Zoroastrianism is a religion with its origin in ancient Iran, which exist even in modern times. Zoroastrianism is perhaps the world’s oldest continuing non-pantheistic religion.

The founder of Zoroastrianism, Zarathustra, preached around 600 BCE a monotheistic religious message, much of which is found in the central collection of religious texts, Avesta.

Inside the History of Religion the teachings of Zarathustra has been used in order to explain the development of the three major monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, but there has never been proven any clear examples of influence between the belief systems.

Zoroastrianism is also called Zarathustrism, Mazdaism and Parsism. Parsism is the term used today among the believers in India, the largest Zoroastrian society of today.

Today modern Zoroastrianism counts about 150,000 believers in India, 60,000 in Iran, and perhaps 50,000 in the rest of the world. It is a religion that is gaining momentum and followers in the West as Zoroastrianism is an ecological religion.

Interesting facts about Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism have been a major influence on both Judaism and  Christianity, scholars believe that both  may have borrowed the concept of heaven and hell from Zoroastrianism.

Zoroastrians believe in the dualism between good and evil, the purity and goodness of all of God’s creations is a cornerstone and thus Zoroastrians are very careful not to pollute the nature. Therefore Zoroastrianism is often labelled as the first ecological religion ever.