Examine individual changes

':''See [[Western esotericism]] for modern "mystery religions" in the Western cultural sphere.'' {{Greek myth}} '''Mystery religions''', '''sacred mysteries''' or simply '''mysteries''', were [[Cult (religious practice)|religious cults]] of the [[Greco-Roman world]], participation in which was reserved to [[initiation rite|initiates]].<ref>{{citation|chapter=Mystery Religions|title=Cambridge Encyclopedia of The English Language|year=1995| editor-last=Crystal|editor-first=David|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge UP|chapter-url=http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/Cambridge/entries/059/mystery-religions.html}}.</ref> The main characterization of this religion is the secrecy associated with the particulars of the initiation and the cult practice, which may not be revealed to outsiders. The most famous mysteries of Greco-Roman antiquity were the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], which were of considerable antiquity and predated the [[Greek Dark Ages]]. The popularity of mystery cults flourished in [[Late Antiquity]]; [[Julian the Apostate]] in the mid 4th century is known to have been initiated into three distinct mystery cults. Notable among these late cults was the [[Mithraic Mysteries]]. Due to the secret nature of the cult, and because the mystery religions of [[Late Antiquity]] were [[Persecution of Pagans by the Christian Roman Empire|persecuted by the Christian Roman Empire]] from the 4th century (i.e. [[Christian persecution of paganism under Theodosius I|Theodosius I]] closed the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]] by decree in AD 392), the details of these religious practices are unknown to scholarship, although there are educated guesses as to their general content.<!--"Because of this element of secrecy, we are ill-informed as to the beliefs and practices of the various mystery faiths. We know that they had a general likeness to one another"--><ref name="Barnes" />{{rp|50f}} [[Justin Martyr]] in the 2nd century explicitly noted and identified them as "demonic imitations" of the true faith, and that "the devils, in imitation of what was said by Moses, asserted that [[Proserpina|Proserpine]] was the daughter of Jupiter, and instigated the people to set up an image of her under the name of Kore" (''[[First Apology]]''). Through the 1st to 4th century, Christianity stood in direct competition for adherents with the mystery cults, insofar as "[t]he mystery cults too [were<!--historical present "are"-->] an intrinsic element of the non-Jewish horizon of the reception of the Christian message." They too were "embraced by the process of the inculturation of Christianity in its initial phase," and they made "their own contribution to this process."<ref name="KlauckMcNeil" />{{rp|152}} In Klauck and McNeil's opinion, "<!-- Source says: "In my opinion..."-->the Christian doctrine of the sacraments, in the form in which we know it, would not have arisen without this interaction; and [[Christology]] too understood how to 'take up' the mythical inheritance, purifying it and elevating it."<ref name="KlauckMcNeil" />{{rp|152}} ==Definition== The term "Mystery" derives from Latin ''mysterium'', from Greek ''mysterion'' (usually as the plural ''mysteria'' ''μυστήρια''), in this context meaning "secret rite or doctrine." An individual who followed such a "Mystery" was a ''mystes'', "one who has been initiated," from ''myein'' "to close, shut," a reference to secrecy (closure of "the eyes and mouth"<ref name="Newberg" />{{rp|56}}) or that only initiates were allowed to observe and participate in rituals. The Mysteries were thus cults in which all religious functions were closed to the uninitiated and for which the inner-working of the cult were kept secret from the general public. ==Characteristics== Mystery religions form one of three types of [[Hellenistic religion]], the