The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism - novelonlinefull.com
You’re read light novel The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism Part 23 online at NovelOnlineFull.com. Please use the follow button to get notification about the latest chapter next time when you visit NovelOnlineFull.com. Use F11 button to read novel in full-screen(PC only). Drop by anytime you want to read free – fast – latest novel. It’s great if you could leave a comment, share your opinion about the new chapters, new novel with others on the internet. We’ll do our best to bring you the finest, latest novel everyday. Enjoy
54) the origin of the belief and of its diffusion under the empire.
26. Cf. _supra_, p. 152, and pp. 189 ff.; _Mon. myst. Mithra_, I, p. 296.
27. This idea was spread by the Stoics ([Greek: ekpurosis]) and by astrology (_supra_, p. 177); also by the Oriental religions, see Lactantius, _Inst._, VII, 18, and _Mon. myst. Mithra_, I, p. 310.
28. Gruppe (_Griech. Mythol._, pp. 1488 ff.) has tried to indicate the different elements that entered into this doctrine.
29. Cf. supra, pp. 134 f., p. 160 and _pa.s.sim_. The similarity {288} of the pagan theology to Christianity was strongly brought out by Arn.o.bius, II, 13-14.--Likewise in regard to the Orient, de Wilamowitz has recently pointed out the close affinity uniting the theology of Synesius with that of Proclus (_Sitzungsb. Akad. Berlin_, XIV, 1907, pp. 280 ff.) he has also indicated how philosophy then led to Christianity.
30. M. Pichon (_Les derniers ecrivains profanes_, Paris, 1906) has recently shown how the eloquence of the panegyrists unconsciously changed from paganism to monotheism. See also Maurice, _Comptes Rendus Acad.
Inscriptions_, 1909, p. 165.--The vague deism of Constantine strove to reconcile the opposition of heliolatry and Christianity (Burckhardt, _Die Zeit Constantins_, pp. 353 ff.) and the emperor's letters addressed to Arius and the community of Nicomedia (Migne, _P. G._, Lx.x.xV, col. 1343 ff.) are, as shown by Loeschke (_Das Syntagma des Gelasius_ [Rhein. Mus., LXI], 1906, p. 44), "ein merkwurdiges Produkt theologischen Dilettantismus, aufgebaut auf im wesentlichen pantheistischer Grundlage mit Hilfe weniger christlicher Termini und fast noch weniger christlicher Gedanken." I shall cite a pa.s.sage in which the influence of the astrological religion is particularly noticeable (col. 1552 D): [Greek: Idou gar ho kosmos morphe eitoun schema tunchanei hon; kai hoi asteres ge charakteras probeblentai; kai holos to pneuma tou sphairoeidous toutou kuklou, eidos ton onton tunchanei hon, kai hosper morphoma; kai h.o.m.os ho Theos pantachou paresti.]
