(CE:1865A-1871A) PAGANISM and CHRISTIANITY in EGYPT. During the Roman Era the Religious Life of Egypt Was Characterized by Great Diversity
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(CE:1865a-1871a) PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY IN EGYPT. During the Roman era the religious life of Egypt was characterized by great diversity. First, there was the traditional religion inherited from the pharaonic age. The theology and the rituals of the past were preserved by the priests in a number of pharaonic-style temples, such as those in Dandarah, Isna, Idfu, Kom Ombo, Philae, and Nubia, which had been reconstructed under the Ptolemies. Karnak and Luxor substantially retained their original form. Besides reliefs, the temples were decorated with hieroglyphic inscriptions written in a system that varied from temple to temple. These texts appeared to the ordinary Egyptians and Greeks to contain a mysterious wisdom, since for a long time only priests could read hieroglyphs. Indeed, it was in these temples that traditional theology found a last refuge. Astronomy, chemistry, alchemy, medicine, philology, and history also were pursued in the temples. While these temples were respected by the state authorities and the people, they had a limited effect on the development of beliefs during the Roman rule. They represented isolated fortresses of the past in a transformed world. Second, the original form of Greek religion was in decline. Outside Alexandria the cult of Homeric gods retained importance in Naucratis, Oxyrhynchus, the Fayyum, and Ptolemais. The cult of the Dioscuri constituted a remarkable element. Since they did not have Egyptian counterparts, they remained untouched by any local influence. One of the last products of Greek epic, the Dionysiaca, a compendium of mythology, was composed by NONNOS OF PANOPOLIS. Third, since Herodotus, the Greeks had discovered common features in Greek and Egyptian deities and had linked them with each other, for instance, Osiris-Dionysus, Isis-Demeter, Isis- Aphrodite, Horus-Apollo, Ammon-Zeus, Mut-Hera, Chonsu- Heracles, Thoth-Hermes. After Alexander the Great, the long coexistence of the two ethnic communities made these equations popular with the masses and led to the formation of numerous syncretistic Greco-Egyptian cults. It was Serapis (Osiris-Apis) amalgamated with Zeus, Helius, Hades, Poseidon, and other deities, as well as Isis, who had the greatest appeal to the Greco-Roman world. Greeks living in Egypt were attracted to Egyptian funerary cults and gradually adopted mummification. Fourth, the Jewish communities in Alexandria and in other places constituted an important religious factor. The Septuagint and the religious treatises of Philo rendered their faith accessible to members of other ethnic groups. They had a temple in Leontopolis from the time of Ptolemay VI Philometor (180-145 B.C.). It was erected by the high priest Onias (Josephus Flavius Antiquitates 13.3) within the building of a deserted temple of the goddess Bast. After the capture of Jerusalem by Titus (A.D. 70), it was closed. The suppression of the Jewish revolt in A.D. 115 temporarily broke the power of the Jews in Egypt. Enmity between them and the Greeks in Alexandria was a recurring element. A grave conflict between Christians and Jews in the time of Cyril ended with the sacking of the Jewish quarter. Fifth, the rest of the cults did not play any prominent part. Among them the cults of Jupiter Capitolinus in Arsinoë, of the goddess Roma, and of the emperors received support from the state, though some pagan monuments were dedicated by soldiers stationed in Egypt. Oriental deities were worshiped in smaller circles. We have a vivid early Ptolemaic description of the Adonis festival in Alexandria in the Adoniazusai of Theocritus, and there is evidence for this cult also from the Roman period, when Adonis was identified with Osiris and Aion. Astarte had her cult in Egypt from the time of the New Kingdom. Atargatis also was adopted in Egypt. Mithra had a sanctuary in Alexandria and was venerated in other places. There was a Nanaion in Alexandria built in honor of the semitic goddess Nanaia. Christianity According to Eusebius, Christianity was introduced into Alexandria by Saint Mark, though earlier sources do not mention this mission. Scanty evidence hinders the reconstruction of the history of early Christianity in Egypt. The earliest record is a fragmentary papyrus of the Gospel according to Saint John. It is a matter of debate how strongly the early Christian communities were connected with the Jews, and it is far from clear how they were influenced by gnosticism. At any rate, the strong presence of gnosticism in second-century Alexandria is evident in the works of Basilides and Valentinus. Also, the heritage of Hellenism was an important element in the development of Alexandrian theology. The history of the Alexandrian church can be traced from Patriarch DEMETRIUS I (189-231) on. During the third century, the church made considerable progress