Phi 1:17 ....."knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel."
Son Worship or Sun Worship? - Constantine legalises Christianity
(Paganism is assimilated into the church of God)
Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad - Jer 51:7
John Charles Ryle, DD, (1816 - 1900) was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford. In 1880, at age 64, he became the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool, at the recommendation of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. In his book, 'Principles for Churchmen' 1884, Ryle writes page 223 "It is no exaggeration to say that for three centuries before the Reformation, Christianity in England seems to have been buried under a mass of ignorance, superstition, priestcraft and immorality." Ryle conveniently forgot that the Prayer Book of The Church of England was based on the religion he found fault with!
Johann Lorenz von Mosheim D.D. (1694-1755) who was Chancellor of the University of Gottingen, in his 'An ecclesiastical history, ancient and modern, from the birth of Christ to the beginning of the present century' wrote concerning primitive Christianity:
"The Christians had neither sacrifices or altar, nor images, nor oracles, nor sacerdotal robes; and this was sufficient to bring upon them the reproaches of an ignorant multitude, who imagined there could be no religion without these. Thus they were looked upon as a sort of atheists; and by Roman law, those who were chargeable with Atheism were declared the pest of human society. But this was not all. The sordid interests of a multitude of lazy and selfish priests were immediately connected with the ruin and oppression of the Christian cause.
The public worship of such an immense number of deities was a souse of subsistence, and even of riches, to the whole rabble of priests, and augers, and also to a multitude of merchants and artists. And the progress of the gospel threatened the ruin of this religious traffic. This raised up new enemies to the Christians, and armed with the rage of a mercenary superstition against their lives and cause".
Quoted from the 1803 edition, translated by Archibald Maclaine, vol 1, pages 74&75.
Throughout the world in the pagan system, chief of the festivals was solar worship. It is clear that these products of paganism are as much in force at the present time from a symbolic point of view, as they ever were, and that the denominations countenances, and in many cases originally through the Catholic Church has actually adopted and practises these pagan solar rites, whose heathen significance is merely lost sight of because attention is not called to the sources from where these rites have sprung.
In short, Sun worship, symbolically speaking, lies at the very heart of the great festivals which the Catholic Church and it daughters, the denominations, celebrates to-day, and these relics of heathen religion have, through the medium of their sacred rites, curiously enough blended with practices and beliefs originally antagonistic to the pagan system to such a degree the Christian system has been forgotten in favour of heathenism.
The reason for the survival of many of the symbols of Sun worship and the practice of many customs peculiar to this ancient form of idolatry, lies in the fact that the early Catholic teachers found the heathens so wedded to their old rites and usages, that it was vain to hope for the complete abandonment of these long-cherished practices. Hence a compromise was effected, and the old pagan customs were deprived of the idolatry which was so obnoxious to the Christian system, and transferred to become in time the Catholic festivals and worship.
As the Catholics evangelised heathen lands, they simply converted the worldwide pagan system of Sun Worship to Catholicism. The pagan system found in America was the same as in Europe and Asia, so the techniques of conversion was the same, and the pagans were allowed to keep their old gods but with new names and their old festivals, with new names. So in ignorance those in the denominations retain the pagan festivals, ritual, ceremony and traditions, worshiping unknowingly the rising Sun, rather than the risen Son, the Son of God - Jesus Christ. I've used William Tyler Olcott's, Sun Lore of All Ages (1914) for the above paragraph, where he uses 'Christian' I've replaced it with 'Roman Catholic'.
The Gospel of the denominations is from Rome and pagan in origin, the Gospel of Christ is from Jerusalem and from God.
This former pagan Sun Temple, where Jupiter was once worshiped, is now dedicated to St Michel de Rupe ("Saint Michael of the Rock"). The church, which is still used is built at the top of a 1100 foot volcano, fortunately now extinct!
Such temples are found worldwide, being pagan high places. This one is found at Brentor in Cornwall, South West England
Eze 6:3 And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.
Below, a temple or Druids mound, Castlerigg at Keswick, north west England, such mounds were known as 'churches'. They were used for meeting places, religious purposes, maybe human sacrifice and sepulchre.
