Pagan Divine Service in Late Antiquity

Bibliographic Data

ID9288124
AuthorsMartin P Nilsson, Martin Nilsson (0000-0002-7419-6750, Lund University, corresponding author)
Year1945
Volume38
Issue1
Pages63-69
Publication date1945-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHarvard Theological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0017-8160 • E-ISSN: 1475-4517
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0017816000022653
OpenAlexW2145184887
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited1

Sometimes it is said that it would not have mattered much whether Christianity had won or not, the result would have been much the same, for the spiritual background of the time was the same. I leave this opinion to be judged on its own merits and turn to a side of religion in which the difference between Paganism and Christianity is thought to be thoroughgoing, the cult. That is to say, the cult of the gods, for the similarities between the cult of the Saints and martyrs and that of the dead and heroes are striking and well known through the work of Lucius. Shrines were built for the Saints, votive offerings brought, and even animals slaughtered just as for the heroes, food was placed and drink poured out on their graves and banquets held on them just as on the graves of the pagan dead. This is mentioned in the epigrams attributed to Gregory of Nazianzen and was more frequent in the Western part of the Empire, but it must have been common in the East too, for the custom of holding meals in churchyards on the Psychosabbaton , the Saturday before Whitsunday, is widespread in the Greek Church to this day

Ancient history · Art · Christianity · Cult · Empire · Late Antiquity · Literature · Paganism · Roman Empire · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Philosophy · Religious studies

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