# Can you still be initiated into the Greek mysteries/mystery religions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-initiated-into-the-greek-mysteries-mystery-religions/562994 "2010-12-05T02:40:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-initiated-into-the-greek-mysteries-mystery-religions/562994/1 "2010-12-05T02:40:51Z")
Are there any groups that purport to initiate new followers into the ancient mystery cults such as the Eleusinian Mysteries? If so, to what extent are they seen as legitimate in terms of apostolic succession (sorry for the Christian term, substitute the proper one as applicable) and reliability of knowledge transfer (i.e. what is taught today is substantially what was taught 2000 years ago). ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-initiated-into-the-greek-mysteries-mystery-religions/562994/2 "2010-12-05T03:07:53Z")
If there are, they would be reconstructions, and probably not very accurate ones. The mystery cults are gone, and we don’t know what their practices were. ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-initiated-into-the-greek-mysteries-mystery-religions/562994/3 "2010-12-05T03:46:39Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Are there any groups that purport to initiate new followers into the ancient mystery cults such as the Eleusinian Mysteries? Why it just so happens that I’m the …uh… Mystery Master of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and I can get you all initiated and what not. Membership is very simple, you have to take a vow and a small _initiation fee_. And, of course, once you’re in, you’ll probably want to pay to take some of our valuable classes that can get rid you of thetans, I mean self doubt. Of course, being a mystery cult, we don’t have meetings and you can’t meet the other members, but you’ll have an official membership certificate, and we’ll send you a diagram of the official handshake for no extra charge. And I can assure you I’m as legitimate as anyone else who claims they can get you into an ancient mystery cult. I’ve got a membership card to prove it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-initiated-into-the-greek-mysteries-mystery-religions/562994/4 "2010-12-05T03:52:58Z")
Of course, one might argue that Christianity is itself one of those mystery cults, and initiation into that one is still available. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-initiated-into-the-greek-mysteries-mystery-religions/562994/5 "2010-12-05T04:11:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Of course, one might argue that Christianity is itself one of those mystery cults, and initiation into that one is still available. One might argue that, but one would be wrong. Christianity doesn’t have any secret ceremonies only open to initiates. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-initiated-into-the-greek-mysteries-mystery-religions/562994/6 "2010-12-05T05:28:20Z")
I’m not sure if they resurrected the mysteries, but there are a number of Greek Reconstructionist groups operating at varying degrees of rigour/stick-up-your-ass-ness (depending on your point of view). They’ve been in the news because the Greek state has been quite repressive towards them. They have been threatened with prosecution, and have at various times been denied the right either to build a temple or to perform ceremonies at ancient sites. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-initiated-into-the-greek-mysteries-mystery-religions/562994/7 "2010-12-05T05:58:07Z")
As for “apostolic succession” as you put it, a few people claim to have descended from families that continued to practise polytheism since ancient times, but the legitimacy of such claims is unclear at best. Neopagans in general usually don’t feel a need to rely on claims of that sort. (The term “Reconstructionist” is pretty frank, although generally groups using that term do try to adhere as closely as possible to what is known about these traditions, with only necessary allowances for modern mores, such as replacing blood sacrifices with token ones.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-initiated-into-the-greek-mysteries-mystery-religions/562994/8 "2010-12-05T06:05:40Z")
> [@](#): > > One might argue that, but one would be wrong. Christianity doesn’t have any secret ceremonies only open to initiates. I’ve never seen that listed as a requirement of the mystery cults. “Mystery” doesn’t have the same meaning in this context as the usual modern usage. And in any event, Christianity does have rituals open only to initiates, and there’s at least symbolic secrecy associated with some of them. For instance, the main doors to a Catholic church are always closed during Communion. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-initiated-into-the-greek-mysteries-mystery-religions/562994/9 "2010-12-05T06:31:24Z")
The traditional meaning of mystery in that context is “a secret rite”, and the ancient practitioners of the mystery religions would have to swear that they wouldn’t reveal their rituals to outsiders. I think the only Christian group that does that is the Mormons. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-be-initiated-into-the-greek-mysteries-mystery-religions/562994/10 "2010-12-05T07:20:40Z")
The Scientologists have “secrets” that supposedly can only be passed on to members of the faith. But their secrets have leaked out to the general public. I haven’t heard of any groups that can reliably claim that they have maintained any secret information intact from the classical mystery cults. At some point either the chain got broken and the information was lost or it became public knowledge.