Editing Mithraism (section)

===Degrees of initiation===
In the ''[[Suda]]'' under the entry ''Mithras'', it states that "No one was permitted to be initiated into them (the mysteries of Mithras), until he should show himself holy and steadfast by undergoing several graduated tests."{{refn|
The ''[[Suda]]'' reference given is 3:&nbsp;394, M&nbsp;1045 (Adler).<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 102}} }} [[Gregory Nazianzen]] refers to the "tests in the mysteries of Mithras".{{refn|The Gregory reference given is to ''Oratio'' 4.70<sub>&nbsp;</sub>.<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 102}}
}}

There were seven grades of initiation into Mithraism, which are listed by St.&nbsp;Jerome.<ref>{{cite book |author=Jerome |author-link=Saint Jerome |title=Letters |volume=107 |chapter=''To Laeta'', ch.&nbsp;2 |chapter-url=http://www.ccel.org/fathers/NPNF2-06/letters/lette107.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007132224/http://www.ccel.org/fathers/NPNF2-06/letters/lette107.htm |archive-date=2008-10-07}}</ref> Manfred Clauss states that the number of grades, seven, must be connected to the planets. A mosaic in the Mithraeum of Felicissimus,<!--article [[Felicissimus]] is the wrong man --> [[Ostia Antica]] depicts these grades, with symbolic emblems that are connected either to the grades or are symbols of the planets. The grades also have an inscription beside them commending each grade into the protection of the different planetary gods.<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|pp=132–133}} In ascending order of importance, the initiatory grades were:<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 133–138}}
:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="vertical-align:bottom;"
! {{small|Grade}}
! Name
! Symbols
! Planet&nbsp;or<br/> tutelary<br/>deity
! [[Ostia Antica]]<br/>{{small|Felicissimus'&nbsp;mithraeum}}<br/>symbol mosaic
|-
| {{center| 1{{sup|st}} }}
| ''[[Common raven|Corax]], Corux,<br/>or Corvex''<br/>(raven or crow)
| [[Common raven|Raven]], [[beaker (archaeology)|beaker]], ''[[caduceus]]''
| [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]]
| [[File:36.11-1 Mosaic 1st degree.tif|thumb|150px|center]]
|-
| {{center| 2{{sup|nd}} }}
| ''Nymphus,<br/>Nymphobus''<br/>([[bridegroom]])
| [[Oil lamp|Lamp]], [[hand bell]],<br/>[[veil]], [[circlet]] or [[diadem (personal wear)|diadem]]
| [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]]
| [[File:36.11-2 Mosaic 2nd degree.tif|thumb|150px|center]]
|-
| {{center| 3{{sup|rd}} }}
| ''[[Roman military personal equipment#Overview of infantry|Miles]]''<br/>(soldier)
| [[Loculus (satchel)|Pouch]], [[coolus helmet|helmet]], [[pilum|lance]],<br/>drum, belt, [[breastplate]]
| [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]]
| [[File:36.11-3 Mosaic 3rd degree.tif|thumb|150px|center]]
|-
| {{center| 4{{sup|th}} }}
| ''[[Lion|Leo]]''<br/>([[lion]])
| ''[[Batillum]]'', ''[[sistrum]]'',<br/>[[laurel wreath]], [[thunderbolt]]
| [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]]
| [[File:4th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|thumb|150px|center]]
|-
| {{center| 5{{sup|th}} }}
| ''[[Perses (son of Perseus)|Perses]]''<br/>([[Persia]]n)
| [[Harpe|Hooked sword]], [[Phrygian cap]], [[sickle]],<br/> [[lunar phase|lunar crescent]], [[star]]s, [[sling (weapon)|sling]], pouch
| [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]]
| [[File:5th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|thumb|150px|center]]
|-
| {{center| 6{{sup|th}} }}
| ''[[Phaethon|Heliodromus]]''<br/>([[Missing sun motif|sun-runner]])
| [[Torch]], images of [[Helios]],<br/>[[radiate crown]], [[scourge|whip]], [[toga|robes]]
| [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]]
| [[File:6th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|thumb|150px|center]]
|-
| {{center| 7{{sup|th}} }}
| ''[[Patriarch|Pater]]''<br/>([[hierophant|father]])
| ''[[Patera]]'', [[mitre]], shepherd's staff,<br/>garnet or ruby ring,<br/>[[chasuble]] or [[cape]],<br/>elaborate jewel-encrusted robes<br/>with metallic threads
| [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]]
| [[File:7th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|thumb|150px|center]]
|}
<!-- moved into table ---
<gallery>
File:4th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|Spade, sistrum, lightning bolt
File:5th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|Sword, crescent moon, star, sickle
File:6th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|Torch, crown, whip
File:7th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|Patera, rod, Phrygian cap, sickle
</gallery>
-->
Elsewhere, as at [[Dura-Europos]], Mithraic graffiti survive giving membership lists, in which initiates of a mithraeum are named with their Mithraic grades. At Virunum, the membership list or ''album sacratorum'' was maintained as an inscribed plaque, updated year by year as new members were initiated. By cross-referencing these lists it is possible to track some initiates from one mithraeum to another; and also speculatively to identify Mithraic initiates with persons on other contemporary lists such as military service rolls and lists of devotees of non-Mithraic religious sanctuaries. Names of initiates are also found in the dedication inscriptions of altars and other cult objects.