"The sublime and simple theology of the primitive Christians was gradually corrupted; and the MONARCHY of heaven, already clouded by metaphysical subtleties, was degraded by the introduction of a popular mythology which tended to restore the reign of polytheism"
"The most respectable Bishops had persuaded themselves that the ignorant rustics would more cheerfully renounce the superstitions of Paganism, if they found some resemblance, come compensation, in the bosom of Christianity"
Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 28 vol 3 (The Revival and collapse of Paganism, The superstitions of the Christians), 1776.
This is a very brief introduction of how paganism entered the church and sets the picture for Christians who in later years simply wished to worship Jesus Christ according to the pattern found in the Holy Scriptures - The Bible.
In the year 313, the Roman emperor Constantine legalised Christianity with the edict of Milan. Two years earlier the great persecution had ended with an edict of toleration, which granted Christians the right to worship, though it did not restore property which had been confiscated.
From this time onwards Constantine claimed to profess Christianity, his mother Helena had been a Christian. Paganism and Christianity for a time were equal, then slowly it became preferable to be a Christian if promotion and prestige were sought after. Many pagans claimed to profess Christianity, whilst still holding onto their pagan beliefs.
With the State, The Roman Empire, ruling the new Catholic Church, the idea of 'Corpus Christianum' was born, the coalition of church and state. There could be only one church, which at first was to be guided by Christian values in its politics, economics and social life. Its legal basis was the corpus iuris canonica (body of canon law). The Church's peak authority over all Europe was in the Middle Ages, based on "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church" of the Nicene Creed, 325/381. Far from being based on Christian values, pagan beliefs and power struggles became the rule, not the exception. The Roman Catholic Church soon had little in common with the Bible which was eventually banned, being an embarrassment. To be a Christian would be illegal whilst both State and Church claimed to be Christian, and would use any means to destroy those who turned to the bible for authority in spiritual matters.
The Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 finally legally ended the concept of 'Corpus Christianum', the "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church" of the Nicene Creed. With the Treaty of Westphalia, the Wars of Religion came to an end, and, as confirmed in the Treaty of Utrecht of 1715, the concept of the sovereign national state was born resulting a new civilisation known as "Western Civilisation". Western Civilisation though would be characterised by the values of secular humanism and the separation of church and state.
Under Constantine and the later Catholic Church, Pagan temples became church buildings, the English word church refers to a pagan temple and not the biblical ecclesia (people) of God. In time pagan priests became 'Christian' priests, pagan and heathen ceremonies came into the now apostate church which resulted in Easter and Christmas.
In the former pagan system the Head of State, the Emperor was also the head of religion wearing the tilePontifex Maximus, which is still used today by the pope.
The Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the Ancient Roman College of Pontiffs. This was the most important position in the Ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians, until 254 BC, when a plebeian first occupied this post. A distinctly religious office under the early Roman Republic, it gradually became politicized until, beginning with Augustus, it was subsumed into the Imperial office. It was last held by the 'Christian' Roman Emperor Gratian until the title passed over to the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.
Today, "Pontifex Maximus" is one of the titles of the Pope. As a papal title, the translation Supreme Pontiff is customary when writing in English, in which the Latin term Pontifex Maximus refers to the former pagan Roman post.
The present Pope can trace his lineage back, through his predecessors to 735 BC when the office was held by the kings of Rome. One of the most amazing aspects about the ascendancy of the papacy is that the church of Rome promotes the Pope as the "Pontifex Maximus" or, Supreme Pontiff. The title Pontifex Maximus is mentioned numerous times by the early church fathers (particularly by Tertullian) but it was not applied to a Christian bishop. The early church fathers say that the Pontifex Maximus was the "King of Heathendom", the evil high priest of the pagan mystery religion of Rome. Yet the denominations today are the daughters of the Roman Catholic Church, ands their succession of Bishops go back into pre-Christian pagan times.
True Christianity (there is no other!) became illegal as the Roman Catholic Church became all powerful. It has been estimated that under the inquisition as many as fifty million died, who refused to submit, bowing to Rome and later the Anglican Church in Great Britain. Death was the penalty, often by burning under pagan Rome, and later, under 'Christian' Rome. The apostate Roman Catholic Church demanded death by burning for those professing Christianity, after torture, for those following the biblical pattern. The worse holocaust in human history is now forgotten or ignored, it was the oppression of Christianity by the Roman Catholic Church and monarchies throughout Europe.
