Writer Messinesi adds: “We are told that, during the sacrifices to [the Greek god] Zeus . . . a priest stood at the end of the stadium holding a torch. The athletes among the worshippers . . . raced to the end of the stadium toward the priest . . . [the victor] had the privilege of lighting the fire at the altar for the sacrifices. The flame at the altar burned symbolically during the whole period of the Games . . . It is this part of the ceremony which has been resurrected for the contemporary Games.”

The pagan origin of the Games is perpetuated to this day in several ways. The Olympic torch is lit by the sun’s concentrated rays in a ceremony at the Sacred Grove in Olympia, Greece. A head priestess and priestesses participate in the act. The sacred flame is then carried from Olympia to the current Olympic Games city. Millions follow by TV and radio the journey of the torch. The climax is at the final stage when it is brought into the Olympic stadium to light the flame that will burn throughout the Games.

Historian Messinesi explains: “Nothing of all the ceremonies seems to create such an impression as the Flame which comes from Olympia . . . It links the Games about to be held with the religious expression sanctified over the centuries.” (Italics ours.) This opinion is confirmed by the words of the modern founder of the Olympic movement, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who in the year before he died stated: “I therefore think that I was right in trying from the outset of the Olympic revival to rekindle a religious awareness.”​—Italics ours.

[Picture on page 11]

The pagan Olympian ceremony is repeated in modern times