Sources:
William Dalrymple, From the Holy Mountain (Flamingo. 1998)
Michael Walsh, A Dictionary of Devotions (Burns & Oates, 1993)
Leslie Houlden (Ed.), Judaism & Christianity (Routledge, 1988)
Norman Cantor, The Sacred Chain - A History of the Jews (Harper Collins, 1994)
R. E. Witt, Isis in the Ancient World (John Hopkins UP, 1971)
Alison Roberts, Hathor Rising-The Serpent Power of Ancient Egypt (Northgate, 1995)
Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church (Penguin, 1993)
Dom Robert Le Gall, Symbols of Catholicism (Editions Assouline, 1997)
Vivian Davies & Renee Friedman, Egypt (British Museum Press, 1999)

Plotinus – 3rd century Neo-Platonist

Plotinus made an extensive study of philosophy and religion. He travelled throughout Egypt, Greece, Syria and India. He noted how easily the priests drifted into fraud, faked 'miracles' and amended the truth.

 

"In their hidden character the enigmas of the Egyptians were very similar to those of the Jews."

– Clement of Alexandria (Stromata, v7 iii p56)

 

At first glance, the Egyptian pantheon presents a bewildering array of gods but properly understood many deities were city or regional 'variations on a theme,' gods whose fortunes rose or fell with the outcome of human power struggles and dynastic change. Triumphant priests merged useful aspects of a fallen rival's deity with their own favoured god. This process of absorption, assimilation and adaptation continued throughout the Greek, Roman – and Christian eras.

In their first two centuries, the followers of Christ had no particular images of their god. Emerging as they did from Judaism they disdained "idol worship." They were even accused of being atheists. But once the break with Judaism was complete the Christ worshippers rapidly made up the deficiency by adapting for Christian use pagan images, rituals, sacred sites, and symbols.

This process occurred most energetically in Egypt, a land awash with religious iconography. From the 3rd century AD onwards, Egyptian Christian – 'Coptic' – art displayed a syncretistic and fused tradition – Roman, Greek and Pharaonic – with a Christian veneer. Such art faithfully reflected a deeper truth: the regurgitation of ancient religious belief in the new guise of 'Christianity.'

Though the basic Christ legend was formulated by apostate Jews (with their expectations of a conquering messiah) and pagan converts (with their fables of dying/reborn sun gods), Egypt provided Christianity with ideas NOT found in the Old Testament: immortality of the soul; judgment of the dead; reward and punishment; a triune god. Egyptian religion infused the nascent faith with its ancient credo.

Regurgitated fables,
reused symbols,
recycled sacred space.

"Without his mother Isis the child Horus could not have existed. It is in the light of this fact of Egyptian mythology that we must regard emergent Christianity's struggle, so bitterly fought at Alexandria, against what was then its most stubborn and insidious foe."

– R. E. Witt (Isis in the Ancient World, p279)

 

Mother and Child

Trinity and Saviour God

"The works of art, the ideas, the expressions, and the heresies of the first four centuries of the Christian era cannot be well studied without a right comprehension of the nature and influence of the Horus myth."

– W. R. Cooper, (The Horus Myth in its Relation to Christianity, p49)

Isis was part of a sacred triad. The Egyptians deified so-called 'emanations' of the supreme, unknowable godhead, typically grouping them into trinities (in fact, a whole hierarchy of trinities). Thus Isis-Osiris-Horus, Amun-Re-Mut-Khons, Atum-Shu-Tefnut-Mahet, etc., etc., reigned for forty centuries, an eternal, evolving godhead. Crucially, the Egyptian priests linked the gods directly to their ruling kings:

'Throughout the 4000 years of Egyptian history every Pharaoh was the incarnation of the youthful Horus, and therefore the son of Isis, the Goddess Mother who had suckled and reared him. At death ... as Osiris he held sway over 'Those Yonder' in the shadowy kingdom of the dead.'

– R. E. Witt (Isis in the Ancient World, p15)

Thus the 'Father' and 'Son' were inseparable, were of 'one essence,' the same stuff in continuous metamorphosis.The pharaohs stepped into the trinity on Earth (as Horus) and became the heavenly element (as Osiris) after death. In the endless cycle Isis functioned as sister, wife and mother, a sort of 'holy spirit', keeping the whole thing going.

Where Did They Get Their Ideas From? Horus Rising Harpakhrad: Horus the wonder boy sucks his thumb Horus, originally a sky god (hence the falcon's head) became one of the most important of Egyptian gods. Over time Horus absorbed the characteristics of many deities. As his cult spread north from Upper Egypt he took numerous local names. As Haroeris he became the God of Light; as Harmakhis he became the God of Dawn; As Harpakhrad he was 'Horus the child'. He succeeded to the leadership of Re by merger: Re-Horakhty. With his new identities Horus became more fully humanised, represented on Earth first by the pharaoh and later, by the hero of the Christian myth. (Egypt, 4th century AD) (Egypt, 7th century tapestry) (Egypt, 18th century) The image of Horus on horse-back was unknown in Egypt before the Greek era. But the myth was ancient: Good conquers Evil. Here, Horus crushes Seth – the murderer of his father, Osiris – represented as a crocodile. 'Coptic' Christianisation: Though the artistry has degenerated the story remains the same. "Horus' is now a Christian, the bad guys are the pagans. Thoroughly Christianised, the crocodile has become a 'dragon,' the god a Christian knight.     A young, humanoid Horus (note side lock of hair) crushes two crocodiles (evil) underfoot. The statuette is incised with spells against snakes, scorpions etc.; water poured over it made holy water. In the legend, Horus was baptized with water by Anubis. (Note side lock) Horus was traditionally depicted as having the body of a man with the head of a falcon or hawk. However syncretism during the Greco-Roman period (and a distaste for animal worship) meant the god became fully humanoid, a boy child, indeed, for Isis – otherwise known as Mary.

Pax Romana

With the arrival of the Romans, the semi-divine pharaohs were supplanted by foreign generals. In reaction (perhaps, resistance), traditional religious interpretations became more 'democratised.'

"The Egyptians reasoned that if it was the fate of the god Osiris to be resurrected after death, then a way could be found to make it the fate of man, too... The bliss of immortality that had formerly been reserved only for kings was then promised to all men... "

– Lewis Brown (This Believing World, p84)

The Palestinian fantasy of a Jesus Christ was already endemic in the religious milieu of Egypt when Constantine gave the Faith its seal of approval. The 'Flight to Egypt' in Matthew, was probably written into the story by the Church of Alexandria – it appears in none of the other gospels and contradicts the return to Nazareth.

Coptic 'tradition' has it that Jesus spent his childhood in Egypt – and that the 'Nativity' occurred in the Fayum at Ahnas (Heracleopolis Magna), which just happens to have been a cult centre for Arsaphes, son of Isis!

In the hands of 4th century bishop Athanasius, the key aspect of the Egyptian god/human interface – "Begotten, not made, of one essence with the Father" – entered Christian theology. Athanasius wrote:

"The Word, then, visited that Earth in which He was yet always present...
Coming as God and as Man... Revealing Himself, conquering Death, and restored to life."

(On the Incarnation)

Thus the religion of the Pharaohs was recast in Christian form – theology, iconology and the whole glorious paraphernalia of priestcraft.

Copyright © 2004 by Kenneth Humphreys.
Copying is freely permitted, provided credit is given to the author and no material herein is sold for profit.