Roman religious practices and the Catholic Mass

[Cornelius Quintus]

Discussing similarities is not what this thread is about. The problem with this thread is that it asks the question : what pagan rituals survive in the RC Mass ?

Ave Theo,

you're right. A discussion about similarities of different cults/religions to christianity in a special period might be okay. But no conclusions or comments about recent religions or special churches, like the RCC.

What many of you Europeans may not know is that in this country there have been some books written in recent years by anti-Catholics who claim that the Latin Mass is nothing more than an amalgamation of pagan rituals that the church papered over to make it appear Christian - the sick joke being that the RCC fooled everyone and Catholics are actually practicing paganism

That's the point. Perhaps the origin of that kind of books is more known in Europe, than you suppose... Even old Alexander Hislop from 1858 (!) is still being reprinted. Therefore even as a protestant, I don't like anything basing on 'conspiracy' theories and pseudo-scientific texts…

We will (under the current rules of this forum) not discuss modern religion in terms of 'you are wrong to believe that or this'because I believe so and so'.
IF you think you have arguments about, say, the origins of rituals in early Christianity, then discuss them with arguments based on fact. That's not a request, that implementing the rules. Siorry folks, but we've had troubles in the past weeks about modern religion and we're determined to moderate this so that no more feelings are hurt. Discuss the subject but discuss facts and arguments. Use references, not sentences like: 'I know this happened', or: 'I believe so or so'.
Those who nonetheles feel offended, friendly confront those who did, it may have been unintentional. OK?

I count on your cooperation to keep this a non-offensive and productive discussion!

Thanks, Robert!
Similarities might be subject of discussion, because some Christian titles, ceremonies, clothing or offices/functions are not mentioned word-for-word in the bible. So it might be interesting to know the origin of terms and whether they were common terms in their period of time or special ones connected to a unique background. But discussion should be restricted until about 500 AD and to the view and understanding of the ancient people. (So even calling something a ‘cult’, ‘faith’ or a ‘religion’ may depend on the special target group. Average ancient Romans or Christians might have had a very different point of view on that topic :wink: ). Meaning of terms also is changing though the times and our modern way of understanding or using it might be very different. (Peter Connolly for example writes, our well known keyword ‘lorica segmentata’ was no Roman name hock: – see Rome and Greece at War, p 321)…