In recent studies for school, I have had to look into the subject of the “mystery” cults that existed in many parts of the ancient world in the early Christian era. I just wanted to post a brief description of what these mystery religions entailed, as I found them very interesting and think some of you may as well.
Demeter and Persephone, Eleusinian Mysteries Initiation Relief
The mystery religions, or cults, involved initiation into secret rites and the performance of sacred dramas that presented the initiate with hidden knowledge pertaining to the afterlife and the gods. Often there was a promise of immortality resulting from initiation into the cult. The Greek word “musterion” here means “secret rite or teaching,” and a “mystes” was one who had been initiated. Many times, these cults were not religions, per se, but were groups attached to more mainstream belief systems. The mystery cults were very widespread, being found in various cultures and times, the most famous being the Eleusinian, Orphic, Dionysian, Cybellic, and Mithric.
Although there are differences between them, most of the mysteries involved fertility rites and harvest celebrations. Often they entailed a dramatic representation of the fertility god’s death and journey to the underworld and subsequent resurrection and immortality. The initiate would usually re-enact or otherwise imitate the god’s journey, thus obtaining the same immortality as the god. The details of these rites were generally not written down and were to be kept secret, death being the penalty for revealing them. There is much in early Christianity, with its dying and rising God and secret apostolic traditions, that can be compared to these mysteries.
The Telesterion of Athens, portrayed in the model above, was the location where the main part of the Eleusinian initiation was performed, after initiates had undertaken a symbolic journey that led to this final destination. Compare “telesterion” and “telestai” to “telestial” of LDS terminology. Telestai is a Greek term meaning “initiates.” The telestai were initiated in the Telesterion. While I have not seen any place where Joseph Smith explicitly defined Telestial as having to do with initiation, it makes sense that the telestial world, which is descriptive of the world we live in, is the place where initiation needs to take place before one can enter a celestial world. For Latter-day Saints, the temple is our telesterion where we become telestai.
In his Immortality of the Soul, Plutarch writes that “the soul at the moment of death, goes through the same experiences as those who are initiated into the great mysteries. The word and the act are similar: we say telentai (to die) and telestai (to be initiated).”
A couple of months from now (after school is done), I hope to start a series of posts that comment on the translation of some gold plates that have been discovered buried with the bodies of initiates into the Orphic mysteries. These small gold plates are inscribed with instructions that detail what the deceased person must do and say when he reaches the Netherworld. This is fascinating material and I can’t wait to share it with you.
8 Comments
I have always considered Telestial to mean furthest Kingdom from God. Tel as in telephone, television, teleconference etc, always has to do with distance. The same seems natural to me that telestial is the distant kingdom.
I have never heard this from the pulpit, nor have I read this anywhere else. This is just a connection I made one day when thinking about it.
Great post. I can’t wait for your posts on the translations of those plates! This subject has fascinated me for some time now. One of the things that got me really interested was Joseph Campbell’s interpretation of the mystery cult ceremony’s engraved on a Greek sacramental bowl. I have been unable to find where my teacher got the description from (which of Campbell’s books), but it was fascinating and probably similar to what those plates, you’re going to tell us about, say.
I enjoyed your blog and would appreciate updates. I have always been intersted in ancient history and the links it has to the world around us. I do see the connections with our beliefs, and logically there would be if all religions ultimately came from the same origin.
¡Hola David!
¡Interesante artículo!
Lo he traducido y publicado aquí: http://mormontranslator.blogspot.com/2009/04/una-breve-nota-sobre-las-religiones.html
Gracias por compartir tan interesantes temas
Thank you all for your comments. Sorry I have been so bad at responding.
Steve–that’s not a bad theory! There certainly may be something to that idea. My interpretation comes from the Greek “telos” and related words. Telos has to do with the end, the goal, the purpose (of mankind, of life, etc.). It also has to do with how you get there, namely “initiation.” Telos is related to telestai, meaning “initiates” — those progressing towards the telos.
Tevya–thanks for your interest. I hope to begin posting on the Orphic plates some time in May. You are most likely right that the plates served a similar function to the bowl you mention. If I’m not mistaken, it seems like the Egyptians had similar bowls that were buried with them.
Eunice–thanks for visiting! I’m not exactly sure what you mean by “updates”–are you referring to further posts on this subject matter?
Juan–Como siempre, muchas gracias por su buen servicio con el traduccion! Aprecio mucho!
I recently ran across a forum given at BYU-Idaho (then Ricks College) by Hugh Nibley in 1990. In it he talks about Facsimile 2 from the Pearl of Great Price and describes it as essential the same thing you describe these plates. You can listen to it here. I have an MP3 version if anyone wants it.
Its really unfortunate that they just cut him off. There must’ve been another event in the same location, so they had to move out to make way for it.
Thanks so much for those links, Tevya. They’re awesome! This was such a common motif in ancient religion that it turns up in all kinds of formats and sources. It seems clear that the beliefs and rituals of what we term “mystery religions” had ancient antecedents — that these themes were a regular part of the great religions of ancient times.
“It seems clear that the beliefs and rituals of what we term ‘mystery religions’ had ancient antecedents…”
So true. That’s why I love studying this stuff.