Transcription
In presentations of Zoroastrianism, the ancient Iranian/Central Asian religion that was an important aspect of the great Persian empires and which would have a major impact on the major world religions, we are often given a fixed view of a very dualistic system. This is something that we covered in my overview on Zoroastronism too.
The world on all levels is divided into the realities of asha, which means truth or order and justice on the one hand, and on the other hand something called douge, which means the lie or deception and chaos, represented by the great creator god Ahura Mazda, the lord of wisdom, and Angrau or Ariman respectively. This is, of course, helpful in order to understand what at least a major part of Zorastianism has looked like historically.
But as we also said in that video, it's very true that Zorastianism has been a very diverse tradition and that it didn't look the same over all the millennia in which it has existed. Indeed, it isn't until the Cisanian Empire and even in the post-Islamic period to some degree that we see anything resembling a kind of Zorastian orthodoxy or fixed set of beliefs and texts in the way that we know it today. And so, of course, this tradition has contained a lot of different perspectives and interpretations across that history.
Not only is it true that many Zorastians today interpret the religion in a much more monotheistic or even monistic way, especially if we base ourselves only on the earliest Gotha scriptures attributed to the Sarah Thristra, but there have also existed various different branches and sects and new movements within the wider religion that have also given new and different interpretations of their theology. One of the most interesting and famous of these is something known as Zervinism, which challenged the very dualistic picture of these two divine forces, Aurora Mazda and Agnamu, by introducing an even higher deity or divinity above these known as Zerven, which means time.
Two things before we start the video. Number one, I have just today, hopefully, or at least very recently, depending on when this comes out, I have just released a new song or single with my band Zeni. The song is called "Before It's Too Late." It's a very personal kind of introspective, slow song about grief. And I would really appreciate it if you wanted to check it out and let me know what you think. It's available on all streaming platforms. It's also on my other channel, Philip Holm. There's a video version of it there. So, go check it out. Share it if you like it. Tag me in videos about it and leave a comment and so on. I would really appreciate it.
Secondly, this is a collaboration with the scholar of Zoroastronism, Pablo Vasquez, from the channel Soul Roots, and he'll be appearing in this video a bit later on, but also be sure to check out that channel. Go subscribe to him for some really good Zoroastrianism content from someone who not only studies Zoroastronism academically but also is a practicing Zoroastrian themselves, which gives a very valuable perspective, of course. So go check out Soul Roots and stay tuned for Pablo to show up later on in this episode.
There are different understandings and interpretations of Zoroastrian theology or philosophy, as we've noted in my dedicated episode on the topic. The classic picture that most are familiar with is one of a strict dualism between Asha and Drooj, Ahura Mazda and Angramu, as fundamentally opposed ontological forces that are in constant battle with each other. This kind of worldview would also later be picked up by religions like Manakiism and possibly certain quote-unquote gnostic movements.
But others interpret the Zorastian worldview in a different way. Especially those who want to primarily highlight the earliest text of the Zorastian canon, the Gthas attributed to Zarathustra. They imagine that the philosophy presented in these original texts is not dualistic but instead give other interpretations. The forces like Aurora Masta are described as psychological aspects of the human mind, for example, and even an outright monistic reading in line with the related Vedic traditions that we find in Indicadons.
Whatever the case, later Zorastian texts and practices certainly lean towards a dualistic worldview, even if it is, of course, more nuanced than that. And since the topic today will mostly revolve around later developments in the wider phenomena of Zorastronism, this is the basic view that we will have as our basis. This dualistic interpretation of the theology is kind of where our starting point, let's say.
As you will know if you've watched or listened to my general Zoroastrianism episode, aside from Ahuram Mazda, there are a bunch of other divine figures that were worshiped by the Zorastrians known as Yazatas, or those worthy of worship, and the even more exalted Amishaspentas, the bountiful or blessed immortals. These are, of course, interpreted differently as well, but can generally be seen as divinities or forces that represent different aspects of reality, things like natural phenomena like wind or more abstract concepts such as space, both represented by the figure value.
