Imagining the End: Visions of
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| frasha
or
‘perfect’ (cf.
frasho-kereti , on which see above). The term Saoshyant in the Gathas
While one passage suggests that it is Ahura Mazda who plays the main role in achieving frasho-kereti , 68 elsewhere Zarathustra says (Y .
): ‘Therefore may we be the ones who shall make the world
frasha. ’ This passage clearly suggests that Zarathustra’s own actions and those of his contemporaries will have a direct bearing on the Last Things.
45 Millennialism in the Zoroastrian Tradition This appears to be confirmed by the Gathic use of the word
, which
in the later tradition is used for the figure(s) who will save the world in a remote future. The word is a future participle of a root sav , which means, approximately, ‘to bring advantage’. 69 Av. saoshyant is variously rendered by such terms as ‘saviour’ (Insler), ‘benefactor’ (Humbach), and ‘celui promis à l’opulence’ (Kellens and Pirart). As Insler 70 has pointed out, the context of a key passage (Y . : ‘The intentions of those who shall save are in accord with Thy mature teachings’), strongly suggest that Zarathustra’s followers are collectively referred to as
s. This seems to be confirmed by Y . :
their knowledge of Thy teaching with actions in harmony with good thinking and with truth, Wise One. These indeed have been fated to be the expellers of fury. 71
. ), Zarathustra uses the word saoshyant in
a context where it almost certainly refers to himself: When shall I know, Wise One, if ye have mastery through truth over anyone whose threat is inimical to me? Let the solemn words of good thinking be truly told to me. (For) he who shall save ( saoshyans ) shall know how his reward shall be. Zarathustra seems to plead here with Ahura Mazda to demonstrate his power to protect the righteous, claiming his, Zarathustra’s, right to know because he is one who ‘shall save’. 72 The question then arises in what sense the future tense of the participle saoshyant is to be interpreted. 73 Unless one assumes that Zarathustra and his community initially expected to bring ‘salvation’ during their lifetime and realized later that this was not to be, 74 one might understand the Gathic term as meaning ‘one who[se actions] will have the effect of bringing salvation in the future’, which could obviously refer to Zarathustra, but also to those who collaborated with him towards the desired end. The Evidence of the Young Avesta The development of the concepts of the Saviour and the Resurrection of the dead Thus the concepts of heaven and hell, a judgment of the soul, and a final battle between the cosmic forces are attested in the Gathas . That
final struggle, which may imply an end to time as we know it, involves fire and molten metal and will cause the world to become ‘perfect’. 75 There is no clear reference there, however, to a physical resurrection of the dead, nor |