>>520508829
>The mysterious character is concretized not only in the pact of secrecy that marks each one of the activities that are carried out in the interior of the Mithraea, but also in the initiation as a vehicle of incorporation of the aspirants. The believer joins the community after going through an unavoidable process by which the mysteries are revealed to them. The new member thus understands the day of his initiation as a new birth, that is, the mystes es natus et renatus.
>The candidate, naked, blindfolded, hands tied behind his back, is accompanied by a mystagogue who introduces him into the community. The incorporation of the neophyte into the community is accompanied by the initiation process at the end of which he demonstrates his suitability for breaking with his previous existence to begin his new life identified with Mithras and benefited from the salvation he grants to all those who have been initiated into his mysteries.
If Mitraism had been popularized by the government, many of these aspects would have been eliminated to facilitate its assimilation by the common people, and the religion would have lost its warrior character, leaving only the savior god. Not to mention other aspects of Mithraism... such as mandatory body scarification for any man who wanted to join, a series of Mithraic glyphs (symbolizing your covenant with Mitra) engraved forever across your abdomen and chest.