And among these other forces that came to play an important role in the religion, there came to prominence at some point a divinity referred to as Zorvan. This is a word that simply means time and, as Albert Dong points out, seems to originally specifically refer to a period of time rather than time as a more abstract, more abstract sense. Zorvan was accompanied by other Yazatas that represented similar fundamental features of the cosmos, such as Vu, who, quote, "is associated with the void between the realms of light and darkness."
In other words, although Zorvan, or its earlier Avestan forms like Zruan, is mentioned in the sacred text of the Avestas and seemed to have been worshipped or revered to some degree by Zoroastrians, this was only as one among the many other Yasatas that existed in the Zorastrian "pantheon," so to say. But something very dramatic seems to have happened later on in history, especially from the Cisanian period, from the 4th century AD or so, when Zervans started to take on a much more prominent role, at least in some aspects or groups within this religion.
Now, there are a number of problems with approaching this topic and trying to understand it from a perspective that is historically nuanced and supported. First of all, there are essentially no internal Zoroastrian sources that mention Zervinism as such. Instead, each mention of this cosmology or idea comes from outside, famously by Arabic-speaking writers like Muhammad Asharastani, which is also a very late source from a time deep into the Islamic era, but also some earlier Greek sources like the Neoplatonist philosopher Damascus in the 6th century, as well as Syriac and Armenian Christian writers around that same time. Scholars are thus left with fragments and outside speculation and not much else, especially in terms of sources from Zorastrians at that time themselves. And so they are left to make a lot of educated speculation and interpretation about what this Zervvinism was supposed to be.
So let's begin by looking at what some of these writers say about it. We begin with Damascus, who writes, trying to recount the beliefs of the Zoroastrians or "Iranians" more generally. He says, quote, "As for the Magi and the entire Iranian race, as Udeis writes about this, some of them call the intelligible and unified universe space, topos, and others call it time, Kronos, from which are differentiated either a good deity and a bad deity, or light and darkness before these, as some say, and they then themselves posit the two-fold differentiated rank of the superiors after the undifferentiated nature. One leader of which is Horamazda and the other of which is Idraminos." Damascus here mentions Kronos or time, which is the Greek equivalent of Zorvan, and he also mentions space as fundamental principles from which come both light and darkness, or Horazda and Os, which are of course Greekified versions of Ahuram Mazda and Angnamu. Interesting.
Furthermore, and maybe most famously, in Muhammad Asharastani's pioneering work of comparative religion, Kitab al-Milal wa al-Nihal, the book of sects and creeds, he talks about different sects or schools of Zoroastrianism, one of which is Zoranism. And lastly, we can look at the Christian Armenian theologian Esnik of Cul, writing in the fifth century in his Against the Sects, about the supposed cosmology of the Zoroastrians. He says, quote, "Before anything was, they say heaven or earth or any other creature in heaven or earth, there was someone with a name Zervan, which is translated as fortune or glory. For a thousand years, he sacrificed so that he may have a son whose name should be Vmos, and who make heaven and earth and everything in it. And after a thousand years of sacrificing, he began to reflect and said, 'Will the sacrifice I am making be useful? And will I indeed have this son called Vormiz? Or will my labor be in vain?' And while he still thought this, Vormas and Arian were conceived in the womb of their mother. Vormized from the sacrifice and Arian from his doubt. When he understood this, Zorvan said, 'Two sons are in the belly there. Whoever of them may arrive first with me, I will make king.' Vormes learned the thoughts of the father and revealed them to Aryan. He said, 'Zervan our father thought that whoever of us will come to him first shall be made king.' After Arian had heard this, he pierced the belly, went out and came before the father. Zervan saw him and did not know who it was. He asked, 'Who are you?' And Aryan said, 'I am your son.' Zervan said to him, 'My son is well-smelling and bright, but you are gloomy and stinking.' And while they were speaking this with each other, Vmist was born in his own time, bright and odorous. He came before Zervan, and when Zervan saw him, he knew that he was Vormist, his son, for whom he had sacrificed. And he took the twigs which he had in his hand, and with which he made the sacrifice, gave them to Vormist, and said, 'Up to now I sacrificed for you. From now on, you shall sacrifice for me.' When Zervan gave the twigs to Vormist and blessed him, Arian approached Zervan and said to him, 'Did you not bow in this manner? Whoever of my two sons arrives first with me, I will make king.' And Zorvan, in order not to break his vow, said to Aryan, 'Oh, you false and wicked one, the reign will be given to you 9,000 years, but with Vormist over you as king. And after 9,000 years, Vormist shall reign, and what he may intend to do, he shall do.' At that time, Vormist and Aramman began to make creatures, and everything which Vormist made was good and right, and that which Aramman fashioned was bad and twisted."
