Zurvanism is a fatalistic religious movement of Zoroastrianism in which the divinity Zurvan is a first principle (primordial creator deity ) who engendered equal-but-opposite twins , Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu . Zurvanism is also known as "Zurvanite Zoroastrianism", and may be contrasted with Mazdaism .
93-582: In Zurvanism, Zurvan was perceived as the god of infinite time and space and also known as "one" or "alone." Zurvan was portrayed as a transcendental and neutral god without passion; one for whom there was no distinction between good and evil. The name Zurvan is a normalized rendition of the word, which in Middle Persian appears as either Zurvān , Zruvān or Zarvān . The Middle Persian name derives from Avestan ( Avestan : 𐬰𐬭𐬎𐬎𐬁𐬥 , romanized: zruuān , lit. 'time',
186-479: A grammatically neuter noun). Although the details of the origin and development of Zurvanism remain murky (for a summary of the three opposing opinions see § Ascent and acceptance below), it is generally accepted that Zurvanism was: Zurvanism enjoyed royal sanction during the Sasanian Empire (226–651 CE) but no traces of it remain beyond the 10th century. Although Sasanian-era Zurvanism
279-546: A single , imperishable god , the creator of all things, including all the creatures and forces in the universe. In the Baháʼí tradition, god is described as "a personal god, unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all Revelation, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent, and almighty." Though inaccessible directly, God is nevertheless seen as conscious of his creation, with a mind, will, and purpose. Baháʼís believe that God expresses this will at all times and in many ways, including through
372-538: A form of poetry in which the immanence (presence) of God could be encountered in faith communities. However, he no longer accepted the possibility of affirming his belief in a transcendent God. Altizer concluded that God had incarnated in Christ and imparted his immanent spirit which remained in the world even though Jesus was dead. It is important that such ideas are understood as socio-cultural developments and not as ontological realities. As Vahanian expressed it in his book,
465-544: A human form. In the Sikh tradition, all human beings are considered equal regardless of their religion, sex, or race. All are sons and daughters of Waheguru, the Almighty. In 1961, Christian theologian Gabriel Vahanian published The Death of God . Vahanian argued that modern secular culture had lost all sense of the sacred, lacking any sacramental meaning, no transcendental purpose or sense of providence. He concluded that for
558-428: A reaction to the liberalization of the late Achaemenid -era form of the faith. Another view proposes that Zurvan existed as a pre-Zoroastrian divinity that was incorporated into Zoroastrianism. The third view is that Zurvanism is the product of the contact between Zoroastrianism and Babylonian – Akkadian religions (for a summary of opposing views see Boyce). Certain however is that by the Sasanian Empire (226–651),
651-455: A ritual point of view, the liturgy can be broken into 4 major sections, each having its own internal prelude: Some sections of the Yasna occur more than once. For instance, Yasna 5 is repeated as Yasna 37, and Yasna 63 consists of passages from Yasna 15.2, 66.2 and 38.3. The ability to recite the Yasna from memory is one of the prerequisites for Zoroastrian priesthood. Translations of
744-547: A sect of the Medes that considered Space/Time to be the primordial "father" of the rivals Oromasdes "of light" and Arimanius "of darkness". The principal evidence for Zurvanite doctrine occurs in the polemical Christian tracts of Armenian and Syriac writers of the Sasanian period (224–651 CE). Indigenous sources of information from the same period are the 3rd century Kartir inscription at Ka'ba-ye Zartosht and
837-403: A series of divine messengers referred to as Manifestations of God or sometimes divine educators . In expressing God's intent, these manifestations are seen to establish religion in the world. Baháʼí teachings state that God is too great for humans to fully comprehend, nor to create a complete and accurate image. In Buddhism , "transcendence", by definition, belongs to the mortal beings of
930-560: A sign of one's divinity or alternatively imposing a limitation on God's transcendent nature. Tawhid or Oneness of God constitutes the foremost article of the Muslim profession. To attribute divinity to a created entity is the only unpardonable sin mentioned in the Qur'an. Muslims believe that the entirety of the Islamic teaching rests on the principle of Tawhid. The Baháʼí Faith believes in
1023-429: A vessel, captured the emanation of this creative force until it was overwhelmed and broken by the intensity of God's simple essence. Once broken, the vessel's shards, full of absorbed "divine sparks," fell into a vessel below. This process ultimately continued until the "light" of Godliness was sufficiently reduced to allow the world we inhabit to be sustained without breaking. The creation of this world, however, comes with
SECTION 10
