Fire as the Sign of Truth, Not an Idol

Atar is the Zoroastrian yazata (a being worthy of worship) of fire, understood as the son of Ahura Mazda and the visible presence of the divine in the world. It is essential to the tradition's self-understanding that Zoroastrians are not fire-worshippers: fire is venerated as the purest sign of asha, truth and right order, and of the creative energy of the Wise Lord, present in the sun, in lightning, on the hearth and in the temple flame, but it is a symbol before which one prays, not a god one prays to. Its purity must never be defiled, and the sacred temple fires are tended with great care, the priests sometimes wearing a cloth (padan) over nose and mouth lest human breath pollute the flame; some temple fires are said to have burned continuously for many centuries. In myth Atar contends with the dragon Azhi Dahaka for the divine glory, the khvarenah. The proper name for a Zoroastrian place of worship is a fire temple.