What are some ways in which Milton uses religious and pastoral elements in his poem titled "Lycidas"?

Pastoral elements are important throughout John Milton’s
poem titled “Lycidas,” but the combination of pastoral and
religious elements becomes especially important beginning in line 76.  In the preceding
lines, the speaker had been wondering about the worth of hard work and lofty goals,
especially when death can strike at any moment, making all work and all goals seem
insignificant.  In response, Phoebus, the god of poetry, declares that even more
important than any fame a dedicated person might win on earth are the eternal fame and
praise granted by God in the heavenly afterlife:

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“Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soul . .
.

But lives and spreads aloft by those pure
eyes,

And perfect witness of all-judging Jove [that is,
God].” (78, 81-82)

In these
lines, the god of classical pastoral poetry (Jove) is clearly equated with the Christian
God, and from this point forward, the blending of pastoral elements with elements of the
Christian religion will be especially conspicuous.

This
blending is particularly apparent when Milton attacks corrupt Christian clerics by
describing them as selfish shepherds.  They the kind of shepherds
who

. . . for
their bellies’ sake

Creep and intrude and climb into the
fold!

Of other care they little reckoning
make

Than how to scramble at the shearers’
feast,

And shove away the worthy bidden guest.
(115-18)

Rather than being
true pastors (the Latin equivalent for “shepherds”), they have abandoned their flocks to
“the grim wolf” (128), a phrase that Milton (a devout Protestant) would have equated
both with Satan and with Roman Catholicism.  As a result of neglect by these selfish
pastors, “The hungry sheep” (that is, the English people) “look up, and are not fed”
(that is, are not given proper spiritual nourishment [125]). But what do these corrupt
shepherds (pastors) care?  After all, their own material needs are well taken care of by
the corrupted, exploitative church, so that they can indulge themselves in mere earthly
pleasures (122-24).

It is in this passage dealing with the
corruption of the contemporary Anglican church and its unworthy pastors that Milton most
obviously combines pastoral and religious elements in his poem.