Zoroastrianism in Transcaucasia.pdf - /u/mazdayan

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pad nam i Dadar Ohrmazd, rayomand i xwarrahomand In the name of the Creator Ohrmazd, the rich and the glorious This article is just a humble attempt to paint a picture of Zoroastrian faith as it stands in the year 2021 in the Transcaucasia region. More research by more knowledgeable people will hopefully follow, and, as this article tries to convey, more involvement of Zoroastrians within the region hopefully as well. Modern Zoroastrianism in Azerbaijan Azerbaijan with its unique geography and history, was a cultural center to various Iranian polities for many centuries, and in the greatest of Iranian Empires era Azerbaijan was very important for Zoroastrians as well as the priestly “Magi” class. Azebaijan, named historically Arran and Shirvan, for the regions, was a refuge historically for Zoroastrians as the denizens of the True faith fled to the far corners of their former Empire to escape the barbarity of the arab invasion. As a matter for fact, in 930, Estakhri writes in the Book of Routes and Countries that there were many villages in the Mugan, Azerbaijan, whose inhabitants were Zoroastrians. Zoroastrians were referred to by the muslims with word Gabri; a word that is preserved in the name of the south-western part of the Mugan plains, located between the Aras and Bolgarchay — (“plain of Gabrs”). There are remains of ancient fortresses Gebrbar (“Wall of Fire Worshippers”), which are located along irrigation canals — so called Gabr-arkh (“canal of Gabrs”). After the nation of Azerbaijan gained independence from the USSR, the government (after rapid violent multiple transitions) sought legitimacy in various ways, one of which was to claim Asho Zarathustra as one of their own; as a prophet born within the borders of modern Azerbaijan; ignoring that Zarathustra, if born in “Azerbaijan” would be born in “Adurbagan”, and some claim modern Urmia, completely within the borders of Iran. It is important to note that it is not surprising to find Zoroastrians in any country bordering Iran, and that the BPP until 1902, used to send 2 Mobeds on a yearly rotation basis to tend to the Fire in Baku Ateshgah. This practice discontinued when the Communist regime took over, and sadly with that, the Jals Family lost all their Zorastrian practices. Still, however, within the borders of now almost entirely muslim Azerbaijan, where the public is tolerant towards Zoroastrians (perhaps due to the influence of the USSR policies), small groups of Zoroastrians are to be found. Keeping the flames at sacred sites on the Apsheron Peninsula. It is an open secret that Baku houses at least one Zoroastrian family that has publicly come forth as Zorosatrian (name of the family will not be given in this article but can be found at appropriate groups on Facebook). Migrating due to economic reasons in the 1960s, the surviving members immediate [extended] family consists of at least 4 siblings, 2 sisters and 2 brothers as well as their numerous children. The family came to light in 2009 when the son of one of the male siblings got in touch with a Parsi gentleman during his studying at the University of Bangalore. Eventually, this Parsi gentleman would visit the Zoroastrian family as well in Baku. This trip to Baku can be summed up as this; “Special mention about his eldest uncle Jamsheed, who had tremendous knowledge on Zorastrianism, and had visited Bombay, & Surat, and requested help from both the Bombay Parsi Punchayat, & Surat Parsi Punchayat, to help spread the teachings of Zorastrianism in Azerbaijan, but unfortunately, fell on deaf years. They tried to find some other Zorastrians in Baku, but all their efforts failed” Nevertheless, this family is the first know modern Zoroastrian family in Baku. Restoration of Fire Temples in Azerbaijan Azerbaijan holds many Fire Temples, as well as the highest Fire Temple in the world; the Khilanik Ateshgah, in the Quba canton of the nation, approx.. 9000 ft above sea level nestled on Mount Khilanik which takes it’s name from the nearby village of Khinalig, with a population of roughly 2,000 residents, who were, by their own accounts, Zoroastrians prior to becoming Muslims. Of a particular point of interest is that the residents of the village call Azerbijan as “Aghvan” which sounds curiously similar to “Athravan”; ‘Fire Keeper’ Zoroastrians around the world visit Azerbaijan in droves today to visit and worship at the Fire Temples of their ancestors, and some have taken it upon themselves to restore the said Fire Temples; such brave souls is one Farrokh Jorat (pursuing a PhD in Aerospace Engineering in Moscow University), who has, just very recently, in pairing with WZO London has restored the Fire Temple of Khilanik so that the Faithful pilgrims would have more than just ruins of bygone days to visit. A herculean feat, considering the nearest village is