mis ́tẽr-i (μυστήριον, mustḗrion; from μύστης, mústēs, “one initiated into mysteries”; muéō “to initiate,” múō, “to close” the lips or the eyes; stem mu-, a sound produced with closed lips; compare Latin mutus, “dumb”): Its usual modern meaning (= something in itself obscure or incomprehensible, difficult or impossible to understand) does not convey the exact sense of the Greek mustērion, which means a secret imparted only to the initiated, what is unknown until it is revealed, whether it be easy or hard to understand. The idea of incomprehensibility if implied at all, is purely accidental. The history of the word in ancient paganism is important, and must be considered before we examine its Biblical usage.
In the extant classics, the singular is found once only (Menander, “Do not tell thy secret (mustērion) to thy friend”). But it is frequently found in the plural tá mustḗria, “the Mysteries,” the technical term for the secret rites and celebrations in ancient religions only known to, and practiced by, those who had been initiated. These are among the most interesting, significant, and yet baffling religious phenomena in the Greek-Roman world, especially from the 6th century BC onward. In proportion as the public cults of the civic and national deities fell into disrepute, their place came more and more to be filled by secret cults open only to those who voluntarily underwent elaborate preliminary preparations. There was scarcely one of the ancient deities in connection with whose worship there was not some subsidiary cult of this kind. The most famous were the Mysteries celebrated in Eleusis, under the patronage and control of the Athenian state, and associated with the worship of Demeter and her daughter Persephone. But there were many others of a more private character than the Eleusinian, e.g. the Orphic Mysteries, associated with the name of Dionysus. Besides the Greek Mysteries, mention should be made of the Egyptian cults of Isis and Serapis, and of Persian Mithraism, which in the 3rd century AD was widely diffused over the whole empire.
It is difficult in a brief paragraph to characterize the Mysteries, so elaborate and varied were they, and so completely foreign to the modern mind. The following are some of their main features:
To continue reading this Bible article, click here.
Author: International Std. Bible Encyclopedia
Keywords: Mystery, Mysteries, Secrets, Hidden things, secret, secracy, mystery religions, revelation
Bible reference(s): Deuteronomy 29:29, Dan 2:18-19, Dan 2:27-30, Dan 2:47, 1 Timothy 3:16, Colossians 1:26, Colossians 4:3, Ephesians 1:9, Ephesians 3:3, Ephesians 5:32, John 16:29, Luke 8:10, Mark 4:11, Matthew 13:11, Romans 16:25
Source: James Orr (editor), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 5 volume set.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.