Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen": THE EPIPHANY OF THE MYSTERY GOD
Aristides records an experience in which 'there came from Isis a Light and other unutterable things
conducing to salvation. In the same night appeared Serapis and Aesculapius himself, both
marvellous in beauty and stature and in certain aspects resembling each other' (Orat. Sac.,III, p.
500). All ancient epiphaneiae were of the character of a dazzling light. Porphyry knows that 'the
eye of the body cannot bear' the brightness of divine apparitions (De Mysteriis, II, 8). The
experience of Apuleius, 'I saw the sun shining at midnight,' and 'adoravi de proxumo,' refers to such
an epiphany. In the Attis cult, 'Hail, Bridegroom, Hail, new Light' announced the epiphany. In the
Liturgy of Mithra (Dieterich, p.10) we read, 'Thou shalt see a youthful god, lovely in form, with red
locks, wearing a white tunic and scarlet mantle, and holding a bright crown.'
S. Angus, The Mystery Religions and Christianity (London, 1925), PP. 135-6
More on Gnosticism:
Books by Mircea Eliade:
- Mircea Eliade, Catherine Spencer “Bengal Nights: A Novel”
- Mircea Eliade, Mac Linscott Ricketts “Journal I, 1945-1955 (Journal)”
- Mircea Eliade “The Forge and the Crucible: The Origins and Structure of Alchemy”
- Mircea Eliade, Philip Mairet “Images and Symbols”
- Mircea Eliade, Willard R. Trask, Wendy Doniger “Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (Bollingen Series (General))”
- Mircea Eliade, Alf Hiltebeitel, Diane Apostolos-Cappadona “A History of Religious Ideas: From Muhammad to the Age of Reforms (History of Religious Ideas) Vol.3”
- Mircea Eliade, Willard R. Trask “History of Religious Ideas, Volume 2: From Gautama Buddha to the Triumph of Christianity (History of Religious Ideas)”
- Mircea Eliade, Jr., Fred H. Johnson “Journal II, 1957-1969 (Journal)”
- Mircea Eliade “Essential Sacred Writings From Around the World”
- Mircea Eliade, Teresa Lavender Fagan “Journal III, 1970-1978 (Journal)”
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