Pagan Origin of Partialist Doctrines

by John Claudius Pitrat

PAGAN ORIGIN OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE SUPREME DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST.

It will be demonstrated that the doctrine of the supreme divinity of Jesus Christ is of Pagan origin, if it can be proved, 1st, That the Church of Rome, from which the self-called Orthodox Protestant Churches borrowed this doctrine, in the sixteenth century, did not hold it from the apostles of Jesus Christ; and, 2d, That the Church of Rome uses, in her adoration to Jesus Christ, rites and ceremonies of a striking similarity with those used by the Pagans, in their adoration to the sun, under the names of Bacchus, Hercules, Osiris, Mithra, Atys, etc.

But it can be proved, 1st, That the Church of Rome, from which the self-called Orthodox Protestant Churches, in the sixteenth century, borrowed the doctrine of the supreme divinity of Jesus Christ, did not hold it from the apostles of Jesus Christ; and, 2d, That the Church of Rome uses, in her adoration to Jesus Christ, rites and ceremonies of a striking similarity with those used by the Pagans in their adoration to the sun, under the names of Bacchus, Hercules, Osiris, Mithra, Atys, etc.

1st. We prove that the Church of Rome, from which the self-called Orthodox Protestant Churches, in the sixteenth century, borrowed the doctrine of the supreme divinity of Jesus Christ, did not hold it from the apostles of Jesus Christ.

It will be evident that the Church of Rome, from which the self-called Orthodox Protestant Churches, in the sixteenth century, borrowed the doctrine of the supreme divinity of Jesus Christ, did not hold it from the apostles of Jesus Christ, if, until nearly the end of the third century, the various Christian denominations, or sects, did not believe the doctrine of the supreme divinity of Jesus Christ. But, until nearly the end of the third century, the various Christian denominations, or sects, did not believe the doctrine of the supreme divinity of Jesus Christ.

This we prove:—

We request the readers to bear in mind, in reading this chapter, that we have extracted all the proofs and statements brought forth therein, from the works of the Roman Catholic priest Bergier, which we have studied in our Catholic theological school; from the works of the Rev. Father Jesuit Feller; from the History of the Church, by Berrault-Ber-Castel, a Roman Catholic priest; and from the Ecclesiastical History, by the Roman Catholic clergyman Fleury. Those proofs and statements can be verified, in the first two writers, at the articles of the sects, and of their authors, arranged in alphabetical order; and in the other authors at the dates of the centuries and years.

Bergier says: "The Cerinthians pretended that Jesus Christ was born from Joseph and Mary like other men; but that he was endowed with a superior wisdom and holiness; that when he was baptized, Christ, or the Son of God, had descended on him under the form of a dove, and had revealed to him God the Father, till then unknown, in order that he might make him known to men." The Cerinthians sprung up, according to St. Epiphane, in the middle of the first century, but according to St. Ireneus, at about the year 88.

Therefore the Cerinthians did not believe the doctrine of the supreme divinity of Jesus Christ.

Bergier says: "The Carpocratians supposed the pre-existence of the souls; pretended that they had sinned in an anterior life; that as a punishment of their crimes they had been condemned to be shut up in bodies.... In their belief, the soul of Jesus Christ, before her incarnation, had been more faithful to God than the others. It is for this reason that God had endowed her with more knowledge than the souls of other men; also with more strength both to defeat the geniuses opposed to humanity, and to return to heaven against their will. God, they said, grants the same favor to those who love Jesus Christ; and who, like him, know the dignity of their souls. Thus the Carpocratians considered Jesus Christ as being simply a man, though more perfect than the others; they believed that he was the son of Joseph and Mary, and confessed his miracles and sufferings. They are not accused of denying the resurrection, but of denying the general resurrection; and of holding that the soul only (not the body) of Jesus Christ, had ascended to the heavens." The sect of the Carpocratians commenced towards the end of the first century.