Page:History of Zoroastrianism.djvu/358

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CHAPTER XXXV
THE ACTIVE PROPAGANDA OF THE FAITH

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

  1. ↑ Dk., vol. 10, bk. 5. 14, p. 12; see Gray, Missions (Zoroastrian) in ERE 8 749–751.
  2. ↑ SBE., vol 18, Appendix, p. 415.
  3. ↑ Dk., vol. 9, p. 579.
  4. ↑ SBE., vol. 37, bk 8. 26. p. 88, 89.
  5. ↑ Aerpt bk. 1. 4. 28, 29; 1. 5. 4.
  6. ↑ Mādigān-i Hazār Dādistān, ed. Modi, p. 1, Poona, 1901.
  7. ↑ The History of Vartan, p. 8, 9, 11, 31, 32, 35, London, 1830.

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