hat drew sustenance especially from the so-called Oriental mystery religions of the Roman imperial age; in the long run, it was claimed, even the early church could not escape the influence of those religions” (Encyclopedia of Religion Vol. #10 pg. 231). The Greek mysteries are traced back to the pre-Classical Mycenaean period and were most likely ancient rituals of initiation into a clan or an association. Of the Greek mysteries, the mysteries of Eleusis, which provided a pattern for the idea of mysteries, were the most important. The mythological background for the Eleusinian mysteries centered on a story of the goddesses Demeter and Kore in which Kore (the divine daughter of Demeter) is carried down to the lower world by Aidoneus. After searching for her child and mourning for her, Kore is finally restored to Demeter. Before Demeter returns to Olympos, Demeter founded a sacred worship where she instructed the princes of the Eleusinians in the performance of the cult. The story of Kore’s return envelopes the theme of loss (death), grief, search, and (re)discovery (life). Pythagoreans were a secret society begun by Pythagoras of Somos in the sixth century B.C. The Pythagorean School of Philosophy was founded by Pythagoras in the city of Crotona, Italy. Pythagoras established the school in pursuit of higher studies in mathematics, astronomy, music, metaphysics, and polydaemonistic theology (Wheelwright 201). The Pythagoreans practiced a very “disciplined community life, which included both a daily regimen of activities and studies and the practice of non-possession by sharing unreservedly all the necessities of living; and by carefully guarded conditions of membership which nevertheless allowed (for the first time in history, so far as known) the admission of women as members” (Wheelwright 201). The Pythagoreans’ religious beliefs were very similar to those of the early mystery cults. They be...
