Did Early Christians Practice Ash Wednesday Cross Marking?

photo courtesy of: Myriams-Fotos (pixabay)

Here it is once again ── this February 18th, all around the world, millions will observe Ash Wednesday and begin Lent. And this Lent is considered by millions to be a time of self-imposed abstinence from something.

Yet did these millions of people receive these observances from God’s living, immutable Word ── the Holy Bible?

According to secular data sources ──

Ash Wednesday is a solemn “Christian” observance that begins Lent, 40 days of reflection and repentance. Worshippers receive ashes on their foreheads in the shape of a cross, with the priest saying, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

The ashes on Ash Wednesday come from burned palm branches used in last year’s Palm Sunday celebration. When placed on the forehead in a cross shape, they remind people of their mortality and the need for spiritual reflection. *

So, these ashes in the shape of a cross are exhibited for everyone to see? That is not proper repentance, nor is it proper humility. Notice what the Catholic Challoner-Rheims Version of God’s living word says ──

“’ And when you fast do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, who DISFIGURE THEIR FACES in order to appear to men as fasting. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.’” – Matthew 6:16, Confraternity Edition.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is denouncing the practice that certainly resembles Ash Wednesday ── of course, most Catholics will say that placing an ash cross between your eyes is “not disfigurement” ── it should be noted that no matter how many times secular data sources proclaim, it was NEVER a symbol early true Christians used!

Ash Wednesday’s true origins are considered to be “a mystery” by those who observe it. Secular sources teach ── “Ash Wednesday isn't specifically mentioned in the Bible. The practice of using ashes as a sign of repentance has biblical roots.” *

It was NEVER observed by our Lord Jesus Christ, the original apostles, nor any of the early Church. This Ash Wednesday is not mentioned in either the original Hebrew or Greek Scriptures ── hence, the Holy Bible. Not one person in all of God’s living word is recorded as having ever placed ashes in the shape of a cross on their forehead!

Here is what the Catholic Encyclopedia purports ──

The Wednesday after Quinquagesima Sunday, which is the first day of the Lenten fast. The name dies cinerum (day of ashes), which it bears in the Roman Missal, is found in the earliest existing copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary and probably dates from at least the eighth century. On this day all the faithful according to ancient custom are exhorted to approach the altar before the beginning of Mass, and there the priest, dipping his thumb into the ashes previously blessed, marks the forehead ... There can be no doubt that the custom of distributing the ashes to all the faithful arose from a devotional imitation of the practice observed in the case of public penitents.

(Read More: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01775b.htm).

God’s living word DOES NOT show us that the baptized receive ashes on their foreheads in the shape of a cross. It is known that there were a few biblical figures who fasted and sat in ashes as a sign of deep sorrow and repentance. Such as the Prophet Job, in his suffering and repentance, SAT among ashes. Also, in the Book of Jonah, the people of ancient Nineveh demonstrated their repentance by fasting and SITTING in ashes. Again, no ash crosses on the foreheads.

Here’s another Roman Catholic-approved version of God’s living word that is online ──

“When you are fasting, do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they go about looking unsightly to let people know they are fasting. In truth I tell you, they have had their reward.” – Matthew 6:16 1

Ash Wednesday nor Lent is NOT in God’s living word!

It was, however, a practice of the pagans.

Even Episcopalians (who identify themselves as “Protestant, yet Catholic”) accommodate their flocks to receive this abominable ash cross ──

March 6, 2019

‘Ashes to go’ on your morning commute for Ash Wednesday

If you are not able to make it to church on this Ash Wednesday, members of the clergy from St. Peter's Episcopal Church will provide you with “ashes to go.”

(https://6abc.com/post/ashes-to-go-for-ash-wednesday/5170994/).

Notice again that the Catholic Encyclopedia openly admits that the early apostles did not observe any of this folderol ──

Some of the Fathers, as early as the fifth century, supported the view that this forty-day fast was of Apostolic institution ... But the best modern scholars are almost unanimous in rejecting this view ... Formerly, some differences of opinion existed as to the proper reading, but modern criticism (e.g., in the edition of Schwartz commissioned by the Berlin Academy)…. We may then fairly conclude that Irenaeus, about the year 190, knew nothing of any Easter fast of forty days. ... And there is the same silence observable in all the pre-Nicene Fathers, though many had occasion to mention such an Apostolic institution if it had existed. We may note, for example, that there is no mention of Lent in St. Dionysius of Alexandria (ed. Feltoe, 94 sqq.) or in the "Didascalia", which Funk attributes to about the year 250.

(Read more: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09152a.htm).

The controversial author Alexander Hislop wrote ──

Among the Pagans, this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz, which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing, …

(Hislop, A., The Two Babylons, pp. 104-106).

God’s living word NEVER uses the terms “Lent” or “Ash Wednesday.” Nor does His word ever describe the “marking” of anyone’s forehead ── right between the eyes ── with an ash cross. But God’s word does absolutely condemn any practice associated with Tammuz ──

“And He said to me, ‘Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.’ 14) So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the LORD’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.” – Ezekiel 8:13-14.

