An intensive course in Europe trains participants to teach
Zoroastrian theology, rituals and philosophy
Dorian Gordon Bates
The two-week introductory Hirbadi course to train priests, held in Europe for the first time, was attended by a dozen students. It was intensive and conducted under the directorship of Dr Koorosh Niknam, a scholar and respected community leader in his hometown Yazd, and in Tehran.
The students taking the course were young Iranians living in different European countries (most of them in Germany), a Kurdish scholar from Iran and I. A son and a daughter of Niknam were also taking the course and, if all goes well, his daughter will become the first woman priest in Europe. We were also......