Page:History of Zoroastrianism.djvu/371

Heretics detested more than the demon-worshippers. Heresy was one of the greatest crimes of which a Zoroastrian could be guilty according to the ancient texts. It was a criminal offense punishable by law. The severity of the law, however, was considerably modified during the Sasanian period, even though the works written during this period do not show any considerable advance in real religious toleration. In his letter to the king of Tabaristan, Tansar states that, in the statutes which Ardashir had framed, he had greatly modified the rigour of the law; for, whereas formerly a heretic was instantly killed, Tansar's royal master had ordered that such a sinner should be imprisoned for one year, and that the religion of Ormazd should be preached to him daily during that period in order to reclaim him from heresy. If he still persisted obstinately in his heretical belief, capital punishment was to be inflicted upon him as a last resort.^[1] King Noshirvan extirpated heresies when he came to the throne.^[2] Any one also who did not give assent to the dogmatic teachings of the Zoroastrian creed, or expounded views that were at variance with those sanctioned by her authority, incurred the odium of heresy, and came under the ban of ecclesiastical excommunication. The Church forbade with proscription any criticism of its authoritative canon; the ecclesiastical doctrine was fixed, and to think otherwise was heresy. Giving the definition of a heretic, the Dinkart states that whosoever teaches, speaks, or acts respecting the beliefs and practices of the national faith differently from that which the ancients have done is a heretic.^[3] Heretics are of three kinds: the deceiver, deceived, and the opinionated.^[4] All of these misrepresent the teachings of the elders, and pervert