"The fraternal and democratic spirit of the first communities, and their humble origin; the identification
of the object of adoration with light and the sun; the legends of the shepherds with their gifts and
adoration, the flood, and the ark; the representation in art of the fiery chariot, the drawing of water from
the rock; the use of bell and candle, holy water and the communion; the sanctification of Sunday and of
the 25th of December; the insistence on moral conduct, the emphasis placed on abstinence and self-control;
the doctrine of heaven and hell, of primitive revelation, of the mediation of the Logos emanating
from the divine, the atoning sacrifice, the constant warfare between good and evil and the final triumph
of the former, the immortality of the soul, the last judgment, the resurrection of the flesh and the fiery
destruction of the universe--[these] are some of the resemblances which, whether real or only apparent,
enabled Mithraism to prolong its resistance to Christianity," From the Book : the secret teaching of all ages by Manly p Hall