What we find in these accounts are a version of the story that might appear strange to those who are used to the classic version of Zorastrian teachings, and Western scholars in previous centuries thought so too. You see, the way Zorianism had been understood was essentially as a dualistic religion. Ahura Mazda is the high god who represents all things good and just, in other words, Asha. And Angrammanu is the opposite, the evil spirit representing evil, lies, and chaos, or douge. They are the two opposing fundamental ontological forces, twins who together create the world we know. Good things come from Ahuram Mazda and bad things from Angrama. And they are indeed mentioned as twins in the Avesta scriptures.
As Western scholars reconstructed Zoroastrian beliefs, as they themselves say, which is kind of strange, and Zoroastrianism still exists today. So how would you reconstruct it? Anyway, as they did that, this was seen as a kind of orthodoxy, a Zorastian orthodoxy, right? So the only debate was around whether Zorastianism could be seen as a monotheistic religion or if it was a strictly dualistic one. This has been the kind of main debate. So, is it a monotheistic religion in the sense that Aurora Mazda is the high god, and Angrammanu is some kind of being below him that still opposes him and is the source of evil and these things, but they are not equal? Or if it's a truly dualistic one where they are equal ontological opposing forces? This is the main, or has been the main debate, and this is a significant debate, especially for some, because if one would argue that Zorastronism is monotheistic, then one could easily make the case, possibly, that Zorastianism might then be the earliest form of monotheism in history.
In these sources, however, we get a very different picture. One where Zurvan is portrayed as an even higher single god above the two twins, and that the latter were born only from Zorvan, thus being secondary. This turns the very core of what Zorastrian teachings are supposed to be on its head.
But as we explored in my previous video on Zorastronism, things aren't that simple. Zorastianism was a tradition that, first of all, changed a lot over the centuries, so that the way it was practiced during the Aeanad Empire could be drastically different from how it is practiced in the Cisanian times. Some would argue that the two can't even be seen as a single religion, that there wasn't a Zorastrian religion before Cisanian times. Right? This is an argument that some people make.
But secondly, all these categories and terms that we use to understand religion, monotheism, dualism, polytheism, are words of a later, mostly European context. And to apply them to something like Zorastronism isn't really always helpful. While Aora Mazda was a kind of high god, there were also many lower divinities or Yazadas that were worshiped throughout the centuries, famous ones like Mithra and Anahita, for example. So, Zoroastrianism doesn't really fit into our neat preconceived categories, but is a unique and dynamic religious tradition.
It wasn't until quite late in the Cisanian and even into the Islamic period that Zorashianism started to, number one, write down and collect the Avesta rather than it being orally transmitted. So, this is the main collection of Zorastian sacred texts. They were written down in this later period. And two, this also resulted, therefore, in a that there started to develop a kind of more fixed orthodox version of its theology and teachings. Probably partly as a result of the appearance of religions like Christianity and Islam that challenged Zorastrians and emphasized orthodoxy as we understand it. And this will become important later.
