Mazdaism

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. The ancient Iranian faith founded on the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster, centred on the worship of the wise god Ahura Mazda
2. An old Persian religious system associated with Zoroaster and the supreme deity Ahura Mazda, a precursor to modern Zoroastrian belief
3. The religion of ancient Persia that venerates Ahura Mazda as the creator and holds that good and evil are locked in cosmic struggle

Etymology: Mazdaism is named after Ahura Mazda, the supreme deity of the ancient Iranian religion associated with the prophet Zoroaster. The name "Mazda" is the Avestan and Old Persian form of the god's name, usually interpreted as "wise" or "wisdom," and the English word simply adds the suffix "-ism" to it, the same ending used for doctrines and belief systems such as Buddhism or Islam. The term therefore names the faith by the name of its chief god rather than by a founder's name, which is how many religions were labelled in European scholarship. The religion itself is far older than the word. Its followers worshipped Ahura Mazda as the creator and as the source of truth, opposed to the destructive spirit Angra Mainyu, and the faith's ethical emphasis on choosing between truth and falsehood shaped the surrounding Iranian world for centuries. Because the English term is a modern scholarly label coined from the god's name, it describes the tradition as outsiders categorized it rather than as its adherents necessarily named themselves.

Synonyms: Zoroastrianism