Encourse Wiki

History of non-Christian Religions — Topic 12

Properties3
tagstopic
courseHistory of non-Christian Religions
unitTopic 12

29 min read

History of non-Christian Religions — Topic 12

12.1 The Prophet Zoroaster.

Accounts of the life of Zoroaster (Zarathushtra) are highly contradictory. Neither the exact place nor the time of his birth is known with certainty, and scholarly debates regarding his chronology continue to this day. The prevailing traditional view places Zoroaster in the late second or early first millennium BCE, though later Pahlavi sources place him in the 6th century BCE. He was born in the eastern part of the Iranian Plateau to Pourushaspa, of the Spitama clan, and his wife Dughdova.

The etymology of the name Zarathushtra is debated, but it is often translated as “he who manages old camels” or “possessor of camels.” Legend has it that all of nature rejoiced at his birth; the very trees and rivers shared in a tumultuous delight. At the moment of his birth, instead of crying as newborns ordinarily do, Zarathushtra laughed. According to hagiographic tradition, this divine laughter put to flight thousands of daevas (the demonic beings of Zoroastrianism). Many miracles attended his childhood.

At the age of thirty, Zarathushtra was drawing water from a river to prepare haoma—the sacred ritual drink (the Iranian counterpart of the Vedic soma)—for a festival. It was then that he received his revelation. Having entered the river, he turned and saw on the bank a shining being, Vohu Manah (Good Thought), who led him into the presence of the supreme deity, Ahura Mazdā.

After receiving the revelation, Zarathushtra began to preach the faith he had been given. Initially, his teachings found little acceptance. For ten years, he was able to convert only one person—his cousin Maidhyoimanha. His own tribesmen rejected his preaching, and he faced severe opposition from the karpans (priests of the old religion). Eventually, Zoroaster set out for Bactria to seek the patronage of King Kavi Vishtaspa.

As is clear, the teachings of Ahura Mazda found no acceptance. In ten years Zarathushtra was able to convert only one person—his cousin. His own tribesmen rejected his preaching and drove him out. After ten years of wandering, Zoroaster set out for Bactria to convert King Kavi Vishtaspa.

He preached to Vishtaspa faith in Ahura Mazda. The king was won over by Zarathushtra’s teaching. But the karapan (priest of the former religion) Zayaka accused Zarathushtra of falsehood and, declaring his words harmful, persuaded Vishtaspa to put the preacher to death.

In the dungeon Zarathushtra went deaf and blind, and his legs became paralyzed. He was given no food. After a long time Kavi Vishtaspa ordered that they see what had become of him. They carried him out before the king, exhausted from hunger and confinement. A miracle then occurred: Zarathushtra stood up on his feet, his body regained its former strength, and his hearing and sight were restored. This was attributed to the patronage of the Yazata gods (divine beings), who appeared at that moment.

Soon Vishtaspa embraced the faith in the one Ahura Mazda. His courtiers followed him in accepting the faith. Zarathushtra was appointed chief priest of the kingdom. He married the king’s daughter, and the further preaching of Zoroastrianism progressed far more rapidly. However, at the age of seventy- seven, while at prayer, he was attacked by the karapan Brata-Uvakhsha, who plunged a stone knife into his back (and at once himself perished). After forty-seven years of zealous labor to establish the new faith, Zoroaster died.

A distinctive feature of Zoroaster’s preaching is that he appears as a prophet-reformer of the ancient Indo-Iranian religion. The old faith was closely related to the Vedic religion of the Indo-Aryans. The daevas, whom Zoroaster rejects as demons, correspond to the devas of the Rigveda (such as Indra). Zarathushtra demanded that his followers cease worshiping the daevas and, crucially, stop offering violent animal sacrifices to them. In their place, he proclaimed the supreme wise lord, Ahura Mazdā (Lord of Wisdom), a name cognate with the Vedic asura. Zarathushtra is thus a classical prophet- reformer who accused the old faith of polytheism, falsehood, and ritual violence, proclaiming a new ethical dualism and the exclusive worship of the supreme God.