Pagan practises found their way into the apostate church such as infant baptism and original sin, a separate priesthood and pagan holy days from which we get our word holiday.
Worship of the Moon goddess became in time Easter and Mary worship. The Sun god was worshiped under the name of Jesus, the Sun as opposed to The Son. Catholic and Anglican church buildings face the east, the rising sun, instead of worshiping a risen Saviour, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, worshipers ignorant of these facts worship the rising Sun, which they face. The tower sits at the rear, the west end, the congregation sit facing the altar looking towards the east, the rising sun. Early church buildings built by the pagan Roman Catholic Church followed the same pattern as used by Roman Sun temples that previously worshiped the pagan Sun gods -Appolo, Attis, Baal, Dionysus, Helios, Hercules, Horus, Mithra, Osiris, Perseus, and Theseus. In time these multiple Sun gods were blended together in the main solstice celebrations called "Birthday of the Unconquered Sun" on Dec 25.
Eze 8:13He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again,andthou shalt see greater abominations that they do.
Eze 8:14Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house whichwastoward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
Eze 8:15Then said he unto me, Hast thou seenthis, O son of man? turn thee yet again,andthou shalt see greater abominations than these.
Eze 8:16And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar,wereabout five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
Worship of the return of the sun god at the mid winter Yule became Christmas. Human (cannibalistic) sacrifice became transubstantiation, served from the altar. Even the instrument, previously used to hide the screams of the unfortunate victims remained as part of worship. In the pagan Anglo-Saxon language the human sacrifice victim was known as the host, the name still lives on, it is used for the bread, the host as used in the Catholic Mass. Even the days of the week are named after pagan gods:
Sunday - The Sun god, who is also the biblical Adam reincarnated to Noah. Sunday is the day the pagans worshiped their chief deity, the Sun. Sunday is not found in the Bible, but the term, "the first day of the week" which agrees with the day of the Sun god - Sunday.
Monday - The Moon god, the wife of Nimrod, Semiramis. Both the moon and sun gods are hermaphrodite and can be either male or female. In the middle east the moon god is male, whose symbol can be seen on top of Muslim Mosques. This is the same goddess when female is the goddess of the East - Easter, Mary. The crested moon god symbol when male is also representative of the Ark of Noah, it is this symbol which is still used today after many centuries on mosques worldwide. In Celtic lands the name of the Ark was the Nav, from which we get our words Navy and church Nave, the church being a type of Ark in the pagan system and Christian systems. Also the word navel (belly button) is from the same source, as the belly button in the heathen system represents the moon, the ark who is the great god or goddess.
Tuesday - The god of the Tuetons, a Germanic people, possibly Bacchus deified (Nimrod) who is the son of the biblical Cush.
Wednesday - Woden's day, the Scandinavian god Odin, who is the same as Buddha, Osiris, Jupiter and the biblical Nimrod. The god Woden is also found in South America.
Thursday - Thor's Day, again, the biblical Nimrod.
Friday - Frigg's day, a Scandinavian mother goddess, possibly the wife of Nimrod.
Saturday - Saturn's day, the biblical Noah reincarnated according to the pagan scheme from Adam.
It is interesting to note that the gods above can be reduced to two gods, Adam reincarnated as Noah, and possibly later as Nimrod. Eve, reincarnated to the wife of Noah and later the wife of Nimrod, Semiramis. These are material gods, originally men who long after death were deified and worshiped as planets, the moon and Sun. The system is material and later would become naturalistic leading to atheism. All pagan gods worldwide can be reduced to this system, to which the pagan system worldwide is essentially the same system having originated in one place and spread from there. The idea of a succession of worlds and reincarnation of the pagan system is refuted by the first book of the Bible - Genesis.
In 601 AD, Gregory the Great wrote instructions to the Roman Catholic missionaries, delivered by Mellitus, who were spreading popery in Britain. This is that letter as recorded by Bede (died 735).
When Almighty God shall bring you to the most reverend Bishop Augustine, our brother, tell him what I have, after mature deliberation on the affairs of the English, determined upon, namely, that the temples of the idols in that nation ought not to be destroyed, but let the idols that are in them be destroyed; let holy water be made and sprinkled in the said temples - let altars be erected, and relics placed. For if those temples are well built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God; that the nation, seeing that their temples are not destroyed, may remove error from their hearts and, knowing and adoring the true God, may the more familiarly resort to the places to which they have been accustomed.
