Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. The intent of this book is to merely present before you the compromise that has occurred between Christianity and paganism. Under the facade of Christianity the duplicitous ancient mystery religious system that began in Babylon continues. This religion is perpetuated through the most powerful religious institution in the world- the Roman Catholic Church. How is this possib The intent of this book is to merely present before you the compromise that has occurred between Christianity and paganism.
How is this possible? In a strategic effort to appeal to the pagans of Rome the Universal Church simply fused the pagan customs and festivals of sun worshipers with the rites of the one true faith.
Christianity's Pagan Roots: Traditions, Practices, and Holidays
The Pagan Origins of Christian Holidays is an examination of the holidays that are observed by Christians today. This book reveals a piercing truth; Satan has deceived the whole world. Paperback , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Veen rated it really liked it Mar 28, Joseph Hogan rated it it was ok Jun 09, Chris Coulson rated it liked it Apr 03, Sonia rated it it was amazing Oct 25, These conflicts are recorded in the works of the early Christian writers such as Justin Martyr as well as hostile reports by writers including Tacitus and Suetonius.
Christianity was persecuted by Roman imperial authorities early on in its history within the greater empire.
Christianity is a Lot Like Paganism
The first documented case of imperially-supervised persecution of the Christians in the Roman Empire begins with Nero 37— In 64 AD, a great fire broke out in Rome , destroying portions of the city and economically devastating the Roman population. Nero himself was suspected as the arsonist by Suetonius , [7] claiming he played the lyre and sang the 'Sack of Ilium' during the fires.
In his Annals , Tacitus who claimed Nero was in Antium at the time of the fire's outbreak , stated that "to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians [or Chrestians [8] ] by the populace" Tacit. Annals XV, see Tacitus on Jesus.
- The Pagan Origins of Christian Holidays;
- The Pagan Origins of Christian Holidays by Elisha J Israel?
- The Pagan Origins of Christian Holidays - Lines & Precepts.
- Are Christian Holidays Pagan in Origin? - Come Reason Ministries!
- Develop Your Senses to Sell Better.
Suetonius, later to the period, does not mention any persecution after the fire, but in a previous paragraph unrelated to the fire, mentions punishments inflicted on Christians, defined as men following a new and malefic superstition. Suetonius however does not specify the reasons for the punishment, he just listed the fact together with other abuses put down by Nero.
By the mid-2nd century, mobs could be found willing to throw stones at Christians, and they might be mobilized by rival sects. The Persecution in Lyon was preceded by mob violence, including assaults, robberies and stonings Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5. Further state persecutions were desultory until the 3rd century, though Tertullian 's Apologeticus of was ostensibly written in defense of persecuted Christians and addressed to Roman governors.
There was no empire-wide persecution of Christians until the reign of Decius in the third century. Decius authorized roving commissions visiting the cities and villages to supervise the execution of the sacrifices and to deliver written certificates to all citizens who performed them. Christians were often given opportunities to avoid further punishment by publicly offering sacrifices or burning incense to Roman gods. Christians fled to safe havens in the countryside and some purchased their certificates, called libelli.
Several councils held at Carthage debated the extent to which the community should accept these lapsed Christians.
Some early Christians sought out and welcomed martyrdom. Roman authorities tried hard to avoid Christians because they "goaded, chided, belittled and insulted the crowds until they demanded their death. The proconsul obliged some of them and then sent the rest away, saying that if they wanted to kill themselves there was plenty of rope available or cliffs they could jump off. Both Polycarp and Cyprian , bishops in Smyrna and Carthage respectively, attempted to avoid martyrdom.
The persecutions culminated with Diocletian and Galerius at the end of the third and beginning of the 4th century. The Great Persecution is considered the largest. Beginning with a series of four edicts banning Christian practices and ordering the imprisonment of Christian clergy, the persecution intensified until all Christians in the empire were commanded to sacrifice to the gods or face immediate execution.
This persecution lasted until Constantine I , along with Licinius , legalized Christianity in It was not until Theodosius I in the later 4th century that Christianity would become the State church of the Roman Empire. Between these two events Julian II temporarily restored the traditional Roman religion and established broad religious tolerance renewing Pagan and Christian hostilities.
The "Pagan Roots" of Holidays
The New Catholic Encyclopedia states that "Ancient, medieval and early modern hagiographers were inclined to exaggerate the number of martyrs. Since the title of martyr is the highest title to which a Christian can aspire, this tendency is natural". Attempts at estimating the numbers involved are inevitably based on inadequate sources, but one historian of the persecutions estimates the overall numbers as between 5, and 6, In the years from the crucifixion of Christ to the conversion of Emperor Constantine, polytheistic Roman emperors initiated no more than four general persecutions of Christians.
