The
Great Apostasy, according to some religious groups, is the perceived fallen state of traditional
Christianity, especially the
Roman Catholic Church, because it allegedly allowed traditional
Greco-Roman culture (i.e,
Greco-Roman mysteries, deities of
solar monism such as
Mithras and
Sol Invictus, and
idol worship) into the church. In short, in their opinion, the church has fallen into
apostasy. They feel that to attract the
pagans to nominal Christianity, the Catholic Church took measures to
amalgamate the Christian and pagan festivals so pagans would join the church; for example, bringing in the pagan festival of Easter as a substitute for the Pasch or Passover, although neither
Jesus nor his
Apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival.