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Mobad

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Golden statuettes of two mobads,Oxus Treasure

Amobed,mowbed,ormobad(Middle Persian: 𐭬𐭢𐭥𐭯𐭲) is aZoroastriancleric of a particular rank. Unlike aherbad(ervad), amobedis qualified to serve as celebrant priest at theYasnaceremony and other higher liturgical ceremonies.[1]Amobedis also qualified to train other priests.

Usage[edit]

In lay use, the term is also used as an honorific to denote any Zoroastrian priest of any rank.Hormizd IappointedKartirmowbadān-mowbad"high priest ofpriests".

The term mobad is a contraction of Old Persianmagupati,the first half of the expression derived fromAvestan:𐬨𐬀𐬔𐬀,romanized:maga-, magu-and𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌.The word was borrowed asGeorgian:მოგუ-იmogu-i[2]andClassical Syriac:ܡܘܗܦܛܐ‎,romanized:mawhəp̄āṭāand fromParthianasOld Armenian:մոգպետ,romanized:mogpet.

ThroughOld Persian:𐎶𐎦𐏁,romanized:magušandAncient Greek:μάγος,romanized:magos,proto-Iranian*magu-is also identified as the origin of the Latin wordmagus,a "magian".Through the Greek adjectiveμαγικόςandOld French:magique,mobed is distantly related to the English language word "magic".

Mobedyars[edit]

Main article:Parsis

Priests in thecommunity in India,theParsis,are required to be male from a priestly family (the "Athornan" class or caste).[3][4][5]According to Parsi tradition, Athornan mobeds have held the responsibility of preserving and promoting religion since pre-Zoroastrian times of the mythical KingJamshid.[6]

[I]n the early to mid 1900s, for various reasons, the young of the then mobeds were encouraged by their elders to be initiated as mobeds but to pursue other careers and professions. Though this resulted in a shortage of mobeds [in India], it generated an unexpected benefit to Zoroastrianism. Highly educated and enterprising young mobeds settled in North America following their secular studies and founded the mobed base for the benefit of North American Zoroastrians.[7]

Due to the shortage of priests, the community in India considered a project to train any Parsi man to serve as a mobed assistant orparamobedin the 1970s. The plan was launched in the early 2000s using a new term for these priestly assistants:behdin pasbans.[8]

In 1995, the North American Mobeds Council (NAMC) created a program to teach and ordain assistants calledmobedyars orparamobeds to address the shortage of available mobeds across North America.[9]The program was initially open to any male Zoroastrian, irrespective of Athornan (priestly) or Behdhin (non-priestly) caste or lineage.[10]The first mobedyar was ordained in Virginia in late 1997.[11]Another NAMC-trained mobedyar was ordained in California in 2004 after several years of serving the community.[12][13]

In 2008, the NAMC amended the original resolution passed in 1999 to broaden the criteria for the eligibility and training of mobedyars to include women.[14]As of 2010, the North American Mobeds Council had successfully trained six mobedyars to perform outer liturgical ceremonies and bereavement services in the absence of an ordained priest.[15]

In 2009-2010, the chairman of the Council of Zoroastrian Priests inTehran,Mobed Soroushpur, suggested opening the priesthood to women after research on ancient Zoroastrian documents that revealed evidence of female clergy in ancient Persian times.[16]"The concepts of equality have always been at the basis of our culture. In antiquity, there were many female priests, politicians, warriors and this even up to the Sasanian time,” he said.[17]Potential corroboration may be found in the oral tradition of the Parsis, which acknowledges a female priest namedTestaras among those who fled religious persecution and forced conversions in Arab-conquered Persia to establish a new homeland inSanjan, Gujarataround the ninth century.[18]

In 2011, eight women were certified to serve the community as mobedyars.[19]However, female mobedyars in Iran may be restricted in their ability to serve their community in the same manner as mobeds, such as tending to fires infire temples.[20]

Zoroastrian women have since been ordained in Iran and North America to serve the community as mobedyars.[21][22]Since the mobedyar program was initiated in North America, there has been some pushback on the restrictions placed on ordained mobedyars by the NAMC regarding the types of ceremonies mobedyars may perform. The community is grappling with the question of whether to permit any Zoroastrian to train to become a full-fledged mobed irrespective of caste, lineage, or gender.[23]The concept of a universal priesthood would promote and encourage persons to train to become mobeds and mobedyars "regardless of their gender, ancestry or background".[24]

References[edit]

  1. ^Karanjia, Er. Ramiyar P. (August 14, 2016)."Understanding Our Religious Titles".Parsi Times.RetrievedJuly 4,2022.
  2. ^Rapp, Stephen H. (2014).The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature.Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 58.ISBN978-1472425522.
  3. ^"Mobad"atEncyclopædia Iranica
  4. ^Nigosian, Solomon Alexander (1993),The Zoroastrian Faith: Tradition and Modern Research,Montreal, Quebec:McGill-Queen's University Press,p.104,ISBN077351144X,OCLC243566889
  5. ^Karanjia, Er. Dr. Ramiyar P."Admissions".Dadar Athornan Institute.RetrievedJuly 10,2022.
  6. ^Mirza, Tehemton F. (Spring 2019)."Mobeds of the Future: A New Mobed Services in North America"(PDF).FEZANA.33(1): 30.RetrievedJuly 9,2022.
  7. ^Mirza, Tehemton F. (Spring 2019)."Mobeds of the Future: A New Mobed Services in North America"(PDF).FEZANA.33(1): 30.RetrievedJuly 9,2022.
  8. ^Nair, Manoj (May 8, 2017)."Not many takes for the Parsi version of deacons in Mumbai".Hindustan Times.RetrievedJuly 4,2022.
  9. ^Kotwal, Er. Nozer Sorabji (Spring 2010)."History of the North American Mobeds Council"(PDF).FEZANA.24(1): 90–92.
  10. ^Bhujwala, Maneck Nawroji (Spring 2010)."Becoming a Mobedyar, An Experience Serving the Community"(PDF).FEZANA.24(1): 93.
  11. ^Mistry, Jamshed (Spring 2010)."A Pracising Mobeydar"(PDF).FEZANA.24–1:94.RetrievedJuly 5,2022.
  12. ^"California's Mobedyar".Parsiana.October 1, 2004.
  13. ^Bhujwala, Maneck Nawroji (Spring 2010)."Becoming a Mobedyar, An Experience Serving the Community"(PDF).FEZANA.24(1): 93.
  14. ^Kotwal, Er. Nozer Sorabji (Spring 2010)."History of the North American Mobeds Council"(PDF).FEZANA.24(1): 90–92.
  15. ^Kotwal, Er. Nozer Sorabji (Spring 2010)."History of the North American Mobeds Council"(PDF).FEZANA.24(1): 90–92.
  16. ^"Zoroastrian Women Moving Towards Priesthood".Religion Watch, Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion.31–4.February 2016.RetrievedJuly 4,2022.
  17. ^Bertoluzzi, Giulia (July 31, 2015)."The Zoroastrian Priestesses of Iran".Middle East Eye.RetrievedJuly 4,2022.
  18. ^Desai, Cowas (Spring 2019)."MThe Role of Zoroastrian Priests and the Delivery of Priestly Services from the Achaemenian Times to Present Day India"(PDF).FEZANA.33(1): 24.RetrievedJuly 9,2022.
  19. ^Atashband, Armita (24 February 2011)."8 Zarthoshti Women Receive Mobedyar Certificate".zoroastrians.net.RetrievedJuly 4,2022.
  20. ^Bertoluzzi, Giulia (July 31, 2015)."The Zoroastrian Priestesses of Iran".Middle East Eye.RetrievedJuly 4,2022.
  21. ^Wadia, Arzan Sam (March 9, 2011),"The Jury Is Still Out On Women as Parsi Priests",parsikhabar.net,Parsi Khabar
  22. ^Khosraviani, Mahshad (June 19, 2013),"Sedreh Pooshi by Female Mobedyar in Toronto-Canada",parsinews.net,Parsi News, archived fromthe originalon October 9, 2014,retrievedOctober 10,2014
  23. ^"The mobedyar's rites".Parsiana.July 21, 2013.RetrievedJuly 4,2022.
  24. ^Mirza, Tehemton F. (Spring 2019)."Mobeds of the Future: A New Mobed Services in North America"(PDF).FEZANA.33(1): 30.RetrievedJuly 9,2022.

Sources[edit]

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