Osiris
2,000 BC -- a dying, resurrected savior |
Was Jesus new? Was Jesus unique? Lets talk about the Pagan godman Osiris. The Egyptians worshiped thousands of divinities; Osiris was the God whose myth was most widespread. He was a Big Name God. |
Osiris was worshiped in traditional temple worship and in Mysteries that were famous throughout the ancient world, celebrated not just in Egypt but in Greece and Rome. You've heard of Herodotus, Plutarch, Pythagoras, Plato? They each traveled to Egypt and were each certainly familiar with the worship of Osiris first hand. Some scholars point to ancient evidence that they were all actually initiates in the Mysteries of Osiris, though, frankly, there's room to argue the point.
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Osiris' mother was the Goddess Rhea, his 'biological' father was the God Hermes, but he was raised by the great God Zeus. (Remember the Osiris legend dates from the 3d millennium BC, so it has very archaic elements.) Plutarch tells the story
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"In the first of these [intercalary] days Osiris was born, and at the hour of his birth a voice issued forth saying, "The Lord of All advances to the light." ....Zeus bade [Pamyles] proclaim with a loud voice that a mighty and beneficent king, Osiris, had been born, for which Cronus entrusted him the child Osiris, which he [Zeus] brought up." [Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, 355] |
Osiris traveled the world doing good deeds: Plutarch explains: | "...he [Osiris] traveled over the whole Earth civilizing it, without the slightest need of arms, but most of the peoples he won over to his way by the charm of his persuasive discourse. " [Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, 366] |
The details of Osiris' myth are complicated and, to us, silly. Other peoples' myths are always silly. But the core of the myth is familiar: the God is killed and (eventually) resurrected, after which he becomes immortal and goes into the beyond to be the God of the dead. |
The Discovery of Osiris [Inventio Osiridis] was the great autumn festival of the religion. It celebrated the death of the God on October 28th, and His resurrection on November 3rd. On the first day of the festival the faithful, dressed in black, chanted laments, beat their breasts and cried out with grief as they joined Isis (the wife of Osiris) in mourning the death of the God. |
A ritual search for the Osiris' body mimicked Isis' search for Him. The body -- a disassembled idol -- was found and reassembled, as Osiris' dismembered body had been. Then, on November 3d, | "A great shout arises from the company for joy that Osiris is found" [Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, 366] |
the faithful joined a joyous procession through the streets to celebrate the Hilaria --the dead God had been reborn. |
The
Mysteries of Isis and Osiris |
"...the rites celebrated by night agree with the accounts of the dismemberment of Osiris and his revivification and regenesis." [Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, 364] |
Wow! |
Osiris
saves |
When initiates into the mysteries of Isis and Osiris died, their souls traveled to Heaven and Osiris became their king. How do we know this? The ancients tell us so. Here's Plutarch [who lived from about 45 to 120 AD]
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"But He Himself is far removed from the earth, uncontaminated and unpolluted and pure....but for the souls of men [on earth]...there is no association with this god except. a dim vision of his presence....But when these souls are set free and migrate into the realm of the invisible and the unseen, [i.e. when people die] the dispassionate and the pure, then this god becomes their leader and king...." [Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, 382- 383] And, quoting Theopompus, "... finally Hades shall pass away; then shall the people be happy, and neither shall they need to have food nor shall they cast any shadow." [Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, 370] |
And it wasn't just Plutarch who wrote about salvation through Isis and Osiris. |
"The keys of hell and the guarantee of salvation were in the hands of the goddess, and the initiation ceremony itself a kind of voluntary death and salvation through divine grace." [Apuleius, Metamorphosis, Book 11, 21]
And, "Be of good cheer, O initiates, for the god is saved, and we shall have salvation for our woes." [Firmicus Maternus, The Error of Pagan Religions, 22.1] Quoting the Goddess Isis: " I have come with solace and aid. Away then with tears. cease to moan. Send sorrow fleeing. Soon through my providence shall the sun of your salvation rise." [Apuleius, Metamorphosis 11.5] |
The
next time you're in Church Wow! |
Baptism and Eucharist: initiation into the Mysteries of Isis / Osiris began with the priest reading to the initiate from the ancient sacred books. Then the priest led the initiate to a bath near the temple, where he (or she, the Mysteries were open to either sex) bathed. After bathing he was sprinkled with purifying water brought from Nile. The priest then led the initiate, dressed in new linen robes, to "the remotest part of the sanctuary" where he was shown the sacred Mysteries. What they were we don't know -- this part of the ceremony was kept secret on pain of death. |
What the initiation meant was written about: death, rebirth and salvation.
Having completed the voluntary death [voluntariae mortis] and sacred birth [natalem sacrorum], the initiate became a new man. The ceremony ended two days later with a sacramental meal. |
"I approached the frontiers of death and, having walked on the threshold of Proserpine [the home of the dead], I returned."[Apuleius, Metamorphosis, Book 11, 23], and, "The keys of hell and the guarantee of salvation were in the hands of the goddess, and the initiation ceremony itself to the form of a kind of voluntary death and salvation through divine grace." [Apuleius, Metamorphosis, Book 11, 21], and "Be of good cheer, O initiates, for the god is saved, and we shall have salvation for our woes." [Firmicus Maternus, The Error of Pagan Religions, 22.1]. |
The
next time you're in Church Wow! |