Zoroastrianism, or more natively Mazdayasna, is one of the world’s oldest religions, “combining a cosmogonic dualism and eschatological monotheism in a manner unique […] among the major religions of the world.” Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra), he exalted their deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord), as its Supreme Being. Leading characteristics, such as messianism, heaven and hell, and free will are said to have influenced other religious systems, including Second Temple Judaism, Gnosticism, Christianity, and Islam. With possible roots dating back to the second millennium BCE, Zoroastrianism enters recorded history in the 5th-century BCE, and including a Mithraic Median prototype and Zurvanist Sassanid successor it served as the state religion of the pre-Islamic Iranian empires from around 600 BCE to 650 CE. Zoroastrianism was suppressed from the 7th century onwards following the Muslim conquest of Persia. Recent estimates place the current number of Zoroastrians at around 2.6 million, with most living in India and Iran. Besides the Zoroastrian diaspora, the older Mithraic faith Yazdânism is still practised amongst the Kurds.
The religious philosophy of Zoroaster divided the early Iranian gods. The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta. In Zoroastrianism, the creator Ahura Mazda, through the Spenta Mainyu (Good Spirit, “Bounteous Immortals”) is an all-good “father” of Asha (Truth, “order, justice,”) in opposition to Druj (“falsehood, deceit”) and no evil originates from “him”. “He” and his works are evident to humanity through the six primary Amesha Spentas and the host of other Yazatas, through whom worship of Mazda is ultimately directed. Spenta Mainyu adjoined unto “truth” oppose the Spirit’s opposite, Angra Mainyu and its forces born of Akəm Manah (“evil thinking”).
Zoroastrianism has no major theological divisions, though it is not uniform; modern-era influences having a significant impact on individual and local beliefs, practices, values and vocabulary, sometimes merging with tradition and in other cases displacing it. In Zoroastrianism, the purpose in life is to “be among those who renew the world...to make the world progress towards perfection”. Its basic maxims include:
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Author: Wikipedia
Keywords: Jewish mythology, Zoroastrian, Zoroaster, Zoroastrianism, Dualism
Source: This article uses material from the Wikipedia article “Zoroastrianism,” which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
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