#17327839734001116-609: A zealous minority that busied itself with defining what they considered the Prophet's true message to be; there must have been an 'orthodox' party within the 'Church'. This minority, concerned now with theology no less than with ritual, would be found among the Magi , and it is, in fact, to the Magi that Aristotle and other early Greek writers attribute the fully dualist doctrine of two independent principles – Oromasdes and Areimanios. Further,
1209-559: Is al-Samad (the Ultimate Source of all existence, the uncaused cause who created all things out of nothing, who is eternal, absolute, immutable, perfect, complete, essential, independent, and self-sufficient; Who does not need to eat or drink, sleep or rest; Who needs nothing while all of creation is in absolute need of Him; the one eternally and constantly required and sought, depended upon by all existence and to whom all matters will ultimately return). 3. He begets not, nor
1302-512: Is "redolent of Gnosticism or – still better – of Indian cosmology". The parallels between Zurvan and Prajapati of Rig Veda 10.129 had been taken by Widengren to be evidence of a proto-Indo-Iranian Zurvan, but these arguments have since been questioned. Nonetheless, there is a semblance of Zurvanite elements in Vedic texts, and, as Zaehner puts it, "Time, for the Indians, is the raw material,
1395-505: Is He begotten (He is Unborn and Uncreated, has no parents, wife or offspring). 4. And there is none comparable (equal, equivalent or similar) to Him. According to Vincent J. Cornell , the Qur'an also provides a monist image of God by describing the reality as a unified whole, with God being a single concept that would describe or ascribe all existing things: "God is the First and the Last,
1488-569: Is a term coined by Zaehner to denote the movement to explain the inconsistency of Zoroaster's description of the "twin spirits" as they appear in Yasna 30.3–5 of the Avesta. According to Zaehner, this "Zurvanism proper" was genuinely Iranian and Zoroastrian in that it sought to clarify the enigma of the twin spirits that Zoroaster left unsolved. As the priesthood sought to explain it, if the Malevolent Spirit (lit: Angra Mainyu ) and
1581-465: Is affirmed in various religious traditions' concept of the divine , which contrasts with the notion of a god (or, the Absolute ) that exists exclusively in the physical order ( immanentism ), or is indistinguishable from it ( pantheism ). Transcendence can be attributed in knowledge as well as or instead of its being. Thus, an entity may transcend both the universe and knowledge (is beyond the grasp of
1674-583: Is also evident in Zurvanism's cosmogonical creation myth ; the classic form of the creation myth does not contradict the Mazdean model of the origin and evolution of the universe, which begins where the Zurvanite model ends. It may well be that the Zurvanite cosmogony was an adaptation of an antecedent Hellenic Chronos cosmogony that portrayed Infinite Time as the "Father of Time" (not to be confused with
1767-453: Is also the last direct evidence of Zurvan as a First Principle. There is no hint of any worship of Zurvan in any of the texts of the Avesta , even though the texts (as they exist today) are the result of a Sasanian era redaction. Robert Charles Zaehner proposed that this is because the individual Sasanian monarchs were not always Zurvanite and that Mazdean Zoroastrianism just happened to have
1860-435: Is contrasted with immanence , where a god is said to be fully present in the physical world and thus accessible to creatures in various ways. In religious experience , transcendence is a state of being that has overcome the limitations of physical existence, and by some definitions, has also become independent of it. This is typically manifested in prayer , rituals , meditation , psychedelics and paranormal visions. It
1953-408: Is dead. In responding to this denial of transcendence Van Buren and Hamilton offered secular people the option of Jesus as the model human who acted in love. The encounter with the Christ of faith would be open in a church-community. Thomas J. J. Altizer offered a radical theology of the death of God that drew upon William Blake , Hegelian thought and Nietzschean ideas. He conceived of theology as
SECTION 20
#17327839734002046-407: Is described as a level of spiritual attainment, or a state of being open to all spiritual aspirants (the end goal of yoga practice). In this state one is no longer under the control of any materialistic desires and is aware of a higher spiritual reality. When the yogī , by practice of yoga, disciplines his mental activities and becomes situated in transcendence — devoid of all material desires — he
2139-403: Is however not known whether Sasanian-era Zurvanism and Mazdaism were separate sects, each with their own organization and priesthood, or simply two tendencies within the same body. That Mazdaism and Zurvanism competed for attention has been inferred from the works of Christian and Manichaean polemicists, but the doctrinal incompatibilities were not so extreme "that they could not be reconciled under
