Angels, Demons and all the Hosts

ANGELS, DEMONS AND ALL THE HOSTS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH
M. M. NINAN
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The traditional Zoroastrian symbol is the Fravanshi, also known as Arda Fravash ("Holy
Guardian Angels"). Each person is accompanied by a guardian angel (Y26.4, 55.1), which acts
as a guide throughout life. They originally patrolled the boundaries of the ramparts of heaven
(Bd6.3, Zs5.2), but volunteer to descend to earth to stand by individuals to the end of their
days. Ahura Mazda advises Zarathushtra to invoke them for help whenever he finds himself in
danger (Yt13.19-20). If not for their guardianship, animals and people could not have continued
to exist, because the wicked Druj would have destroyed them all (Yt13.12-13).
The Fravashi also serves as an ideal which the soul has to strive for and emulate, and ultimately
becomes one with the creator after death (Y16.7, 26.7, 26.11, 71.23, Yt22.39) (See
Dhalla, History of Zoroastrianism, pg 232-243, 375-378). They manifest the energy of God,
and preserve order in the creation. They are said to fly like winged birds, and are represented
by a winged disk, often with a person superimposed (as in the above representation). Yazatas
(Phl. Yazads) ("Angels"): In Zoroastrianism, the Fravashi are the ancestral spirits of true
believers.
“Asaonam fravash naramca nairinamca
we adore the Fravashis of the righteousness men and women”
“The concept of the fravashi as guardian spirit does not occur in the Gathas of Zarathushtra.
But in later Zoroastrianism, it became later as the most important idea. The Fravashi is the
part of the human soul that is divine, unpolluted, and uncorrupt. It is not only our divine
guardian but our guide; its perfection is always within us, as an ideal towards which we can
reach. Every human being has a fravashi; even the divine spirits have them. Once a human
being has finished life on earth, the fravashi, the higher individuality of that person, returns
to Heaven. The fravashi may be the inspiration for the Jewish and Christian belief in the
"guardian Angel," which always beholds the face of God (Matthew Gospel, 18:10).”
http://www.crystalinks.com/faravahar.html
Iranian tradition places Zarathushtra at about 570 BC. This will place him soon after the
Babylonian exile of Judah which culminated in the destruction of the Jerusalem and the
temple in 587 BC. Thus it is generally agreed that the infulence of Judaism on the
development of Zoroastrianism is vast.
On the other hand the Zoroastrian angelology
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