Melekism
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| Melekism Melekiyatî (Dzhuven) | |
|---|---|
| File:Ezidi Mirza.jpg A Melekite temple behind a statue of Anaşa Şêrko, an important Dzhuven politico-religious figure | |
| Type | Ethnic |
| Classification | Ayar religion |
| Scripture | Classics |
| Theology | Polytheistic |
| Members | 24.8 million |
| Other name(s) | Şerfedîn |
Melekism is a polytheistic ethnic religion with deep roots in Kardo-Ayar ethnic tradition. Followed mainly by the Dzhuvens in Dzhuvenestan and the Ayars of Shirazam, the religion has 24.8 million followers around the world.
Principal beliefs
The defining feature of Melekism, and the origin of its name, comes from the belief in Seven Divine Spirits, or Angels, which serve as the guardians of the Earth and its people. These Angels serve as the agents of Light in the world, often associated with the soul and the spiritual realm. They serve in opposition to the Dark Lords, or ahriman, which itself stands for materialism and the world. In this sense, Melekism contains significant elements of dualism in the battle between dark and light as well as polytheism in the praise and worship of the Seven Angels. Some schools have developed deeper and more detailed beliefs as to the nature of the ahriman. Various names have been given to these Dark Lords, as well as various sects assigning them different representative attributes such as specific sins or ways of sinful living that they represent.
Humans are also seen by Melekism as divided between body (belonging to an inner Darkness) and soul (belonging to an inner Light and the Seven Angels). Melekist thought encourages "self-cultivation," or a lifestyle of righteous spiritual action, worship, and thought. Upon a person's physical death, it is believed that the Angel of Fertility, Argimpasa, will measure the strength of their soul versus the weight of their physical being, at the Bridge. If a person has lived a spiritually cultivating life, their physical body will be cast aside at the Bridge, and they will cross into living on as Spirits of Light. If one has let their base, material instincts dictate their life or has otherwise lived a life devoid of spiritual cultivation, their spirit will be thus too weak to cast off their body; the soul will be destroyed and they will be the ones to experience true death.
In addition to the Light-Darkness divide and the Seven Angels, Melekism teaches that the world is composed of four fundamental elements: fire, air, water, and earth. These elements are sacred; typically, fire or air are seen as purifying elements in differing contexts, while the water and earth are not to be polluted. The custom of baptism is performed using water from the Kaniya Sipî, or "White Spring," typically derived from Mount Damezman in Dzhuvenestan or X place in Shirazam. Likewise, burial customs are eschewed at death in lieu of sky burials. As the body is associated with materialism and with being in opposition to the soul, it is believed that the righteous have no use for the veneration of their remains after death. As such, they are traditionally placed in large towers, where vultures and other carrion feeders will "clean" the remains. In some denser communities, especially those far from mountains or other locations where it is convenient to practice sky burial, it has become common to revert to cremation instead, with ashes usually released in isolated locations to be scattered by the winds.
The corpus of Melekite religious beliefs are contained in a canon of several religious works known as the Classics. Tradition holds that the Classics were collated and transcribed by X, an influential courtier and scholar in the Azagartian Empire; modern-day scholarship finds a single curator to be unlikely, especially given that a single "orthodox" copy of the Classics no longer exists, if it ever did. Though there are sections and hymns recognized as Classical by most mainstream Melekite sects, nearly every sect holds a different count for the number of hymns, transcribed recitations, instructions and liturgy that deserve to be considered canonical. As the religion lacks a central authority, it is nearly impossible to enforce a single dogma on the disparate branches of Melekism, though most agree on shared basic tenets of belief as described above. Commonly-included works in the Classics include the Yasna, a set of liturgical texts; the Shahnameh of Azagarta, a treatise on mythology and history by various oral poets that served to inspire later works of history; the Dadestan-i Denig, a collection of juridical rulings and answers on legal and moral issues, which spawned numerous similar works; and the Khordeh Avesta, another collection of various worship texts (narrowly defined here as the books of the Siroza, the Gah, and the Afrinigan). In particular, the Khordeh Avesta is interpreted by some sects in ways more esoteric and mystical than the mainstream.
History
Much of the basics of Melekite beliefs, including dualism and the presence of multiple angels, stem from before antiquity; these are common elements shared with other early Kardo-Ayar religions. Evidence of proto-Melekite angel worship in the Ayari Plateau region dates back to as early as the 2nd millennium BC. Over time, as numerous Ayari tribes coalesced geographically and politically under the Azagartian Empire, Melekism began to take a more unified form. This period, from roughly 700 BCE to 400 BCE, saw the transcription of the vast majority of Melekite hymns and oral recitations transcribed. Some of these works would later be canonized as the Classics, though the extent to which some works are Classical or not has varied widely throughout history and between Melekite sects. Regardless, this time saw an unprecedented level of unity within the religion, to the extent that Melekite scholars often refer to it in this time as the "Imperial Faith." With the end of the Azagartian Empire around the 360s BCE, Imperial Melekism was similarly dissolved into regional sects as central authority collapsed. Access to literacy declined in this period, meaning that many isolated religious communities were forced to revert their existing teachings into oral traditions.
