272 THE EEV. W. ST. CLAIR TJSDALL, ON MITHRAISM. 



to a heathen origin. The word Upev<; is, as is well known, 

 never applied to a Christian presbyter in the New Testament, 

 and is first so used by Lucian.* But we have already seen that 

 the facts of the case absolutely refute the suggestion that the 

 teaching of the Neio Testament owes anything to Mithraism. 

 Some of the early Christian writersf were struck with a resem- 

 blancej between certain Mi thraic rites and those in use in the 

 Christian Church, as, for instance, the Mithraic dipping or bathing 

 and Christian baptism ; or, again, the Mithraic ceremonial sharing 

 of bread and water (sometimes mixed with wine) among the 

 initiated and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. But solemn 

 ablutionsll in connexion with religion are found almost every- 

 where, and so is participation in a common mystic meal. If 

 there was any borrowing, it must have been on the part of the 

 religion of Mithra, which we have seen readily admitted both 

 rites and doctrines from nearly every faith with which it was 

 brought in contact. J ust in the same way at the present day, 



Quoted by Lightfoot, op. cit. 

 t Justin Martyr, Tertullian, etc. The passage from Tertullian 

 {De Proescript, cap. 40) already quoted is a sufficient proof of this. In 

 De Baptismo^ cap. 5 (Ed. A. Reifferscheid and G. Wissow, Pt. i, pp. 204, 

 205), he says : " Sacris quibusdam per lavacrum initiantur, Isidis alicuius 

 aut Mithrae, . . . Certe ludis Apollinaribus et Eleusiniis {var. lect. 

 Pelusiis) tinguntur, idque se in regenerationem et impunitatem periuriorum 

 suorum agere praesumuut." Justin Martyr (1^*^ Apol. cap. 66), after 

 mentioning the Gospel account of the institution of the Lord's Supper, adds: 



"OTTCp KCll eV TO?9 70 V MlOpa fXV (77)] ploi<i TTOpeOWKCW r^J l'l^C(TOai /il t /LITJ ffdpei^ot 



ol TToi^rjpol ^ai/uove^. Here he distinctly states his belief that the 

 Mithraic feast was instituted later than and copied from the Lord's 

 Supper. 



I The word mitre (mity^a, fiiTpa) reminds us of the name of the Sungod : 

 but, if derived therefrom, it must have come into use ages before 

 Mithraism had sprea,d in the West. Sayce {Rel. of Anc. Eg. and Bah., 

 p. 357) says that ^t/j/ja is from the Sumerian mvtra, Ass. mutru, and 

 points out that "the mitra properly signified the Oriental turban ; but as 

 no such head-dress was worn by the Greeks, it is already used by Homer 

 for the girdle of the waist." One may regret that it was not left to 

 women and effeminate young men, as at Rome at one time. But, 

 whether borrowed from Mithraism or not, it is not a proof of Mithraic 

 influence on New Testament doctrine. 



II Observe that the Mithraist ablutions were frequent, probably like 

 those enjoined in the Avesta (Yasht X, 30. 122, quoted in p. 30, supra), 

 and similar to those observed by Hindt^s and Muhammadans to-day 

 before offering prayer. We have no proof of anything resembling 

 Christian baptism among them, though such a simple and natural rite 

 might easily have commended itself to them and have been borrowed, or 

 even reinvented, by them. 



