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worthy of, and helpful to, Ahura
Mazda include truthfulness, loyalty,
tolerance, forgiveness, respect
for one’s elders, and the keeping
of promises. Vices such as anger,
arrogance, vengefulness, bad
language, and greed are condemned
—and not only in this life.
Judgment and salvation
Zoroastrians believe that after
death, individuals will be judged
twice: once when they die and
once at a Last Judgment at the
end of time. The two judgments
will address, respectively, the
individual’s morality of thought and
his or her morality of action. In both
cases, moral failings are punished
in hell. However, these punishments
are not eternal; they cease when
the person corrects their moral
failing in the afterlife—which,
once successfully accomplished,
is followed by the person going to
dwell with Ahura Mazda in heaven.
Zoroastrian teachings tell that as
the end of time draws near, the
Saoshyant (savior) will arise
and prepare the world to be made
anew, helping Ahura Mazda to
destroy Ahriman. People will grow
pure and stop eating meat, then
milk, plants, and water, until at last
they need nothing. When all have
chosen good over evil, there will
be no more sin, so Az, the demon
of lust made by Ahriman, will
starve, turning on her creator.
Ahura Mazda will cast Ahriman
from creation through the hole that
Ahriman made when he broke
in. It is at this point that time
will be at an end.
Saoshyant will then raise
the dead, who will pass through
a stream of molten metal to burn
away their sins. According to
Zoroastrianism, the world will begin
again, but this time it will be a
world everlasting, free of taint.
The use of fire and molten metal
as a purifier in the Last Judgment
is reflected in the prominence of
fire in Zoroastrianism as a symbol
of sanctity. It is seen as the purest
of the elements. Ahura Mazda is
strongly associated with fire andANCIENT AND CLASSICAL BELIEFS
Establish the power of
acts arising from a life
lived with good purpose,
for Mazda and for the lord
whom they made pastor
for the poor.
The Ahunavar PrayerZoroastrians gather to pray together.
This very moral religion is summed
up in the old Avestan phrase: “Humata,
Hukhta, Hvarshta”—“Good thoughts,
good words, good deeds.”
also the sun. For this reason,
Zoroastrian temples always
keep a fire burning, symbolizing
their god’s eternal power. Some
temple fires have been kept
burning for centuries. Believers
bring offerings of wood (the only
fuel used), and fire priests place
these in the flames. Visitors are
anointed with ash.The continuing struggle
The Zoroastrian idea of eternal,
opposing forces of good and evil
is a form of what philosophy
calls dualism. Another Persian
dualistic religion, Manichaeism,
was founded by the prophet Mani
in the 3rd century CE. Mani felt that
his Religion of Light completed
the teachings of Zoroaster, Buddha,
and Christ.
Like Zoroaster, Mani saw
the world as an eternal struggle
between the forces of good and
evil, light and darkness. This
was to have a profound effect on
Christian thinkers, and influence
medieval, heretical Christian cults
such as the Paulicians in Armenia,
the Bogomils in Bulgaria, and, most
famously, the Cathars in France. ■