And because they have been used to slaughter many oxen in the sacrifices to devils, some solemnity must be substituted for them on this account, as, for instance, that on the day of the dedication, or of the nativities of the holy martyrs whose relics are there deposited, they may build themselves huts of the boughs of trees about those churches which have been turned to that use from temples, and celebrate the solemnity with religious feasting, no more offering beasts to the devil, but killing cattle to the praise of God in their eating, and returning thanks to the Giver of all things for their sustenance; to the end that, whilst some outward gratifications are permitted them, they may the more easily consent to thee inward consolations of the grace of God.
For there is no doubt that it is impossible to efface every thing at once from their obdurate minds., because he who endeavors to ascend to the highest place rises by degrees or steps and not by leaps. This the Lord made himself known to the people of Israel in Egypt: and yet he allowed them to use the sacrifices which they were wont to offer to the devil in his own worship, commanding them in his sacrifice to kill beasts to the end that, changing their hearts they mad lay aside one part of the sacrifice whilst retained another: that whilest they offered the same beasts which they were wont to offer, they should offer them to God, and not to idols, and thus they would no longer be the same sacrifices.
So, pagan temples were converted and not surprisingly, pagan priesthoods retained. The Arch-Druid become the Arch-Bishop!
The pagan system was based on materialism, a succession of worlds and reincarnation. Their great father god was Adam, reincarnated as Noah and later Bacchus (Nimrod). The Ark of Noah was the great mother egg, and also the moon. They remembered the place of descent from where Noah and his family left the Ark. Mountains and highs places were honoured in memory of the Ark. When a respected member of their society died they would be in time deified, the body placed in a temple or mound and necromancy came into being. In Europe people held in esteem are still buried in church buildings. A study of the planets led to astronomy and astrology. As the planet, moon and sun were considered the abode of men deified, they council was sought by the priests and the pagan system denying the God of Heaven, the Creator came into being.
Below are former High Places of pagan worship converted into Catholic Church buildings.
Lev 26:30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
St. Michael's Tower, Glastonbury, England, at about four miles distance,.
St. Michael's Tower, Glastonbury, below, from the town centre. It is said that it is here that the famous king Arthur (Arthwyr) lived, and worshipped. It is said that king Arthur was both crowned aged fifteen in 516 and was buried here in 542. The wizard Merlin was most likely a Druid who had knowledge of metal working and other skills which were eagerly retained amongst a small class of people, who earned the reputation of being magical in their ability to handle natural materials. Tales of Knights including Lancelot and the Round Table were invented centuries later. But there is no doubt that Arthur and his queen Guinevere were real people.
What is interesting about these mounds is that they were in use until recent times. First for pagan worship and then taken over by the Catholic Church from about the year 700 onwards. Yet, we are lead to believe that they were built thousands of years ago by an unknown race, claimed by some to be pre-Celtic.
Below, Stonehenge which was still being used as recently as 1200 years ago, with it's burial mound common to stone circles. A view not normally seen as the mound dates Stonehenge later than many historians would like.
Many such mounds of varying sizes surround the Henge, this one being part of the site. Despite modern historians attempts at making Stonehenge very old, evidence suggests it was in use until the 700 - 800s AD, when Christianity finally replaced pagan worship in this area. This view of Stonehenge is taken from the south looking north west towards the henge. It is a view rarely seen, most pictures exclude the mound, which is part of the Stonehenge complex. The majority of stone circles have burial mounds close by, or even in the circle, dating circles far more recent than many historians would like.
Heathens did not like meeting in buildings, first, they lacked the knowledge to build large roofed meeting places, secondly, they believed demons (devils) would inhabit such a roofed place. Both circles and mounds were sacred, holy places where both secular meetings would take place and the religious.
The parliament on the Isle of Man still meets once a year on their law mound, a tradition going back a thousand years.
Circles remained in use into the 1400 and 1500s, this fact is missing from modernist historians who wish to date circles as being pre-Roman and pre-Celtic. Many are post Roman and post-Celtic being far more recent than people realise.
