The Mithraic Ritual
The rituals of the Mithraic mysteries centred on the commemoration of the sacrifice and sacred banquet, alongside the initiatory practices through which members entered and advanced within the community.
Cautopates – Massimo Livadiotti
The banquet
The ritual banquet is based on the mythical episode in which Mithras and Sol meet to share a sacred meal before beginning their ascent to the heavens. Franz Cumont interpreted this moment as a form of “Last Supper”, celebrated by Mithras at the end of his mission on earth before ascending in the solar chariot. For the initiates, the banquet possessed a sacramental meaning linked both to the commemoration of the mythical event and to the cohesion of the community itself. The Mithraic community gathered expressly to celebrate this sacred meal.
Bread, wine, and meat occupy a central place in the symbolism of the banquet. Cumont interpreted the ritual as a continuation of Iranian religious practices associated with the sacrifice of the bull and the consumption of the haoma. Vermaseren, meanwhile, saw in it an expression of salvation and rebirth. The sacred banquet celebrated within the mysteries reproduced the mythical meal shared by Mithras and Sol. During the ceremony, the roles of the two gods were assumed by two prominent initiates of the community, the Pater and the Heliodromus, accompanied by the other initiates.
The chain of union
The mythological episode in which Mithras and Sol seal their agreement through the joining of hands, known as iunctio dextrarum or dexiosis, also formed part of Mithraic ritual practice. Through this gesture, the Pater, acting as the earthly representative of Mithras, reinforced the bond of brotherhood uniting the initiates, who were themselves linked through the sacred fraternity of the syndexi.
The initiation
The mysterious nature of Mithraism was expressed not only through the secrecy surrounding the rites performed within the mithraea, but also through initiation itself, which served as the means by which new members entered the community. The believer joined the mysteries only after undergoing a ritual process through which the sacred teachings were gradually revealed. The initiate therefore understood the day of initiation as a new birth, becoming, as the formula states, natus et renatus.
The candidate, naked, blindfolded, and with his hands bound behind his back, was guided by a mystagogue who introduced him into the community. The initiation process marked the symbolic abandonment of the initiate’s former existence and his entry into a new life identified with Mithras and with the salvation granted through the mysteries.
Participation in the Mithraic mysteries was organised according to a hierarchy of seven grades, progressively attained by the initiate. Each degree was associated with the protection of a particular planet. The grades themselves were traditionally divided into two categories: the first three fulfilled assisting or ministerial functions within the ceremonies, while the remaining four occupied a more fully participatory role.
To know more
- G.R.S. Mead. A Mithraic Ritual. The Hermetic Library.
- J.R. Russell. On Mithraism and Freemasonry. The Scottish Rite Research Society, Washington D.C., 1996.
- Attilio Mastrocinque. The Mysteries of Mithras: A Different Account. Mohr Siebeck, 2017.
- George Robert Stow Mead. The “Mithras Liturgy”: Text, Translation, and Commentary. Mohr Siebeck, 2003.
- Marvin W. Meyer. The Mithras Liturgy from the Paris Codex. The Hermetic Library.
