History of Zoroastrianism/Chapter 35

The Pahlavi works on proselytism. Zaratusht first preached his new religion to the people of Iran where he was born; but Ormazd has commanded that the excellent religion should be spread among all races of mankind throughout the world.^[1] In their commentary on the oft-recurring Avestan formula fravarāne, the Pahlavi versionists add an explanatory gloss that every believer undertakes to proclaim the Zoroastrian religion of Ormazd to the entire world. It is said that the act of the highest merit that a non-believer can perform in his life is to renounce his religion and embrace the Mazdayasnian faith.^[2] The great Sasanian monarch, Shapur II, zealously worked for the restoration and promulgation of the faith among the unbelievers with the aid of his illustrious Dastur Adarbad.^[3] The Dinkart sanctions even the use of force for the conversion of the aliens.^[4] A Pahlavi treatise devoted mostly to the Zoroastrian rituals attests the practice of admitting outsiders into the Zoroastrian fold.^[5] Another Pahlavi tractate treating of the social and legal practices of the Sasanians lays down that if a Christian slave embraces the faith of his Zoroastrian master, he should be given freedom.^[6]

An Armenian account of the Zoroastrian propaganda. Elisaeus, bishop of the Amadunians in the fifth century A.D., in his historical work states that King Yazdagard II and his royal court resorted to both persuasion and force in their attempt to win over the Christians of Armenia to Zoroastrianism.^[7] The ​Christian subjects of the Persian king in Armenia, we are informed, were promised high positions, court distinctions, royal favours, and the remission of the taxes, if they accepted the national faith of Iran. Mihr Narsih, the premier of Yazdagard II (A.D. 438–457), in the proclamation to the Christian population in Armenia that he issued at the royal command, exhorts them to adopt the religion that their sovereign holds, and adds that those that do not acknowledge the Mazdayasnian faith are deaf and blind, and are misled by Ahriman.^[8] Elisaeus informs us that this proselytizing movement on the part of the Magi of Sasanian times was not confined to Armenia alone, but it extended further to Georgia, Albania, and various other countries.^[9]

Judaism and Christianity penetrate into Persia as the formidable rivals of the national faith. When the Zoroastrian Church was thus engaged in promulgating the faith of Zoroaster outside Persia, her religious supremacy was challenged at home by Judaism, and more aggressively by Christianity.^[10] Ardashir had established Zoroastrianism as the state religion of Persia, but there were in the empire colonies of people following other religions. Iran had long ceased to be a religious unit, and the vast number of Jews, Christians, and others of divergent faiths and creeds contributed towards disunion. Referring to the presence of the people professing different religions in his kingdom, King Hormizd IV once remarked that his throne rested on four feet;^[11] and troublesome these outside elements certainly proved to the sovereign occupying the throne. A fairly tolerable latitude was conceded to these adherents of the alien faiths, though occasional persecutions of them were not unknown. These non-Zoroastrians frequently occasioned heated polemics in which virulent criticism and derisive terms were exchanged between the Zoroastrian priests on the one side and the prelates of the rival faiths on the other. Iranian society was often convulsed with the storm of controversy. The alien faiths were branded as the promptings of the Evil Spirit, and were declared to be teaching a vile law, ​opposed to the pure law of Mazda.^[12] The religions that most struggled in this manner with the national faith during the Sasanian period were Judaism and Christianity, whose position in Persia we shall now discuss.

