[66] Phereda or Pheredet, the dove, is the Chaldaic root of the name Aphrodite, as the Goddess in the car drawn by two doves was called among the Greeks. In the whole of Nearer Asia the cult of doves was connected with that of the Mother Goddess. As is well known, the dove as a symbol of innocence or purity is also the bird of the Virgin Mary, who is often compared to one. Indeed, in the Protevangelium of James she is actually called a dove which nested in the temple, a plain reference to the dove cult of the Syrian Aphrodite or Atargatis (Astarte, Astaroth). [↑]
[68] Hippolytus iv. 35. This brings to mind that, according to Persian ideas also, besides the Trinity of Heaven (Ahuramazda), Sun, Fire (Mithras), and Air (Spirit, “word,” Honover, Spenta Armaiti), the earth stood as a fourth principle (Anahita, Anaitis, Tanit). This stood in the same relation to Mithras as Istar to Tammuz, Cybele to Attis, Atargatis to Adonis, Maya to Agni, Aphrodite to Hermes, Mary to Jesus, &c., becoming identical, however, usually with the “word” of God, the holy spirit (Cumont, op. cit., ii. 87 sq.). [↑]
[70] One cannot therefore say, as is usual, that Mark, in whom the story of the birth given in Matthew and Luke is not found, knew nothing of a supernatural birth of Christ. For the narrative of the baptism is the history of his birth, while the corresponding narrative of the other Evangelists only came into existence later, when the original sense of the story of the baptism in Mark was no longer understood. [↑]
[71] Quoted in Usener, “Religionsgesch. Untersuchungen,” 1889, i. 64. [↑]
[72] Thus Mithras also was said to have been born on the bank of a river, just as Jesus received baptism in or near the Jordan. On this account “the Rock-born” was usually represented with a torch in his left and a sword or knife in his right hand (Cumont, “Myst. d. Mithra,” 97). This recalls to mind the words of Jesus in [Matt. x. 34]: “I came not to send peace, but a sword.” [↑]
[73] Cf. Wobbermin, “Religionsgesch. Studien zur Frage der Beeinflussung des Urchristentums durch das antike Mysterienwesen,” 1896, 154 sqq. The Christian Church also surrounded the act of baptism with an unusual splendour of lights and candles. Not only was the House of God lit up on this occasion in a festive manner, but each individual to be baptized had to carry a burning candle. The sermons which have come down to us delivered on the feast of the Epiphany, the feast of the birth and baptism of the Saviour which in earlier days fell together(!), excel in the description of the splendour of the lights; indeed, the day of the feast itself was actually called “the day of lights” or “the lights” (phōta). [↑]