But the reason I bring this up is that as scholars, primarily Western scholars, discovered these references to this Zervin character and this alternative cosmological or ontological creation myth, they were perplexed because this went against what they saw as this kind of Zorastrian orthodoxy that they perceived. And so the way that they understood that or tried to frame it was to say that sometime in the late in late antiquity during Cisanian times, there appeared a kind of sect, a separate sect within Zorastrianism that we then call Zervinism, that this is its own kind of group, its own sect within the religion. This is how it's usually presented, even today, a kind of heretical movement that was separate from the standard orthodox Zorashinism.
Now, this interpretation was, of course, helped by writers like Shaharastani, who do seem to talk about it in terms of being a specific sect or school even back in medieval times. And as I said, this has kind of been the prevailing theory or way of talking about it until this very day. But many scholars have also pushed back against this, arguing that this is based on a misconstrued idea of what this orthodoxy is supposed to be that this Zervinite movement is supposed to be competing against, so to say. In reality, things were probably a lot more complex and nuanced.
But so, what was Zervinism then? Was it actually a kind of sect of its own that became prominent, or was it simply a theological interpretation that was popular at that time? We have talked about some of this, but at this point, I would like to hand it over to the scholar of Zorashinism, Pablo Vasquez, also from the channel Soul Roots, to explain a bit more about his theories and the scholarly debates about the nature of Zuranism itself.
Zuranism remains one of the great mysteries of the ancient Zerastian era. We're not particularly sure what it was. We do know some people believed in something that could be considered Zervinism. We also know that at times it may have been in vogue and out of vogue, in and out, depending on which emperor was in power, or perhaps even which high priest was in charge of the faith at that time. But what I can definitely say is there are some academic speculations. I lean more towards that Zervinism is a further example of what we can call the greater body of Mazda Yasna. See, Zerastianism as we know it today is just the most popular form of Mazda Yasna that survived the ancient era. So Mazda Yasna encompasses a great variety of different faiths. There was the Sagdian Mazda Yasna, there was Armenian Mazda Yasna, and so forth. And we have clues of this through different books and different discussions that have emerged from the ancient era and also the Middle Persian era that kind of show us that different belief systems existed within this grand umbrella.
Now, is that to say that Zervinism was some sort of separate sect? No, absolutely not. I wouldn't consider it to be any sort of separate sect, but in reality, more of beliefs that developed probably through folk beliefs or perhaps even at an intellectual level. It could have been passed down family lines, priestly family lines most likely, or it actually could have just developed in discussion groups, castags, these schools of thought that existed back in ancient Zorastrian times. What we can say then is that Zervinism wasn't particularly something distinct. It wasn't simply something that could be considered its own separate religion or its own separate sect or even perhaps even its own school of thought. We just know that some people may have believed that Zurvan, which most Russians nowadays consider to be the Yazata of time, is indeed a higher level than Ahuram Mazda. But this seemed to even have been disputed by Zuranites at the time, from what little we can tell in the documents. So, all in all, it may have just been a different cosmological attempt at understanding why the problem of evil existed, or why time operated the way it did, or even perhaps to understand the coming of the Salosant, the great saviors of middle Persian Zarashianism. But as I said, it's a great mystery. And in all truth, we won't really know what the Zurvanites or Zurvanism or this whole Zurvan movement, if there existed one, was really like until we get more and more evidence. So, what we're saying in this video is basically what everyone else knows so far. And thus, we're presenting probably the best explanations possible. I'm just presenting what is academic theory and what I lean towards as a scholar and also as a rashrian myself. And that again is that we don't know. Zervinism may have just been some sort of folk or even just a priestly scholarly belief. But it clearly disappeared after a very short while, actually, and in the long scheme of Zionism, and is now relegated to footnotes in history books.
Thank you so much for that, Pablo. And be sure everyone to check out the channel Soul Roots for really great Zorashinism content. There will be links in the description. And this is also a shared video. So you can see it in the channel description under the video. His channel should be there. So go subscribe and check that out.
