, lionesses (or hyccnas)'\ it women ; while 

 the attendants were called ravens. He mentions also that some 

 of the Myst^e were entitled eagles and haicJcs, and that while 

 being initiated into the order of lions, the neophyte had to 

 assume the appearance of various animals. Some held that 

 this was intended to represent the sun's course through the 

 signs of the zodiac, others explained it as setting forth the 

 progress of the spirit from body to body. Those seeking 

 initiation had to undergo various very severe trials, sometimes 

 described as punishments or torments. Xonnus:^ says that 

 there were no fewer than eighty degrees of these. He connects 

 them with the doctrine of " descent " and " ascent " already 

 referred to. The lighter tests came first, then the more severe. 

 The neophyte had to pass through tire, through icy cold, to 

 endure hunger and thirst and much more, before he had 

 sufticiently proved his hardihood to be admitted into the 

 society. § 



Part of these tests were probably derived from ancient 

 Persian Mithraism. For, in the Avesta, when Zoroaster 

 enquires how the faithful are to please Mithra, Ahura Mazda 

 replies : " Let|l them for three days and three nights wash their 

 bodies ; let them suffer thirty strokes for a sacrifice and petition 

 to Mithra, lord of wide pastures. Let them for two days and 

 two nights wash their bodies ; let them suffer twenty strokes 



The chief of the Patres ^as styled Pcf.ter pa^rum. It is not known 

 ■whether these Patres acted as sacrificial priests, but certain sacrifices were 

 utfered to Mithra hj sacerdotes, whose chief was apparently styled suinmus 

 sacerdos (Prudentius quoted above, note i| to p. 252). 

 t Op. cit. 



% Quoted by Lajai'd, p. 117 : 'O toivw 'S\iOpa<? vou/^erai Trapd 

 Tlepaat^ eivai 6 ij\io^, kciI Ovaid^ovai aiVit, Koi TeXovai t<j'//§ reXefra? e(<f 

 aiToi' ' ov tvparai ovv ti^ ei9 ainbv TeXeaOijvai, el /iirj TrpoTCpov Cid tucv 

 /SaOud-v 71CV Ko\u(T€u'V TTapeXdoi. jSaO/iioi ce eiai KoXdneivv, tov fiev 

 dpiOuov o'/co)')KovTa (?), t^ovrev te vTrdfiaciv kcu avd/Snaiv ' Ko\d^ov~ai 

 ^{dp —ptZ'Tov T«9 i\a(Ppo-epa<?, eira to? f^pacTiKivrepu^ ' koI eiO' ovriv /ne-rd 

 TO 7rape\6eiv tid iraaCcv ru:v KoXdaeivv, ToVe -eXeirai o reXovuevo^ ' al te 

 hoXdaei's elfft, to Sid Tvpos 7rapeX0e7v, to Cid Kpvov^^ Cid 7reiurj9 koi c/^^ry?, 

 cid ocoi—opias 7roXX?y9, Ktti a— Xd's cid Traffwv toiovtivv. Xonnus repeats 

 this in substance in p. 143, §47, quoted by Lajard, ibidem. 



§ Suidas, quoted by Windischmann, Uber Jfit/tra, p. 68, says : Ovk 

 tiv ovv eh avrov twijaatro ti's TeXeaOijvai, el urj ^id tivicv /SaOjudu 

 TTapeXdd'v Tu-v KoXdaeicv tei'^ei eaVTOv uciov kui d—aOij. 



li Yasht X, 30, 122. 