2232-414: Is linguistically and functionally related to Vedic Sanskrit yajna . The theological function of the yasna ceremony, and the proper performance of it, is to further asha , that is, the ceremony aims to strengthen that which is right/true (one meaning of asha ) in the existence/creation (another meaning of asha ) of divine order (yet another meaning of asha ). The Encyclopedia Iranica summarizes
2325-508: Is not necessarily a violation of orthodox Zoroastrian tradition, since the divinity Vayu is present in the middle space between Ormuzd and Ahriman, the void separating the kingdoms of light and darkness. Ascetic Zurvanism, which was apparently not as popular as the materialistic kind, viewed Zurvan as undifferentiated Time, which, under the influence of desire, divided into reason (a male principle) and concupiscence (a female principle). According to Duchesne-Guillemin , this division
2418-458: Is not, and how other beings stand in relation to him." Anthropomorphic depictions of God are largely metaphorical and reflect the challenge of "human modes of expression" in attempting to describe the infinite. St. Augustine observed "...[I]t is only by the use of such human expressions that Scripture can make its many kinds of readers whom it wants to help to feel, as it were, at home." The "sense of transcendence" and therefore, an awareness of
2511-501: Is omnipresent and has infinite qualities, whose name is true ( Satnam ), is the Creator (Karta Purkh), has no fear (Nirb hau), is not the enemy of anyone (Nirvair), is beyond time (Akaal), has no image (Murat), is beyond birth and death circulation (Ajunee), is self-existent (Sai Bhang) and possesses the grace of word guru (eternal light) we can meet him (Gurprasaad). Sikhs do not identify a gender for Ek Onkar, nor do they believe it takes
2604-522: Is said to be well established in yoga. The exact nature of this transcendence is given as being "above the modes of material nature", which are known as gunas (ropes) that bind the living entity to the world of samsara (karmic cycle) in Hindu philosophy. Transcendence is described and viewed from diverse perspectives in Hinduism . Traditions such as Advaita Vedanta , in transcendence, view God as
2697-476: Is the Avestan name of Zoroastrianism 's principal act of worship. It is also the name of the primary liturgical collection of Avesta texts, recited during that yasna ceremony. The function of the yasna ceremony is, very roughly described, to strengthen the orderly spiritual and material creations of Ahura Mazda against the assault of the destructive forces of Angra Mainyu . The yasna service, that is,
2790-584: Is the yasna ceremony, which is understood to have a direct, immediate effect: "[f]ar from being a symbolic act, the proper performance of the yasna is what prevents the cosmos from falling into chaos." The culminating act of the yasna ceremony is the Ab-Zohr , the "strengthening of the waters". The Yasna service, that is, the recitation of the Yasna texts, culminates in the Ab-Zohr , the "offering to waters". The Yasna ceremony may be extended by recitation of
2883-543: Is the main concept of transcendence. The more usual interpretation of Nirvana in Buddhism is that it is a cessation—a permanent absence of something (namely suffering), and therefore it is not in any way a state which could be considered transcendent. Primordial enlightenment and the dharma are sometimes portrayed as transcendent, since they can surpass all samsaric obstructions. In the Bhagavad Gita , transcendence
Zurvanism - Misplaced Pages Continue
2976-538: The Mēnōg-i Khrad and the Selections of Zādspram (both 9th century ) reveal a Zurvanite tendency. The latter, in which the priest Zādspram chastises his brother's un-Mazdaean ideas, is the last text in Middle Persian that provides any evidence of the cult of Zurvan. The 13th century Zoroastrian Ulema-i Islam ( [Response] to Doctors of Islam ), a New Persian apologetic text , is unambiguously Zurvanite and
3069-456: The Avesta ; Geti and Mainyu (middle Persian: menog ) are terms in Mazdaist tradition, where Ahura Mazda is said to have created all first in its spiritual, then later in its material form. But the material Zurvanites redefined menog to suit Aristotelian principles to mean "that which did not (yet) have matter", or alternatively, "that which was still the unformed primal matter". Even this
3162-674: The Nirguna Brahman (God without attributes) - the absolute. Other traditions such as Bhakti yoga , in transcendence, view God as being with attributes ( Saguna Brahman ), the Absolute being a personal deity ( Ishvara ), such as Vishnu or Shiva . Waheguru ( Punjabi : ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ , Vāhigurū ) is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God, the Supreme Being or the creator of all. It means "Wonderful Teacher" in
3255-515: The Titan Cronus , father of Zeus ) whom the Greeks equated with Oromasdes , i.e. Ohrmuzd / Ahura Mazda. The classic Zurvanite model of creation, preserved only by non-Zoroastrian sources, proceeds as follows: In the beginning, the great God Zurvan existed alone. Desiring offspring that would create "heaven and hell and everything in between", Zurvan sacrificed for a thousand years. Towards