more than 10 km away and to access the location, which is treacherous in adverse weather, you either need to hike, horseback or have a properly equipped vehicle. As a matter of fact the Fire Temple is accessible only in Summer from April to October, as it is Snow Bound in Winters. Special permission has to be obtained a month in advance, for visiting this place as it is in very close proximity to the Russian border. There is another similar, Ateshgah Southwest of this current one, in Zingar, smaller in size, but in total ruins, and Farrokh, has once again taken it upon him, to restore it, & has applied to the Azerbaijan Ministry, but the file is stuck for the past 5 years, not getting clearance…for the Azeri government needs a lot of factual archeological information about its original existence, from their archives, and they carry out excavations at the site to ensure that an Original Ateshgah was located in the same place. Farrokh Jorat has stated that it is his goal in life to restore all the Fire Temples in Azerbaijan. Zoroastrian population of Azerbaijan The scholarship on zoroastrians in azerbaijan is scarce to say the best and it is very hard to estimate the number of worshippers of the true Faith. Albeit there is a unique testimony of a Zoroastrian community residing in Baku in the first half of the 19th Century, today Zoroastrianism survives primarily symbolically..yet on the other hand in the village of Surakhani north of Baku is an active fire temple. And, when visiting these Atashgah which is a must for any Zoroastrian, those who do visit will note that the tour guides will be speaking, when introducing Zoroastrianism, as if the Fiath is ancient and buried defunct history. For them the Faith seems to be folk culture than a living religion...which is hardly surprising given next to no Azeri identifies himself with Zoroastrianism, perhaps because the statistics and census often ignore the religion. It is estimated that there are between 700 to 2000 Zoroastrians in Azerbaijan today. Armenia Zoroastrians Armenia is a land rich in history that has historically had ties with Iran for many, many centuries, whose lands were often point of conflict with Iranian Empires and those of Rome. Introduced formally by the Achaemenids, but almost certainly arriving earlier, Zoroastrianism was further enforced by Parthians and championed by the Sassanids. Zoroastrianism has rich and deep history within the lands of Armenia, both within the modern borders and the borders of classical Armenia that stretches further into modern Turkey…as a matter of fact many of the greatest temples dedicated to Mithra (Mihr in Armenian), Tir, Verathregna (Vahagn in Armenian) and Anahita (who were held specially in high esteem) some built by the great emperor Tigranes II, are located today in Turkey. Despite being the first country to officially adopt Christianity, almost fervently so, aspects of Armenian Zoroastrianism continued to survive in Armenia. Armenian Zoroastrianism is called “Arewordi” which means “The Children of the Sun” cluing us in on the importance of the celestial body. On the surviving aspects of Arewordi in modern Armenia; To this day in Armenian arev “sun” is a way of referring to a person’s life, soul, or fortune; so it is common to swear arevid merrnem, “may I die for your sun”. Light is another important, obvious, and related metaphor, so one common expression for “I bring you good news,” “Congratulations,” is ach‘k‘id luys which translates into “light to your eyes”. The Armenian cross at it’s center, instead of having a mini-jesus has a Sun burst instead Armenian Christianity retained some Zoroastrian vocabulary and rituals; famously early church leaders would call themselves after a Zoroastrian term used by Mobeds; Driγōšān Jātakgōw which translates into “Defender of the Dispossesed” A number of Zoroastrian fire-altars were altered to serve as churches and also remnants of Zoroastrian styles of architecture (chahartaq) have been discovered in Christian sanctuaries in various parts of Armenia. The Armenian month names show influence of the Zoroastrian calendar. And more. Surviving Armenian Zoroastrians? It is important to realize that despite Armenian conversion to Christianity (for which they fought a war over with their Sassanian overlords) sizeable Zoroastrian communities continued to exist, surviving even the arab conquests and genocide. So numerous was the population of the Zoroastrian Armenians that in the 12th century an entire “saintly” movement, the Epistle of St. Nerses, was written to direct the mass conversion of Arewordis (the term for Armenian Zoroastrians) to Christianity. In the middle ages, The Arewordi were most numerous in the modern city of Mersifon, Turkey and their decline mirrors that of the history of Armenians in Turkey as well; that of blood and genocide, whether it be by the hands of blood-thirsty Timur or genocidal Turks. Thomas