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Eusebia In Ancient Greek there is no word which corresponds completely to our word "religion". The word which comes the closest is "eusebia" meaning "piety" or revrence for the traditional Gods. Eusebia' primary concern, however, is not so much the individual, as it is the group - be that group family, clan, society, or the city-state. The purpose of Eusebia is to foster good-will, peace, happiness, and prosperity. Likewise, it is meant to avert the disfavor of the Gods, war, contention, and famine. It is centered around the sacrifice, which itself is concerned with the bringing together of the Gods and man, and man and man. Once the Gods have been offered their proper due and their favor has been confirmed by the officiating priest - the community shares in the bounty of the animal. The feast is filled with songs, dances, dramatic performances, drinking contests, and games of sport. Eusebia is all public show and display. It makes no moral demands of its practicioners (save for purity codes) and requires them to accept no dogmas. As you can imagine, such a faith has a tendency to leave its practicioners unfilfilled. Therefore, Greek religion developed two complimentary forms to keep the individual occupied between festivals and to answer the deep questions of his soul. Respectively, these are Philosophy and the Mystery-faith. Rather than being replacements for Eusebia, they were considered fulfillments of it. Philosophy The primary concerns of Philosophy are cosmology (the origin of the universe), theology (the nature and function of the Gods), psychology (the study of the soul), ethics (how man should function in society), and other, related fields. In the past, there were many different Schools of Philosophy, with different approaches and varying conclusions. These days, specialization is rare, and people tend to explore and borrow from all of the Schools, taking as our own that which is good and true and wise. For as Cicero so wisely said, "All wisdom is ours." In matters of Ethics and leading the Good Life, I lean strongly towards the position of the Stoics and Epicureans. The Epicureans held that the supreme blessings of life were a body free from pain and a mind free from disturbance, while Stoicism taught man to endure hardships heroically. The best-known Stoics were Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus, an Emperor and a Slave, respectively. While I greatly admire these Schools, I do not find comfort in their teachings about man's soul and the Gods. Therefore, I turn to Neoplatonism for the Big Questions of life. Neoplatonism was a mystical approach to the Philosophy of Plato, begun in Egypt in the 3rd Century by the Alexandrian Plotinus who eventually founded a School in Rome. Great luminaries of the tradition were Porphyry (Plotinus' disciple), Iamblichus, Proclus, and my personal hero, the Emperor Julian (wrongly called "the Apostate"). Neoplatonism taught the soul's immortality and ultimately divine nature. Our purpose is to regain Union with the One, which they understood to be an Ultimate and Unknowable Most High God - but who is, for me, Dionysos. The NeoPlatonists were interested in all things mystical, especially ecstatic techniques, numerology, astrology, and magic, and offered radical new interpretations of the traditional myths and practices of the Greeks and their neighbors. Mystery Because not all men are Philosophers and a religion
primarily concerned with the community tends to leave the
individual feeling "cold", a third element was developed -
the Mystery-cult. The Mystery-cult is not a distinct
religion in and of itself, and it makes no claim to
exclusivity. One can have undergone Initiation into the
Mysteries of the Two Goddesses (which, at one time, most
people did) and still function as a Priest of Olympian Zeus.
(The one possible exception to this was the Mithraic
Mysteries, which tended towards exclusivity.) There was no
conversion within the Mysteries, no need to turn your back
upon everything that you had previously believed or done.
Frequently, the Mysteries interpreted the traditional myths
in a new light, or revealed things contrary to the accepted
form - but it was assumed that this was just a deeper
revelation, and that the accepted way was valuable and
truthful - for those who have not undergone Initiation.
Usually, one was required to undergo a vow of secrecy upon
Initiation, and this vow was considered of the utmost
importance, and very few ever betrayed their oath. In
essence, the Mysteries were an approach to religion for
those who wanted more out of their faith than Eusebia could
offer. It had personally meaningful rituals, a unique logos
or account of things, and strange, secretive practices which
outsiders were not privy to. The Mystery-cult offered the
fellowship of like-minded individuals and the exclusion of
those who were not in the "know", with all of the spiritual
pride that such a situation produces, and as a consequence,
the Mystery-cult was very popular. There were a number of
different Mystery-cults, largely associated with foriegn
deities i.e. Isis, Mithras, the Magna Mater, the Syrian
Goddess or Greek Gods who had undergone an "Orientilizing"
process i.e. Dionysos, the Kabiri, the Two Goddesses of
Eleusis. There were broad similarities between the
Mysteries, and also great differences. |
