How Christians Crushed Zoroastrianism in the 6th Century

When Christianity and Zoroastrianism clashed in the 6th century, faith became a weapon of empire and left scars that still shape the world.

Aug 20, 2025

Christians attack Zoroastrianism 6th century — Byzantine cross vs Persian fire temple — *The 6th-century clash between Byzantium and Persia wasn’t just about territory — it was when Christians attacked Zoroastrianism, turning faith into an empire’s weapon.*

Many Christians think they came up with the big ideas: heaven and hell, angels and demons, resurrection of the dead, and Judgment Day fireworks with trumpets and fire raining from the sky. But history shows they didn’t invent any of it. They borrowed, copied, and outright plagiarized.

And nowhere is that clearer than in the 6th century, when Christian authorities were busy stamping out Zoroastrianism — the Persian faith that had already mapped out those ideas centuries earlier. It’s the ultimate hypocrisy: stealing your neighbor’s playbook and then burning down their house so no one notices.

Zoroastrians Had the Blueprint

Long before Jesus or Paul ever entered the scene, Zoroastrians were preaching the cosmic drama. This ancient Persian religion, founded by the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathustra) somewhere between 1200–600 BCE, laid out almost the entire script Christianity later claimed as its own:

A cosmic battle between good (Ahura Mazda) and evil (Angra Mainyu).
A final judgment where souls are weighed.
Heaven and hell as eternal destinies.
A savior figure (Saoshyant) who comes at the end of time to defeat evil.
Resurrection of the dead and eternal life for the righteous.

Sound familiar? Christianity dressed this story up in new clothes, but the bones were Zoroastrian through and through.

Jews Picked It Up in Exile

The Hebrew Bible’s early books don’t talk about heaven and hell. They barely mention an afterlife at all. For ancient Israelites, death meant Sheol — a shadowy pit, not fire or paradise.

But when the Babylonians hauled the Jews into exile in the 6th century BCE, everything changed. In Babylon and later under Persian rule, Jewish thinkers were exposed to Zoroastrian beliefs. And suddenly new ideas started creeping into Jewish writings: angels and demons, visions of final judgment, and the resurrection of the dead.

Books like Daniel (written during foreign domination) are full of apocalyptic imagery straight from this cross-cultural mix. By the time of Jesus, Judaism had split: Sadducees held onto the old Sheol idea, while Pharisees and apocalyptic sects like the Essenes leaned hard into resurrection and end-times battles.

Christians Took the Hand-Me-Downs

Into that world came Christianity, and it grabbed the loudest microphone. Jesus is quoted in the Gospels saying, “this generation will not pass away before the Son of Man comes in glory.” His followers weren’t thinking about centuries down the line. They believed the end was right around the corner.

When that end didn’t show up, the early church had to spin harder, and along came the Book of Revelation — a mash-up of Zoroastrian cosmic war, Jewish apocalyptic visions, and Greek monster imagery.

Revelation wasn’t a divine download. It was John of Patmos stitching together borrowed myths and selling them as prophecy.

Christians Attack Zoroastrianism in the 6th Century

Once Christianity had absorbed these ideas, it turned around and attacked the very religion it stole them from.

By the 6th century CE, Christianity had gone from outlaw sect to state-backed empire. In that position of power, it targeted Zoroastrianism as a rival. Fire temples — the sacred centers of Zoroastrian worship — were destroyed. Priests were mocked as devil-worshippers. Rituals were outlawed. Sacred fires that had burned for centuries were snuffed out by Christian zeal.

The same Christians who claimed divine monopoly were erasing the faith that gave them half their theology. That isn’t revelation. It’s cultural theft with a side of arson.

Revelation Is a Mix, Not a Vision

Open Revelation today and it’s obvious:

A seven-headed beast? That’s Babylonian and Greek monster lore.
Trumpets blasting cosmic disasters? Borrowed from Persian rituals.
The lake of fire? Zoroastrian punishment zone with a Christian label.
Angels battling demons? Straight out of Persian dualism.

It’s less “vision of the future” and more “collage of myths lying around the Mediterranean.”

Greeks Added Their Flavor

Zoroastrians weren’t the only contributors. The Greeks had their fingerprints all over Christian end-times too. Homer’s Odyssey gave us Hades. Plato added philosophy about immortal souls and separating pure from corrupt. Tartarus — the fiery underworld of Greek myth — looks suspiciously like Christian hell.

So when Paul preached about the dead being raised incorruptible, he wasn’t revealing divine secrets. He was blending Jewish apocalyptic hopes with Greek philosophy and Persian fire pits. Christianity was the remix album.

Selling Fear Was the Real Goal

Why did Christianity lean so hard on these borrowed myths? Because fear sells.

Tell people death is just the end, and they’ll shrug. Tell them they’ll face God’s judgment, their secrets dragged out, demons clawing at their souls, with eternal torture if they slip up — now you’ve got their attention. And more importantly, their obedience.

Judgment Day wasn’t divine truth. It was a control mechanism. Borrowing Persian fire and Greek hell made the threat scarier, and that fear built churches, filled pews, and kept empires stable.

What Scholars Say

Historians have been calling this plagiarism out for years.

Bart Ehrman: Shows how the earliest Jesus movement was steeped in Jewish apocalypticism, which itself had Persian roots.
Elaine Pagels: Demonstrates how Revelation isn’t prophecy but coded political rage against Rome, dressed up with borrowed myths.
Mary Boyce: Traces how Zoroastrianism developed these doctrines long before Christianity.
Martha Himmelfarb: Explains how Jewish apocalyptic writings absorbed Persian and Greek imagery during exile.

Even conservative scholars can’t deny the similarities. They dodge by saying it’s “parallel revelation” — which is just a pious way of saying “yeah, it looks copied.”

The Myth of Eternal Truths

If Judgment Day was plagiarized, what does that say about Christianity’s so-called eternal truths? It says they’re not eternal. They’re recycled myths. Heaven, hell, resurrection, a final judgment — none of it started with Christianity. It’s a cultural mash-up passed off as divine.

And the saddest part? Billions have lived and died terrified of hell, brainwashed into obedience by a story that wasn’t even original. Kids lose sleep, adults waste lives, societies bend under the fear of eternal fire — all because Christianity borrowed old myths and rebranded them as gospel.

FAQs

Did Christians attack Zoroastrianism in the 6th century?
Yes. In the 6th century, Christian rulers destroyed Zoroastrian fire temples, outlawed rituals, and mocked priests as devil-worshippers.

What did Christianity borrow from Zoroastrianism?
Heaven and hell, resurrection of the dead, final judgment, angels and demons, and even the concept of a messianic savior.

Why don’t most Christians know this?
Because church history was written to hide the plagiarism. Easier to say “God revealed it” than admit you copied it.

The Unholy Truth

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