3348-455: The Visperad and Vendidad . A well-trained priest is able to recite the entire Yasna in about two hours. With extensions, it takes about an hour longer. In its normal form, the Yasna ceremony is only to be performed in the morning. From a literary point of view, the 72 chapters consist of two nested inner cores, and an outer envelope. The outer chapters/sections (the "envelope") are in
3441-598: The Younger Avestan language. The middle 27 chapters include the (linguistically) oldest texts of the Zoroastrian canon. The inner chapters/sections (excepting chapters 42.1–4,52.5–8) are in the more archaic Old Avestan language, with the four sacred formulae bracketing the innermost core. This innermost core includes the 17 chapters of the Gathas , the oldest and most sacred texts of the Zoroastrian canon. From
3534-423: The formless realms of existence. However, although such beings are at 'the peak' of Samsara , Buddhism considers the development of transcendence to be both temporary and a spiritual cul-de-sac which, therefore, does not eventuate a permanent cessation of Samsara. This assertion was a primary differentiator from the other Sramana teachers during Gautama Buddha 's own training and development. Alternatively, in
3627-531: The leontocephalic deity of the Roman Mithraic Mysteries as a representation of Zurvan. Zaehner later acknowledged this mis-identification as a "positive mistake", due to Franz Cumont 's late 19th century notion that the Roman cult was "Roman Mazdaism" transmitted to the west by Iranian priests. Mithraic scholars no longer follow this so-called 'continuity theory', but that has not stopped
3720-419: The materia prima of all contingent being." The doctrine of Limited Time (allotted to Ahriman by Zurvan) implied that nothing could change this preordained course of the material universe, and the path of the astral bodies of the 'heavenly sphere' was representative of this preordained course. It followed that human destiny must then be decided by the constellations, stars and planets, who were divided between
3813-623: The " Ein Sof " (literally, without end) as reference to God's divine simplicity and essential unknowability. The emanation of creation from the Ein Sof is explained through a process of filtering. In the Kabbalistic creation myth referred to as the "breaking of the vessels," filtering was necessary because otherwise this intense, simple essence would have overwhelmed and made impossible the emergence of any distinct creations. Each filter, described as
Zurvanism - Misplaced Pages Continue
3906-564: The "Requiem of God," not even implementing a "Requiem for Satan," will constitute only a footnote to the history of theology. . . . 'The Grave of God,' was the death rattle for the continuancy of the aforementioned school without any noticeable echo." Professor Piet Schoonenberg (Nijmegen, Netherlands) directly critiqued Altizer concluding: "Rightly understood the transcendence of God does not exclude His immanence, but includes it." Schoonenberg went on to say: "We must take God's transcendence seriously by not imposing any limits whatsoever, not even
3999-403: The "sacred", is an important component of the liturgy. Thus, God is recognized as both transcendent and immanent . Tawhid is the act of believing and affirming that God (Arabic: Allah ) is one and unique ( wāḥid ). The Qur'an asserts the existence of a single and absolute truth that transcends the world; a unique and indivisible being who is independent of the entire creation. According to
4092-558: The (linguistically) oldest texts of the Zoroastrian canon. These very ancient texts, in the very archaic and linguistically difficult Old Avestan language, include the four most sacred Zoroastrian prayers, and also 17 chapters consisting of the five Gathas , hymns that are considered to have been composed by Zoroaster himself. Several sections of the Yasna include exegetical comments. Yasna chapter and verse pointers are traditionally abbreviated with Y. The Avestan language word yasna literally means 'oblation' or 'worship'. The word
4185-519: The 10th century the remaining Zoroastrians appear to have more closely followed the orthodoxy as found in the Pahlavi books (see also § The legacy of Zurvanism below). Why the cult of Zurvan vanished, while Mazdaism did not, remains an issue of scholarly debate. Arthur Christensen , one of the first proponents of the theory that Zurvanism was the state religion of the Sasanians, suggested that
4278-487: The Benevolent Spirit ( Spenta Mainyu , identified with Ahura Mazda ) were twins, then they must have had a parent, who must have existed before them. The priesthood settled on Zurvan – the hypostasis of (Infinite) Time – as being "the only possible 'Absolute' from whom the twins could proceed" and which was the source of good in the one and the source of evil in the other. The Zurvanite "twin brother" doctrine
4371-460: The Creator (of the good creation). Similarly, no explicitly Zurvanite elements appear to have survived in modern Zoroastrianism. Dhalla explicitly accepted a modern Western version of the old Zurvanite heresy, according to which Ahura Mazda himself was the hypothetical 'father' of the twin Spirits of Y 30.3 ... Yet though Dhalla thus, under foreign influences, abandoned the fundamental doctrine of
