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The influence of Eleusian Mysteries - Ilias Monacholias
I want to say hello to all of you, feeling very nice to be here.
It is common to say that Christianity was influenced by the pagan religions, especially of the Ancient Greece.
Christianity triumphed over mystery religions after long conflict. This triumph may be attributed in part to the fact that Christianity took from its opponents their own weapons, and used them: the better elements of the mystery religions were transferred to the new religion.
It is inevitable when a new religion comes to exist side by side with a group of religions, from which it is continually detaching members, introducing them into its own midst with the practices of their original religions impressed upon their minds, that this new religion should tend to assimilate with the assimilation of their members, some of the elements of these existing religions.
Knowledge of the Mystery religions is important for any serious study of the history of Christianity. It is impossible to grasp Christianity through and through without knowledge of these cults. It must be remembered, as implied above, that Christianity was not a sudden and miraculous transformation, springing, forth full grown as Goddess Athena sprang from the head of Zeus, but it is a composite of slow and laborious growth. Therefore it is necessary to study the historical and social factors that contributed to the growth of Christianity.
In 1950 Martin Luther King Jr wrote his scientific paper regarding the influence of Mystery Religions. He wrote a special chapter for The Influence of the Great Eleusinian Mysteries.
In the first century of the Christian era the Eleusinian mystery cult was more favorable known than any of the cults of Greece. Its fame and popularity was large also due to the connection of Eleusis with Athens. The origin of this cult is obscure and uncertain.
In order to understand the type of religious experience represented by this important cult, we must turn to the myth of the rape of Demeter's daughter by Pluto. It is stated with sufficient elaboration in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. The mother, frenzied with grief, rushed about the earth for nine days in search for her lost daughter. As a result of her wandering, she came to Eleusis where she was seen, although not recognized, by the four daughters of King Keleos sitting near a public well called the “Kallichoron”. She won the sympathy of the girls who took her home and at her own request was given a job to nurse their infant brother, Demophon. After making herself known, she commanded the people of Eleusis to build her a temple. In connection with the temple, she established certain ceremonies and rites for her worship.
During her short stay at the temple of Eleusis, the whole earth grew barren. People began to die for the lack of food while the sacrifices to the gods decreased in number because the animals were dying out. The other gods pleaded with her to relent but she refused to do so until Persephone was restored to her. Pluto, (also called Hades) therefore, at the request of Zeus released her but not before he had caused her to eat pomegranate seeds which magically required her return after a period of time. Demeter, in her joy at the restoration of her lost daughter, allowed the crops to grow once more and institute in honor of the event the Eleusinian mysteries which gave to mortals the assurance of a happy future life.
The significance of this story is immediately clear. It was a nature myth portraying a vivid and realistic picture of the action of life in the vegetable world in regards to the changing seasons. Every year nature passes through a cycle of apparent death and resurrection. In winter, all plants die, this represents the period of Demeter's grief over her daughter. Spring, the time when all plants come back to life, indicates the return of plenty when the goddess maintains all life until autumn when her daughter returns to Hades and the earth becomes once more desolated.
The myth is also an example of poignant human experience, reflecting the joys, sorrows, and hopes of mankind in the face of death. The mysteries of human life and death are vividly enacted by Demeter, Persephone, and Hades. Hades, the god of death, stole the beloved daughter, Persephone, from Demeter, the life giver, who refused to admit defeat until she secured her daughter's resurrection. In this legend, human beings, who are always loved and lost, are depicted as never or seldom loosing hope for reunion with their God. These fundamental human experiences and the life of nature are the main substances of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
To the searchers of salvation, the Eleusinian cult offered not only the promise of a happy future, but also a definite assurance of it.
Now when we observe the modern Greek Easter festival it seems certain that it preserves the spirit if not the form of the old Eleusinian worship. In the spring, those who had shared Demeter's grief for the loss of her daughter, welcomed the return of Persephone with all the joy that the returning life of vegetation might kindle. And today similar experiences are represented by Greek Christians. After mourning over the dead Christ, represented most conspicuously by a wax image carried through the streets, there comes an announcement by the priest, on the midnight before Easter Sunday, that Christ is risen. At this moment the light from the candle of the priest is passed on to light the candles of his companions.
As in the Eleusinian mysteries, the modern Greek Christian finds this a moment of supreme joy.
Also, during the ceremonies for the dead people, in the day of burying them or in the 9th, 40th and 90th day from the burying, relatives and friends eat seeds of wheat and pomegranate, pointing directly to Demeter and Persephone.
So we might say that Eleusinian Mysteries was not blotted out by Christianity. On the contrary, many of its forms and some of its old content has been perpetuated in Christianity.
Thank you
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