Mobad

In lay use, the term is also used as an honorific to denote any Zoroastrian priest of any rank. Hormizd I appointed Kartir mowbadān-mowbad "high priest of priests".

The term mobad is a contraction of Old Persian magupati, the first half of the expression derived from {{langx|ae|𐬨𐬀𐬔𐬀|maga-, magu-}} and {{langx|ae|𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌|paiti|guardian, protector}}. The word was borrowed as {{lang-ka|მოგუ-ი}} mogu-i{{cite book|last1=Rapp|first1=Stephen H.|title=The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature|date=2014|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|page=58|isbn=978-1-4724-2552-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T8VIBQAAQBAJ&q=rapp+inscription+kartir}} and {{langx|syc|ܡܘܗܦܛܐ‎|mawhəp̄āṭā}} and from Parthian as {{langx|xcl|մոգպետ|mogpet}}.

Through {{langx|peo|𐎶𐎦𐏁|maguš}} and {{langx|grc|μάγος|magos}}, proto-Iranian *magu- is also identified as the origin of the Latin word magus, a "magian". Through the Greek adjective {{langx|grc|μαγικός|magikos}} and {{langx|fro|magique}}, mobed is distantly related to the English language word "magic".

{{main|Parsis}}

Priests in the community in India, the Parsis, are required to be male from a priestly family (the "Athornan" class or caste).{{iranica|atravan-priest}}{{citation |first= Solomon Alexander |last= Nigosian |year= 1993 |title= The Zoroastrian Faith: Tradition and Modern Research |place= Montreal, Quebec |publisher= McGill-Queen's University Press |isbn= 0-7735-1144-X |oclc= 243566889 |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=Uspf6eDDvjAC&pg=PA104&lpg=PA104 104] }}{{cite web |last1=Karanjia |first1=Er. Dr. Ramiyar P. |title=Admissions |url=http://www.dadarathornaninstitute.org/admissions.htm |website=Dadar Athornan Institute |access-date=July 10, 2022}} According to Parsi tradition, Athornan mobeds have held the responsibility of preserving and promoting religion since pre-Zoroastrian times of the mythical King Jamshid.{{cite journal |last1=Mirza |first1=Tehemton F. |title=Mobeds of the Future: A New Mobed Services in North America |journal=FEZANA |date=Spring 2019 |volume=33 |issue=1 |page=30 |url=https://fezana.org/fjissue/FEZANA_2019_01_Spring.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3BNBSQOInINYVfxWGay7JiQxHWnhNDXipCK7NRoFf0neBcBdyh2Bv49uk |access-date=July 9, 2022}}

{{quote|[I]n 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 [in India], 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.{{cite journal |last1=Mirza |first1=Tehemton F. |title=Mobeds of the Future: A New Mobed Services in North America |journal=FEZANA |date=Spring 2019 |volume=33 |issue=1 |page=30 |url=https://fezana.org/fjissue/FEZANA_2019_01_Spring.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3BNBSQOInINYVfxWGay7JiQxHWnhNDXipCK7NRoFf0neBcBdyh2Bv49uk |access-date=July 9, 2022}}}}

Due to the shortage of priests, the community in India considered a project to train any Parsi man to serve as a mobed assistant or paramobed in the 1970s. The plan was launched in the early 2000s using a new term for these priestly assistants: behdin pasbans.{{cite news |last1=Nair |first1=Manoj |title=Not many takes for the Parsi version of deacons in Mumbai |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/not-many-takers-for-the-parsi-version-of-deacons-in-mumbai/story-0X3Z2ZXzidlpnUOO1q5fON.html |access-date=July 4, 2022 |publisher=Hindustan Times |date=May 8, 2017}}

In 1995, the North American Mobeds Council (NAMC) created a program to teach and ordain assistants called mobedyars or paramobeds to address the shortage of available mobeds across North America.{{Cite journal |last=Kotwal |first=Er. Nozer Sorabji |date=Spring 2010 |title=History of the North American Mobeds Council |url=https://fezana.org/fjissue/FEZANA_2010_01_Spring.pdf |journal=FEZANA |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=90–92}} The program was initially open to any male Zoroastrian, irrespective of Athornan (priestly) or Behdhin (non-priestly) caste or lineage.{{Cite journal |last=Bhujwala |first=Maneck Nawroji |date=Spring 2010 |title=Becoming a Mobedyar, An Experience Serving the Community |url=https://fezana.org/fjissue/FEZANA_2010_01_Spring.pdf |journal=FEZANA |volume=24 |issue=1 |page=93}} The first mobedyar was ordained in Virginia in late 1997.{{cite journal |last1=Mistry |first1=Jamshed |title=A Pracising Mobeydar |journal=FEZANA |date=Spring 2010 |volume=24-1 |page=94 |url=https://fezana.org/fjissue/FEZANA_2010_01_Spring.pdf |access-date=July 5, 2022}} Another NAMC-trained mobedyar was ordained in California in 2004 after several years of serving the community.{{Cite journal |date=October 1, 2004 |title=California's Mobedyar |url=https://www.parsiana.com/current-issue/articles.aspx?id=o7nYZVXZ%2bGE%3d&issue=22 |journal=Parsiana}}{{Cite journal |last=Bhujwala |first=Maneck Nawroji |date=Spring 2010 |title=Becoming a Mobedyar, An Experience Serving the Community |url=https://fezana.org/fjissue/FEZANA_2010_01_Spring.pdf |journal=FEZANA |volume=24 |issue=1 |page=93}}

