Introduction to Mitra

Mithra is the Persian god of sunrise, contract, contract and friendship. He also supervised the regular changes of the four seasons, maintained the order of the universe, and was responsible for giving the king divine grace and legalizing their rule. As a protector of believers, he was also called by soldiers before the battle, so he was called the war of God.

He is one of the most famous and popular gods in the pantheon of early Iranian religions. After Zoroastrianism monotheism replaced the early belief system, his worship continued.

He is related to the Vedic god Mithra, and is often associated with the mysterious Mithraism in Roman mythology. The whole Roman empire was 100-400, but these were two different gods, although Mithraism loosely originated from Mithraism. Although Roman Mitra and his cult are often called pioneers and models of Jesus Christ and Christianity, there is absolutely no historical evidence to support this statement.

Mitra is always vigilant, will not be deceived, knows the heart and true intentions, and stops the dark forces.

Mithra's name was quoted in the inscriptions of Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC), especially during the reign of Artaxerxes II (404-358 BC) and the Sassanian Empire (224-65 1 year). After Sassanian Empire, including Mithra's worship of-65 1 CE, Zoroastrianism declined the invasion of * * * people who believed in * * * religion. Later, the Zoroastrian classics and Indian traditional beliefs carried by Percy were well preserved. Mithras still plays an important role in modern Zoroastrian rituals and continues the ancient tradition.

Origin, characteristics, description

Mithra originated at a point before the 3rd century BC, when immigrant groups called Indian Iranians and Indian Aryans began to settle in Iran and northern India respectively. Therefore, the Vedic gods have many similarities with the gods of early Iranian religions, including Persian Mitra and Vedic Mitra.

Vedic Mitra (sometimes called Mitra Varuna) is the contract and fertility god representing sunrise, rain and harvest, and the guardian of truth. Mitra Varuna and his wife joined the sunrise god together with the powerful sky god Varuna. People imagine that they live in a golden palace with 1000 doors in heaven, and they set out from there every morning in a gorgeous chariot.

Persian Mitra is described in the Avesta (Zoroastrian Scripture) as:

Among the gods in the sky, they first arrived in Hala (Al Boulze Mountains), before the immortal and swift sun; He took the lead in the golden battle, seized the beautiful mountain peak, and looked down sympathetically at Aryan's residence from there. (Yasht 10. 13, quoted from Curtis, 14)

He rode a bright chariot pulled by a white horse, bringing the rising sun, holding a silver spear, a golden bow and arrow, a dagger, an axe and a scepter symbolizing his role as the guardian of the cosmic order and the god of legalization. Mitra, the royal family, is always vigilant, will not be deceived, understand people's hearts and true intentions, and shut out the dark forces. He is regarded as the most powerful force against the demon king Angra Mainyu (also known as Ahriman), and he is more afraid of his mace than any other god's weapon.

Zoroastrianism-perhaps the early Iranian religion from which it borrowed-focuses on the conflict between good and order (led by Ahumazda) and evil and chaos (led by Angela Manuel). The core purpose of human life is to choose which one to take. God like Mitra has the responsibility to help people choose the right path and protect them from the lies and traps of evil people. Scholar John R. Hin Nares described the central figure of Angra Mainyu as follows:

It is said that evil spirits create "non-life" (that is, a form of existence completely opposite to all the good things in "real" life), which is the worst existence. Properly speaking, for a religion that has always taught to appreciate the good things in life, the fate of the wicked is called "the place where food goes bad". This is a "home of lies". Zoroaster said that the power of evil is the power of anger, arrogance and evil purpose. They destroy the world of truth, harm livestock and deceive mankind into a better life and immortal life. (52)

Mitra is a powerful defense against these forces. Mitra has the responsibility to protect human beings-and their crops and livestock-from the influence of the Angra Mainyu Plan. To this end, one of his most important duties is to legalize the kingship, grant Farr (divine grace) to a valuable monarch who will care about his people, and cancel this grace when the king no longer performs the contract.

He also served as a judge of the souls of the dead in Chinwat Bridge (the span between this life and the afterlife), where he read his records of good deeds and evil deeds of the soul and determined the destination of a person after death. The people who followed Ahura Mazda went to the song house; Those who chose Angela Manuel's path were sent to the house of lies, the destination they embraced all their lives.