Below, the Celtic - Cor Y Gawr - better known as Stan-hencg - Stonehenge.
To know more on dating the age of Stonehenge from a Christian viewpoint, click on the logo below:
Below, a view of Birs Nimrood - an ancient tower associated with Nimrod. This view of the west side of Birs Nimrood, near Babylon, was visited by and illustrated by Sir Robert Ker Porter in November 1818. The Tower of Babel (Genesis 10:9-14, 11:1-9) is most likely to have been a stepped pyramid, known as a ziggurat.A ziggurat (Akkadian ziqqurrat, "to build on a raised area") is a temple tower once common in the ancient Mesopotamian valley and Iran, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories.
Below,St. Michael's Church, Murrow, Somerset, at about two miles,this mound is within eyesight of the one at Glastonbury.
Built to one side of the famous island of Athelney, this former pagan burial mound now has a church building on top. As with many churches built on former pagan high places, it is named after St. Michael. King Alfred the Great in 879 set up a base here in the marshy region of Somerset. At this time, the great Saxon kingdoms of England had been reduced to one man who ruled a small area of swamp. Out of the direst of circumstances come history's great heroes, and it was from this hidden base in the swamps that King Alfred became Alfred the Great. From Athelney, Alfred sent messages to those fighting men that were still loyal to him. Seven weeks after taking refuge at Athelney, Alfred emerged from the swamps with a new army. He surprised the Danes at Edington and drove them from Wessex. Guthrum surrendered to Alfred and accepted baptism with Alfred as his Godfather. Further pictures below:
The Church building has fallen into disuse, a new building is now at the foot of the hill in the village, replacing the former. No doubt villagers are pleasantly agreeable at not having to walk to church by climbing a small mountain, a former pagan high place, on their hands and knees!
Below, another 'church' built on a former pagan high place. This one again is dedicated to St. Michael being built in 1409 as a hermitage chapel at Roche, Cornwall. A ladder and rock climbing skills are required to enter the ruins.
Another view, yes, the church is at the top of the volcanic rock!
Two thousand years ago life was very, very different. People were fatalistic, and feared the gods. If things went wrong it was considered by many, punishment from those gods. To appease the gods sacrifice was made, often their fellow man. Idols were worshiped, by taking a stone or making a metal object and housing it in a pleasant surrounding, it was thought that a minor deity may take up it's home in that object. So people worshipped idols rather than the Creator God - Jehovah.
Rom 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
There were door gods, and even gods for the hinges of the door. There were fertility gods, such as Easter. This was the time of healers, mediums and spiritualists. When a king or other important person died their remains would be considered sacred and worshipped, hoping that the soul of the deceased, now in the 'Otherworld' would mediate for those still on Earth. Thus was born Hero Worship, replaced later by the worship of Saints in the Catholic religion.
The time of year we know as Christmas was when the return of the Sun was prayed for. Easter was the time of fertility and Halloween was when the dead and departed spirits were prayed to.
Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Idols were housed in small temples, know as a 'church' (or Kirk), here it was hoped a god would take up residence. Thus the church was a house of a god. When we find the word 'church' in our English Bibles it refers to the people (congregation) of Almighty God, never a building.
People would worship on high places, spoken against in the Old Testament. Some of these high places were altars, others were on mountain tops, other were huge or not so huge mounds, sometimes with the body of an important person buried inside. So the pyramids came into being. The first most likely was the tower of Babel. Pyramids are found in the Americas although we are most familiar with the ones in Egypt. In Europe and across the world mounds made from earth were constructed with terracing, for worship and sacrifice. Countries include North and South America, Russia, China and Japan.
In Europe, the priests were the Druids (oak priests) who attended to the worship and sacrifice at these places.
As the Catholic religion spread out these places of worship were taken over. The priests were retained who kept many of their customs.
Here are some photographs of those 'high places' that in time became Catholic Churches. To know more about the word 'church' clickhere'.
Most the churches that sit on these ancient mounds are dedicated to the Catholic Saint Michael (Michael the archangel), who is the patron saint of High Places!... Who in Catholic mythology has the ability to rescue a person from Hell. What better person is there to replace a pagan god than a 'Christian' saint who can enter the clutches of Hell and rescue souls from Satan himself?