But where did this Zervinite myth come from? And why did it become so popular, especially at this time? There are many theories regarding the origin of the myth. Some scholars have wanted to point to sources outside the Zoroastrian tradition itself, that Manichaeism or Mithraism played an important role, or that it was influenced by Babylonian and Greek religious myth. For example, we find in the Greek mythical pantheon that Kronos, the god of time, is the father of both Zeus and Poseidon. In a sense, placing the concept of time above the highest god as a kind of parent. Could this have inspired the Zoroastrians to adopt a similar theology? We can't rule it out, of course.
But a strong argument can also be made that the prominence of Zeran developed from within Zorastrian tradition itself. In particular, there is a section in the Gothus, the oldest scripture of Zorastronism, often thought to have been written by Azarra himself, which says, quote, "The great choice by which the charitable ones choose correctly, while the miserly do not, is between the twin spirits, who have existed since the start of what is, manifesting themselves in our minds and visions, who are opposites in thoughts, words, and deeds. For one is truly the most virtuous of choices while the other is not." This verse talks about the two twins, which has often been interpreted in the dualistic sense of Ahuram Mazda and Angramanu. And since they are described as twins, the conclusion, according to some, must be that they have a parent. Thus, the Zeran myth might have appeared or become popular as a way of explaining or interpreting that statement in the Gothas.
Furthermore, we also see speculation about the importance of time and space as foundational for reality in the Yasna ceremony. De Jong says, quote, "The Yasna ceremony ends with an invocation of this deity in the company of the related gods Raman, Thuasha, and Vayu, representing the void between the worlds of light and darkness, suggesting speculation on the structure of the cosmos in terms of space and time as the precondition for the genesis of our present world of mixture." The idea of time as this foundational principle coming even before the "twins" of Aurora and Angramanu seems like a logical and possible conclusion as a result of these factors.
Now, the reason why this myth or form of theology seems to have become so popular and widespread in the Cisanian period is an even harder question to answer. It seems relatively certain that it did, though, since the earliest references to this myth come from the 4th century, followed by many such mentions for centuries thereafter. The Zervinite myth as such, of course, might have earlier origins, though indeed, in an article about the topic, Mary Boyce argues, based on research of people like Kum, that it might have appeared as early as the Cayman at times, but its prominence and popularity certainly reached its peak during the Cisanian period.
As we saw before and as we discussed in my larger video on Zorastronism, it was really during this period that we saw the proper emergence of a priestly class among the Zoroastrians, dedicated scholars who would try to establish something like an official version of the theology, something that by all accounts does not seem to have been the case earlier. Maybe this was the result of other emerging religions like Christianity, that over time developed a creedal orthodoxy like the Nicene Creed, for example. It is probably in these elite settings among the priests, the Magi, that Zerbanism as such was born and grew to prominence. This project of orthodoxifying the religion by professional theologians was, of course, deeply connected to the political agenda of the Cician state as well, just as it was for the Romans and Christianity. It thus isn't a surprise that Zervinism, the theological interpretation with Zervin as the highest force, a perhaps more monistic rather than dualistic system, seems to have been the mainstream and official form of Zorastronism in the Cisanian court and among the learned elite at this time.
Now, another question that becomes quite relevant when keeping all this in mind is that if Zervinism, whatever it was, was so popular during Cisanian times, which it certainly seems to have been to some degree, how did it disappear and so quickly, right? It seems to have kind of withered out quite quickly shortly thereafter and then basically disappeared entirely from history. You'd be hard-pressed to find any Zorastrian today that holds a Zervinite cosmology or theology. There are some, even some here in Sweden, but it's quite an unusual position even today. So, what happened? How come this position, which was so popular and so prominent, how come it disappeared? And when did it disappear?
