Note 620 — Lecture X. THE INFLUENCE OF THE MYSTERIES UPON CHRISTIAN USAGES.
Reading edition
Similar practices existed in the Church and in the new religions which were growing up. Justin Martyr speaks of the way in which, under the inspiration of demons, the supper had been imitated in the Mithraic mysteries: ὅπερ καὶ ἐν τοῖς τοῦ Μίθρα μυστηρίοις παρέδωκαν γίνεσθαι μιμησάμενοι οἱ πονηροὶ δαίμονες: Apol. 1. 66. Tertullian points to the fact as an instance of the power of the devil (de præsc. hær. 40): “qui ipsas quoque res sacramentorum divinorum idolorum mysteriis æmulatur.” He specifies, inter alia, “expositionem delictorum de lavacro repromittit ... celebrat et panis oblationem.” Celsus, too, speaks of the μυστήρια and the τελεταὶ of Mithras and others: Orig. c. Cels. 6. 22.