SERIES: JANUS: The Return Of The "God" Of New Beginnings
Part 5: JANUS: The "Father" God's Reign In Catholicism
By Ed Tarkowski

I did a search on the Internet for DOORS, KEYS and MYTHOLOGY and recognized
one name that had been mentioned in reference to AD2000: JANUS. I dug up
that file, found every website I could on Janus, and then went through each
one, sorting the facts about him by theme. I found very, very little that
did not apply to or strongly lean towards the Papacy and Jubilee 2000, and
even a few things that related to the Revival. I want to share this with
you because there are two other gods, in other mythologies, who correspond
to the Roman Janus. I found very little information on one of these making
it insignificant, but the second - Heimdall (Teutonic) - held one
description that shocked me: he has GOLD TEETH. I will most likely write
more about him after we take a closer look at Janus in relation to Pope
John Paul II and his preparation for the new millennium.

Notice in the following quote the description of "the holy door of the Year
2000" as a threshold that must be crossed through repentance which leads to
reconciliation. The Holy Door of Rome is thus a symbol of the passageway
into the new era of new beginnings. Note also the encouragement to look at
"past errors" with a view towards a "new" millennium, the time full of hope
for a new life without those errors. In other words, as the world stands
before the Holy Door, the threshold of a "new" time in human history, it
will look to the past while also looking forward:

"The holy door of the Jubilee of the Year 2000 should be SYMBOLICALLY wider
than those of previous jubilees, because humanity, upon reaching this goal,
will leave behind not just a century but a millennium. . . . She cannot
cross the threshold of the new millennium without encouraging her children
to purify themselves, through repentance, of past errors and instances of
infidelity, inconsistency and slowness to act. Acknowledging the weaknesses
of the past is an act of honesty and courage which helps us to strengthen
our faith, which alerts us to face today's temptations and challenges, and
prepares us to meet them" (Pope John Paul II, As the Third Millennium Draws
Near, #33, Tertio Mellennio Adveniente, Apostolic Letter of Pope John Paul
II released on November 14, 1994; caps mine).

What I want to do in this and following sections is to consider whether
there are enough similarities to show that the reign of the Pope is moving
in the likeness of Janus, the King of a past Golden Age. I will try to keep
my commentary on each comparison short.

JANUS: The Supreme "God" of Gods, The "Father God"

Janus was first among all the gods, even including Jupiter, because he was
the god of NEW BEGINNINGS. Nothing could exist because he is the god of
beginnings. Therefore,

". . . . Romans ascribed to him an essential role in the creation of the
world. He was the god of gods, Janus Pater" (GODS OF THE STATE: PRINCIPAL
DIVINITIES, New Larousse Encyclopedia Of Mythology, Introduction By Robert
Graves, Roman, pp. 200-202).

Just as Janus held an essential role in the creation of the world, the Pope
and the Revival are promising NEW BEGINNINGS, a NEW WORLD with a NEW
CIVILIZATION through spiritual evolution in the year 2000. All things are
now being affected by change to conform to an entire new world and Church
system.

"Janus is the Roman god of all beginnings, and the first of all the gods,
including Jupiter" (The Timepiece of Humanity - Duality I 2a.0 Stephen Lauf
© 1995, http://www.quondam.com/tph/02a/2a_1.htm).

"The cult of Janus was established either by Romulus or by King Numa and
always remained popular among the Romans. Janus appeared at the head of
religious ceremonies and, in his quality of father of the gods, was the
first on the Romans' list, coming even before Jupiter. He was honoured on
the first day of every month and first month of the year (Januarius) bore
his name" (Ev Butterworth, Rome Around,
http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/HAA/Events/EH337.html).

The spirit of Janus is clearly seen in the papacy, as shown in these quotes
from the New Catholic Catechism. They don't say that the pope is God, but
instead describe his supreme spiritual authority, exalted as the Vicar of
Christ, over all souls:

"For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as
pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the
whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered" (New
Catholic Catechism, #882, p. 254).

"The Pope enjoys, by divine institution, supreme, full, immediate, and
universal power in the care of souls" (New Catholic Catechism, #937, p.267).

Not only was Janus the god of gods, he was "Janus Pater" and "father of the
gods." The similarity between the Papacy and Janus is obvious concerning
this fatherhood, as the Pope is always referred to as the "Holy Father." As
just one small example, in 1997, a group wanting to celebrate the Pope's
nineteenth anniversary asked "people throughout the world" to

"participate in this outpouring of love and support for John Paul II, in
gratitude for him and for his inspired guidance as he leads us into the
Third Millennium."

The world's people were asked to send a postcard to the Pope with this
message:

"I love you, Holy Father! I am praying for you, and I pledge my obedience
to you as the Vicar of Christ" ("I Love You, Holy Father" World Campaign,
http://www.catholicity.com/grotto/hfwc/).