others being the [[imperial cult]] or [[ethnic religion]] particular to a nation or state, and the [[Hellenistic philosophy|philosophic religion]]s such as [[Neoplatonism]]. This is also reflected in the tripartite division of "[[theology]]" by [[Varro]], in [[political theology|civil theology]] (concerning the state cult and its stabilizing effect on society), [[natural theology]] (philosophical speculation about the nature of the divine) and [[mythical theology]] (concerning [[myth and ritual]]). Mysteries thus supplement rather than compete with [[civil religion]]. An individual could easily observe the rites of the state cult, be an initiate in one or several mysteries, and at the same time adhere to a certain philosophical school.<ref name="IlesJohnson" />{{rp|99}} In contrast to the public rituals of civil religion, participation in which was expected of every member of society, initiation to a mystery was optional within Graeco-Roman polytheism. Many of the cultic aspects of public religion are repeated within the mystery, sacrifices, ritual meals, ritual purifications, etc., just with the additional aspect that they take place in secrecy, confined to a closed set of initiates.<ref name="KlauckMcNeil" />{{rp|86}}<!--citing Burkert, 1987 --> This is important in the context of the early [[persecution of Christians]]: Christianity was seen as objectionable by the Roman establishment not on grounds of its religious tenets or cultic practice, but because early Christians chose to consider their new faith as precluding the participation in the imperial cult, which was seen as subversive by the Roman establishment. The mystery cults offered a niche for the preservation of archaic religious ritual, and there is reason to assume that they were very conservative. The Eleusian Mysteries persisted for more than a millennium, more likely close to two millennia, during which period the ritual of public religion changed significantly, from the archaic cult of the Bronze to Early Iron Age to the [[Hero cult]] of Hellenistic civilization and again to the [[Roman imperial cult|imperial cult]] of the Roman era, while the ritual performances of the mysteries for all we know remained unchanged. "They had, more often than not, come up from a barbarous underworld. They were singularly persistent. The mysteries at Eleusis near Athens lasted for a thousand years; and there is reason to believe that they changed little during that long period."<ref name="Barnes" />{{rp|51}} For this reason, what glimpses we do have of the older Greek mysteries have been taken as reflecting certain archaic aspects of [[common Indo-European religion]], with parallels in [[Indo-Iranian religion]] in particular, by Janda (2000).<ref name="Janda" /> The mystery cults of Greco-Roman antiquity include the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], the [[Dionysian Mysteries]], and the [[Orphic Mysteries]]. Some of the many divinities that the Romans nominally adopted from other cultures also came to be worshipped in Mysteries, so for instance Egyptian [[Isis]], Persian [[Mithraic Mysteries]], Thracian/Phrygian [[Sabazius]], and Phrygian [[Cybele]].<ref name="Hall" />{{rp|21}} ==List of mystery cults== *[[Eleusinian Mysteries]] *[[Samothrace temple complex|Samothracean mysteries]] *[[Dionysian Mysteries]] *[[Orphism (religion)|Orphic mysteries]] *[[Cult of Isis]] *[[Mithraic Mysteries]] *[[Cybele#Greece|Cult of Cybele]] *[[Attis|Cult of Attis]] *[[Despoina#Cult_of_Despoina|Arcadian cult of Despoina]] *[[Trophonius#Trophonius_in_cult|Cult of Trophonius]] *[[Serapis]] *[[Sabazios]] ==See also== *[[Navigium Isidis]] ==References== {{reflist|refs= <ref name="Barnes">{{citation|last=Barnes|first=Ernest William|title=The Rise of Christianity|year=1947|p=50f}}.</ref> <ref name="KlauckMcNeil">{{citation|last=Klauck|first= Hans-Josef|last2=McNeil|first=Brian|title=The Religious Context of Early Christianity|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|year=2003|isbn=978-0-567-08943-4}}.