As we saw, by the time Asharastani was writing in the 12th century, Zervinism was still alive, or at the very least, remnants of its ideas were still fresh in the memory of people in the region. So it certainly didn't disappear overnight or immediately after the Arab conquest. Instead, scholars will point to that same tendency and development during the Cician period, the ascendance of the class of priests and their streamlining of the religion, and especially the fact that from the sixth century, the Avesta, the sacred scriptures of the religion, started to actually be written down and collected as texts for the first time. Earlier, such scriptures had essentially only been orally transmitted. And with this textual turn came a new attitude within the Zorastrian scholarship and priesthood. Just like in textually based religions like Christianity and Islam, there was a bigger emphasis on searching for the orthodox "teachings" of the religion in the texts, especially quite naturally after the Arab conquest and the entrance of Islam into the region. Zervinism and its myth had likely appeared through priestly speculation, but its formulation could not really be found in any place within the actual Avestan text. And if it couldn't be found in the text and thus have a firm textual basis, it started to lose its popularity. We see at the same time the loss in popularity of some of the deities that are not mentioned in the texts, and we also see the gradual disappearance of Zervinism and the crystallization of a textually-based orthodoxy that was much more dualistic in nature.
Another factor pointed out by the scholar De Jong is also that, you know, because Zervinism was so popular, especially among the elite and the court, the Cisanian court and kings, when the Arab conquest happened and the Cisanian Empire and its kings fell, they, you know, that myth and that um, well, that mythological structure didn't have the same support from the kings anymore. So that's probably also a factor here.
By the time Shahastani was writing in the 12th century, as we said, Zervenite ideas were still widely known. But it also seems that around this time or shortly after, they would essentially disappear altogether, and today only remains an interesting remnant of a bygone era in the history of one of the most important religions in the world. Zervinism remains a source of fascination for those interested in the history of religion or the history of Iran. It's clear that it was a prominent "movement," or whatever it was, during the Cisanian Empire, but what its relationship was to the wider community of Zorastrians at that time, whether or not it represents a rupture in the religion into different schools or sects at the time, or if it's simply another example of the fact that Zoroastrianism, just like all religions, was complex, diverse, and doesn't fit into our fixed and narrow categories of definition, is hard to say with complete certainty, although I certainly tend to lean toward the latter.
This was a very interesting time for the religion, where other groups appeared as well, like the Masakites, for example, which certainly was a lot more of an actual sect or separate group, much more so than the topic that we've been covering today, and also where the contours of what we conceive of as standard or mainstream Zorastronism was really formulated and solidified for the first time. And hopefully, we can cover. I really want to cover masticism in a future episode as well.
For now, I hope this was an informative companion episode to my larger video on Zorastronism and that it cleared some things up about Zervinism, or maybe rightfully made things even more complicated and confusing. Um, either way, I hope you found it interesting in some way. Thank you so much for watching. And thank you to Pablo from Soul Roots, the channel Soul Roots, for appearing in this episode and collaborating with me. He helped me out with the research a lot, and he looked over my script and gave me comments. So this episode is definitely a collaboration in more ways than one, and I deeply appreciate the help and assistance from Pablo. So please, everyone, go check out the channel Soul Roots. It's really wonderful stuff. It's well-produced, and he knows his stuff about Zorastronism, both academically and from an emic perspective, so to say. So I highly recommend it. So please do that.
I would also like to remind you that I just released my new song "Before It's Too Late" with my band Zeni. So I would also highly appreciate it if you wanted to check that song out and let me know what you think, either in a comment or something like that. There are links to that in my link tree. You can also find it on Spotify and my other channel, Philip Holm.
Thank you as always to my patrons for keeping the channel going. If you want to stay updated on me and my work, then you can find me on my socials on Instagram and TikTok and so on. You can also check out my other channel, Philip Holm, which is dedicated to my music specifically, like for example, checking out that new song that I just released, "Before It's Too Late." It's on there, so check that out.
Thank you again so much for watching. I look forward to exploring more Zorashism and other related religions and traditions, and I will see you next time. Heat. Hey, Heat.