I.a secret service, secret rites, secret worship of a deity, divine mystery (class.; cf. arcanum).
I. Lit., of the mysteries of Ceres, otherwise called sacra Eleusinia, Cic. N. D. 2, 24, 62; id. Leg. 2, 14, 35: “mysteria Attica,” Tert. Apol. 39: “mysteria Cereris initiorum enuntiare,” Just. 5, 1, 1: “mysteria facere,” to celebrate the sacred mysteries, Nep. Alcib. 3, 6.—Also, the festival on which these mysteries were celebrated: in quem diem Romana incidant mysteria, the festival of the goddess Bona Dea, Cic. Att. 6, 1, 26; 5, 21, 14 sq.—
II. Transf., in gen., a secret thing, secret, mystery: “rhetorum mysteria,” Cic. Tusc. 4, 25, 55; id. de Or. 1, 47, 206: “epistolae nostrae tantum habent mysteriorum,” id. Att. 4, 18, 1: “accipe congestas, mysteria frivolas nugas,” Aus. Ep. 4, 67.—
III. (Eccl. Lat.)
A. Something transcending mere human intelligence: “mysterium evangelii,” Vulg. Eph. 6, 19: “mysterium sicut evangelizaverat per prophetas,” id. Apoc. 10, 7: “mysteria regni caelorum,” id. Matt. 13, 11.—