If the church is beside the mound it is normally dedicated to St. Mary who has replaced the pagan mother goddess.
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen (Jer. 10:2)
The picture below is of Dragon Hill in Wiltshire. Again it is a man made mound. The picture shows clearly the flat top where today 'Druids' meet on the summer solstice. It takes it's name from the time when a dragon suposedly was killed here. Overlooking the hill is Whitehorse Hill, which is world famous for it's image of a horse cut into the white chalk. Many commentators agree that the image is that of a dragon and not a horse. Whitehorse Hill is the same hill as Uffingham Hill Fort. The pictures are taken from Whitehorse Hill looking down onto Dragon Hill.
In the 10th century the hill was known as Eccles Beorh, that is "Church Barrow". The name Eccles is a form of the Latin Ecclesia, brought into British place-names through the Celtic Egles (modern Welsh Eglwys) denoting a late or post-Roman church building.
Below, Silbury Hill, ancient mound and the highest in Europe. Remains of a wooden 'temple' structure have been found on the top.
Archaeologists working on repairs to Silbury Hill, have discovered traces of a spiral path like the one a Glastonbury leading to its summit.
The finding indicates a possible ceremonial use for the 28 metre (92 feet) high mound, believed to have been constructed over 3,000 years ago. Possibly ceremonies, a processional way leading up to the top and perhaps all kinds of religious ceremonial experiences happened at the top.
There are avenues leading towards Avebury, which is in the near vicinity, and it's quite likely that processions formed part of their religious life.
English Heritage has now said that the survey in early 2002 showed the mound was stable and had been built in a spiral fashion, rather than terraced as previously thought. This is similar to other mounds showing the ceremonial use of these places.
St. Paul's Cathedral, London which stands on Ludgate Hill, site of the temple dedicated to the goddess of myth - Diana, who is the same as Semiramis, wife of the biblical Nimrod. The famous dome can be seen centre right in the picture.
Below is Westminster Cathedral, London, it is to the centre right, the Houses of Westminster are to the left of Westminster Abbey, which stands on the site of the temple mound dedicated to the sun god of myth - Apollo.
Here stood a Druid stone circle and a Druid school was on this site, then an island - Thorney Isle.
Below is Westminster Cathedral, behind to the left is the clock face of Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament. In front of Westminster Abbey is the "Sanctuary", a name that lives on from pagan times when a stone circle was used for worship.
Below is Westminster Cathedral with the street sign for the "Sanctuary".
Below, the picture is taken from Tothill Street, named after a burial mound that still existed in the time of Elizabeth I in the seventeenth century. Westminster Cathedral and the Sanctuary are to the left with the houses of parliament in the background. Despite modern historians avoiding the subject, our modern secular world is never far from the past which is not as ancient as the modernist would have us believe.
Below, Situated in St James’s Park, Kings Lynn, Norfolk is the octagonal Red Mount Chapel, erected atop the pagan mound in 1484 and dedicated to ‘Our Ladye of the Mount’. It was popular with pilgrims, who visited it on their way to or from the shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham. It fell into dilapidation after the Dissolution in c1540, and its lower apartment was reduced to a stable; it was restored to its former glory in the 19th century.
Below are pictures of the Viking burial mounds at Sutton Hoo, England.
In about 625 a King of East Anglia, possibly King Raedwald, was buried in a large wooden ship 27 m long and 4.5 m wide at its widest spot (about 85 feet by 15 feet). The ship had been sailed upriver and then dragged overland and then into a pit dug at the burial spot. The ship was then covered with a large mound of soil.
More mounds at Sutton Hoo.
This mound is at Huntingdon, near Hinchingbrooke, England
Below is Bartlow Hill Roman barrow cemetery in Cambridgeshire, England. It extends from St Mary's Churchyard. Barrows (burial mounds) of this type were built in the late 1st and 2nd centuries AD, and would have belonged to the wealthiest families in society. These are regarded as possibly the finest Roman burial mounds in Europe, yet they are hidden and a car park is not provided.
