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The charismatic character of the Bible once went by another name....Serapis Christus. But where did the origins of this character come from and why does the story of Jesus the Christ match so closely to the Egyptian story of Heru (Horus)
Jesus
Christ aka Serapis
The Ancient Egyptian/Christian Holy Families
The very thing that is now called the Christian religion was already in existence in Ancient Egypt, long before the adoption of the New Testament. The British Egyptologist, Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, wrote in his book, The Gods of the Egyptians [1969],
'The events which transpired five thousand years ago; Five years ago or five minutes ago, have determined what will happen five minutes from now; five years From now or five thousand years from now. All history is a current event.' Dr. John Henrik Clarke
The future is the past, modified. So one's hope of the future is still the past moving to what one considers to be the future. The mind never moves out of the past. The future is always the mind acting, living, thinking in the past.
What is the past? It is one's racial inheritance, one's conditioning as Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Catholic, American and so on. It is the education one has received the hurts the delights, as remembrances. That is the past. That is one's consciousness.
Worship of Serapis
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/serapis.htm
The chief center of the worship of Serapis in Ptolemaic times was Alexandria at the great Serapeum, which was considered a wonder and a site of pilgrimage throughout the Mediterranean world, until it was destroyed by order of Emperor Theodosius in 389 AD. The Serapeum which Ptolemy repaired, or founded, was probably around Rhakotis near Pompey's pillar and was a very remarkable building.
Interestingly, Rhakotis was the small Egyptian village that had been located on the site of what would become Alexandria, and some traditions hold that Osirapis was its local God.
The Temples main plan seems to have resembled that of the famous Serapeum at Memphis, but parts of it were richly painted and gilded, and it possessed a fine library which was said to contain some 300,000 (or perhaps as many as 42,000) volumes. The library was actually an annex of the Great Library of Alexandria, and hence known as the 'Daughter Library'.
Within the temple was a specific and famous statue of Serapis. How the statue came to be in Alexandria at this temple is of some interest. Tradition holds that, while Ptolemy was considering the possibility of a hybrid god to unit the Egyptians and Greeks, he had a dream, wherein a colosssal statue of some god appeared to him and bid the king to remove it to Alexandria. According to Plutarch (De Iside et Osiride, 28), he had never seen a similar statue, and he knew neither the place where it stood, nor to whom it belonged. One day he happened to mention his dream to Sosibius, and described the statue which he had seen, whereon this man declared that he had seen a statue like it at Sinope. Tradition says that this was Sinope on the Pontus, and adds that as the inhabitants of the city were extremely unwilling to part with their statue, it, of its own accord, after waiting for three years, entered into a ship and arrived at Alexandria safely after a voyage of only three days. However, others provide that after three years of futile negotiations, Ptolemy's men simply stole, the statue, claiming that it had boarded their boat on its own.
There were other smaller temples and shrines dedicated to this god in various locations throughout Egypt, but the god's cult was also spread throughout much of the Graeco-Roman world by traders and other converts. Another Notable cult center was the Greek holy site of Delos, which was founded by an Egyptian priest in the third century BC.
There was even a Roman Period sculpted head of Serapis, dating to the second or early third century AD, discovered in London at the Walbrook Mithraem, and a temple of Serapis is mentioned in an inscription found at the Roman site of Eburacum (modern York) in the United Kingdom. Hence, he was even important enough to reach the most distant areas of the Roman Empire.
Interestingly however, Serapis really never received wide acclaim in Egypt itself, where other more traditional Egyptian deities continued to receive more popular worship.
Early Christianity
Serapis may have finally had certain ties with the early Christian community. There were certainly some similarities between Serapis and the Hebrew God. Serapis was a supreme god, and it seems that some early worshippers of Christ amongst the Gentiles could have possibly worshipped Serapis either purposefully, or confusing him with Christ, though the confusion seems more likely to have been one of language.
A correspondence of Emperor Hadrian refers to Alexandrian worshippers of Serapis calling themselves ‘Bishops of Christ’:
'Egypt, which you commended to me, my dearest Servianus, I have found to be wholly fickle and inconsistent, and continually wafted about by every breath of fame. The worshipers of Serapis (here) are called Christians, and those who are devoted to the god Serapis (I find), call themselves Bishops of Christ.'
–Hadrian to Servianus, 134A.D. (Quoted by Giles, ii p86)
In fact, it appears that some followers of Serapis were eventually expelled from Rome when, in 19 AD, Tiberius also expelled the Jews.
Nevertheless, how great confusion between Serapis and Christ could have existed is really somewhat questionable. In 68 AD, a mob of pagans is said to have formed at the Serapis Temple in Alexandria, who then descended on the Christians who were celebrating Easter at Baucalis. There, they sized St. Mark, dragging him through the streets, before throwing him in prison. Clearly those worshippers of Serapis and Christ were aware of each other and the differences within their religions, though perhaps at a later date, some amongst the worshippers of either may have chosen to cover all of their options.
