Courtesy......... Fereydoun Rasti (Extracted from Zartoshts page) 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, Tansars royal master had ordered that such a sinner should be imprisoned for one year, and that the religion of Ohrmazd 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 Denkard 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 the sacred writings,5 as they declaim against the established teachings.6 They promote, in opposition to Ohrmazd, the wicked religion of Ahriman.7 The, heretic is possessed by the Evil Spirit.8 He is the disciple of the demon of heresy.9 The demons lodge in his body;10 he is, in fact, a demon in human form.11 Even during his lifetime, his body resembles a corpse and the faithful should refrain from coming in contact with him, lest they themselves become defiled.12 Bad as is his lot in this world, it is worse in the world to come. His soul is doomed to everlasting torture. It becomes a darting snake, and there is no resurrection for it.13 For these reasons, men are warned to guard themselves from anything that savours of heresy.14 The Pahlavi writers, in every treatise, are unsparing in their denunciation of heretics, arraigning them for deception, lying, and perversion. The heretic Gurgi is called a disreputable impostor, full of avarice, and worthy of every opprobrium.15 In a similar manner, the Pahlavi works swarm with invectives against Mani, an arch-heretic in the third century A.D., to whose account we now turn. M.N. Dhalla, History of Zoroastrianism (1938). bit.ly/1qnc37M Notes : 1. Darmesteter, Lettre de Tansar au roi de Tabaristan, in JA., 1894, p. 524. 2. Dk., SBE., vol. 37, bk. 4. 28, p. 415. 3. Vol. 12, bk. 6. C. 26, p. 58. 4. Dk., vol. 12, bk. 6. C. 83, p. 74. 5. Dk., vol. 1,p. 3. 6. Dk., vol. 1,p. 5. 7. Dk., SBE., vol. 37, bk. 9. 53. 2, p. 328. 8. Dk., vol. 7, p. 474. 9. Phl. Ys. 44. 14. 10. Phl. Ys. 47,4. 11. Dk.,vol. 1, p. 15. 12. Dk., vol. 1, p. 31. 13. Sls. 17. 7. 14. Dk., vol. 11, bk. 6. 128, p. 35. 15. Dk., vol. 5. p. 320.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Apr 2014 21:41:35 +0000