Last blog, we looked at the meaning of the inscription INRI that Pontius Pilate wrote on a plaque and had placed on the cross above the head of Jesus. Who was this governor of Judea? To answer this, we should review an apocryphal book entitled the Acts of Pilate. Here is a letter from Pilate to …
Something that most historians miss is the role that the Ancient Mysteries had in the ease of the spread of Christianity. After the event of Whitsun, some of the disciples and those with them began missions to spread Christianity. Where did they go? They went to the Mystery Centers throughout the world. There the initiates …
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MacMillan Dictionary defines Mystery as something that you are not able to understand or explain. Another definition is information about a subject or activity that only some people are allowed to know. If we go back to 500 BCE and especially if we go further back, the Mysteries played a vital role in all cultures everywhere in …
The Greek Mysteries are the most visible to historians but all cultures had their own Mystery Center(s). Well known are many the leaders of Greek Mystery Centers such as Pythagoras and Heraclitus. And well known are the mystery centers Cabeiri on the islands of Lemnos, and Eleusis in west Attica, about 12 miles from Athens. …
A complex person and emperor of Rome, Julian’s biographers have described him as “a man of unusually complex character: he was ‘the military commander, the theosophist, the social reformer, and the man of letters’. He was the last non-Christian ruler of the Roman Empire, and it was his desire to bring the Empire back to its …
What is mysticism? Simply put, mysticism is the practice or pursuit of a path to the spirit. The term “Mystery” derives from the Greek word “mysterion” (plural mysteria μυστήρια) which means the practice of an experience of a reality surpassing normal human understanding, a spiritual reality perceived as essential to the nature of life. It …
My ancestors were often Congregational ministers. I even have roots that go to the Mayflower. This background led me, in my early teens, to wonder how it was that Christianity spread so easily if what spread is the same as what one meets in churches today. To get a handle on this question, I had …
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