4464-695: The Lord whose name eliminates spiritual darkness." Earlier, Shaheed Bhai Mani Singh , Sikhan di Bhagat Mala , gave a similar explication, also on the authority of Guru Nanak . Considering the two constituents of "Vahiguru" ("vahi" + "guru") implying the state of wondrous ecstasy and offering of homage to the Lord, the first one was brought distinctly and prominently into the devotional system by Guru Nanak, who has made use of this interjection, as in Majh ki Var (stanza 24), and Suhi ki Var , shloka to pauri 10. Sikh doctrine identifies one panentheistic god ( Ik Onkar ) who
4557-567: The Outward and the Inward; God is the Knower of everything." [Qur'an 57:3 ] All Muslims have however vigorously criticized interpretations that would lead to a monist view of God for what they see as blurring the distinction between the creator and the creature, and its incompatibility with the radical monotheism of Islam. In order to explain the complexity of unity of God and of the divine nature,
4650-634: The Punjabi language, but in this case is used to refer to the God in Sikhism . Wahi means "wonderful" (a Middle Persian borrowing) and " Guru " ( Sanskrit : गुरु ) is a term denoting "teacher". Waheguru is also described by some as an experience of ecstasy which is beyond all descriptions. Cumulatively, the name implies wonder at the Divine Light eliminating spiritual darkness. It might also imply, "Hail
4743-432: The Qur'an uses 99 terms referred to as "Most Beautiful Names of Allah" (Sura 7:180)[12]. Aside from the supreme name "Allah" and the neologism al-Rahman (referring to the divine beneficence that constantly (re)creates, maintains and destroys the universe), other names may be shared by both God and human beings. According to the Islamic teachings, the latter is meant to serve as a reminder of God's immanence rather than being
SECTION 50
#17327839734004836-641: The Qur'an, as mentioned in Surat al-Ikhlas : 1. Say: He, Allah, is Ahad (the Unique One of Absolute Oneness, who is indivisible in nature, who is unique in His essence, attributes, names and acts, the One who has no second, no associate, no parents, no offspring, no peers, free from the concept of multiplicity , and far from conceptualization and limitation, and there is nothing like Him in any respect). 2. Allah
4929-701: The Sasanian period, Zaehner asserted that [There must] have been a party within the Zoroastrian community which regarded the strict dualism between Truth and the Lie, the Holy Spirit and the Destructive Spirit, as being the essence of the Prophet's message. Otherwise the re-emergence of this strictly dualist form of Zoroastrianism some six centuries after the collapse of the Achaemenian Empire could not be readily explained. There must have been
5022-547: The Very Holy thus spoke to the Evil One: "Neither our thoughts nor teachings nor wills, neither or words nor choices nor acts, not our inner selves nor our souls agree." A literal, anthropomorphic "twin brother" interpretation of these passages gave rise to a need to postulate a father for the postulated literal "brothers". Hence Zurvanism postulated a preceding parent deity that existed above the good and evil of his sons. This
5115-512: The Zoroastrian orthodoxy of the Sasanian period is nearer to the spirit of Zoroaster than is the thinly disguised polytheism of the Yashts . Thus – according to Zaehner – while the direction that the Sasanians took was not altogether at odds with the spirit of the Gathas, the extreme dualism that accompanied a divinity that was remote and inaccessible made the faith less than attractive. Zurvanism
5208-431: The absolute separation of good and evil, his book still breathes the sturdy, unflinching spirit of orthodox Zoroastrian dualism. Zurvanism begins with a heterodox interpretation of Zarathushtra's Gathas : Yes, there are two fundamental spirits, twins which are renowned to be in conflict. In thought and in word, in action they are two: the good and the bad. Then shall I speak of the two primal Spirits of existence, of whom
5301-403: The aim of the yasna ceremony as "the maintenance of the cosmic integrity of the good creation of Ahura Mazdā ." Zoroastrianism's cosmological/eschatological perception of the purpose of humankind is to strengthen the orderly spiritual and material creations of Mazda against the assault of the destructive forces of Angra Mainyu . In that conflict, theologically speaking, mankind's primary weapon
5394-501: The broad aegis of an imperial church". More likely is that the two sects served different segments of Sasanian society, with dispassionate Zurvanism primarily operating as a mystic cult and passionate Mazdaism serving the community at large. Following the fall of the Sasanian Empire in the 7th century, Zoroastrianism was gradually supplanted by Islam. The former continued to exist but in an increasingly reduced state, and by
