NEOPLATONISM

Hellenism, the last pagan religion in general, there is the Hellenistic culture in the remains of mecedonio empire of Alexander the Great called, flourished after his death in 323 BC, the small universe expanded Hellenic to almost the end of the world . Greek: Small polis, with its walls and under the presidency of the temple by a patron deity, were introduced into a new universe in which the unifying factor was the language together. Came the concept of "cosmopolitan" citizen of the cosmos. Thus the Greek spirit of parochial minds of people in a cosmopolitan consciousness. The counterpart was the emergence of a culture pessimistic, helpless and vulnerable beings, a kind agrofobia seized people who saw the disappearance of the local power of the gods of the polis, and an enormous expansion of cultural boundaries. They saw new gods, new rites and traditions that could be implemented with ease in their ancient polis. This era saw the emergence of new kinds of philosophy, especially Stoic philosophy, which seeks to respond to this feeling of loneliness that came over the individual. The philosophies of the time put their emphasis on ethics, which in most cases, a soteriological dimension. When the man had from this World Wide and cruel, where the gods were not saved as a paternal and protective systems of the polis. We have to support them in this time, the disappearance of the old theocracy, with the decline of their priests, the priestly caste lost their power and prominence. This is also the reason the increase is based on this time, the mystery cults, religious system on the individual's relationship with the gods, the most common form of initiation.

In times of Christianity as an official, ie, by the Edict of Milan (313), was first called Hellenism to the latest manifestation of the pagan religion. A religion that had nothing to what had to be done based on the poems of Homer and basically had their inspiration in the divine oracle of the god Apollo. The late Hellenistic period, was a mixture of ancient beliefs of different origins and philosophy, especially Neoplatonism.

Neoplatonism had a variety of sources, was the main thing, no doubt, Platonism, but pitagoric. Even the drinking of stoicism and the Alexandrian Peripateticism. And finally, the crowning of Neoplatonic theurgy philosophy, the more a theology, the philosophy itself. We can therefore Neoplatonic theology, the other by Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics, Posidonius of Apamea particularly inspired, was also a collection of Orphic Rhapsodies calls that speak several theogonies cosmologies and contained, and the Chaldeans Oráculas the famous Egyptian Hermetic books . These were the books or theurgic magic of what was considered a divine science.

All of these elements, the body has a highly developed theology, known as the West is not the chair has hypsitos of the idea of God first and only to the one of the philosophers, who was in the popular religion, Zeus, Helios, or any other supreme deity, Isis and Egyptian mystery cults, where the goddess was supreme deity, and embodies the soul of the world as a whole. But theologians Neoplatonists, the One who was a god above, of course, she has issued, he could not because of his perfection and absolute immobility, a series of intelligible gods, to build identified with the ideas of Plato. After these figures were also worshiped divine wisdom, and then himself, who is called Cronus, ie Saturn, the father of Zeus, who was identified with the Demiurge of Plato. And after Zeus demiurge, were a series of calls Hipercósmicas or transcendent deities, among whom the twelve gods power: a second Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Apollo, etc.. The gods Hipercósmicos, who worked in the demiurgic activity, they were joined Encósmicos the gods, with the world. These gods had a conservative raising activity, and purification of both individual souls, as the cosmos itself followed the gods, angels with their archangels, demons (or devils, are not necessarily the evil nature endowed them Christians), the heroes and divine souls .

These deities or spirits inhabit the cosmos invisible, and formed chains that had some transcendent gods, that is, a transcendent God who started to understand the source, such as the string demiurge, demiurge himself Intelligence (Zeus), gods and Hipercósmicos in his creative activity, which were also helped by angels, archangels and demons ... Thus, the various channels were divine.

Well, Neoplatonism offered the option of "conversion" on the one hand by the chains of the gods. This concept is of fundamental importance in neo-Platonism, for the salvation of the proposal comes to this school, and the philosophical basis of the various mysteries in which the world began. In the mysteries of Mithras, a sun god Mithra was the god responsible for lifting and cleaning of the conversion of their manure, and assumes the initiation, he did it in seven different initiations in connection with the seven planetary spheres. Was in the mysteries of the goddess Isis, this uplifting and cleansing, which initiated its completely dedicated to her, accompanied throughout the cosmos. In the ancient mysteries of Eleusis, Dionysus and the goddess of hell (Persephone, Demeter or Hecate). Such were the mysteries of Cybele and Attis, Adonis, etc.

In many papyri from this period we have also mentioned gnostic deities, as UIS Yaldabaoth, Abraxas, etc.. Gnosticism, instead of a strange sect of Christianity heréretica was the normal way, the Egyptian Christianity manifested, and references texts and fragments flood the Egyptians of this era. And we also found some references to the religion of Moses, which often occurs as a prophet to the height of Hermes Trismegistus and Zoroaster. The truth is that, far from being exclusive, popular pagan religion of the Roman Empire, was a set of beliefs like, with a strong philosophical base, all kinds of ritual forms, rituals, liturgy, and above all accept magic.