Notice this commentary regarding this ──

Tammuz (tăm’ ŭz) – [A Mesopotamian deity after whom the fourth Jewish-Babylonian month (June-July) was named. The name occurs when the prophet Ezekiel finds some women in Jerusalem weeping for the god Tammuz (8:14). Tammuz was famous as a husband of Ishtar. His Sumerian prototype Dumuzi was a king of Erech in the early 3rd millennium. B.C., who was deified as the consort of the city’s protectress Inanna or Innin (corresponding to the Akkad, Ishtar). Gilgamesh accused her of betraying Tammuz, her lover, in the famous epic (ANET, p. 84). In Hellenistic times, Tammuz was equated with Adonis, and Ishtar with Aphrodite/Venus. Swine, often associated with underworld cults, were his sacrificial animals. 2

So, since this Ash Wednesday involves the receiving of ashes in the shape of a cross between the eyes to begin the 40 days of Lent, this indeed could be related to the beginning of the weeping for the death of Tammuz. And as we’ve pointed out many times, Ishtar is also pronounced Ashtar ── and (according to secular sources) the claim that “Easter” directly derives from “Ishtar” hinges on the superficial similarity of the two words. 3

Also, speaking of “superficial similarity,” does Ash Wednesday have any relationship to the ancient sun-god Mithras?

Well, notice what Tertullian of Carthage (who we do not consider a true Christian of the faith) says concerning this “ash on the forehead” ──

and if my memory still serves me, Mithra there, (in the kingdom of Satan,) sets his marks on the foreheads of his soldiers; … 4

Notice this from Facts And Details regarding Mithraism Beliefs ──

Mithraic Initiation …

“When a neophyte reached the degree of Miles (soldier), he was offered a crown, which he had to reject with the saying, “Only Mithras is my crown.” The indelible mark of a cross, symbol of the sun, was then branded on his forehead with a hot iron to symbolize his ownership by the deity, …” 5

Also notice this from the American writer, lecturer, astrologer, and mystic, Manly Palmer Hall (18 March 1901 – 29 August 1990) ──

Candidates who successfully passed the Mithraic initiations were called Lions and were marked upon their foreheads with the Egyptian cross. 6

So, with several secular sources, it appears as if the idea of placing an ash cross right between the eyes on the forehead came from ancient Egyptian rituals. Mithraism ── a facet of Zoroastrianism ── placed a cross on the forehead (and, of course, some argue that the exact “mark” was not necessarily a “cross”), certainly sometime after Roman Catholicism absorbed adherents to Mithraism, Ash Wednesday appeared-- well… not officially for some time. Indeed, Mithraism was a religious force to be reckoned with in the ancient Roman world-- at least during the fourth century A.D. And like most Mithraic practices and rituals, they were changed or adopted by the Roman Catholic Church.

Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mithraism ──

Now, he was a Baptist minister who became best known for his civil rights activism, but in the middle of the 20th century, he wrote about many things – including Mithraism. Mithraism was a Roman mystery religion centered on the god Mithras. A religion that observed Sunday and had followers such as the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great in the fourth century.

Historian Paul Johnson has this to say concerning Constantine, “Constantine never abandoned sun-worship and kept the sun on his coins.” 7 And, Joseph Wheless wrote, “Constantine showed equal favor to both religions. As pontifex maximus, he watched over the heathen worship and protected its rights.” 8

Here is something Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, dated from 1949 to 1950 ──

In Avesta, Mithra was the genius of celestial light … The doctrine of the immortality of the soul was another view which was very prominent in Mithraism …

Women were compelled to seek salvation in some other cult, for Mithraism excluded them entirely …

When Mithraism is compared to Christianity, there are surprisingly many points of similarity. Of all the mystery cults, Mithraism was the greatest competitor of Christianity …

That Christians did copy and borrow from Mithraism cannot be denied. 9

So, while Dr. King was most known for his civil rights protests, he discovered through study that much of what passes for Christianity So, while Dr. King was most known for his civil rights protests; he discovered through study that much of what passes for Christianity ── even today ── is really just an adopted form of Mithraism.

Again, Ash Wednesday nor Lent is from God’s living word. □

Sources:

* Alexa, tell me a little about this Ash Wednesday.

1 https://www.catholic.org/bible/book.php?id=47&bible_chapter=6.

2 Pfeiffer, C.F., Vos, H.F., Rea, J., Wycliffe Bible Dictionary, Hendrickson Publishers, Nov. 1999, pp. 707.

3 Bible Hub, https://biblehub.com/q/are_ishtar_and_easter_linked.htm, Retrieved 17 February 2026.

4 https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0311.htm, chapter 40.

5 https://factsanddetails.com/world/cat56/sub405/entry-6290.html

6 Hall, M.P., The Secret Teachings of All Ages, H.S. Crocker Co., Inc., 1928, pg. 50.

7 A History of Christianity, Johnson, P., Simon & Schuster, 1976, 87.

8 Forgery in Christianity, Wheless, J., FQ Classics, 2007, 30.

9 Martin Luther King, Jr., "The Influence of the Mystery Religions on Christianity", Stanford University, Nov. 29, 1949 to February 15, 1950 (?), Retrieved 17 Feb. 2026.