Devil Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Zoroastrianism == {{Main|Angra Mainyu|Dualistic cosmology}} [[File:Shah Namah, the Persian Epic of the Kings Wellcome L0035183.jpg|thumb|Ahriman Div being slain during a scene from the [[Shahnameh]]]] [[Zoroastrianism]] probably introduced the first idea of the devil; a principle of evil independently existing apart from God.<ref name="Russell99">Jeffrey Burton Russell, ''The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity'', Cornell University Press 1987 {{ISBN|978-0-801-49409-3}}, p. 99</ref> In Zoroastrianism, good and evil derive from two ultimately opposed forces.<ref>John R. Hinnells ''The Zoroastrian Diaspora: Religion and Migration'' OUP Oxford 2005 {{ISBN|978-0-191-51350-3}} p. 108</ref> The force of good is called [[Ahura Mazda]] and the "destructive spirit" in the [[Avestan language]] is called [[Angra Mainyu]]. The [[Middle Persian]] equivalent is [[Ahriman]]. They are in eternal struggle and neither is all-powerful, especially Angra Mainyu is limited to space and time: in the end of time, he will be finally defeated. While Ahura Mazda creates what is good, Angra Mainyu is responsible for every evil and suffering in the world, such as toads and scorpions.<ref name="Russell99"/> Iranian Zoroastrians also considered the [[Daeva]] as devil creature, because of this in the [[Shahnameh]], it is mentioned as both Ahriman [[Div_(mythology)|Div]] ({{lang-fa|Ψ§ΩΨ±ΫΩ Ω Ψ―ΫΩ|Ahriman Div}}) as a devil. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page