Zoroastrianism

“While unheard of among the laity, in academic circles it is increasingly recognized that Judaism was influenced, some might say “transformed,” under Zoroastrian persuasion in Babylon, giving Zoroastrianism both direct and indirect sway in Christianity and Islam. What is less well recognized in academia is the near certainty that Zoroastrianism was profoundly influenced in its Vedic infancy by Semitic Israelites in exile, with whom it crossed paths. From them this particular Vedic tradition received the vision of the Oneness of God (whether monotheistic or monistic), the understanding of personal responsibility to God (the commandments, rules or dharma), and the hope for a Redeemer (an avatar, messiah, or sayoshyant), all of which appeared in Eastern religions also within a generation.”

“Zoroaster trained three orders of disciple missionaries who fanned out across the ancient world and organized the community of faith in the Lord of Wisdom. The horse itself became an enduring symbol of the Zoroastrian religion, and, as trends sometimes do, Zoroaster’s spiritual influence galloped all over the world. Zoroaster had relocated from the gates of Greece at the western end of the Silk Route to his new headquarters near the gates of China and India at the eastern end of the Silk Route”

“Zoroaster married, possibly more than once, and established his home and religious headquarters in the city of Balkh, then the capital of Bactria, some twenty kilometers to the northwest of Mazar-e-Sharif in what is called Afghanistan today. His three sons took the lead in reorganizing society into three classes: priests, warriors, and farmers, according closely with the principal castes organized in India by related Aryan migrants some generations earlier. That social system was now to be employed in bringing order to the spiritual struggle between good and evil.”