Against them he sets the Good God, Ahura Mazda (Lord of Wisdom), a name cognate with the Vedic asura. In the Vedas this term designates the ancient gods such as Varuna, but it is also applied to demons, and in later Hinduism the asuras become unambiguously demonic. In “reforming” the religion, Zarathushtra did not reject many of the traditional religious beliefs and conceptions, but gave them a new meaning. Zarathushtra is thus a classical prophet-reformer, accusing the old faith of polytheism and of lapsing into falsehood and magic, and proclaiming a new ethic together with the necessity of worshipping the supreme God. Notably, in its early stages Zoroastrianism knew no images of Ahura; only later was he iconographically likened to fire, and images of him began to appear.

12.2 The Foundation of Zoroastrianism.

Zoroastrianism, also known as Mazdaism or Vanghuhi Daēna Mazdayasni (Avestan for “The Good Religion of Mazda Worship”), is one of the most influential religious traditions of antiquity.

In the mid-sixth century BC the Persian king Cyrus rose in revolt against Media and founded the new Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC), whose religion, judging by the inscriptions of Darius I and Xerxes, in many respects resembled Zoroastrianism (although certain aspects differed). For many years scholars have debated whether Darius and his successors adhered to Zoroastrianism. Among the arguments against the Zoroastrianism of the Achaemenids are that Zarathushtra is not mentioned in any inscription, and such important terms as Angra Mainyu and Amesha Spenta do not appear. Yet Ahura Mazda himself is present in the inscriptions, and by the reign of Artaxerxes (465–425 BC) the Zoroastrian calendar had already been introduced.

In any case, it is generally held that during the rise of Persia, Zoroastrianism exerted the strongest influence on the formation of Second Temple Judaism. Images of the afterlife, Zoroastrian eschatology, and later demonology found their reflection in Jewish eschatological hopes and apocryphal writings.

The chief source for Zoroastrianism is the Avesta, the collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrian doctrine. According to Pahlavi sources, the revelation received by Zarathushtra from Ahura Mazda was, by order of his royal patron Kavi Vishtaspa, written in gold ink on twelve thousand ox hides. His descendant Darius placed copies of the Avesta and the commentaries in the storehouses of Ganj-i Habigan and Diz-i Nibisht (“fortress of writings”). According to later Pahlavi tradition Alexander the Great, in destroying the Achaemenid empire, destroyed the Avesta: he cast the books into the sea or consigned them to the flames, though he ordered part of them to be translated into Greek. Thus the Avesta was destroyed for the first time. The second destruction of the Avesta came with the Islamic conquest of Iran.

The Avesta was formed as follows. The Arsacid king Valakhsh (presumably Vologases I, first century AD) made the first attempt to collect and codify the Avestan texts, which up to that time had survived in scattered fragments and in oral transmission.

Under Ardashir, the founder of the Sasanid dynasty (third century), the supreme dastur Tansar set the Avesta in order—both the texts and the commentaries. The supreme high priest Adurbad Mahraspandan, under Shapur II (fourth century CE), carried out the final redaction, arranging the canon into twenty-one books (nasks) and producing the Zand—the Pahlavi translation and commentary. (The term Zend-Avesta, widely used in early European Orientalism, is a misnomer; Zand refers strictly to the commentary, not the original text).

The earliest extant manuscript of the Avesta is dated to the thirteenth century (1288). The modern text of the Avesta is traditionally divided into five books and several fragments:

Yasna (cognate with Sanskrit yajna, “worship” or “sacrifice”): The most important book, comprising 72 chapters recited during the principal Zoroastrian liturgy. It includes the Gathas—the 17 hymns ascribed directly to Zarathushtra, composed in the most archaic dialect.

Visperad (from Avestan vispe ratavo, “all the lords/times”): An appendix to the Yasna consisting of invocations to the divine lords.