JANUS: The Sun Deity

Janus was a sun god, which correlates with the worship of Rome as worship
of the sun deity:

"The origin of his [Janus'] name is uncertain. One hypothesis suggests a
form Jana, sometimes employed for Diana, of which the root dium evokes the
idea of the luminous sky. This theory agrees with the established fact that
Janus was in origin a solar deity . . . .

"His main temple at the Forum in Rome has two doors, one facing the raising
sun, the other the setting sun. Inside the statue of Janus has one face
looking out each door" (J.M.Hunt, Greek Mythology
http://www.frizzell.org/Greek/janus.html).

Here we have the same symbolism, the setting sun, the old day disappearing,
with the new sun rising in a new day. In the fourth century, Rome, as we
know, changed the date of the celebration of Christ's birth to that of the
pagan celebration of the birth of the sun god:

"A star cult, sun-worship, became (in the third century A.D.) the dominant
official creed, paving the road for the ultimate triumph of
Judaeo-Christian monotheism. So strong was the belief in the Invincible Sun
(Sol Invictus) that for example Constantine I (d. 337), himself at first a
devotee of the sun cult, found it, indeed perfectly compatible with his
pro-Christian sympathies to authorize his own portrayal as Helios. And in
354 the ascendant Christian church in the reign of his pious but unsavory
son, Constantius II, found it prudent to change the celebration of the
birth of Jesus from the traditional date (January 6) to December 25, in
order to combat the pagan Sun god’s popularity—his “birthday” being
December 25" (Frederick H. Cramer, Astrology in Roman Law and Politics, p.
4. Copyright 1954 by the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia).

For information on Rome and the sun god, see my web page at
http://www.ncinter.net/~ejt/ages13.htm.

JANUS: His Priesthood

"His priests regularly sacrificed to him."
(http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/articles/j/janus.html).

On festivals of Janus, a purified priest sacrificed a ram on a consecrated
altar. The Papacy's modern Roman Church also has a priesthood, who daily
purify themselves and offer an "unbloody sacrifice" upon consecrated
altars. In an address to some of his priests, Pope John Paul II stated:

"[Christ] also instituted the priesthood as a sacrament of the New
Covenant, so that the one sacrifice he offered to the Father in a bloody
manner might be continually renewed in the Church in an unbloody manner,
under the appearances of bread and wine. Holy Thursday is precisely the day
we recall, in a special way, the priesthood Christ instituted at the Last
Supper, binding it indissolubly to the Eucharistic sacrifice.

"'[He] made us ... priests'. He has made us sharers in his one priesthood
so that on all the altars of the world down through the ages of history,
the bloody and unrepeatable sacrifice of Calvary can be re-presented'"
(Thank God for Gift of Priesthood, Pope John Paul II, Homily at Chrism Mass
April 1, 1999, http://www.cin.org/jp2/jp990401.html).

This priesthood replaces the true biblical priesthood of the believer as
taught in the New Testament. Every believer is a priest before God. The
"unbloody manner" of the "RE-presented" (not representative) sacrifice of
Christ during the priest's mass denies Jesus' finished work "once for all."

JANUS: Builder Of Temples To The Gods

"Janus was said to have been originally an ancient king who came from
Greece to Latium, instituting the worship of the gods and the building of
temples to them, and was himself later elevated to godhood" (Lestat, "Of
Gods And Men: The A-Z Of Mythology And Legend,"
http://www.clubi.ie/lestat/greekj.html).

We should all recognize the correlation here between Janus and the long
tradition of popes establishing churches dedicated TO ITS SAINTS and to
"MARY." Though the Roman Church denies the worship of the saints and the
Blessed Virgin, the pattern follows that of Janus with those whom the
Catholic Church considers true saints are elevated to sainthood. This is
not just an honor as Catholicism claims, but brings an increase in
manifestations to those seeking these saints for help.

Many Roman temple sites were also turned into Catholic churches and named
after saints and mystics, such as that of St. Mary Major:

"The church was built over an early Christian place of worship that had
been converted from a Roman temple. Roman ruins can be seen in the crypt,
especially in the capitals and walls" (Church of St. Mary Major (Santa
Maria Maggiore),
http://www.assind.perugia.it/umbria/assisi/doc/ing/cmaria.htm).

The same is true of the site where the Lady of Guadalupe appeared:

"The Virgin of Guadalupe appeared on the site of a shrine devoted to the
worship of an Indian goddess, Tonantzin, or ''Our Mother.'' Some church
leaders argued the apparition of the brown-skinned Virgin was a fable
created to allow the Indians to continue to worship their own goddess.
Others said the Spanish made up the story to help convert Mexico's Indians
to Catholicism" (Abbot's Doubts About Virgin of Guadalupe Cause Furor in
Mexico By JOHN RICE Associated Press Writer June 5, 1996,
http://sddt.com/files/librarywire/96wireheadlines/06_96/DN96_06_05/DN96_06_0
  5_ch.html).

There are yet more parallels between Janus and the Papacy and the current
Pope's current "beginnings" to bring all the world to the threshold of the
"Holy Doors."

Continued in Part 6.