Phrygian Trinity

2.3 Phrygian Trinity

Sir James George Frazer examined the striking similarity of the Biblical story of Jesus and Attis “the only begotten son and savior” in Phrygia (present West Turkey). Attis, the Phrygian god, was born of a virgin named Nana. He was bled to death at the foot of a pine-tree. His blood renewed the fertility of the earth and thus brought a new life to humanity. He also rose from the dead. In celebrating his death and resurrection, his effigy was fastened to a pine-tree on March 22, and the day was called the "Day of Blood", since on that day the deity was bled to death. The God was dead. The effigy was then laid in a tomb with wailing and mourning, but on March 25 the sorrow changed to joy (a striking parallel to the Christian holy week and Easter). "For suddenly a light shone in the darkness; the tomb was opened; the God had risen from the dead...[and the priest] softly whispered in their ears the glad tidings of salvation. The resurrection of the God was hailed by his disciples as a promise that they too would issue triumphant from the corruption of the grave." (For more see Frazer, Attis). These mysteries seem to have included a sacramental meal of bread and wine. The wine represented the God's blood; the bread became the body of the savior. In the fourth century pagan critics accused the Church of plagiarism on this account. Both festivals had an all-night vigil with lights.

In Rome the new birth and the remission of sins by shedding of bull's blood took place on what is now Vatican Hill, in our days the site of the great basilica of St. Peter. The Attis believers were baptized in this way: a bull was placed over a grating, the devotee stood under the grating. The bull was stabbed with a consecrated spear. "It's hot reeking blood poured in torrents through the apertures and was received with devout eagerness by the worshiper...who had been born again to eternal life and had washed away his sins in the blood of the bull." (For more see Frazer, Attis)

Attis was said to have been a fair young shepherd or herdsman beloved by Cybele, the Mother of the Gods, a great Asiatic goddess of fertility, who had her chief home in Phrygia. Some held that Attis was her son. His birth, like that of many other heroes, is said to have been miraculous. His mother, Nana, was a virgin, who conceived by putting a ripe almond or a pomegranate in her bosom. The worship of Cybele and Attis dated back centuries in Phrygia before it was imported to Rome in 204 BC towards the close of their long struggle with Hannibal. Attis was both the father and the divine Son. Before and during the years when the Christian Gospels were written (from the reign of Claudius, 41 – 54 CE) the festival of joy commemorating Attis' death and rebirth was celebrated yearly in Rome. A Christian writer of the fourth century recounted ongoing disputes between Pagans and Christians over the remarkable similarities of the death and resurrection of their two gods. The Pagans argued that their God was older and therefore original. The Christians admitted Christ came later, but claimed Attis was a work of the devil whose similarity to Christ, and the fact he predated Christ, were intended to confuse and mislead men. This was apparently the stock answer -- the Christian apologist Tertullian makes the same argument.

The argument between pagans and Christians was probably about the contradiction of the death and resurrection of the sign of Jonas. Matthew 12:38:40, Luke 11:29, and Mark 8:11-13.

Matthew 12:40 “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

Those verses refer to discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus says that this generation seeks a sign to believe. In Matthew and Luke, Jesus adds that there will no sign but the sign of Jonas, i.e. Jesus will die and be resurrected in three days and three nights. In Mark, Jesus says that there will be no sign without any exception. Perhaps the Christians were referencing the death-resurrection of Jesus in Matthew and Luke, while pagans were referring to Mark, where there is no mention of this event.

Attis was depicted as a man nailed or tied to a tree – at the foot of which was occasionally depicted a lamb. Some accounts said that Attis castrated himself beneath the tree resulting in a priesthood that practiced either self-castration or enforced celibacy. This occurred centuries before Gregory VII (1073-1085) enforced celibacy on the Roman Catholic clergy.

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