Videvdad (from Avestan vi-daeva-data, “the law against the daevas”): A collection of 22 chapters devoted to ritual purity and the struggle against defilement.

Yashts (from the verb yaz-, “to venerate”): 22 hymns devoted to Ahura Mazdā, the Amesha Spentas, and the Yazatas.

The Lesser Avesta (Khordeh Avesta): A collection of daily prayers for priests and laity.

The most important part of the Avesta, ascribed directly to Zoroaster and composed in the most archaic language, is the seventeen Gathas (songs) that form part of the Yasna.

12.3 Zoroastrian Theology: Monotheism or Dualism.

It is, of course, quite difficult to speak of Zoroastrianism as pure monotheism. At the center of Zoroastrian theology stands the supreme God, Ahura Mazda. Yet already in the early stages of the development of Zoroastrianism we encounter a second primordial figure—the evil twin Angra Mainyu, who appears as the Destructive Spirit, the original antagonist of the supreme Ahura Mazda.

In the Gathas Ahura Mazda stands in the foreground. He is good and holy (spenta). He created the world by his thought (Yasna 31.7), out of “nothing.” Zarathushtra declares that he “recognized” Ahura Mazda by “thought” “as the first and the last” (31.8)—that is, as the beginning and end. A number of scholars, for instance Zaehner [Zaehner, R.C. The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1975], have on this basis concluded that for Zoroaster himself Angra Mainyu (the evil spirit, the evil thought) was not fully equal to Ahura Mazda, but represented the counterpart of Spenta Mainyu (the Bounteous Spirit, the Holy Thought), who figures sometimes as the son of Ahura Mazda, sometimes as Ahura Mazda himself. The Gathas speak directly of two twins, but do not name them:

“Truly, there are two primordial spirits, twins renowned for their opposition. In thought, in word, and in deed—they are the good one and the evil one… When these two spirits first met, they created being and non-being, and what awaits in the end those who follow the way of falsehood is the worst, while those who follow the way of truth (asha) is the best. And of these two spirits, the one who followed falsehood chose evil, while the other—the most Bounteous spirit—chose righteousness.”

In other words, there are two spirits, two thoughts (Mainyu), the good and the evil, and the question remains open whether Spenta (holy) Mainyu is identical with the supreme God Ahura Mazda, or not—whether they are one person or not. If Ahura Mazda and Spenta Mainyu are one and the same, then we have outright dualism, with two gods, good and evil; and it is clear that even in early Zoroastrianism this dualism is present: the good God is Ahura Mazda—Spenta Mainyu (later Ormazd), while the evil one is Angra Mainyu (later Ahriman). Zaehner supposed that for Zoroaster himself this dualism may not have been present, that Ahura Mazda stood above the twins as their father, and that the twins became good and evil by their own free choice.

Eliade sums up as follows: “The theology of Zarathushtra cannot be considered dualistic in the strict sense of the term, since no anti-God is opposed to Ahura Mazda; in the beginning the opposition arises between two Spirits. On the other hand, repeated indications make clear that Ahura Mazda and the Spirit of Holiness are one (Yasna 43.3 and elsewhere). In short, both Good and Evil, both the holy spirit and the demon of destruction, proceed from Ahura Mazda; but since Angra Mainyu of his own will chose his evil vocation and mode of existence, the Wise Lord cannot be held responsible for the appearance of evil” [Eliade, M. A History of Religious Ideas. Vol. 1. Moscow, 2002, p. 284]. The original division between good and evil is the consequence of a choice posed by Ahura Mazda and made by the Twin Spirits, who chose, respectively, Asha (Righteousness) and Druj (Falsehood).

12.4 The Amesha Spentas, the Yazata Gods, and the Fravashis.

Ahura Mazdā is attended by a retinue of divine beings of the highest order, the Amesha Spentas (Bounteous Immortals):

Asha (Righteousness),

Vohu Manah (Good Thought),

Armaiti (Devotion),

Khshathra (Kingdom, Power),

Haurvatat (Wholeness/Health),

Ameretat (Immortality).

