One of my favorite spots to visit in Rome is the church beneath the medieval church of San Clemente.\u00a0 \u00a0The excavations beneath this church have not only produced evidence of churches from previous centuries, but also of a Mithraium, where the worship of the god Mithras transpired.\u00a0 What seems to have happened is that an elite Roman had a cult area for Mithras in his home, but at some point\u2026 there was a conversion to Christianity.
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the frescos are about the moving of the body of St. Clement to this very area, on top of which was built the medieval church.\u00a0 Ah, but which Clement was it?\u00a0 Was it the famous Clement of Rome who wrote a letter to the Corinthians, and was a bishop in Rome?\u00a0 Or was it the earlier Clement mentioned in Paul\u2019s letters?\u00a0 Or was it a person later Catholic tradition claimed to be a Pope (which may simply be mistaking Clement the bishops actual ecclesiastical title).<\/p>\n
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That\u2019s Dr. Ben Snyder and his wife Amy standing beside a statue of Mithras slaying the bull or calve.<\/p>\n
me point members of the family, or the whole family following its head, converted to being followers of Christ.\u00a0 Here are some pictures I\u2019ve taken\u2026.<\/p>\n
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What we learn from this, is that eastern religions like Mithraism and also Christ following were not officially approved by the Roman authorities, and in some cases they were in fact prohibited.\u00a0 Such religions continued to thrive but underground\u2014 quite literally in homes, or later in catacombs when Christians began to be persecuted.\u00a0 Could Clement of Rome have been a convert from Mithraism, who later loaned his house to house church meetings after having a mithraium shrine there originally?\u00a0 \u00a0Inquiring minds want to know.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of my favorite spots to visit in Rome is the church beneath the medieval church of San Clemente.\u00a0 \u00a0The excavations beneath this church have not only produced evidence of churches from previous centuries, but also of a Mithraium, where the worship of the god Mithras transpired.\u00a0 What seems to have happened is that an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":71825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15680],"class_list":["post-71996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-oh-those-eastern-religions"],"yoast_head":"\n