Judaism in Persia. Judea had come under the Persian rule at the very early period. The Babylonian exile brought the Jews into close touch with the Persians in the sixth century B.C. We have already referred to the fact that the restoration of the temple at Jerusalem was executed at the royal command of the Persian kings Cyrus and Darius. The Jews had settled in Persia in large numbers from very early times, and had planted their colonies all over the country. They thrived peacefully and were given privileges to manage their own civic affairs without molestation from the state. Some of the members of the royal house had even married Jewish princesses King Yazdagard I, for example, had a Jewish consort.^[13] But in general those who contracted matrimonial alliances with Jewish women were disliked, and the Dinkart inveighs in strong terms against the practice of contracting such unions.^[14] In the course of time, the Persians and the Israelites seem to have been sharply divided in religious matters. Disputations on questions of belief must have been frequent. All of the Pahlavi works denounce Judaism in unsparing terms. The writer of the Dinkart, for instance, avers that Judaism is not a divine religion,^[15] and points to Zohak, the most detested of men, as the originator of the Jewish scriptures,^[16] branding elsewhere the Jewish books as utterances of the demons.^[17] Seno, a Zoroastrian sage, is reported to have said, in his admonitions to the kings of Persia, that the sovereign of the people ought to keep aloof from the religion of the Jews, as bringing devastation to the world.^[18] The progress of the Jewish belief should be arrested, lest it spread its evil among the faithful.^[19] The knowledge of this religion produces baneful influences upon the Mazdayasnians,^[20] it implants vice,^[21] and ag​gravates immorality.^[22] Men become of evil disposition through it.^[23] Those who belong to this faith cannot be said to be related to the Prime Source.^[24] Such violent attacks on the beliefs of a race which had settled in Persia from the very early period of her history show us the bitterness of feeling that must have prevailed between Zoroastrians and Jews. A later writer, confounding Kai Lohrasp with Nebuchadnezzar, states that one of the meritorious deeds done by Lohrasp was that he destroyed Jerusalem and scattered the Jews.^[25]

Christian propaganda in Iran. Christianity had entered Persia during the Parthian period, and the Sasanians found the creed of Christ more or less current when they established their empire. Of all the alien faiths in Persia, Christianity was the most aggressive. The pertinacious attempt of the Christians to win over converts to their faith from the ruling nation, often caused shedding of human blood. There was a state of perennial war between Sasanian Persia and Byzantine Rome, which had embraced Christianity. The sympathy of the Christian population naturally went to their Roman co-religionists and caused disturbances in Persia. Moreover, the fanatic zeal of the priests on both sides fomented communal strife, which often resulted in the destruction of the Zoroastrian fire-temples and Christian churches, and the consequent persecution of the Christians. Great as are the resemblances between the fundamental teachings of the two religions, their ethical systems show a glaring distinction. Christianity exalted monastic virtues, and glorified celibacy. The Zoroastrian priests vehemently denounced the foreign priests who preached a mode of life which clashed with their ethics.^[26] Reckless utterances of the Christian priests often aggravated the ill-feeling between the two peoples, and violent scenes ensued. An enthusiastic bishop once regaled his congregation by saying that the soul of the king would, in his future life, be born in hell-fire with Satan, whereas the Christians would be translated to heaven,^[27] while another patriarch urged the Roman bishops to free them from the accursed rule of the ​Persians.^[28] The priests on both the sides became zealots, and occasionally fell into the slough of fanaticism. Great was the fury of religious rancour that prevailed on such occasions. The seceders from Zoroastrianism were persecuted; apostasy was made a capital crime by the Zoroastrian Church, and the renegades were put to death. Notwithstanding such harsh measures adopted by the Iranian clergy, numerous converts were made throughout the whole time of the Sasanian rule from Zoroastrianism to Christianity. Some of the greatest saints were won from the Zoroastrian community. A noted Zoroastrian preceptor embraced Christianity, and later became the Patriarch under the name Mar Aba the Great. The Zoroastrian priesthood clamoured for his death, and the law of the country supported them. It was the great admiration that King Noshirvan held for the Patriarch that saved his life.^[29] Yazdagard I and Hormizd IV ascended the throne with proclivities for Christianity, and Noshirvan and Khusru Parviz had wedded Christian princesses. Nushzad, one of the sons of the great Sasanian king Noshirvan, was brought up a Christian.^[30] Another ruler of the House of Sasan, Parviz, built a monastery to please his favourite Christian wife.^[31] Such royal examples encouraged the Christian propaganda in Iran. Yazdagard I, who favoured the Christian cause, was hailed by the Christians as the blessed king, but was branded by his own co-religionists as the wicked sinner.^[32]