The Chaldean Magi

Gregory Nazianzus

Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 329 – 390), also known as Gregory the Theologian or Gregory Nazianzen, was a 4th-century archbishop of Constantinople and theologian. He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age. As a classically trained orator and philosopher, he infused Hellenism into the early church, establishing the paradigm of Byzantine theologians and church officials.

Orationes IV Adv. Julianum

ch. LXX

The mutilations of the Phrygians distraught with the sound of the flute, and the tortures in the temple of Mithra, and the mystic cauteries, and the sacrifice of strangers among the Taurians.

In Sancta Lumina

ch. VII

Neither the divination of the Magi, nor inspection of the victims, nor the astronomy an horoscopy of the Chaldeans... nor Thracian orgies... nor the mystic rites of Orpheus... nor the painful endurance required of the initiates of Mithras, nor the mutilations of Osiris... nor the misfortunes of Isis, etc.

Ad Nemesium

VII. 265 ff.

The mountain-haunting Bacchants in the train of Semele's son [Dionysus], and the ill-omened apparitions of nightly Hecate, and the shameful deeds and unrivalled orgies of the Mithraen shrine.