Zoroastrianism and Achaemenid Empire

This description of God and his role in maintaining order comes from Zoroastrian literature, but it is considered to reflect his position and responsibility in early Iranian religion. This belief system is an oral tradition-just like Zoroastrianism-which was not recorded until the Sassanian period. Therefore, it is difficult to know how early Iranians first understood Mithraism, which parts of Zoroastrian literature reflected the early understanding, and which parts were influenced by Zoroastrian reform and the establishment of new religions.

Mitra will be worshipped in the outdoor temple of fire, where the elements of fire, air, earth and water are respected.

Zoroaster is a priest (mage) of this religion. One day, he received an illusion that people's spiritual understanding was wrong: there were not so many gods, only one-Ahumazda-and now it was Zoroaster's turn to correct his people's mistakes. In doing so, Zoroaster established a new belief in Mazda, which was later called Zoroastrianism, and old gods was re-imagined as the incarnation (or incarnation) of the only true God.

For a long time, Cyrus II (the Great, 550-530 BC), the first king of Achaemenid Empire, has been regarded as a Zoroastrian because the religion was firmly established in this region during his reign. However, this is not necessarily the case, because cyrus the great quoted the inscription of Ahumazda, which can easily be regarded as calling the king of the gods of the old religion the only god of the new religion. The same applies to Ju Lushi's successors Darius I (Darius I, 522-486 BC) and Xerxes I (486-465 BC), who mentioned Ahura Mazda in the same way. Darius I even mentioned "other gods" in his famous inscription in Bethesda.

The connection between Achaemenid Empire and Zoroastrianism comes from Greek and later Roman writers. Although Achaemenid is probably Zoroastrianism, it is not certain-at least the early monarchs were not. Artaxerxes II's inscription lists Ahura Mazda, Anashch Tower and Mitra, citing their protection of his architectural works, which prompted scholars in the past to conclude that Zoroastrianism is a polytheist. However, a more accurate explanation is that either Artaxerxes II is not a Zoroastrian, or he claims that Ahumazda is the only true god, while Anastasta and Mitra are the protective incarnations of the only god.

In any case, Mitra's position as the protector of order and the omniscient god of justice remains the same. Neither the early Iranian religion nor Zoroastrianism believed in the temples of their gods-believing that these gods were too powerful to be confined to houses built by human hands-so it is not surprising that the Mithra temple has not been discovered so far (and, in fact, it is even more surprising that so many people are obviously related to the Anashch Tower). Mitra will be worshipped like any other god-in the outdoor temple of fire-where the elements of fire, air, earth and water (incarnated as gods such as Atta, Mitra, Hauma and Ana Hita) are respected. The worship of Mitra-or at least Kiribati-was created by Pompeii in 66 BC.

Mitra's Roman worship

It's probably Silesia pirates. It is said that they carried out some form of Mithra worship, which inspired the Mithra worship movement that was popular in Rome later. Roman soldiers who served with Pompeii in Silesia would master the main points of Mithra worship and popularize it in the legion. Like any other theory about the origin of Mithraism, the problem with this theory is that no one knows how this religion started, where it spread, or even what it believed in.

The so-called Silesia pirates practiced the life of Mitterrand from Pompeii, Plutarch. He said that the Kili pirates' celebrated the existence of some secrets, and the time that those Mithras lasted until now was the first time they figured out '(24.5). It can be concluded that it seems reasonable that the religious customs of pirates were adopted by the Roman Legion and spread from there, especially that Mithraism is obviously the most popular in the Roman army.

However, because it is not clear what the cult's creed is-or what form of "secret ceremony" Silesia pirates have adopted-Silesia is not sure where Persian Mitra was transformed into Roman Mitra. However, it is obvious that there are significant differences between these two gods and their worship methods.

Mithra in Rome is the sun god and the guardian of contract, order and friendship-very similar to Mithra in Persia-but the similarity ends here. These characteristics, like other things about cults, come from physical evidence in the form of mosaics, statues and reliefs, as well as Christian writers who criticize religion. Believers don't write anything themselves, (www.lishixinzhi.Com) because they are fellow practitioners of secret sects-which means a closed religious group, and they keep their beliefs and rituals secret-they are not interested in non-practitioners, and they are not allowed to share information with non-practitioners.

