Boy's school Gym class, Jewish students with school uniform and Pahlavi cap, Yazd, 1931. After Houman Sarshar, 2002, p. 216. Courtesy of Alliance Israélite Universelle.
A cleric stokes the coals of the 'sacred eternal flame' at the Zoroastrian fire temple in Yazd, Iran.
Zoroastrians believe that there is one God, named Ahura Mazda, which translates to "Wise Lord". They believe that Ahrua Mazda created the world and that Prophet Ahura Mazda was the one to reveal this about their God through the holy book, the Avesta.
The slogan of the Zoroastrian religion is "Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds" and Zoroastrians typically pray several times a day, although there is no fixed pattern. Followers of the religion believe that fire has elements that are pure and that it represents God's light and wisdom.
Due to this, Zoroastrians pray communally in an agiary or fire temple, where a sacred fire burns and is never extinguished. Prayers are said facing the sun, fire or any other source of light and purification is strongly emphasised in order to defeat evil or Angra Mainyu.
Prayer for J.P. Morgan revealed and signed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
J.P. Morgan Financier (1837-1913) Abdu’l Baha visited with J.P.Morgan November 12th, 1912. It was recorded in the NY Times Nov. 19th “Prophet blesses Morgan”… Abdul Baha shared “O, thou generous Lord, verily this famous personage has done considerable philanthropy, render him great and clear in Thy Kingdom, make him happy and joyous in both worlds, and confirm him in serving the Oneness, the world of humanity, and submerge him in the sea of Favors”John Pierpont Morgan (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier, banker and art collectorwho dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time.
In 1892 Morgan arranged themerger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric. Afterfinancing the creation of the Federal Steel Company he merged in 1901 with the Carnegie Steel Company andseveral other steel and iron businesses, including Consolidated Steel and Wire Company owned by WilliamEdenborn, to form the United States Steel Corporation.
IRAN. 1956. Zoroastrian ceremony in a village near Chum. The ceremony is held by a woman who made a voew to give food to all the women and children in the village once a year.
While they were eating and drinking tea, a small candle burned inside a hole in the wall, as fire must be present in some form in all Zoroastrian ceremonies.
Offerings in a Zoroastrian chapel - Yazd. Inge Morath, 1956
Delegates and friends in attendance at the first annual conference of the, Persian-American Educational Society Mirza Ahmad and Ghodsia Khanum in foreground.
Ghodsia Ashraf Khanum was first Iranian woman to undertake higher education in the West (Chicago).
Mírzá Aḥmad Sohráb (1893–1958) was a Persian-American author and Bahá'í who co-founded the New History Society and the Caravan of East and West in New York, and was excommunicated from the Bahá'í Faith in 1939 by Shoghi Effendi.