5487-486: The consequence that Godly transcendence is hidden, or "exiled" (from the immanent world). Only through the revelation of sparks hidden within the shards embedded in our material world can this transcendence be recognized again. In Hasidic thought, divine sparks are revealed through the performance of commandments or " mitzvot ," (literally, the obligations and prohibitions described in the Torah ). A Kabbalistic explanation for
5580-482: The divinity "Infinite Time" was well established, and – as inferred from a Manichaean text presented to Shapur I, in which the name Zurvan was adopted for Manichaeism's primordial " Father of Greatness " – enjoyed royal patronage. It was during the reign of Sasanian Emperor Shapur I (241–272 CE) that Zurvanism appears to have developed as a cult and it was presumably in this period that Greek and Indic concepts were introduced to Zurvanite Zoroastrianism. It
5673-438: The early 4th-century edict of Mihr-Narseh , the mowbadān-mowbad or high priest under Yazdegerd I , the latter being the only native evidence from the Sasanian period that is frankly Zurvanite. The post-Sasanian Zoroastrian Middle Persian commentaries are primarily Mazdean and with only one exception (the 10th century Denkard 9.30) do not mention Zurvan at all. Of the remaining so-called Pahlavi books , only two,
SECTION 60
#17327839734005766-439: The end of this period, androgyne Zurvan began to doubt the efficacy of sacrifice and in the moment of this doubt Ohrmuzd and Ahriman were conceived: Ohrmuzd for the sacrifice and Ahriman for the doubt. Upon realizing that twins were to be born, Zurvan resolved to grant the first-born sovereignty over creation. Ohrmuzd perceived Zurvan's decision, which He then communicated to His brother. Ahriman then preempted Ohrmuzd by ripping open
5859-668: The existence of malevolence in the world is that such terrible things are possible with the divine sparks being hidden. Thus there is some urgency to performing mitzvot in order to liberate the hidden sparks and perform a " tikkun olam " (literally, healing of the world). Until then, the world is presided over by the immanent aspect of God, often referred to as the Shekhinah or divine spirit, and in feminine terms. The Catholic Church , as do other Christian denominations , holds that God transcends all creation. According to Aquinas , "concerning God, we cannot grasp what he is, but only what he
5952-626: The faith. Zurvan may be cognate with Sanskrit sarva , in which case the Sarvāstivāda , an early Buddhist school , is a continuation and reflects the etymology of both Zoroaster and Zurvan. The earliest evidence of the cult of Zurvan is found in the History of Theology , attributed to Eudemus of Rhodes (c. 370–300 BCE). As cited in Damascius 's Difficulties and Solutions of First Principles (6th century CE), Eudemus describes
6045-552: The fall of the Persian Empire, the south and west were relatively quickly assimilated under the banner of Islam, while the north and east remained independent for some time before these regions too were absorbed. This could also explain why Armenian/Syriac observations reveal a distinctly Zurvanite Zoroastrianism, and inversely, could explain the strong Greek and Babylonian connection and interaction with Zurvanism (see § Types of Zurvanism below). "Classical Zurvanism"
6138-475: The fallacy (which Zaehner also attributes to Cumont ) from proliferating on the Internet. No evidence of distinctly Zurvanite rituals or practices have been discovered, so followers of the cult are widely believed to have had the same rituals and practices as Mazdean Zoroastrians did. This is understandable, inasmuch as the Zurvanite doctrine of a monist First Principle did not preclude the worship of Ohrmuzd as
6231-499: The founder of the Magian order was now said to be Zoroaster himself. The fall of the Achaemenian Empire , however, must have been disastrous for the Zoroastrian religion, and the fact that the Magi were able to retain as much as they did and restore it in a form that was not too strikingly different from the Prophet's original message after the lapse of some 600 years proves their devotion to his memory. It is, indeed, true to say that
6324-532: The good (the signs of the Zodiac) and the evil (the planets): Ohrmazd allotted happiness to man, but if man did not receive it, it was owing to the extortion of these planets. Fatalistic Zurvanism was evidently influenced by Chaldean astrology and perhaps also by Aristotle's theory of chance and fortune. The fact that Armenian and Syrian commentators translated Zurvan as "Fate" is highly suggestive. In his first manuscript of his book Zurvan , Zaehner identified
6417-469: The hands of fate (an omnipotent deity), the cult of Zurvan distanced itself from the most sacred of Zoroastrian tenets: that of the efficacy of good thoughts, good words and good deeds. That the Zurvanite view of creation was an apostasy even for medieval Zoroastrians is apparent from the 10th century Denkard , which in a commentary on Yasna 30.3–5 turns what the Zurvanites considered the words of