The Bartlow cemetery comprises two rows of burial mounds running approximately north south. Four barrows in the eastern row survive as large conical mounds up to 12 metres high and 46 metres in diameter, whilst in the western row another two have been substantially reduced by past agricultural activity. The barrows were excavated in 1832-1840 revealing walled graves in the centre of each mound and an array of wealthy grave goods, including furniture and the remains of wooden chests containing Roman drinking vessels and tableware. Unfortunately the majority of the artefacts were destroyed by a fire in 1847.
Below is the natural mound which today has a castle on topon the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, close by is the mound still known as 'Bible Law', high places were often called laws, as this is where ancient people met to make rules.The Old English place-name elements for mounds are beorg and hlaew.
Beorg is found all over England although it generally seems more common in the north, meaning either ‘hill’ or ‘mound’, than in the south, where the term hlaew predominates. Both words are found in the names of meeting-mounds, although hlaew is more common, perhaps indicating a preference for Anglo-Saxon barrows or purpose-built mounds.
Hlaew probably has a wider chronological range than beorg. Names such as Wenslow (Beds; ‘Woden’s hlaew’) and Thunderlow (Essex; ‘Thumor’s hlaew’) may have been formed in the pagan English period.
What is of importance to us is that many pagan places which as dated before the Roman period in the UK were in use well into the middle ages thus leaving considerable concern they have been misdated far to old than the evidence actually allows.
Our English word 'law', comes from the pagan 'hlaew' which refers to a mound where laws were made.
Secular sources tell us both the worship of high places, and the first burial mound originated in Babel, when Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod buried him in a mound.
Below, remains of the abbey at Lindisfarne - Holy Island
Castle Hill, Cambridge
The mound below is Castle Hill, Cambridge. Like many Saxon and earlier mounds, the Normans after the invasion of 1066 made these holy and law making mounds into defensive positions from where they could continue rule. The Mote and Bailey castle originates from the Normans fortifying these places, at first with a simple wooden stockade, and later, if required, with stone walls to make castles.
TheMiddle Englishwordmote and later mound is from the Old French, motte, and from there, the Medieval Latin mota.
The Motte refers to the original mound which gives us the English words - mound, meet, met, meeting, mount, mountain, moot (hall) and moat for the surrounding ditch. In later times people met in buildings for their civic meetings, which are still known as moot halls which later became the town hall.
Historians generally give the impression such mounds were made by the Norman invaders. The Normans established rule from these mounds, as they were already in use and regarded by the local people as centres for religion and civic control. In a week or so the Norman invaders could make a fortified defensive position by using the existing mound.
Many if not most of these mounds were far too small to allow much on any sort of construction on top, other than a watch tower. Modern historians never allow for this overwhelming fact when advocating their theory of the Normans building these mounds, which if true would have taken weeks to make them secure against slipping under rain, and then, served little purpose as a defensive position to retreat too. The larger mounds were used as castle keeps or churches, sometimes the church being in the keep.
The mound below is found in Cambridge and is still in the grounds of the County Council, as is the one in Oxford. Such mounds even to this day are found in close proximity to where modern laws are made. The third picture below is the County Council building taken from the top of the mound.
Historians today rarely mention the preponderance of such mounds which were used to make civic law, which are often in town and cities, next to where modern law making councils meet. The problem is further exacerbated when as this website shows, the earliest British archaeological sites such as Stonehenge include such mounds. Objections are made that the design of such mounds changed over time, but several cemeteries exist where all types of mound sit together, one such cemetery being only a few minutes walk from Stonehenge.
Such places were both the centre of civic and religious life and we should not be surprised to find them included in castles, with churches on top or beside, and even still next to civic law making establishments. In older times civic and religious (pagan) meetings were held at the same venue, thus, the idea of the church and state being intermingled grew from paganism, which itself came from Nimrod and Babel. The oldest such mounds are found in Mesopotamia, from where the practise grew worldwide with the dispersion of mankind.
In Norman (French) such meeting places were know as 'motte' which gives our modern word meet. In the Scandinavian language they were known as 'things' or 'tings'. When 'meet' and 'thing' are joined we have our modern word - meeting. In Anglo-Saxon (Early English) they were known as'beorg' and importantly 'hlaew' which gives us three words in modern English - low, bylaw and law.
