The title of the Pope in Rome today is Pontifex Maximus. “Pontifex Maximus” was originally the title of the chief high priest of the College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome, not specifically the Emperor, though several Emperors did hold the title. This title indicated both religious and secular authority within the Republic and the Empire, responsible for overseeing sacred rites to Jupiter/Zeus at the Temple on Capitoline Hill. The College of Pontiffs was established around 300 BCE, an organization of high priests overseeing public religious services. Sound familiar? That’s because the College of Cardinals directly descends from it.
The Protestants might be happy to hear Misanthrope claim this would make you sick, because they’d correctly state that absolutely none of this is in the Bible. The entire liturgical structure of the Catholic Church is pagan, an inherited but corrupted structure from classical antiquity. Thus, a great majority of historic Christianity is syncretic. You might even say haphazardly pagan. The very idea of a high priest who would oversee the spiritual and religious duties is copped by the Pope’s role in Catholicism. The vestments worn by Catholic clergy, the use of incense (especially frankincense, the main herb used by invocations in Hellenism), chants, the sanctification of holy spaces, and the very architecture of Catholic cathedrals are derived from religious practices of pagan Rome. Let’s not get into art. The processions, the veneration of saints (akin to the Roman household gods or Lares), ancestor worship (which Catholics pretend they don’t do), and the hierarchical structure all reflect a continuity from Rome’s Hellenic pagan past. The Catholic Church’s liturgy, with its detailed rituals and sacraments is a direct continuation of the Greco-Roman pagan way of embedding religious practice into every aspect of public and private life. The transformation of its pantheon of gods into a multitude of saints, each with specific roles and domains is indistinguishable from how they interacted with their deities.
Fortissax, “Spiteful Mutant Christians”, Fortissax is Typing, 2024-07-19.
[NR: Glossary links added.]
October 24, 2024
QotD: From the OG Pontifex Maximus to the Pope
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