A Mobed, Mowbed, or Mobad (Middle Persian: 𐭬𐭢𐭥𐭯𐭲) is a
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic on ...
cleric of a particular rank. Unlike an ''
herbad
Hērbad (also ''hīrbad'', ''hērbed'' or ''ērvad'') is a title given to Zoroastrian priests of minor orders.
In the present day, ''hērbad'' is the lowest rank in the Zoroastrian priesthood, and is granted following the basic ''navar'' ceremon ...
'' (''ervad''), a ''mobed'' is qualified to serve as celebrant priest at the
Hormizd I
Hormizd-Ardashir, better known by his dynastic name of Hormizd I (also spelled Hormozd I or Ohrmazd I; pal, 𐭠𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭬𐭦𐭣), was the third Sasanian King of Kings (''shahanshah'') of Iran, who ruled from May 270 to June 271. He was ...
appointed
Kartir
Kartir (also spelled Karder, Karter and Kerdir; Middle Persian: 𐭪𐭫𐭲𐭩𐭫 ''Kardīr'') was a powerful and influential Zoroastrian priest during the reigns of four Sasanian kings in the 3rd-century. His name is cited in the inscriptions ...
''moabadan-moabad'', which is frequently translated as "priest of priests", but more precisely indicates "high priest of high priests".
The term "mobed" is a contraction of
Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...
''magu-pati'', the first half of the expression apparently deriving from
Avestan
Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...
''𐬨𐬀𐬔𐬀'' ''maga-'' or ''magu-'', and with Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 ''-paiti'' meaning "guardian" or "protector" (Persian root of ''pâyidan'') as in azarpäd. Through Old Persian 𐎶𐎦𐏁 ''magush'' and Ancient Greek μάγος ''magos'',
Old Iranian
The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian plateau, Iranian Pl ...
''magu-'' is also identified as the origin of the Latin word ''magus'', a " magi''an''". Through the Greek adjective μαγικός ''magikos'' and Old French ''magique'', 'mobed' is distantly related to the English language word "
magic
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
".
The word was borrowed into
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
as ''Mogvi'' (მოგვი).
Mobedyars
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic on ...
priests in the
Parsi
Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...
community in India are required to be male from a priestly family (the "Athornan" class or caste). The Athornan Mobeds have held the responsibility of preserving and promoting religion since pre-Zoroastrian times of King Jamshed in Persia. " 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
n India
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
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." However, due to the shortage of priests, the Parsi Zoroastrian Community in India started to consider a project to train any male Zoroastrian to serve as a Mobed assistant, termed Paramobed, in the 1970s; the plan was launched in the early 2000s using a new term for these priestly assistants: Behdin Pasbans.
In 1995, the North American Mobeds Council (NAMC) created a program to teach and ordain assistants to Mobeds, called Mobedyars or Paramobeds, to address a shortage of available Mobeds across North America. The program was initially open to any male Zoroastrian, irrespective of Athornan (priestly) or Behdhin (non-priestly) caste or lineage. The first Mobedyar was ordained in Virginia in late 1997. Another NAMC-trained Mobedyar was ordained in California in 2004, after several years of serving the community. In 2008, the NAMC amended the original resolution passed in 1999 to broaden the criteria for the eligibility and training of Mobedyars to include Zoroastrian women. 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.
In 2009-2010, the chairman of the Council of Zoroastrian Priests in Tehran, Iran, Mobed Soroushpur, suggested opening the priesthood to Zoroastrian women after research on ancient Zoroastrian documents that revealed evidence of female clergy in ancient Persian times. "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. Potential corroboration may be found in the oral tradition of the Parsis, which acknowledges a female Zoroastrian priest named Testar as among the Zoroastrians who fled religious persecution and forced conversions in Arab-conquered Persia to establish a new homeland in Sanjan, Gujarat around the 9th Century AD. In 2011, eight female Mobedyars (also termed Mobediars) were certified to serve the Zoroastrian community as Mobedyars. 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 in Zoroastrian temples.
Zoroastrian women have since been ordained in Iran and North America to serve the community as Mobedyars, meaning assistant Mobeds. 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, as the community also grapples with the question of whether to permit any Zoroastrian to train to become a full-fledged Mobed, irrespective of caste, lineage, or gender. 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".