Clauss noted in 1990 that overall, only about 14% of Mithraic names inscribed before 250&nbsp;CE identify the initiate's grade – and hence questioned the traditional view that all initiates belonged to one of the seven grades.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Clauss |first=Manfred |year=1990 |title=Die sieben Grade des Mithras-Kultes |language=de |trans-title=The seven grades of the Mithras cult |journal=Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik |volume=82 |pages=183–194}}</ref> Clauss argues that the grades represented a distinct class of priests, ''sacerdotes''. Gordon maintains the former theory of Merkelbach and others, especially noting such examples as Dura where all names are associated with a Mithraic grade. Some scholars maintain that practice may have differed over time, or from one Mithraeum to another.

The highest grade, ''pater'', is by far the most common one found on dedications and inscriptions &ndash; and it would appear not to have been unusual for a mithraeum to have several men with this grade. The form ''pater patrum'' (father of fathers) is often found, which appears to indicate the ''pater'' with primary status. There are several examples of persons, commonly those of higher social status, joining a mithraeum with the status ''pater'' – especially in Rome during the [[Julian the Apostate#Restoration of state paganism|'pagan revival']] of the 4th&nbsp;century. It has been suggested that some mithraea may have awarded honorary ''pater'' status to sympathetic dignitaries.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Griffith |first=Alison |title=Mithraism in the private and public lives of 4th-c. senators in Rome |journal=Electronic Journal of Mithraic Studies |url=http://www.uhu.es/ejms/Papers/Volume1Papers/ABGMS.DOC |access-date=2010-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100928222225/http://www.uhu.es/ejms/Papers/Volume1Papers/ABGMS.DOC |archive-date=2010-09-28 }}</ref>

The initiate into each grade appears to have been required to undertake a specific ordeal or test,<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 103}} involving exposure to heat, cold or threatened peril. An 'ordeal pit', dating to the early 3rd&nbsp;century, has been identified in the mithraeum at [[Carrawburgh]]. Accounts of the cruelty of the emperor [[Commodus]] describes his amusing himself by enacting Mithraic initiation ordeals in homicidal form. By the later 3rd&nbsp;century, the enacted trials appear to have been abated in rigor, as 'ordeal pits' were floored over.

Admission into the community was completed with a handshake with the ''pater'', just as Mithras and Sol shook hands. The initiates were thus referred to as ''syndexioi'' (those united by the handshake). The term is used in an inscription by Proficentius{{efn|
name="claussonhandshake"|
"That the hand-shaken might make their vows joyfully forever". — Clauss (2000).<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 42}}
}}
and derided by [[Firmicus Maternus]] in ''De errore profanarum religionum'',{{refn|
... "the followers of Mithras were the 'initiates of the theft of the bull, united by the handshake of the illustrious father'." (''Err. prof. relig.''&nbsp;5.2)<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 105}}
}}
a 4th&nbsp;century Christian work attacking paganism.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-first=Patrick J. |editor-last=Healy |year=1909 |title=Firmicus Maternus |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |place=New York, NY |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06080a.htm |via=newadvent.org |access-date=8 April 2011 |archive-date=2 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702064031/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06080a.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In ancient Iran, taking the right hand was the traditional way of concluding a treaty or signifying some solemn understanding between two parties.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last=Burkert |first=Walter
 |year=1987
 |title=Ancient mystery cults
 |page=16
 |publisher=Harvard University Press
 |isbn=978-0-674-03387-0
 |quote=Taking the right hand is the old Iranian form of a promise of allegiance,&nbsp;...
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qCvlvqCXF8UC&pg=PA16
 |access-date=4 November 2011
}}</ref>