Zarathushtra invokes and extols these beings alongside Ahura Mazda: “Wise Almighty Lord, Devotion, Righteousness, that proceed from Thee for the flourishing of life, Good Thought, Lord, hear me: have mercy upon me when the hour of reckoning comes for each” (33) [Eliade, M. A History of Religious Ideas. Vol. 1. Moscow, 2002, p. 284].

It is not entirely clear how the Amesha Spentas were conceived. On the one hand, together with Ahura Mazda they form the holy heptad; on the other, they appear as his names and attributes (righteousness, truth, immortality, kingdom), and at the same time they are independently acting persons. In contemporary Zoroastrianism they are often regarded as the seven stages in the development and unfolding of the human spirit and personality, in the likeness of the unfolding of Ahura Mazda himself.

Mary Boyce, in her famous book on Zoroastrianism, observes: “the idea of the ‘seven divinities’ became the principal innovation of Zoroaster’s teaching, although it was rooted in older conceptions of the origin of the world. At first, as Zoroaster believed, Ahura Mazda created with the help of the Holy Spirit (Spenta Mainyu) six lesser divinities, those very ‘radiant beings’ that Zoroaster beheld in his first vision. Together with Ahura Mazda they formed seven divinities, who together created the seven creations that constitute the world. The creation of the six divinities is variously described in Zoroastrian writings, but their essential unity is always implied. Now it is said that Ahura Mazda is their father; now that he is ‘mingled’ with them; and in one Pahlavi text their creation by Ahura Mazda is likened to the kindling of one lamp from another” [Boyce, M. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Moscow: Main Editorial Office of Oriental Literature of the “Nauka” Publishing House, 1988].

Besides the seven Amesha Spentas, Zoroastrian theology also includes the Yazata gods. The most venerated yazatas (literally “those worthy of veneration”) are Mithra (patron of every kind of human agreement), Anahita, who personifies fertility, and Verethraghna (also Varahran, Bahram), patron of victory. The yazatas are divided into spiritual (or heavenly) and earthly. Judging by their names and functions, they passed into Zoroastrianism from the earlier Vedic religion, in some cases under new names (Mithra is the old Vedic name found in the Rigveda). In contemporary Zoroastrianism they are understood by analogy with angels.

The fravashis, in Zoroastrianism, are the good spirits, encompassing everything and dwelling in every living part of the world. The fravashis of human beings were created by Ahura Mazda before the embodiment of creation in material form; they preexist human beings and continue to exist after a person’s death. When Ahura Mazda created the fravashis of human beings, he asked them about their choice, and the fravashis answered that they chose to be embodied in the corporeal world, to establish truth in it and to struggle against falsehood. They are his army.

12.5 The Teaching of Zoroastrianism. The First Era.

According to the preaching of Zarathushtra, Ahura Mazda created the world in two stages. First he created the world free of bodily form—that is, in “immaterial, unformed” (in Pahlavi, menog) form. This world “in the mind” of Ahura Mazda was flawless, but was not separate from its creator. Such a world was not perfect, whole, or complete. And then God resolved to give everything “material” form (getig). Material being was superior to the preceding immaterial existence.

“These two stages together make up the act of creation, called in Pahlavi Bundahishn (‘the Primal Creation’). Then, when creation became material, the battle with evil began, for, unlike immaterial being, material creation proved vulnerable to the forces of evil. At once the Evil Spirit (Angra Mainyu) fell upon it. According to the myth set forth in the Pahlavi writings, Angra Mainyu burst furiously into the world through the lower sphere of the stone heaven and destroyed its perfection. He emerged from the water, making most of it salty, and rushed upon the earth, and wherever he penetrated, deserts were formed. Then the Evil Spirit withered the plant, killed the Primordial Bovine (Gavaevodata) and the first human being. Finally he attacked the seventh creation, fire, and defiled it with smoke, thus inflicting material harm upon all the good creations” [Boyce, M. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices].

Thus ended the First Era—Bundahishn—and began the Second Era, which in Zoroastrianism is called Gumecishn (“the era of mixing”). In order to wrest the world from evil, Ahura Mazda summoned all the divine beings, united himself with them, and entered the world. Ameretat (“Immortality”) took the plant and ground it (as haoma is ground during the divine service), then scattered it throughout the world with rain, so that the plants might be reborn. The seed of the bull and of the human being, purified by the Moon and the Sun, brought about the regeneration of people and cattle. Thus in the Zoroastrian version of the ancient myth, the primordial sacrifice, regarded in the old faith as a beneficent act, was in Zoroastrianism attributed to the evil deeds of Angra Mainyu.

In this way the Amesha Spentas, possessing holy power, succeeded in turning his evil deeds to the benefit of the world—and to this same end all creations must constantly direct their efforts. Not the least role in this is played by the human being, for in human beings are embodied the Fravashis called forth by Ahura. When Ahura Mazda created the fravashis of human beings, he asked them about their choice, and the fravashis answered that they chose to be embodied in the corporeal world, to establish good in it and to struggle against evil. The fravashi is invisibly present in every person, enabling each to set out upon the path of Truth (Asha). The Zoroastrians hold that after a person’s death his fravashi joins the heavenly host of Ahura Mazda. The Avesta even describes how, after the world had been defiled by evil, Ahura Mazda shows the primordial bull the fravashi, declaring, “This is the fravashi of Zarathushtra of the Spitama clan.” Then he says that a day will come when “I shall send him into the defiled corporeal world, to deliver it from misfortunes and to preach concern for thee.”

12.6 The Second Era.

The Second Era, the Era of Mixing, is the period of present life, in which the world now finds itself. The world is essentially a mixture of good and of the evil introduced by Angra Mainyu. That is, the present world is the result of the clash of the twins, as the Avesta says of it.

This mixing takes place, as it were, on several levels. On the physical level the clear boundary between good and evil is death. All that belongs to death and leads to death is the realm of Angra Mainyu. Everything lifeless likewise belongs to him: deserts, the stony peaks of mountains where nothing grows and there is no life. The opposite side, accordingly, is filled with life and so belongs to Mazda.

This striving toward life has several notable consequences in Zoroastrianism. For instance, Zoroastrianism sharply rejects ascetic fasting, because it weakens life. And the Zoroastrian attitude toward the dead as impure is marked by sharp extremes. The idea is that evil contends with good, and death is a temporary victory of evil. Death comes about through the penetration of evil spirits into the human body, and the holier the person was, the more evil spirits were needed to overcome him, so that his body is the more impure and the more dangerous to touch. The deceased are therefore not touched, and the bodies cannot be buried in the earth or given to fire—this is a sin, since both elements belong to Mazda. In various regions of Greater Iran, different methods of burial were practiced depending on local conditions (stone crypts, the exposure of corpses, and so on). The basic requirement of all of these is the preservation in purity of fire, earth, and water. The traditional method of disposing of the dead among the surviving Zoroastrian communities of Iran and India is the exposure of bodies. The corpse is left in an open, specially prepared place or in a special structure—the dakhma (“tower of silence”)—to be devoured by birds and dogs. The dakhma is a round tower without a roof. Only in the twentieth century, under pressure from Muslims, did the Zoroastrians begin to bury the dead, but in concrete graves, so as not to defile the earth or water with death.

Another boundary runs through the ethical world. If the physical world is divided into life and death, the ethical world is divided into truth (asha) and falsehood (druj). Asha (aša-, from *arta) is the law of universal harmony, truth, righteousness, the good (the father of Asha is Ahura Mazda). Druj is the antithesis of Asha—literally, falsehood. All people are divided into two categories: ashavans (followers of Asha, the righteous, those who strive to bring good into the world) and drujvants (those who lie and bring evil into the world). Zoroastrianism repeatedly emphasizes that one must follow truth in thoughts, words, and deeds (humata, hukhta, hvarshta—Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds). This issues in a whole life of Asha.

In other words, truth and falsehood in Zoroastrianism are not categories of language (telling the truth or lying). One may lie in thought, word, and deed. And just as there are good thoughts, words, and deeds, so too there are false ones. This wholeness in Zoroastrianism becomes an ethical practice consisting in the coincidence of all thoughts, the expression of those thoughts, and the deeds in which they are embodied—and in their joint conformity to Asha.

12.7 The Third Era.

“By the new revelation received by Zoroaster, humanity shares with the good divinities a common purpose—gradually to defeat evil and to restore the world to its original, perfect form. The wondrous moment when this will come to pass is called Frashokereti (in Pahlavi Frashagird), which probably means ‘Wonder- working, miracle-working.’ At that point the Second Era will end and the Third will begin—the ‘Separation’ (in Pahlavi Wizārishn). Then good will once again be separated from evil, and since the latter will be definitively destroyed, the ‘Separation’ will last forever, and throughout this time Ahura Mazda, the good yazata divinities, men and women will live together in complete tranquility and peace,” sums up M. Boyce [Boyce, M. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices].

Immediately after death, the soul of a person undergoes the first judgment and meets its daēna. The daēna is the anthropological component of the human being, faith or conscience, which meets the deceased after death in the form of a beautiful woman if the person was righteous, or in the form of an ugly old woman if he was sinful. The daēna leads the person across the bridge to the heavenly abode, or, on the contrary, scolds and curses her bearer. In any case, the souls in paradise during the Second Era are not destined to enjoy full bliss; that will come only in the Third Era. Likewise the souls of sinners do not suffer definitively in hell. Zoroaster taught that the souls of the righteous must await eternal bliss at the moment of Frashagird, when they will rise again and obtain a “future body” (Yasna 30.7); and the souls of sinners, accordingly, must dread it.

The universal resurrection will be followed by the Great Judgment, in which the righteous will be separated from sinners—both those who lived up to that time and those already condemned before. Then Airyaman, the divinity of friendship and healing, together with Atar, the god of fire, will melt the metal lying in the mountains, and it will flow over the earth as a glowing river. All people will enter this river, and as a Pahlavi text says, “to the righteous it will seem like fresh milk, while the wicked will feel as if they are walking in the flesh through molten metal.” At the Last Judgment a second death awaits sinners, and they will vanish forever from the face of the earth. The daeva-demons and the forces of evil will be destroyed in the final great battle with the yazata gods. The river of molten metal will flow downward, into hell, upon the head of Angra Mainyu, scorching him and all remaining evil.

This apocalyptic picture has much in common with the Abrahamic apocalypses. The Last Judgment, the Resurrection of the Dead, the destruction of hell, the description of souls in hell and in paradise—all these images influenced the Jewish tradition and were in part received into the Christian and Muslim iconography of the afterlife and eschatology. Herein lay the principal difference between Zoroaster’s new religion and the old religion of the Vedas. Zoroaster, in contrast to the religious conceptions of ancient India, speaks directly of the linearity of the world, of its beginning and end, and of the resurrection of the dead—none of which we find in the Vedic religion. This in turn brings Zoroastrianism close to the Abrahamic religions.

12.8 Faith in the Savior.

Another distinctive feature of Zoroaster’s preaching was the message about the savior Saoshyant, who is to come before the end of the world and the beginning of the Third Era. The Avestan Farvardin Yasht explains: “(He is called) Saoshyant because it falls to him to resurrect the whole corporeal world.”

The followers of Zoroaster believed that Saoshyant would be born of the prophet’s seed, miraculously preserved in the depths of the waters of a certain lake (identified with Lake Kansaoya, that is, Lake Hamun in southeastern Iran). When the end of the world draws near, a maiden will bathe in it and will immaculately conceive by the prophet. Such is the way the appearance of Saoshyant is described in the early parts of the Avesta. He will be a warrior, and weapon in hand will contend against falsehood on earth. On the whole this message of the savior as warrior and ruler may be compared with Islamic and Jewish messianic ideas.

In the Achaemenid era, faith in the savior of the world—Saoshyant—developed into the expectation of three saviors. The first savior—Ukhshyat-Ereta (“He Who Causes Righteousness to Grow”)—will renew the preaching of Zarathushtra. His brother, named Ukhshyat-Nema (“He Who Causes Reverence to Grow”), will appear in the year 5000. Finally, at the end of the last millennium, the greatest of the Saoshyants, Astvat-Ereta himself, will appear and proclaim Frasho-kereti.

Mary Boyce sums up the doctrine of the saviors in the Achaemenid era as follows: “The texts diverge as to how many millennia make up the Zoroastrian world year. Some give the total as nine millennia (that is, three times three, a favored number), others as twelve (corresponding to the number of months in the solar year). There are grounds, however, to think that the original number was six thousand years, and that it was later increased as the priests modified their schemes. Of these six thousand years, the first three thousand were apparently allotted to creation, to the processes of mixing, and to the early history of humanity. It was held that Zoroaster was born at the end of the third millennium and received the revelation in the year 3000. Then followed a period of virtue and of approach to the final goal of creation, but soon people began to forget the prophet’s teaching. In the year 4000 the first Savior, named Ukhshyat-Ereta (‘He Who Causes Righteousness to Grow’), renewed the preaching of Zoroaster. History will then repeat itself, and his brother, named Ukhshyat-Nema (‘He Who Causes Reverence to Grow’), will appear in the year 5000. Finally, at the end of the last millennium, the greatest of the Saoshyants, Astvat-Ereta himself, will appear and proclaim Frasho-kereti. This doctrine of three Saviors enabled the learned priests to join the Zoroastrian revelation about the future with the ancient Iranian legends about the fall of humankind from the golden age—that is, from the kingdom of Yima—into the wretched present, the period of decline before the appearance of the first Saoshyant. This doctrine also gave them the opportunity to search for instances of recurring events in history. All these speculations concerning world chronology and the three Saoshyants remained, however, an occupation of the learned, while ordinary people (judging by later evidence) continued to wait and hope for the appearance of only one Savior foretold by Zoroaster” [Boyce, M. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices].

12.9 The Foundations of the Faith.

Zoroastrianism has no strict dogmatic system, but contemporary Zoroastrians sometimes set forth their teaching as nine foundations:

Faith in Ahura Mazda—the “Wise God,” the good creator.

Faith in Zarathushtra as the prophet of Ahura Mazda.

Faith in the existence of the spiritual world (menog) and in the two spirits (the Holy and the Evil), between whom human beings must choose.

Faith in Asha (Arta)—the original universal law of truth, established by Ahura Mazda.

Faith in human nature, at the foundation of which lie daēna (faith, conscience) and khratu (reason), which enable every person to distinguish good from evil.

Faith in the seven Amesha Spentas.

Faith in Dādō-dēhišn and Ashudad—that is, in mutual aid, in help for the needy, in the mutual support of human beings.

Faith in the sanctity of the seven entities created by Ahura Mazda (the human being, fire, water, wind, earth, plants, and cattle) and in the duty of caring for them.

Faith in Frashokereti—the eschatological transfiguration of the world.

12.10 The Priesthood and Sacred Services.

Iranian Zoroastrianism requires the hereditary succession of its clergy (in the manner of the Levites in Temple Judaism). All clergy, regardless of rank and degree of consecration, trace their descent from families of so-called mobed-zade and must commit no unforgivable sins. All clergy are married. The present-day priestly hierarchy of Zoroastrianism in Iran is as follows:

Mobedan-mobed (“mobed of mobeds”)—the highest rank of clergy, in effect the high priest. The Mobedan-mobed is chosen from among the dasturs and presides over the community of mobeds. He makes binding decisions on religious and secular matters.