6510-701: The historical present, he notes that "under Chosrau II ( r. 590–628) and his successors, all kinds of superstitions tend to overwhelm the Mazdean religion, which gradually disintegrates, thus preparing the triumph of Islam." Thus, "what will survive in popular conscience under the Muslim varnish is not Mazdeism: it is Zervanite fatalism , well attested in Persian literature". This is also a thought expressed by Zaehner , who observes that Ferdowsi , in his Shahnameh , "expounds views which seem to be an epitome of popular Zervanite doctrine". Thus, according to Zaehner and Duchesne-Guillemin , Zurvanism's pessimistic fatalism
6603-483: The human mind). Although transcendence is defined as the opposite of immanence , the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive . Some theologians and metaphysicians of various religious traditions affirm that a god is both within and beyond the universe ( panentheism ); in it, but not of it; simultaneously pervading it and surpassing it. Jewish theologians, especially since the Middle Ages , have described
6696-485: The issue of the denial of God lies in the mind of secular man, not in reality. Critiquing the death of God theology, Joseph Papin, the founder of the Villanova Theology Institute, noted: "Rumbles of the new theology of the 'Requiem for God," (theologians of the death of God) proved to be a totally inadequate foundation for spanning a theological river with a bridge. The school of the theology of
6789-499: The late 18th-century century conclusion that Infinite Time was the first Principle of Zoroastrianism and Ohrmuzd was therefore only "the derivative and secondary character". Ironically, the fact that no Zoroastrian texts contained any hint of the born-of-Zurvan doctrine was considered to be evidence of a latter-day corruption of the original principles. The opinion that Zoroastrianism was so severely dualistic that it was, in fact, ditheistic or even tritheistic would be widely held until
6882-558: The late 19th century. According to Zaehner, the doctrine of the cult of Zurvan appears to have three schools of thought, each to a different degree influenced by alien philosophies, which he calls These are described in the following subsections. Zaehner proposes that each of three arose out of the classical Zurvanism. Materialist Zurvanism was influenced by the Aristotelian and Empedoclean view of matter , and took "some very queer forms". While Zoroaster's Ormuzd created
6975-479: The limits that our images or concepts of transcendence evoke. This however occurs when God's transcendence is expressed as elevated over the world to the exclusion of his presence in this world; when his independence is expressed by excluding his real relation and reaction to the world; or when we insist upon his unchangeable eternity to the exclusion of his real partnership in human history." Yasna Yasna ( / ˈ j ʌ s n ə / ; Avestan : 𐬫𐬀𐬯𐬥𐬀 )
7068-416: The modern secular mind "God is dead", but he did not mean that God did not exist. In Vahanian's vision a transformed post-Christian and post-modern culture was needed to create a renewed experience of deity. Paul Van Buren and William Hamilton both agreed that the concept of transcendence had lost any meaningful place in modern secular thought. According to the norms of contemporary modern secular thought, God
7161-434: The one "god of time" who existed before all other things and gave birth to Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu . Transcendence (religion) In religion , transcendence is the aspect of existence that is completely independent of the material universe , beyond all known physical laws . This is related to the nature and power of deities as well as other spiritual or supernatural beings and forces. This
7254-466: The predominant tendency in the regions to the north and east ( Bactria , Margiana , and other satrapies closest to Zoroaster's homeland), while Zurvanism was prominent in regions to the south and west (closer to Babylonian and Greek influence). This is supported by Manichaean evidence that indicates that 3rd century Mazdean Zoroastrianism had its stronghold in Parthia , to the northeast. Following
7347-494: The prophet into Zoroaster recalling "a proclamation of the Demon of Envy to mankind that Ohrmuzd and Ahriman were two in one womb". The fundamental goal of "classical Zurvanism" to bring the doctrine of the "twin spirits" in accord with what was otherwise understood of Zoroaster's teaching may have been excessive, but (according to Zaehner) it was not altogether misguided. In noting the emergence of an overtly dualistic doctrine during
7440-497: The recitation of the Yasna texts, culminates in the apæ zaothra , the "offering to the waters." The ceremony may also be extended by recitation of the Visperad and Vendidad texts. A normal yasna ceremony, without extensions, takes about two hours when it is recited by an experienced priest. The Yasna texts constitute 72 chapters altogether, composed at different times and by different authors. The middle chapters include
7533-416: The rejection of Zurvanism in the post-conquest epoch was a response and reaction to the new authority of Islamic monotheism that brought about a deliberate reform of Zoroastrianism that aimed to establish a stronger orthodoxy. Zaehner is of the opinion that the Zurvanite priesthood had a "strict orthodoxy which few could tolerate. Moreover, they interpreted the Prophet's message so dualistically that their God
