Zoroastrianism (and Parsis)

Theology

Zoroaster is the Greek name for the prophet known as Zarathustra, the eponymous founder of the religion, who likely lived in Persia around 1500 BCE. Zoroastrianism is regarded as the first monotheistic faith and revolved around the worship of the deity Ahura Mazda (Ormazd in the Pahlavi language), the supreme God, who is the source of good and the world. His counterpart is the spirit Angra Mainyu (Pahlavi: Ahriman), who represents violence and death and engages in battle with Ahura Mazda until the end of time. Their conflict involves the entire universe, and each person must decide which side to join (this has sometimes been interpreted as an internal battle within each believer). The victory of Ahura Mazda is assured, and neither dualism nor evil will exist when time ends; even hell, where the evil dead reside, will be destroyed in the end.

The Avesta, the holy book of Zoroastrianism, preserves 17 hymns (gāthās) believed to have been written by Zoroaster. These gāthās are not directives but rather passionate poems about the worship of one God, the choice between good and evil, the idea of righteousness, and the cosmic order. The Avesta also contains the laws of the tradition, written after Zoroaster's death and leading to questions about their inspiration and the divisions in Zoroastrian communities that had followed.

Asha, the all-encompassing natural law, is another important belief of Zoroastrians. No direct translation for the idea exists, much like the Dao of [Page 1407]Daoism, but Zoroaster makes much use of it in the gāthās, and it is often symbolized by fire. It is the basis for the structure of Zoroaster's moral philosophy, the embodiment of the order that rules the world, and Zoroaster declares it to mean Ahura Mazda's righteousness. It likely is contiguous to or shares aspects with the Hindu rta, as both contain the idea of a path to be followed by the righteous.

Other beliefs of Zoroastrians will be familiar as they are shared by other global faiths. Death, for example, results in the deceased's soul being determined as worthy of heaven or hell by the deities Mithra, Sraosha, and Rashnu. There is also a savior figure, the Saoshyant, who would be born of a virgin in the line of Zoroaster and bring about the end of time and with it the gathering of all souls to heaven. Angels form another part of Zoroastrian doctrine, and they are divided into three categories: (1) Amesha Spentas, the archangels; (2) Yazaatas, the angels, and (3) Fravashis, the guardian angels. The first two are embodiments of abstract ideas and virtues or concrete objects of nature, while the third are “assigned” to individuals, watching over them and providing a moral model for the individual.

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