Ting or Thing stems from the Norse Thing-Vollr meaning an assembly field. It has counterparts throughout the Scandinavian world and the lands which the Norsemen (Vikings) settled. There were two grades of "Thing", an Al-thing being a meeting of a whole nation and a Hus-thing being an assembly of a town or community. The Icelandic assembly has the name Althing and the place where it originated is called Thingvellir. In the Faeroes it is known as the Lagting, or Law Assembly. The Norwegian parliament is the Storting. The town of Dingwall on the Moray Firth in Scotland has the same origin as Tynwald. Even the word tithing comes from this source.
In London we find the term "folkmote" being used for public meetings.During the Saxon period the City of London was effectively a small independent federated state of Wards each of which held its own wardmote . There were twenty wards by 1130, today there are twenty-five. Collectively, the Wards held regular Folkmotes which dealt with general affairs affecting all Wards. The Folkmote is the direct predecessor of the present Court of Common Council.
St. Catherine and high places:
Lugh, was the Celtic sun god,whose name is related to the Latin lux, or, ‘light’, and means ‘the shining one’. The European towns of Laon, Leyden and Carlisle (originally Caer Lugubalion) also were all named after Lugh, and the modern name Hugh also derives fromLugh.
When ancient Celts went to a Lughnasadh celebration, to remember their Sun god, Lugh, they could expect to find many features for entertainment.One ancient custom still associated with Lughnasadh, was for a large wagon wheel to be dragged to the top of a hill, covered with tar, and set on fire, then it was rolled down the hill, the flaming disk representing the declining sun deity. This, in Christian times, evolved into the popular firework, the Catherine wheel, since St Catherine of Alexandria (who was intended to be martyred on a wheel but survived), was commemorated on her feast day at originally at Lammas, though the Catholic Church has moved it several times, the wheel rolling continued as part of her day. Lammas is the Catholic festival which originates from the pre-Christian festival of Lughnasadh held on 1 August.
Below is another Christianised high place, this time a natural location in the English lake District, dedicated to St. Catherine of the wheel fame. Like so many of these converted pagan meeting places, a new church building has been built in the valley below. The original building is recent - 1516!
Below, The old building shown from the graveyard of the present church.
Below is Durham Cathedral, home to the famous Green Man, seen on the main door, again, another famous occurrence of using pagan symbols.
Below, almost in the centre of London is the former high place where laws were made. To the left of the British Telecom Tower, is Parliament Hill, where parliaments were held on its summit (314 feet). It was called the Llandin (Druid holy place) from which name the Romans named London. The mound is natural, not man made as are other mounds where parliaments were held. From the Norse name from these hills, where laws and parliaments were held, we get our modern English word - Law! Below, not much to see, the summit of 'The Llandin'. But the view over the 'city' is fantastic.
London from the top of 'The Llandin' at daybreak. St. Paul's Cathedral can be made out on the sky line.. Find the centre of the bench and follow up, the dome can be seen on the sky line!
Below, a former pagan holy well, used for infant baptism in pagan times is located below the church at Holy Well, near, St. Ives, Cambridgeshire. This is another good example of a former pagan place, on a natural position higher than the surrounding landscape.
There are many more examples, please visit the pages listed below:
Click on picture to the left to see more pictures of Iona, the holy island Scotland, Knowlton circle henge which has a Norman Church, St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall, Loch Nell and the Serpent Mound and other pagan, now 'Christianised' worship places.
Click on picture to the left to see pictures of Canfield Church, Essex with 'Christianised' pagan symbols including Woden and swastikas .
Click on picture to the left to see pictures of Rudston Church with 'Christianised' pagan standing stone, one of the highest in Europe.
Click on picture to the left to see pictures of Pennington Church and churchyard, built on a former pagan site.
Visit the pagan shrine at Walsingham and its 'Christianised' pagan holy well, once one of the most important pilgrimage shrines in Europe. Click on the logo to the left.
Visit the heathen circles of the pre-Christinan Orkney islands, to the north east of Scotland. Click on the logo to the left.
In the early Catholic Church, those adults bringing children to baptism would face the rear of the church, away from the Sun, the sponsors renounced the Devil, then they turned, facing the rising Sun in the East, made their covenant with Christ and the priest then held the baptismal ceremony and exorcism of the child.
'Dictionary of the English Church, Ancient and Modern', 1881, page 194
The Next Page
Next page - The Devils Door - The history of infant baptism exposed! Click on the logo below:
