er
Articles or Abstracts > AS
The 26 Sep. 2009 at 14:55Ādarbād and Sēn
Ādarbād
«The heretics and those who destroy who, in the priestly estate, did not live truly by the daēnā māzdayasni and the services to the Yazata » are mentioned in the inscriptions of Kirdēr. Under Šābuhr son of Ohrmazd (4th century) an assembly of the notables of the Aryan land and the representatives of the priestly estate (moγestān) was convened and Ādarbād son of Mahrspend was required to vindicate the daēnā (religion and canon) by submitting to the ordeal with metal pouring upon the chest. After he was acquitted apropos of the daēnā, a royal edict ensured that: « Now that we have seen the truth of the daēnā, we shall not let anyone (become a convert to) the evil religion. » The evil religion (agdēnīh) refers to alien sects, whereas the heresy (ahlemōγīh) and heterodoxy (judristagīh) refer to sects and doctrines in the Aryan clergy. We are told that the head of one “heretic” school was a certain Sēn, and besides some “heretics” were called pōz-ebyāstagān lit. ‘those who all the time put over their face the sacred mask’.
After Ādarbād had proved his “orthodoxy” by ordeal, some of his texts were inserted into the Anthology of the Avesta or the Short Liturgy (Xvardag abestāg), for example, Nām stāyišn ‘Praise to the name(s)’, Petit ī pašīmānīh ‘the petit (text of atonement) of repentance’ (also called Petit ī Ādarbād).
Sēn
Šāyist nē-šāyist 6.7 abēzag-dād ud veh-dēn amā hem ud pōryōdkēš hem. gumēzag-dād +sēn ud +hašāgird-iš hend. ud vattar-dād zandīg ud tarsāg ud jahūd ud abārīg ī az ēn šōn hend.
‘Of a pure law are we of the good religion, (followers) of the teaching (= orthodox); of a mixed law are Sēn and his disciples; of an evil law are the Gnostic (Manichaean), the (God-) fearing (Christian), the Jew, and others of this sort.’
Dēnkird vi M 567 +ahlemōγ si [ēvēnag]: frēftār ud frēftag ud xvad-dōšag. xvad-dōšag hān baved <ī> gōbed kū sēn veh az ādarbād, ud xvad-dōšagīhā hān ī sēn gīred. ud frēftag hān baved cōn hāvištān ī sēn. frēftār cōn xvad sēn kē tis hān ī cōn pōryōkēšān ī pēšēnīgān cāšīd ped nigerišn be vardēnīd.
‘There are three kinds of heretics: a deceiver, a deceived one, and a self-loving one. A self-loving one is that (person) who says “Sēn is better than Ādarbād”, and he embraces that of Sēn self-lovingly. A deceived one is like the disciples of Sēn. A deceiver is like Sēn himself, who deliberately altered the teachings of the ancient first teachers.’
Those who wear the sacred mask
Šak-ud-gumānīgīh vizār 10-69-74 [dēn] az <hān> frāz ped peyvann ō bayān xvadāyān ī kay-tōhmagān ī burzāvandān mad, dā-z pesāxt ped vidāxt rōy ī abar-var-rēzišnīh ī ōy hufravard ādarbād ī mahrspendān andar xvdāyīh ī ōy bay šābuhr ī šāhān šāh ī ohrmazd<ān> ped pehikār ī abāg vas sardag jud-sardagān ahlemōγān az avēšān mazandum ahlemōγān ī-šān +pōz-ebyāstagān xvand hend bōxt.
‘Then [the daēnā] was passed on, by succession (= continuity in the religious tradition), to the lords and kings of the Kavi race, the exalted ones, until the ordeal with melted metal (lit. zinc) pouring upon the breast of the blessed (lit. of good fravarti) Ādarbād son of Mahrspend in the reign of that lord (= his late Majesty) Šābuhr son of Ohrmazd, the king of kings, in a controversy with heretics of different species of many kinds and especially with the greatest heretics among them, who were also known as the Pōzebyāstagān, he (Ādarbād) acquitted himself well.’
The Pōzebyāstagīh was mentioned in the Dēnkird and, possibly, in the Menōg Xrad, as a distinct “heresy” within the Magians. It would seem that the “heresy” was the doctrine of Sēn.