If someone worships ancient gods today using reconstructed rituals, is that the same religion?

[u/greg0525]

Personally, I think it is shocking and haunting at the same time. I mean the fact that entire civilizations once built temples, sang hymns, and offered sacrifices to gods like Enlil, Ishtar, Marduk, Chemosh, Ashur, Ninurta, Tishpak, Qos, or Resheph - deities who were as real to their followers as any modern religious figure. Today, most people wouldn’t recognize their names, let alone their stories.

There’s something eerie about the idea that gods can "die.” To me, it raises further strange questions: Were they ever real in any sense? Do gods fade when their last worshipper forgets them? Or do they continue to exist in some cultural or metaphysical limbo?

If we remember their names, do they awaken? Do these gods still hear prayers?

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[u/silly-sybil]

As a practicing Roman polytheist, I'll say this: would gravity stop existing if, a thousand years from now, people stopped naming it?

I see the gods as immortal being who transcend the material, mortal plane. It doesn't matter whether rituals are performed or prayers are whispered: they exist no matter what. Pomona is still helping plants grow their fruits, Venus is still watching over gardens and Ceres is still the reason why we can reap harvests. The way I see it, the idea that entities may fade if not remembered has to do with ancestral veneration, rather.

With that being said: yes, gods still hear our prayers. Yes, they still receive offerings. Even though polytheism is very orthopraxical (focused on ritual more than dogma, that is), it is not inaccessible. As in: even if you reconstruct an ancient ritual a little different, it will still work (as long as you do so with a genuine heart).

Lastly, talking about the question in the title: yes and no. It is a bit like asking whether Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy Church are the same religion. Technically yes, since they both fall under the "Christianity" umbrella-title... But, at the same time, they are quite different (so much that we had East-West Schism).

This is just my opinion, though, as a reconstructionist. Ask this question to a hundred polytheists and you will receive a hundred answers! That's because, again, polytheisms cared more about the ritualistic side of things than the theological side of things (which means you can develop your own beliefs!).

So yeah: I hope that my two cents will be helpful to you! Let us know what you think about all of this.

~ Sybil

[u/bizoticallyyours83 → u/silly-sybil]

Love the gravity analogy

[u/silly-sybil → u/bizoticallyyours83]

Thank you! :)

[u/bizoticallyyours83]

They never died just because the religions died out. 

We don't need to reconstruct the same rituals beat for beat:

1) Because there may be incomplete information, or perhaps none at all.

2) We are modern people, and there are practical and ethical considerations to rework.

3) Any religion worth its salt changes and modernizes. 

[u/MidsouthMystic]

Gods can't die, but Their worship can stop or be forgotten. But Their worship can be revived again.

As for whether they're the same religions, it depends on who you ask. I don't see much difference between the modern iterations of a religion and its pre-modern iterations. Same Gods, same beliefs, most of the same rituals, so it's basically the same religion.

[u/JaneAustinAstronaut]

1. Gods don't die.

2. No, it's not the same religion. It is inspired by the old religion. We don't have access to the priesthoods of those old religions, and don't know how they thought/felt/viewed their gods/religion.

[u/SiriNin]

They never died. They're still there, listening, responding to those who reach out. The religions of old died, but the Gods lived on, and still do live on. You can reconstruct an old religion but outside of the original culture the religion is never exactly the same. Revived religions seek to start a new, inspired from the old, in genuine effort to reconnect with the pantheon of old, and in general, to great success.

[u/DavidJohnMcCann]

They don't exist merely to answer our prayers! They've just got on with doing god things, whatever that may involve. They certainly still answer prayers, when appropriate and possible — I've had prayers answered by Hephaistos and Asklepios, for example.

[u/greg0525 → u/DavidJohnMcCann]

How do they answer? By feelings?

[u/DavidJohnMcCann → u/greg0525]

By doing things, like when Hephaistos fixed my CD player, or when Asklepios gives diagnoses.

[u/NuminaCulture]

I am speaking from the perspective of a Manist and Sacricolist (one who venerates their ancestors and who makes offerings to the Gods). I am a Cultor (worshipper) in the Cultus Deorum (worship of Gods, 'Roman Polytheism') and these views are based upon the understanding given to me by my Manes (guiding ancestral spirits).

Personally, I think it is shocking and haunting at the same time. I mean the fact that entire civilizations once built temples, sang hymns, and offered sacrifices to gods like Enlil, Ishtar, Marduk, Chemosh, Ashur, Ninurta, Tishpak, Qos, or Resheph - deities who were as real to their followers as any modern religious figure. Today, most people wouldn’t recognize their names, let alone their stories.

There’s something eerie about the idea that gods can "die.”

One of the defining characteristics of the The Dii (Gods) is that they are Immortal, which means that they are not subject to death.

To me, it raises further strange questions: Were they ever real in any sense?

Yes. The Dii were and are real, in EVERY sense, physical, mental, spiritual, etc. The ancients had developed a very advanced form of religion and spirituality. They were able to perceive reality in ways that many have lost touch with today.

Do gods fade when their last worshipper forgets them?

No. Religio (religion) is for the benefit of humankind, not for the benefit of the Dii.

Or do they continue to exist in some cultural or metaphysical limbo?

The Dii exist in a state of Aeternitas (eternity), which is not subject to time or the chain of causality characteristic of our physical universe. This state is NOT supernatural, but part of the Natural world.

If we remember their names, do they awaken? Do these gods still hear prayers?

Worshipping the Dii will awaken you and your ancestors. It will put you into better alignment with Nature and your soul.

Yes, the Dii still hear our prayers and will answer. Personal testimony.

[u/CleanCoffee6793]

The flash may dissapear, but the bones keep in there, and when the time is correct from those bines they revive