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 94 THE CLASSICAL HERITAGE [chap. doubts as to its existence. Probably the object of those mysteries was to insure a happy lot to the initi- ated in the life beyond the grave. This purpose may never have been a secret. The secret lay rather in the rites which worked so potently upon the mood of the participants. In general, these consisted in puri- fication, initiation, and cVoTTTcta, the highest degree of participation. With the renewed religiousness of the second cen- tury after Christ, a renewed life came to the various pagan mysteries, which were necessarily influenced by the aims and moods inspiring the last phases of pagan philosophy. Probably in the mysteries men were seeking o-wrr/pta, salvation from the pains and fate of mortality; and to this desire was joined a yearning for purification from sin and for reconcilement with the Divine. There was a connection between pagan mysteries and the initiations and doctrines of Gnosti- cism. Here the details are obscure, as is obscure any connection that there may have been between Gnosti- cism and the growth of mysteries in the Catholic Church. The terminology of the pagan mysteries certainly passed into these last : yet it does not follow that the development of the Christian mysteries was connected with any ancient pagan rites. The growth of " Mysteries '^ was proceeding vigorously in both Christian and pagan circles ; and Christian rites were rapidly becoming a celebration of mysteries. There was in the rites the element of secrecy, in that they were celebrated in the presence only of those who, after formal instruction, renunciation, and profession, were duly admitted. And a mystical power was