Mithraism
In the name of Allah most gracious most merciful
I can give you thousands of articles about mithraism .
If you call -Mithraism- Tarsus- Saul - Paul -Christianity -link and all the
similar doctrines and rituals that we object only a COINCIDENCE this will
be your decision of course
http://www.geocities.com/shivsantan/mithra.htm
Being the Sun God, Mithra was worshipped on Sundays. That was their day of rest. Original Christians worshipped on Saturdays keeping the Israeli tradition. Constantine also changed the Christian weekly holy day from Saturday to Sunday.
The most interesting similarity is that the Mithra religion was ruled from the Vatican Hill by a leader called Papa (Pope). There are other startling similarities. Like Jesus, Mithra was worshipped as the saviour who granted his followers immortal life following baptism. On Sundays the followers of Mithra celebrated sacramenta which was a consecrated meal of bread and wine and was called Myazda which is exactly the same as the Catholic Missa (Mass). They used bells, candles, incense, and holy water for this. And this was in remembrance of the last supper of Mithra!
Another great similarity is in what is believed about the bread and wine. At the last supper Jesus said that salvation is for those who eat the flesh (bread) and blood (wine) of Jesus. Mithra supposedly said something quite the same: those who did not eat his flesh (bread) and drink his blood (wine) would not know salvation.
Many of the Christian traditions that are almost identical to Mithraism do not even have any roots in the Bible. These traditions and beliefs of Mithraism were exclusive to Mithraism until the fourth century A.D. and were not part of Christianity. These similarities are more than coincidence as Constantine directly added some of the Mithra traditions to Christianity.
Had Constantine amalgamated the two religions, Mithraism and the Jesus’s religion, into one Christian religion? The survival of so many elements of Mithraism through Christianity and the changes made by Constantine clearly suggest this. The making of Sunday as the sacred day and keeping the mass (Sunday service) and appointing the 25th of December, Mithra’s birthday as Jesus’ and most importantly, making the pope the head of the Christian church certainly points to amalgamation. (It is said that the garb of the pope comes from before Christianity.)