Page:History of Zoroastrianism.djvu/464

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THE RENOVATION

up the world in a general conflagration. A boiling flood of the metals of Shatravar will then flow over the earth,[1] and the righteous as well as the wicked souls will be made to pass into it.[2] In this glowing flood the wicked souls will be purged of their sins, so that they become wholly purified,[3] while the righteous will feel as if they were walking in warm milk.[4] The torture of the worst sinners, such as Zohak, Afrasiab, and the rest, during these three nights is more intense than that of all others.[5] This final conflagration brings freedom of the sinners from the prison of hell.[6]

The righteous and the wicked shall no longer remain as divided, but unite into one. Then, following the great conflagration, there will be the final renovation of the world. The sinners who have been thus purified and purged of their sins by the fiery metal become worthy of eternal bliss;[7] and that final punishment will absolve them of their sins.[8] The entire creation of Ormazd now becomes virtuous.[9] The wicked no longer remain wicked,[10] but become righteous.[11] The angels under whose influence they had done good deeds in the world approach them and give joy to them in the proportion of these good deeds.[12] The happiness of the souls that were already righteous is far greater than that of the wicked who had been cleansed through torture and punishment.[13] The erring children are now restored to the bosom of the Heavenly Father, and Ormazd now takes back the entire creation to himself.[14]

The removal of the imperfection of the material bodies of men. The completion of heavenly bliss requires that it be everlasting The human soul is immortal, but the body is not so. Therefore Soshyos and his companions prepare through an Izishna ceremony a nectar from the fat of the ox Hadhayosh

  1. ↑ Bd. 30. 18, 19; cf. Revelation, 8. 10; 9. 1.
  2. ↑ Jsp. p. 119, 120.
  3. ↑ Bd. 30. 20, Dd. 32. 12, 13, 37, 110, 111; Mkh. 21. 10.
  4. ↑ Bd. 30. 20.
  5. ↑ Bd. 30. 16.
  6. ↑ Dk., vol. 2, p. 104, vol. 8, p. 476.
  7. ↑ Dd. 14. 8; Dk., vol. 5, p. 332; vol. 9, p. 627.
  8. ↑ Dk., vol. 6, p. 421.
  9. ↑ Dk., vol. 7, p. 458, 469.
  10. ↑ Phl. Vd. 7. 52.
  11. ↑ Dd. 32. 14.
  12. ↑ Dd. 32. 15.
  13. ↑ Ib., 16.
  14. ↑ Dk., vol. 12, bk. 6. 279, p. 7.
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