<!--81-152?--></ref> <ref name="Janda">{{citation|last=Janda|first=Michael|title= Eleusis: das indogermanische Erbe der Mysterien|series=(Habil. Thesis)|location=Innsbruck|year=2000}}.</ref> <ref name="Hall">{{citation|last=Hall|first=Manly P.|title=The Secret Teachings of all ages|year=1928|location=San Francisco|publisher=s.p.|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/}}</ref> <ref name="Newberg">{{citation|last=Newberg|first=Andrew|year=2001|title=Why God Won't Go Away|location=New York|publisher=Ballantine}}</ref> <ref name="IlesJohnson">{{citation|last=Iles Johnson|first=Sarah|chapter=Mysteries|editor-last=Iles Johnson|editor-first=Sarah|title=Ancient Religions|location=Cambridge|publisher=Belknap Press/Harvard UP|year=2007|isbn=978-0-674-02548-6}}</ref> </references> }} ==Further reading== {{refbegin}} * {{citation|last=Burkert|first=Walter|authorlink=Walter Burkert|year=1987|title=Ancient Mystery Cults|location=Cambridge, Mass. |publisher= }} <!-- * {{citation|editor-last=Chisholm|editor-first=Hugh|chapter=Mystery|title=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|Encyclopædia Britannica]]|year=1911|publisher=Cambridge UP|location=Cambridge|chapter-url=http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Mystery}} * {{citation|last=Dodds|first=Eric R.|year=1968|title=The Greeks and the Irrational|location=Berkeley|publisher=UC Press}} <!-- * {{citation|last=Frazer|first=James G.|year=1957|title=The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion|location=London|publisher=Macmillan}} --> * {{citation|last=Kirk|first=Geoffrey S.|year=1970|title=Myth: Its Meaning and Function in Ancient and Other Cultures|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge UP}} * {{citation|last=Meyer |first=W. M. |year=1987 |title=The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook. Sacred Texts of the Mystery Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean World |location=San Francisco|publisher= }} * {{citation|last=Willoughby|first=H. R. |year=1929|title=Pagan Regeneration: Study of Mystery Initiations in the Graeco-Roman World |location=Chicago|publisher= }} * Brigitte Le Guen, ''Les Associations de Technites dionysiaques à l'époque hellénistique'', 2 vol. (Nancy, 2001). * Sophia Aneziri, ''Die Vereine der Dionysischen Techniten im Kontext der hellenistischen Gesellschaft'' (Stuttgart, 2003). * Michael B. Cosmopoulos (ed), ''Greek Mysteries: the archaeology and ritual of ancient Greek secret cults'' (London, Routledge, 2003). * Delneri, Francesca, ''I culti misterici stranieri nei frammenti della commedia attica'' antica (Bologna, Patron Editore, 2006) (Eikasmos, Studi, 13). * Giovanni Casadio and Patricia A. Johnston (eds), ''Mystic Cults in Magna Graecia'' (Austin, TX, University of Texas Press, 2009). * Hugh Bowden, ''Mystery Cults of the Ancient World'' (Princeton, Princeton UP, 2010). {{refend}} [[Category:Greco-Roman mysteries| ]] [[ar:ديانة غامضة]] [[bg:Религиозни мистерии]] [[ca:Religió mistèrica]] [[da:Mysteriereligion]] [[de:Mysterienkult]] [[el:Μυστηριακές θρησκείες]] [[es:Religión mistérica]] [[eo:Misterecaj religioj]] [[fr:Culte à Mystères]] [[ko:그리스-로마 신비 가르침]] [[id:Misteri Yunani-Romawi]] [[ia:Mysterios]] [[it:Religioni misteriche]] [[lt:Misterijos]] [[hu:Misztériumvallás]] [[nl:Mysteriecultus]] [[no:Mysteriereligion]] [[pl:Misteria starożytne]] [[pt:Religião de mistérios]] [[ro:Religiile de mistere]] [[ru:Мистерии]] [[sr:Мистерије]] [[fi:Mysteeriuskonto]] [[sv:Mysteriekult]] [[uk:Містерії]] == Slot Machines Night Out == Online casinos for [http://www.onlinexcasinos.com/Casino_Games/Slot_Machines/A_Night_Out_Online_Slots_c34.html | A night out Online Slots] games are very interesting, but it should not be taken away, always staying within your limits, but the game is fascinating. 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