University of Virginia Library

ANGRO-MAINYUS

I am the Most High God;
Worship thou me!
Put not up vain prayers to avert my wrath,
For my wrath shall fall like the thunderbolt
And thou shalt be cleft asunder as an oak.
I am Angro-mainyus, the Most High God.
Cry not unto me for mercy, for I am merciless.
Sin and Death are my ministers,
And my ways are ways of torture and the shedding of blood.
I am the Lord thy God.
I am the Destroyer.
My sword is as fire in the forest;

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My feet are inexorable.
Ask me not to deliver thee from evil.
I am Evil.
Ahura-mazda is God too,
The beneficent one, the savior!
He dwelleth in the Sun,
But I in the terror of tempests.
There are two thrones, but one God.
The waves of the sea war mightily,
But in the deeps there is calm.
Ahura-mazda and I are one God;
There is war between our legions,
But in us peace.
Behold, he knoweth my thoughts and I his,
And there is no discord in us.
He worketh in light
And I in darkness;
His ways and my ways are asunder.
But blaspheme not, calling me “Devil,”
Neither saying, “There are two Gods;”
I am the Most High God,
And I and Ahura-mazda are one.
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