Organization
Regional variants
Dzhuvenestan
After the fall of the Azagartian Empire, Dzhuvenestan transitioned from an imperial heartland to a frontier battleground between Zilung, Mesopontians, and the Perateians, all of whom brought their own religions to the region. Additionally, with these empires' myriad governing styles and state religions, levels of tolerance for Melekism varied wildly after each successive change in ownership. Following the final overthrow of Mesogeian rule and Dzhuven independence, Anax Constantine I of Dzhuveneia saw fit to restore Melekism as a state religion via the 1810 Edict of Khotan. Such a gesture was meant to engender a means of state control that was more native to the region, and would be less reminiscent of Mesogeian rule, as opposed to religions like the Aletheic Church. The Edict established a trend of state backing for Melekism in Dzhuvenestan which continues to this day. As a result, the sects dominant in Dzhuvenestan share a larger degree of similarity than in places like Shirazam. Melekism's development was to an extent state-guided, and interpretations of scripture that placed Melekism in opposition to perceived "foreign" religions like the Sarpetic faiths were encouraged. Beliefs like strong polytheism and the strong, almost observable presence of the ahriman are defining traits of Dzhuven Melekism. In addition, some sects emphasize elements of spirituality not seen in Shirazamite Melekism, such as astrology.
Shirazam
The religious landscape of Shirazam is especially complex, with a core polytheistic belief system on which Sarpetic religions and Zilung Chen' State Cult had major influences. Shirazamites beliefs can thus range from polytheism to pantheism, henotheism, or even monotheism. Due to a lack of state religion or of any cult enforced by an institution, faith express itself in Shirazam mostly in the form of a Folk religion with many variants and sects, which are not mutually exclusive.
Like in other Melekist regions of the world, Melekites Shirazamites hold that there are a World of Light and a World of Darkness, with the Physical World at their intersection. Everything related to the Spirit or the Soul come from the World of Light, everything related to the Body or the Material Realm come from the World of Darkness. The Seven gods are Targit, the goddess of heat, fire, and the hearth, sometime represented as a peacock due to medieval influence from other Melekist schools. Targit, the Burning One, is the main deity of Light that existed before the World of Light and the World of Darkness met. From her was born the Sky-Father Ohrmazd (Heaven) and the Earth-Mother Api (Underworld). When the Dark Lord Ahriman invaded the world of Light, Api was imprisoned deep within the newly created physical world, becoming the soul of a universe made otherwise only of cold, dark matter. The son of Ohrmazd and Api, Mithra, then came down into the physical world in the form of a great fire to fight off Ahriman and free his mother but he failed. His sister, Anahita, stayed behind in the physical realm to dig wells and springs to create a path to the Underworld that will allow her mother to return to the World of Light. For six months (Autumn and Winter) she stays underground with her mother, exploring the Chtonic underworld. She return to the surface the rest of the year, bringing some of her mother's gift and energy with her and bringing back life and fertility to the world. Ashamed by his sister' dedication and taking pity on the many souls of light who were trapped in physical bodies during the battle with Ahriman, Mithra left behind his horse Gaitasura, the Sun, so that the lost souls would never forget the Light. But the forces of darkness pursue Gaitasura in an eternal fight, forcing him to flee across the Sky and the Underworld, creating the night and day cycle. Taking pity on the lost souls herself, Targit would end up sending to the mortal world her last child: Targitaos. Fighting against the demons of Ahriman, Targitaos became the first ruler and guide of the shards of Light trapped in physical bodies: Mankind. He was ultimately chased from the world by the forces of Darkness but left behind both the Oral and Written Traditions to guide Mankind back to the World of Light. He is said, like Mithra, to periodically return to the Physical Realm to battle against Demons, taking the shape of a Prophet or an Oracle guiding Mankind once more.
But beside the seven major deities, the Shirazamites worship a number of other deities: river and oasis spirits, heroes and ancestors, angels and saints. Veneration of the dead, Worship of angels, and Glorification of the saints are all common practices with private or public shrines, sometime with their own festivities that can sometime be led by ordained clergy but are more generaly performed by lay practitioners. These examples of folk religion contrast heavily with more structured schools and sects, gathered around a master recognized for his knowledge of the Classics, his mastery of the rites, and mystical powers.