Medzop’hetzi, historian of the fifteenth century, said, recounting the invasion of Timour in Mesopotamia: “…came to Mardin and vandalised…destroyed from top to bottom four villages lived by the worshippers of sun (the Arewordi): [the villages] Schôl, Schmershakh, Safari and Maraghi. But afterwards, with the instigations of Satan, these sectarians multiplied in Mardin and Amid”. However, it is thought by most modern scholars of Armenian history, that some of the Arewordi may have survived down to the time of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. On 20th century Arewordik; Quoted from James Russell in his book “Zoroastrianism in Armenia”; “On 4 July 19 79, Mrs. Maneca Metakcsean of Epinay-sur-Seine, France responded to a query by this writer which had been published in the Mitkc ew Aruest ('Thought and Art) supplement of the Armenian-language Parisian journal Haratch on 1 July 19 79. Mrs. Metakcsean was born in Marsovan, Turkey of parents from Sebastia (Tk. Sivas). The ancestors of most of the Armenians of Marsovan, she wrote, came from Ani, the mediaeval Bagratid capital of Armenia on the Araxes, far to the east. The area of Marsovan around the hill which was the Armenian quarter, and particularly that part of the district at the foot of the hill where Armenians had settled, was called Arewordi, and a cemetery in the gardens outside town was called Arewordii grezman (i.e., gerezman). She recalled a song from Marsovan she had heard with the word arewordi in it, and the surname of the owner of one of the vineyards of the town was Arewordean. The fate of this man is unknown to us.” Either way, the Zoroastrians definitely survived well past Armenia's conversion to Christianity but fell prey to the persecution, and often outright barbarity and murder, of the successive islamic regimes that coveted these lands. From what little is known of the Arewordik‘, they preserved a number of telltale Zoroastrian beliefs and observances; and the sun, which the little prayer addresses so reverently and lovingly, is fittingly part of the name by which the Christian sources designate them. (Their beliefs were probably related to those of the Shamsis in northern Syria, whose name contains Arabic shams, “sun”. But we still do not know what they called themselves.) Modern Armenian Zoroastrians? It is thought that the Arewordi were the progenitors of the Shamsiyya (also called Shemsi) sect of Syria, which is now extinct (last mentioned in Ottoman records in 1695). Simeon, the Polish traveller who visited Mardin in the early seventeenth century, claimed that the Shemsi were Armenian speakers. The Arewordi are also thought to be the progenitors to the modern Yazidi; Simeon certainly thought so; the Yezidis prey at least twice a day facing the sun, the connection to the Yezidis seem plausible...meaning potentially that the Yezidi may be modern carriers of some Arewordik traditions. Armenian Neo-Paganism and Zoroastrians? While it is not known whether there are any Zoroastrians in Armenia, or even conclusive numbers for ethnic Persians, only 44 of the 4396 speakers of Persian (2011) were ethnically non-Armenian. There are also close to close to 40 thousand Yezidis in Armenia, some members of whom at times consider themselves Zoroastrian, and Zarathustra their prophet. It seems however, aside from Iranian ethnicities in Armenia, there are also Armenian Neopaganism or the Arordineri Ukht, for whom Zoroastrianism plays a role in their beliefs. The Arordineri, who surprisingly have cordial relationship with the Armenian church, have their own rituals and places of worship; the most famous one is the temple of Garni, the only surviving temple dedicated to Mihr (Mithra) in Armenia that was built by Tiridates I, the founder of Arsacid dynasty of Armenia. In the year 2014 it was reported that the Neopagans in Armenia have about one hundred active followers, about several hundred who have been baptized but are not necessarily active followers, and around one thousand sympathizers. As of writing of this paper though, the Facebook Group dedicated to Armenian Pagans has over 4400 members. In tying the Arordineri to Zoroastrianism, in the year 2000, a reregistration of religious Organizations of Armenia took place, which required that the religious group should be based according to a historically canonized holy book. The Arordiner managed to persuade the responsible authorities of this reregistration to make an exception for them, but it is noted that in 1992, the Arordiner had declared the Avesta, the holy book of Zoroastrianism and the Rigveda an ancient Hindu scripture as their scriptures. Lastly, the chief diety of the Arordiner is the God Vahagn, who forms a triad with Aramazd and Anahid. Zoroastrian readers or those knowledgeable will recognize all three names; Vahagn as Vehram, Aramazd as Ahura Mazda, and most obviously Anahid as Anahita Georgian Zoroastrians Zoroastrianism in Georgia has