Mitra is generally depicted in art as a young man killing a bull in the sky, which is interpreted as a symbol of death and rebirth. He is also described as being born in a rock, appearing with a torch (emphasizing that he is a messenger of light), or shooting an arrow at a cloud (or rock), and then seeing the cloud (or rock) release water (indicating his relationship with life and fertility). His worship is held in secret, and women are not allowed to attend the worship in caves or underground temples similar to caves. These portraits or ceremonies have nothing to do with Persian Mithras. Even so, as Hinnells pointed out, people at that time associated Roman Mithras with Persian gods:

Mithraism was called "Persian mystery" by contemporaries, while Mithra himself was called "Persian God". Some people explicitly attribute the teachings of Mithraism to Zoroaster. The origin of Persians seems to be confirmed by some details in Enigma. For example, using recognizable Persian words, one of the seven entry levels is Persian. (78)

There seems to be no doubt that Roman Mithraism was inspired by Persian Mithraism, but this is different from saying that there was any continuity from early Iranian religion through Zoroastrianism to Roman Mithraism. According to archaeological evidence and early Christian criticism of the cult, Mithraism is essentially astrology, focusing on divination, life enlightenment and rebirth after death. Fellow initiates have been tested many times, and once they pass, believers will be promoted to the seventh level until they reach the highest position-the priest-who is regarded as the enlightened protector of the priest. Fellow initiates ate together, worshipped together, and made Sunday their Sabbath, which triggered one of the main criticisms of cults by Christian writers, claiming that Mithraism was copying Christianity.

Mitra and Jesus

Interestingly, centuries later, when French intellectuals popularized the view that Christianity was a copy of Mithraism and that Christ never existed, this view would be overthrown. Since then, this proposition has been repeated in various forms, but the main argument is that Mitra is a model created later by the character Jesus Christ. Like "later Jesus", Mitra was born on February 25th of 12 and was visited by a virgin and a mage. Twelve disciples celebrated the "Last Supper" and died on the cross. None of these statements have any value.

The so-called Christian myth theory was popularized by two French scholars in the18th century-Charles Fran? ois Dipis (L. 1742- 1809 CE) and Constantine Fran? ois Chase de Volney (L./kloc). Dippis is a professor of rhetoric at the Lise College, while De Volney is a philosopher and orientalist. In the frenzy of the French Revolution in 1789, many revolutionaries condemned Christianity, especially Catholicism, as a myth that encouraged the rise of the upper class at the expense of the lower class. Dupuis'sNo.1794ce13 Origin de Touslecultes (reprinted in English in 1872 as the origin of all religious worship) popularized the above viewpoints and many others, but these were fabricated by anti-Christian/pro-revolutionary writers to advance their own agendas.

There is no evidence that Mitra-even Jesus-was born on February 25th, 65438. Mitra is depicted as emerging from the rocks, never as a baby, nor in any way related to virgin birth or any visit by a mage. Mitra never appeared with any disciples to celebrate the "Last Supper" or to die on the cross-in fact, there is no description of Mitra's death at all.

However, since their publication in A.D. 1872, the fact that Dupers and Dvorny's claims are completely lies has not stopped them from being repeated by anti-Christian writers and experts. In recent years, Zeitgeist has created these fabrications: the first part of the film (2007 CE) is a great story sold according to the Christian conspiracy: Charias (the pseudonym of Dorothy Milne Murdoch, 1960-20 15 CE), and

conclusion

As mentioned above, the worship of Persian Mitra continued until the Sassanian period, when the belief system of Zofan (usually called Zoroastrianism) was established. Zolfani thinks that the supreme God is Zolfan, and in infinite time, Ahur Mazda and Angra Mainyu are creatures. In this case, all other gods are almost equivalent to Ahura Mazda, so they can be worshipped as gods.

The founder of Manichaeism, the Prophet Manichaeism (AD 2 16-274) stayed as a guest in the court of King Shapur I of Sassanian Dynasty (AD 240-270), where he developed his concept of Manichaeism Mitra (just as he did for most of his religions). In Manichaeism, Mithra was interpreted as the savior, the messenger of light and order, so he kept two basic characteristics that he had known for a long time.

After Sassanian Empire fell into the hands of invaders in 65 1 AD, Parsis fled to India with Zoroastrian scriptures that were not destroyed by the invaders. They established their own community there and prospered there. Mitra continues to be respected in today's religious ceremony. When the Zoroastrian priest is enlightened, he will receive Mithra's hammer, which symbolizes his responsibility to fight against evil and dark forces.

The Mi Tracana Festival (also known as Mithragan) is held in the name of Mithra every year (in the autumn equinox). The correct name of the modern Zoroastrian temple is Dahl-Imil, the "Gate of Mithra". Mithra is still a symbol of light and order, which was only understood in ancient times; This makes him one of the oldest gods in the world, and he has been revered in basically the same role for more than 4,000 years.