Sar-mobed (“head of the mobeds,” Pahlavi “bozorg dastur”)—the highest Zoroastrian religious rank. He is the chief dastur in a territory containing several dasturs.

Dastur—a Zoroastrian priest of high rank, a mobed, holding the highest priestly office in a region with several temples.

Mobed—an ordinary priest. According to Zoroastrian belief, the mobeds are the descendants of the first disciples of the prophet Zarathushtra. A mobed may recite all parts of the Avesta during the service and perform the full round of rituals.

Hirbad—the lowest priestly rank in Zoroastrianism, comparable to a deacon, a partially consecrated mobed-zade who has completed his training and passed the examination. The hirbad assists the mobed for five to ten years. All future mobeds undergo such an apprenticeship.

Since the principal proper icon of Ahura Mazda is fire, in Zoroastrian temples, called “houses of fire” (atashkadeh), a fire burns continually. Some temples contain fires that have been kept burning for many centuries, even millennia. The family of mobeds to which a sacred fire belongs bears all the costs of maintaining, guarding, and tending it. Sacred fires are divided into three kinds:

The Highest (Atash Bahram)—established in honor of great events. To kindle it requires the combination of sixteen fires. Such a fire is tended by the dasturs.

The Fire of Fires (Atash Adaran)—kindled in large settlements. It is composed of four fires combined.

The Lawful Fire (Atash Dadgah)—the customary Zoroastrian fire in any Zoroastrian settlement.

The basis of Zoroastrian worship is the Yasna (veneration, offering, sacred action). The Yasna is celebrated at dawn by two priests, one of whom serves as assistant. During the Yasna the mobeds simply venerate and glorify Ahura Mazda and his good creations. Symbolically, the Yasna reenacts Ahura Mazda’s creation of the world and God’s victory over evil in the Third Era (Frashokereti). The symbol of this is the drink parahaoma, prepared from a mixture of the pressed juice of the ephedra plant, water, and milk; part is poured onto the fire, and part is drunk by those present, as a sign of entry into the world to come.

Bibliography:

Boyce, Mary. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Routledge, 2001.

Choksy, Jamsheed K. Purity and Pollution in Zoroastrianism: Triumph over Evil. University of Texas Press, 1989.

Kriwaczek, Paul. In Search of Zarathustra: The First Prophet and the Ideas That Changed the World. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002.

Stausberg, Michael. Zoroastrianism: A Guide for the Perplexed. Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.

de Jong, Albert. Traditions of the Magi: Zoroastrianism in Greek and Latin Literature. Brill, 1997.

Gnoli, Gherardo. The Idea of Iran: An Essay on its Origin. Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1989.

Rezakhani, Khodadad. ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh University Press, 2017.

Boyce, Mary, editor. Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism. University of Chicago Press, 1990.

Cereti, Carlo G. The Zand i Wahman Yasn: A Apocalyptic Text in Primary Zoroastrian Literature. Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente, 2001.

Hintze, Almut. A Zoroastrian Liturgy: The Yašt Hāiti (Yasna 35–41). Harrassowitz, 2007.

Skjærvø, Prods Oktor. The Spirit of Zoroastrianism. Yale University Press, 2011.

Choksy, Jamsheed K. Conflict and Cooperation: Zoroastrian Subjugation and Resistance in Muslim Society. Columbia University Press, 1997.

Luhrmann, Tanya M. The Good Parsi: The Fate of a Colonial Elite in a Postcolonial World. Harvard University Press, 1996.

Mistree, Khojeste P. Zoroastrianism: An Ethnic Perspective. Zoroastrian Studies, 1982.

Williams, Alan. The Zoroastrian Myth of Migration from Iran and Settlement in the Yasht: Text, Translation and Analysis of the 16th-Century Qesse-ye Sanjān. Brill, 2009.

  • 12.1-12.2
  • 12.3-12.4
  • 12.5-12.6
  • 12.7-12.8
  • 12.9-12.10

Graph View

Backlinks