very strong roots; the Zoroastrian history of Georgia, and their relationship with Iran goes back to the Aryan kingdom of Kartli which was a local principality ruled by local Iranian nobility that preceded the Alexander invasion of the region. The Georgian relationship with Zoroastrianism further solidified asthe first Iberian king Pharnavaz I adopted god Armazi, which is linked to Ahura Mazda as the chief God of the Georgians. Furthermore it ha been said both the Pharnazid and Chosroid dynasty were of Georgia were “semi- Persians”. Georgia is also no stranger to Ateshgahs, one of the oldest of which is located in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Ateshgah of Tbilisi survive to the modern day, albeit it was at times forcefully converted to church or to mosque. Furthermore, this Ateshgah is popular among Zoroastrians to visit, as several marriage ceremonies has been held here. As well as prayer ceremonies (led by Mobed Firouzgary) were held there, as well as in Armazi and in Nekresi; Nekresi being a center of Zoroastrianism in antiquity Georgia. Ateshgah of Tbilisi The Ateshgah of Tbilisi Georgia, is the Oldest known Fire Temple in this region, believed to be built between 5th– 7th Century BCE, nearly 3000 years Old. The location of this Ateshgah is rather hard to find; it is located in a densely populated area, in the old historical town portion of Tbilisi. Atashgah is located around 100 meters east of the Holy Mother of God Church of Bethlehem, on the Old Town slopes northeast of the Mother Georgia statue. Upon finding the Atashgah, people will also have a hard time accessing it, as there are over 100 steep steps to climb to finally reach the holy site. Lastly, to make things even more bewildering for the entrance to the Ateshgah, is essentially through the house of a local family, meaning if the family is not home, a potential pilgrim will need to loiter around for quite the while. Armazi, Georgia Armaz-tsikhe, which translates into the “citadel of Armaz” is ancient site that was important for the old beliefs of the Georgians, which is situated close to the modern town of Mtskheta. It is also the site if an ancient Fire Temple. Of interest to us is the name Armaz-tsikhe, which many scholars believe is derived from Ahura Mazda. Encyclopedia Iranica describes the religious aspect of Armazi as such; “A small group of silver bowls have been recovered from Armazi and other contemporary Iberian centers, depicting a horse standing before a Mithraic fire- altar…some bearing inscriptions in Middle Iranian. The medieval Life of St. Nino (St. Nino brought Christianity to Armazi-Mtskheta about A.D. 330) describes a whole series of pagan idols worshipped there in earlier days. The chief god was Armazi himself, whose idol was in the form of a man of copper, clothed in golden armor, having shoulder pieces and eyes made from emeralds and beryl stones, and holding in his hand a sword which revolved in his grasp.” Modern Zoroastrianism in Georgia It is not known whether there are any groups (i.e. “pagan”) in Georgia that borrow from Zoroastrianism. It can be noted that there are no significant non-christian movements in Georgia, unlike it’s breakay regions of Abhkazia and South Ossetia both of which have their own native religion, and practitioners of, alongside Abrahamic faiths. There are however, over 3000 Iranians that call Georgia home. Therefore it is most probable that there may be Zoroastrians amongst them. As a matter of fact the author of this paper contacted a member of the family that takes care of the Ateshgah of Tbilisi via email, inquiring about the Zoroastrians of Georgia. Here is the reply email pasted below; Hello, I am Dr. David Sagaradze, MD I am a medical doctor. Ancient history and history of religion is my hobby, but with the help of my friends, who specialise in ancient history, I have collected information about Zoroastrianism in Georgia...While I was in Georgia, I tried to share information about the history of Zoroastrianism with the students, tourists etc. So my information might not be complete. There are only a few Zoroastrians in Georgia, all of them are Iranians, immigrated during the last years. Also there are followers of Jezidism (Yezidism), who sometimes identify themselves as Zoroastrians, but they have their own religious buildings and I have not seen them in a temple of fire. Now I am working offshore and I could not send you more updated information. Sincerely, Dr. David Sagaradze, MD As per the above transcript, it can be concluded that the number of Zoroastrians in Georgia is not non-existant. Further, as per the Bozorg Bazgasht Organization of Norway, in February of 2020 there was a Navjote ceremony that was to be performed in Baku & Tblisi. While the one in Baku took place we are not sure about the one in Tbilisi; whether it happened or was postponed due to Covid-19. 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