Page:History of Zoroastrianism.djvu/383

The supreme godhead. Ormazd is the Pahlavi equivalent of the Avestan Ahura Mazda in the Pahlavi writings of the Sasanian period and later. The concept of the Highest Being retains its former abstract and spiritual character in the works of the Pahlavi writers. Ormazd is what the entire creation is not, and he is not what anything in the universe is. The author of the Dinkart describes him by negatives, and states that Ormazd is the sovereign, and not slave; father, and not child; first, and not last; master, and not servant; lord, and not serf; protector, and not protected; changeless, and not changeable; knowledge itself, and not acquiring knowledge; giver and not receiver.^[1] Radiant and glorious are his standing epithets in the Pazend prayers. We shall presently discuss some of the most prominent of the divine attributes which the Pahlavi works ascribe to Ormazd.

Ormazd is eternal. Ormazd had no beginning and has no end. He alone is the one who is neither born nor dies.^[2] His adversary is inferior to him in this respect, that there will be a time when he will not exist. Ormazd ever was, is, and will ever be.^[3] He is the causer of causes, himself being causeless.^[4] He is the prime source of existence.^[5]

Ormazd is invisible. The concept of the spirituality of Ormazd remains unchanged. He is the Spirit of Spirits.^[6] Invisibility is the chief characteristic of spirituality, and Ormazd is said to be invisible.^[7] He is so even to the other spiritual beings.^[8] Though present in everything, he is unseen anywhere.^[9] When