“In the Old Testament, Jehovah exhibits all the attributes of old Saturn, notwithstanding his metamorphoses from Adoni into Eloi, and God of Gods, Lord of Lords. Jesus is tempted on the mountain by the Devil, who promises to him kingdoms and glory, if he will only fall down and worship him (Matthew4:8, 9). Buddha is tempted by the Demon Wasawarthi Mara, who says to him as he is leaving his father’s palace: “Be entreated to stay that you may possess the honors that are within your reach; go not, go not!” And upon the refusal of Gautama to accept his offers, gnashes his teeth with rage, and threatens him with vengeance. Like Christ, Buddha triumphs over the Devil.
In the Bacchic Mysteries, a consecrated cup was handed around after supper, called the cup of the Agathodaemon. The Ophite rite of the same description is evidently borrowed from these Mysteries. The communion consisting of bread and wine was used in the worship of nearly every important deity. In connection with the semi-Mithraic sacrament adopted by the Marcosians, another Gnostic sect, utterly kabalistic and theurgic, there is a strange story given by Epiphanius as an illustration of the cleverness of the Devil. In the celebration of their Eucharist, three large vases of the finest and clearest crystal were brought among the congregation and filled with white wine. While the ceremony was going on, in full view of everybody, this wine was instantaneously changed into a blood-red, a purple, and then into an azure-blue color.
“Then the magus”, says Epiphanius, “hands one of these vases to a woman in the congregation, and asks her to bless it. When it is done, the magus pours out of it into another vase of much greater capacity with the prayer: “May the grace of God, which is above all, inconceivable, inexplicable, fill thy inner man, and augment the knowledge of Him within thee, sowing the grain of mustard-seed in good ground. Whereupon the liquor in the larger vase swells and swells until it runs over the brim.”
In connection with several of the Pagan deities which are made after death, and before their resurrection to descend into hell, it will be found useful to compare the pre-Christian with the post-Christian narratives. Orpheus made the journey, and Christ was the last of these subterranean travelers. In the Credo of the Apostles, which is divided in twelve sentences or articles, each particular article having been inserted by each particular apostle, according to St. Austin, the sentence “He descended into hell, the third day he rose again from the dead”, is assigned to Thomas; perhaps, as an atonement for his unbelief. Be it as it may, the sentence is declared a forgery, and there is no evidence “that this creed was either framed by the apostles, or indeed, that it existed as a creed in their time.”
It is the most important addition in the Apostle’s Creed, and dates since the year of Christ 600. It was not known in the days of Eusebius. Bishop Parsons says that it was not in the ancient creeds or rules of faith. Irenaeus, Origen, and Tertullian exhibit no knowledge of this sentence. It is not mentioned in any of the Councils before the seventh century. Theodoret, Epiphanius, and Socrates are silent about it. It differs from the creed in St. Augustine. Ruffinus affirms that in his time it was neither in the Roman nor in the Oriental creeds (Exposit., in Symbol; Apost., section 10).
But the problem is solved when we learn that ages ago Hermes spoke thus to Prometheus, chained on the arid rocks of the Caucasian mount: “To such labors look thou for no termination, UNTIL SOME GOD SHALL APPEAR AS A SUBSTITUTE IN THY PANGS, AND SHALL BE WILLING TO GO BOTH TO GLOOMY HADES AND TO THE MURKY DEPTHS AROUND TARTARUS!” (AESCHYLUS: Prometheus, 1027, ff.). This god was Herakles, the “Only-Begotten One”, and the Saviour. And it is he who was chosen as a model by the ingenious Fathers.”
H. P. Blavatsky
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 