Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism: Religion of the Persians o Original religion was nature worship • Mithra – sun god of light and war • One of the big religious movement in the roman empire • Magi – priests who helped with sacrifices • Wandered in solitude • Becomes a prophet when an angel comes to him • His ideas started the religion Zorastrianism • Revelations of ahuramazda o Agonistic religion • Ahuramazda “the wise lord” and angra-mainyu/ ahriman “the spiritual enemy/ the prince of darkness.” • Ahura mazda sis all good, and no evil originates from him. • Contest for souls of the living • Humanity must choose which side they want to be • External or internal struggle of what is right o Zend avesta-text • Gathas – the songs to the lord o Principles of faith • Rewards in this life and the afterlife for doing good or bad • Unseen but omnipresent/ always here • Faith saves o Code of ethics – preserve life and fight for justice • Threefold path – thought, right, piety • Opposition – lie, falsehood, death o Connections to Judaism • Law based • Holy spirit – within you. • Apocalyptic – they are concerned about whats going to happen at the end. • Messianic – they believe there will be salvation. • Judgment – heaven and hell o Influence on Judaism: • Babylonian captivity – released by the Persians • Change in nature of Yhwh • Ezra – Babylonian sent by Persians to bring the law to the jews • Many laws are word for word identical to the Vendidad • Clean and unclean animals o Connections to Christianity and Buddhism • Salvation through faith and inner struggle • Mental training path to enlightenment • Siddhartha (buddah) born 660BCE o Followers • Currently, worldwide there are around 140,000-250,000 believers- mostly in Iran and India. In the United States, there are around 10,000 followers
 * • Zoroaster/ Zarathustra – 660 BCE