7626-562: The term would come to be a derogatory term for ' atheist ' or ' materialist '. The term also appears – in conjunction with other terms for skeptics – in Denkard 3.225 and in the Skand-gumanig wizar where "one who says god is not, who are called dahari , and consider themselves to be delivered from religious discipline and the toil of performing meritorious deeds". A surviving Zurvanist myth describes him as "both male and female" and
7719-468: The transcendence of God in terms of divine simplicity , explaining the traditional characteristics of God as omniscient and omnipotent . Interventions of divine transcendence occur in the form of events outside the realm of natural occurrence such as miracles and the revelation of the Ten Commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai . In Jewish Kabbalistic cosmology , God is described as
7812-400: The universe with his thought, materialist Zurvanism challenged the concept that anything could be made out of nothing. This challenge was a patently alien idea, discarding core Zoroastrian tenets in favor of the position that the spiritual world – including heaven and hell, reward and punishment – did not exist. The fundamental division of the material and spiritual is not altogether foreign to
7905-475: The upper hand during the crucial period that the canon was finally written down. In the texts composed prior to the Sasanian period, Zurvan appears twice, as both an abstract concept and as a minor divinity, but there is no evidence of a cult. In Yasna 72.10 Zurvan is invoked in the company of Space and Air ( Vata-Vayu ) and in Yasht 13.56, the plants grow in the manner Time has ordained according to
7998-430: The various forms of Buddhism—Theravada, Mahayana (especially Pure Land and Zen) and Vajrayana—the notion of transcendence sometimes includes a soteriological application. Except for Pure Land and Vajrayana, the role played by transcendent beings is minimal and at most a temporary expedient. However some Buddhists believe that Nirvana is an eternal, transcendental state beyond name and form, so for these Buddhists, Nirvana
8091-576: The will of Ahura Mazda and the Amesha Spentas . Two other references to Zurvan are also present in the Vendidad , but although these are late additions to the canon, they again do not establish any evidence of a cult. Zurvan does not appear in any listing of the Yazatas . The origins of the cult of Zurvan remain debated. One view considers Zurvanism to have developed out of Zoroastrianism as
8184-469: The womb to emerge first. Reminded of the resolution to grant Ahriman sovereignty, Zurvan conceded, but limited kingship to a period of 9,000 years, after which Ohrmuzd would rule for all eternity. Christian and Manichaean missionaries considered this doctrine to be exemplary of the Zoroastrian faith and it was these and similar texts that first reached the west. Corroborated by Anquetil-Duperron 's "erroneous rendering" of Vendidad 19.9, these led to
8277-604: Was a formative influence on the Iranian psyche, paving the way (as it were) for the rapid adoption of Shi'a philosophy during the Safavid era. According to Zaehner and Shaki, in Middle Persian texts of the 9th century, Dahri (from Arabic–Persian dahr , time, eternity) is the appellative term for adherents of the Zurvanite doctrine that the universe derived from Infinite Time. In later Persian and Arabic literature,
8370-500: Was an obvious usurpation of Zoroastrian dualism , a sacrilege against the moral preeminence of Ahura Mazda. The pessimism evident in fatalistic Zurvanism existed in stark contradiction to the positive moral force of Mazdaism, and was a direct violation of one of Zoroaster 's great contributions to religious philosophy: his uncompromising doctrine of free will . In Yasna 30.2 and 45.9, Ahura Mazda "has left to men's wills" to choose between doing good and doing evil. By leaving destiny in
8463-486: Was certainly influenced by Hellenic philosophy, any relationship between it and the Greek divinity of Chronos "Time" has not been conclusively established. Non-Zoroastrian accounts of typically Zurvanite beliefs were the first traces of Zoroastrianism to reach the west, leading European scholars to conclude that Zoroastrianism was a monist religion, an issue of controversy among both scholars and contemporary practitioners of
8556-416: Was made to appear very much less than all-powerful and all-wise. As reasonable as it might have appeared from a purely intellectual point of view, such an absolute dualism had neither the appeal of a real monotheism nor any mystical element with which to nourish its inner life." Another possible explanation postulated by Boyce is that Mazdaism and Zurvanism were divided regionally; that is, with Mazdaism being
8649-401: Was then truly heretical only in the sense that it weakened the appeal of Zoroastrianism. Nonetheless, that Zurvanism was the predominant brand of Zoroastrianism during the cataclysmic years just prior to the fall of the empire, is, according to Duchesne-Guillemin , evident in the degree of influence that Zurvanism (but not Mazdaism) would have on the Iranian brand of Shi'a Islam . Writing in
#399600