Local administrators and governors incited some anti-Christian violence of their own. Still, if we combine all the victims of all these persecutions, it turns out that in these three centuries, the polytheistic Romans killed no more than a few thousand Christians.
The Edict of Milan of finally legalized Christianity, with it gaining governmental privileges and a degree of official approval under Constantine , who granted privileges such as tax exemptions to Christian clergy. This period of transition is also known as the Constantinian shift. Paganism was tolerated for another 12 years, until , when Theodosius passed legislation prohibiting all pagan worship.
Pagan religions from this point were increasingly persecuted, a process which lasted throughout the 5th century. The closing of the Neoplatonic Academy by decree of Justinian I in marks a conventional end point of both classical paganism and Late Antiquity , after which most of its scholars fled to more tolerant Sassanid Persia. Lay Christians took advantage of these new anti-pagan laws by destroying and plundering the temples [16] Theologians and prominent ecclesiastics soon followed. One such example is St.
Ambrose , Bishop of Milan. When Gratian became Roman emperor in , Ambrose, who was one of his closest educators, persuaded him to further suppress paganism. The emperor, on Ambrose's advice, confiscated the property of the pagan temples; seized the properties of the Vestal Virgins and pagan priests, and removed the statue of the Goddess of Victory from the Roman Senate.
When Gratian delegated the government of the eastern half of the Roman Empire to Theodosius the Great in , the situation became worse for the Pagans. Theodosius prohibited all forms of Pagan worship and allowed the temples to be robbed, plundered, and destroyed by monks and other enterprising Christians [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] and participated in actions by Christians against major pagan sites. Christians destroyed almost all such pagan political literature and threatened to cut off the hands of any copyist who dared to make new copies of the offending writings.
- Adventures in Manifesting: Passion and Purpose.
- Der Schatz der Mixtekas (German Edition).
- Freedom from Depression: Emotional Healing through Spiritual Health and Wholeness.
- Christianity and Paganism - Wikipedia?
In the year , under Theodosius II , a law was passed to ban Pagans from public employment. During the Saxon Wars , the Christian Frankish king Charlemagne waged war on the pagan Saxons for over 20 years, seeking to Christianize and rule the Saxons. During this period, the Saxons repeatedly refused Christianization and the rule of Charlemagne, and therefore rebelled frequently.
In the year of this period, Charlemagne is recorded as having massacred 4, rebel Saxon prisoners in Verden the Massacre of Verden , and imposing legislation upon the subjected Saxons that including the penalty of death for refusing conversion to Christianity or for aiding pagans who did the same such as the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae.
While rebellions continued to take place even after his death such as that of the Stellinga , Charlemagne succeeded in laying the groundwork for the Christianization of the Saxons, yet was unable to reach the Scandinavians, who remained pagan. The Saxons were one of the last groups to be converted by Christian missionaries. They converted mainly under the threat of death by Charlemagne, although some concessions to pagan culture were made by missionaries.
The Pagan Origins of Christian Holidays by Elisha Israel
The Saxon conversion was so difficult for a number of reasons including their distance from Rome and the lack of a centralized polity capable of imposing Christianity from the top down until much later than other peoples that converted; additionally, their pagan beliefs were so strongly tied into their culture that conversion necessarily meant massive cultural change that was hard to accept. Their sophisticated theology was also a bulwark against an immediate and complete conversion to Christianity.
The Anglo-Saxon conversion in particular was a gradual process that necessarily included many compromises and syncretism. A famous letter from Pope Gregory to Mellitus in June , for example, is quoted encouraging the use of pagan temples by converts to Christianity, though festivals should be held on significant Christian dates. Tell Augustine that he should be no means destroy the temples of the gods but rather the idols within those temples. Let him, after he has purified them with holy water, place altars and relics of the saints in them.
For, if those temples are well built, they should be converted from the worship of demons to the service of the true God.
Are Christian Holidays Pagan in Origin?
Thus, seeing that their places of worship are not destroyed, the people will banish error from their hearts and come to places familiar and dear to them in acknowledgement and worship of the true God. Further, since it has been their custom to slaughter oxen in sacrifice, they should receive some solemnity in exchange. Let them therefore, on the day of the dedication of their churches, or on the feast of the martyrs whose relics are preserved in them, build themselves huts around their one-time temples and celebrate the occasion with religious feasting.
They will sacrifice and eat the animals not any more as an offering to the devil, but for the glory of God to whom, as the giver of all things, they will give thanks for having been satiated.