throughout the country. There were bishops in Alexandria and in Nilopolis and Hermopolis (Eusebius Historia ecclesiastica, 6.42, 6.46). By the end of the third century the church achieved respectability among different classes and ethnic groups. In some districts a considerable part of the population may have belonged to the Christian community. Conflict with Other Religions From its very beginning Christianity was in opposition to all other contemporary religions. The refusal to take part in the cult of the emperors and in other religious rites was a source of conflict with the authorities. Until the time of CONSTANTINE the church had no choice but to struggle against paganism on the ideological plane, in preaching, and in literature. The existence of heathen gods was not explicitly denied; rather, they were declared to be evil spirits or demons: ". all the gods of the nations are demons" (Psalms 96:5). This meaning was given to the sentence in the Septuagint, while the Hebrew original has a somewhat different sense. The New Testament (1 Cor. 10:20) and the fathers of the church (e.g., Lactantius Divinae institutiones, 4.27) also regarded the gods as demons. Two passages of the Old Testament were interpreted as prophecies predicting the triumph of Christianity in Egypt: Isaiah 19:19, "In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt . ."; Isaiah 19:1, ". Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt; the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall be melted in the midst of it." In Coptic and Greek hagiography many legends about the destruction of idols by saints and martyrs were based on Matthew 8:29, in which the demons cry out, "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before time?" The negative attitude of the Old Testament toward Egypt was accepted by the church. Nevertheless, the words of Paul (Romans 1:19-23) were interpreted to mean that God revealed His qualities to the Gentiles—including the Egyptians—through His created works, but the Gentiles failed to offer the right kind of worship to him. The passage induced Augustine to form a more favorable opinion: There may be others to be found who perceived and taught this truth among those who were esteemed as sages or philosophers in the other nations: Libyans of Atlas, Egyptians, Indians, Chaldeans, Scythians, Gauls, Spaniards. Whoever they may have been, we rank such thinkers above all others and acknowledge them as representing the closest approximation to our Christian position [Saint Augustine De civitate Dei 8.9, trans. H. Bettensen, Harmondsworth, 1972]. Animal worship, mentioned in Romans 1:23, was an object of ridicule in the works of the fathers of the church. One of the first to speak of it is Justinus (Apology 1.24). The Catechetical School of Alexandria was interested in both Greek and Egyptian religion. It was CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA who first discussed some aspects of Egyptian religion. He appears deeply impressed by the splendor of the temples but finds it absurd that animal gods were worshiped there (Paedagogus 2.4.2ff.). Nevertheless, when making a comparison with the gods of the Greeks, he shows, remarkably, more indulgence for the animal worship than for the "adulterous" Greek gods (Protrepticus 2.39.4ff.). Origen, too, condemned the religion of the Egyptians. He learned, however, from the work of Celsus and probably from other sources that there was a deeper meaning behind the cult of the sacred animals. Euhemerism was one of the weapons used against ancient mythology. Athenagoras used the testimony of Egyptian priests and sages in claiming that originally the gods had been men who came to be deified later. By the words of inspired nonbiblical poets and prophets, the Christian authors endeavored to support their claim that the victory of Christianity was inevitable. This constituted a remarkable element in the religious conflict. Besides Virgil's Fourth Eclogue, supposedly predicting the birth of Jesus, the Sibylline Oracles, in reality reflecting Christian and Jewish ideas, were also in high esteem as pagan prophecies. They contain several passages relating to the decline of the gods in Egypt. Clement of Alexandria quoted the Sibylline Oracules' prophecy that the temple of Isis and Serapis would be overthrown (Protrepticus 4.50.3). In another passage, a priest clad in linen cloth summons his compatriots, the Egyptians, to build a splendid sanctuary to the true God and to repudiate the idolatry of the ancestors (5.493-96). Sibylla enjoyed a high reputation with the Copts as the sister of Henoch, her position being something like that of a saint. Saint Augustine wanted to make HERMES TRISMEGISTUS- Thoth into the prophet of the decline of Egyptian religion. In a Hermetic literary work of unknown authorship, the highly emotional description of the plagues predicted to befall Egypt (Asclepius 24- 26) was considered by Augustine (De civitate Dei 8.23) to be a prophecy lamenting the destruction of Egyptian religion by Christianity.