On the other hand, some have pointed out that Chrestus (Christus) was another name for the Egyptian god, Serapis. Chrestus may be translated as 'Messiah', though the term need not apply to any specific Messiah, such as Jesus. It therefore could have simply been applied to 'Lord Serapis', so that in fact, there was never any connection at all between the early Christians and the worshippers of Serapis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX7Q_wCo5uY
Christ aka Serapis
The Ancient Egyptian/Christian Holy Families
The very thing that is now called the Christian religion was already in existence in Ancient Egypt, long before the adoption of the New Testament. The British Egyptologist, Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, wrote in his book, The Gods of the Egyptians [1969],
'The events which transpired five thousand years ago; Five years ago or five minutes ago, have determined what will happen five minutes from now; five years From now or five thousand years from now. All history is a current event.' Dr. John Henrik Clarke
The future is the past, modified. So one's hope of the future is still the past moving to what one considers to be the future. The mind never moves out of the past. The future is always the mind acting, living, thinking in the past.
What is the past? It is one's racial inheritance, one's conditioning as Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Catholic, American and so on. It is the education one has received the hurts the delights, as remembrances. That is the past. That is one's consciousness.
Worship of Serapis
http://www.touregypt.net/f
The chief center of the worship of Serapis in Ptolemaic times was Alexandria at the great Serapeum, which was considered a wonder and a site of pilgrimage throughout the Mediterranean world, until it was destroyed by order of Emperor Theodosius in 389 AD. The Serapeum which Ptolemy repaired, or founded, was probably around Rhakotis near Pompey's pillar and was a very remarkable building.
Interestingly, Rhakotis was the small Egyptian village that had been located on the site of what would become Alexandria, and some traditions hold that Osirapis was its local God.
The Temples main plan seems to have resembled that of the famous Serapeum at Memphis, but parts of it were richly painted and gilded, and it possessed a fine library which was said to contain some 300,000 (or perhaps as many as 42,000) volumes. The library was actually an annex of the Great Library of Alexandria, and hence known as the 'Daughter Library'.
Within the temple was a specific and famous statue of Serapis. How the statue came to be in Alexandria at this temple is of some interest. Tradition holds that, while Ptolemy was considering the possibility of a hybrid god to unit the Egyptians and Greeks, he had a dream, wherein a colosssal statue of some god appeared to him and bid the king to remove it to Alexandria. According to Plutarch (De Iside et Osiride, 28), he had never seen a similar statue, and he knew neither the place where it stood, nor to whom it belonged. One day he happened to mention his dream to Sosibius, and described the statue which he had seen, whereon this man declared that he had seen a statue like it at Sinope. Tradition says that this was Sinope on the Pontus, and adds that as the inhabitants of the city were extremely unwilling to part with their statue, it, of its own accord, after waiting for three years, entered into a ship and arrived at Alexandria safely after a voyage of only three days. However, others provide that after three years of futile negotiations, Ptolemy's men simply stole, the statue, claiming that it had boarded their boat on its own.
There were other smaller temples and shrines dedicated to this god in various locations throughout Egypt, but the god's cult was also spread throughout much of the Graeco-Roman world by traders and other converts. Another Notable cult center was the Greek holy site of Delos, which was founded by an Egyptian priest in the third century BC.
There was even a Roman Period sculpted head of Serapis, dating to the second or early third century AD, discovered in London at the Walbrook Mithraem, and a temple of Serapis is mentioned in an inscription found at the Roman site of Eburacum (modern York) in the United Kingdom. Hence, he was even important enough to reach the most distant areas of the Roman Empire.
Interestingly however, Serapis really never received wide acclaim in Egypt itself, where other more traditional Egyptian deities continued to receive more popular worship.
Early Christianity
Serapis may have finally had certain ties with the early Christian community. There were certainly some similarities between Serapis and the Hebrew God. Serapis was a supreme god, and it seems that some early worshippers of Christ amongst the Gentiles could have possibly worshipped Serapis either purposefully, or confusing him with Christ, though the confusion seems more likely to have been one of language.
A correspondence of Emperor Hadrian refers to Alexandrian worshippers of Serapis calling themselves ‘Bishops of Christ’:
'Egypt, which you commended to me, my dearest Servianus, I have found to be wholly fickle and inconsistent, and continually wafted about by every breath of fame. The worshipers of Serapis (here) are called Christians, and those who are devoted to the god Serapis (I find), call themselves Bishops of Christ.'
–Hadrian to Servianus, 134A.D. (Quoted by Giles, ii p86)
In fact, it appears that some followers of Serapis were eventually expelled from Rome when, in 19 AD, Tiberius also expelled the Jews.
Nevertheless, how great confusion between Serapis and Christ could have existed is really somewhat questionable. In 68 AD, a mob of pagans is said to have formed at the Serapis Temple in Alexandria, who then descended on the Christians who were celebrating Easter at Baucalis. There, they sized St. Mark, dragging him through the streets, before throwing him in prison. Clearly those worshippers of Serapis and Christ were aware of each other and the differences within their religions, though perhaps at a later date, some amongst the worshippers of either may have chosen to cover all of their options.
On the other hand, some have pointed out that Chrestus (Christus) was another name for the Egyptian god, Serapis. Chrestus may be translated as 'Messiah', though the term need not apply to any specific Messiah, such as Jesus. It therefore could have simply been applied to 'Lord Serapis', so that in fact, there was never any connection at all between the early Christians and the worshippers of Serapis.
http://www.youtube.com/wat
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