According to mythology, Orpheus
descended into the underworld to
retrieve his dead wife, Eurydice,
and did so through the Devil’s
Throat, a cave in the Rhodope
Mountains, South East Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church
follows doctrines explained by the
ancient creeds of the apostles,
where it is described the moment
in which Christ had to descend into
hell to defeat the devil and release
the righteous. Here, we see some
parallels in the accounts of both
Orpheus and Jesus. Both had to go
down to the depths of hell, to “die”
and to come back to life transformed. They both preached that
humans have souls that would be
judged at the moment of death
and would pay for their actions.
They both practiced ceremonies
that included rituals such as turning water into wine. Furthermore,
the brutal murder of Orpheus was
considered a sacrifice to redeem
mankind for its sins. The similarities are interesting to say the least.
24