In 2008, the NAMC amended the original resolution passed in 1999 to broaden the criteria for the eligibility and training of mobedyars to include women.{{Cite journal |last=Kotwal |first=Er. Nozer Sorabji |date=Spring 2010 |title=History of the North American Mobeds Council |url=https://fezana.org/fjissue/FEZANA_2010_01_Spring.pdf |journal=FEZANA |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=90–92}} 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.{{Cite journal |last=Kotwal |first=Er. Nozer Sorabji |date=Spring 2010 |title=History of the North American Mobeds Council |url=https://fezana.org/fjissue/FEZANA_2010_01_Spring.pdf |journal=FEZANA |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=90–92}}

In 2009-2010, the chairman of the Council of Zoroastrian Priests in Tehran, Mobed Soroushpur, suggested opening the priesthood to women after research on ancient Zoroastrian documents that revealed evidence of female clergy in ancient Persian times.{{cite journal |title=Zoroastrian Women Moving Towards Priesthood |journal=Religion Watch, Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion |date=February 2016 |volume=31-4 |url=https://www.religionwatch.com/zoroastrian-women-moving-toward-priesthood/ |access-date=July 4, 2022}} "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.{{cite news |last1=Bertoluzzi |first1=Giulia |title=The Zoroastrian Priestesses of Iran |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/features/zoroastrian-priestesses-iran |access-date=July 4, 2022 |publisher=Middle East Eye |date=July 31, 2015}} Potential corroboration may be found in the oral tradition of the Parsis, which acknowledges a female priest named Testar as among those who fled religious persecution and forced conversions in Arab-conquered Persia to establish a new homeland in Sanjan, Gujarat around the ninth century.{{cite journal |last1=Desai |first1=Cowas |title=The Role of Zoroastrian Priests and the Delivery of Priestly Services from the Achaemenian Times to Present Day India |journal=FEZANA |date=Spring 2019 |volume=33 |issue=1 |page=24 |url=https://fezana.org/fjissue/FEZANA_2019_01_Spring.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3BNBSQOInINYVfxWGay7JiQxHWnhNDXipCK7NRoFf0neBcBdyh2Bv49uk |access-date=July 9, 2022}}

In 2011, eight women were certified to serve the community as mobedyars.{{cite web |last1=Atashband |first1=Armita |title=8 Zarthoshti Women Receive Mobedyar Certificate |url=https://zoroastrians.net/2011/02/24/8-zartoshti-women-receive-mobedyar-certificate/ |website=zoroastrians.net |date=24 February 2011 |access-date=July 4, 2022}} 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 fire temples.{{cite news |last1=Bertoluzzi |first1=Giulia |title=The Zoroastrian Priestesses of Iran |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/features/zoroastrian-priestesses-iran |access-date=July 4, 2022 |publisher=Middle East Eye |date=July 31, 2015}}

Zoroastrian women have since been ordained in Iran and North America to serve the community as mobedyars.{{citation |first= Arzan Sam |last= Wadia |date= March 9, 2011 |title= The Jury Is Still Out On Women as Parsi Priests |url= http://parsikhabar.net/religion/the-jury-is-still-out-on-women-as-parsi-priests/2968/ |work= parsikhabar.net |publisher= Parsi Khabar }}{{citation |first= Mahshad |last= Khosraviani |date= June 19, 2013 |title= Sedreh Pooshi by Female Mobedyar in Toronto-Canada |url= http://www.parsinews.net/sedreh-pooshi-by-female-mobedyar-in-toronto-canada/3922.html?fb_source=pubv1 |work= parsinews.net |publisher= Parsi News |access-date= October 10, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141009105723/http://www.parsinews.net/sedreh-pooshi-by-female-mobedyar-in-toronto-canada/3922.html?fb_source=pubv1 |archive-date= October 9, 2014 }} 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. The community is grappling with the question of whether to permit any Zoroastrian to train to become a full-fledged mobed irrespective of caste, lineage, or gender.{{cite journal |title=The mobedyar's rites |journal=Parsiana |date=July 21, 2013 |url=https://www.parsiana.com/current-issue/articles.aspx?id=dYtoxGdoYxg=&issue=228 |access-date=July 4, 2022}} 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".{{cite journal |last1=Mirza |first1=Tehemton F. |title=Mobeds of the Future: A New Mobed Services in North America |journal=FEZANA |date=Spring 2019 |volume=33 |issue=1 |page=30 |url=https://fezana.org/fjissue/FEZANA_2019_01_Spring.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3BNBSQOInINYVfxWGay7JiQxHWnhNDXipCK7NRoFf0neBcBdyh2Bv49uk |access-date=July 9, 2022}}

{{reflist}}

• {{citation |last= Boyce |first= Mary |year= 2001 |orig-date= 1979 |title= Zoroastrians, their religious beliefs and practices |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=a6gbxVfjtUEC |place= London |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 0-415-23902-8 |oclc= 45438877 }}

Mobed