Zurvanism

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Zurvanism is a fatalistic religious movement of

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

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: 1) a branch of greater Zoroastrianism;^{[2]: 157–304} 2) a sacerdotal response to resolve a perceived inconsistency in the sacred texts^[3]: intro (see § The "twin brother" doctrine below); and 3) probably introduced during the second half of the Achaemenid era.^{[4][2]: 157–304}

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 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 the faith.

Zurvan may be cognate with Sanskrit sarva, in which case the

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 a sect of the Medes that considered Space/Time to be the primordial "father" of the rivals Oromasdes "of light" and Arimanius "of darkness".^{[5]: 331–332}

The principal evidence for Zurvanite doctrine occurs in the polemical Christian tracts of

It 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 the broad aegis of an imperial church".[2]^: 30 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.

Decline and disappearance

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 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 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.^[2]: 305 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 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."^[12]

Another possible explanation postulated by Boyce

"Classical Zurvanism" is a term coined by Zaehner[3]^: intro 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.

Angra Mainyu) and 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.^[12]

The Zurvanite "twin brother" doctrine is also evident in Zurvanism's cosmogonical

Titan Cronus, father of Zeus) whom the Greeks equated with Oromasdes, i.e. Ohrmuzd / Ahura Mazda.^[11]

Creation story

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 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 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.[3]^{: 419–428}

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 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 the late 19th century.^{[5]: 490–492 [13]}

^: 687

Types of Zurvanism

According to Zaehner,[3]^[12] 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

• materialist Zurvanism,
• ascetic Zurvanism, and
• fatalistic Zurvanism.

These are described in the following subsections. Zaehner proposes that each of three arose out of the classical Zurvanism.

Materialist Zurvanism

Materialist Zurvanism was influenced by the Aristotelian and Empedoclean view of matter, and took "some very queer forms".^[12]

While Zoroaster's Ormuzd created 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 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 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

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

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.^[8] Nonetheless, there is a semblance of Zurvanite elements in Vedic texts, and, as Zaehner

puts it, "Time, for the Indians, is the raw material, the materia prima of all contingent being."

Fatalistic Zurvanism

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 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.

— Menog-i Khirad 38.4–5^{[full citation needed]}

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.

Mistaken identity

In his first manuscript of his book Zurvan,

Mithraic Mysteries as a representation of Zurvan. Zaehner later acknowledged this mis-identification as a "positive mistake",^[14] 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 the fallacy (which Zaehner also attributes to Cumont

) from proliferating on the Internet.

The legacy of Zurvanism

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 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 the absolute separation of good and evil, his book still breathes the sturdy, unflinching spirit of orthodox Zoroastrian dualism.

— Mary Boyce^[15]

^: 213

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.

— Y 30.3 (trans. Insler^[full citation needed])

Then shall I speak of the two primal Spirits of existence, of whom 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."

— Y 45.2^{[16][page needed]}

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 was an obvious usurpation of Zoroastrian

dualism, a sacrilege against the moral preeminence of Ahura Mazda.^{[citation needed}

]

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 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,^[6] which in a commentary on Yasna 30.3–5 turns what the Zurvanites considered the words of the prophet into Zoroaster recalling "a proclamation of the Demon of Envy to mankind that Ohrmuzd and Ahriman were two in one womb".^{[6]: 9.30.4}

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 the Sasanian period, Zaehner^[12] 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 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

Yashts.^{[12][page needed}

]

Thus – according to

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

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".^[8]: 109 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".^[3]: 241 Thus, according to Zaehner and Duchesne-Guillemin, Zurvanism's pessimistic fatalism 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

materialist'. The term also appears – in conjunction with other terms for skeptics – in Denkard 3.225^[6] 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".^[17]

^{: 587–588}

A surviving Zurvanist myth describes him as "both male and female" and the one "god of time" who existed before all other things and gave birth to

Angra Mainyu.^[18]

Footnotes

1. ^ "Swedish-school" theory, e.g. Nyberg (1931)^[10] reiterated by Zaehner (1955).^{[3]: conclusion}

References

1. ^ "Zurvanism". Encyclopædia Iranica. 28 March 2014. Archived from the original on Apr 10, 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h}
   S2CID 161924982
   .
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h}
   ISBN 0-8196-0280-9
   .
4. ^ ^{a b} Henning (1951)^{[full citation needed]}
5. ^ ^{a b c}
   Dhalla (1932)^{[full citation needed}
   ]
6. ^ ^{a b c d} Müller, F.M., ed. (1892). "Denkard 9.30". Sacred Books of the East (SBE). Vol. 37. Translated by West, E.W. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
7. ^ Zādspram at Encyclopædia Iranica
8. ^ ^{a b c d}
   S2CID 162213173
   .
9. ^
   S2CID 170841327
   .
10. ^ Nyberg (1931) ^{[full citation needed]}
11. ^ ^{a b} Cumont and Schaeder^{[full citation needed]}
12. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h}
    ISBN 1-84212-165-0. "A section of the book is available online". Archived from the original
    on 2012-05-09. Several other websites have duplicated this text, but include an "Introduction" section that is very obviously not by Zaehner.
13. ^ Boyce (2002)^{[full citation needed]}
14. ^ Zaehner (1972)^{[full citation needed]}
15. ^ Boyce, Mary (1979). Zoroastrians, Their Religious Beliefs and Practices.^{[full citation needed]}
16. ^ Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism. Translated by Boyce, Mary.^{[full citation needed]}
17. ^ ^{a b c} Shaki, Mansour (2002).
    Encyclopaedia Iranica
    . New York, NY: Mazda Publications.
18. ISBN 0-7894-4711-8
    .

Further reading

• Taraporewala, Irach, ed. (1977). "Yasna 30". The Divine Songs of Zarathushtra. Translated by Bartholomae, Christian. New York, NY: Ams.
  ISBN 0-404-12802-5
  .

• "The 'Ulema-i Islam]". The Persian rivayats of Hormazyar Framarz and others. Translated by Dhabhar, Bamanji Nasarvanji. Bombay, IN: K.R. Cama Oriental Institute. 1932.

• Frye, Richard (1959). "Zurvanism Again". The Harvard Theological Review. 52 (2). London, UK: Cambridge University Press: 63–73.
  S2CID 248817966
  .

• Müller, F.M., ed. (1880). "Selections of Zadspram". Sacred Books of the East (SBE). Vol. 5. Translated by West, E.W. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

• "The Kartir Inscription". Henning Memorial Volume. Translated by MacKenzie, David Niel. Lund Humphries. 1970.
  ISBN 0-85331-255-9
  .

• ISBN 0-85969-041-5
  .