ABSTRACT
In this writing, an attempt is made to explain the perspective of the priesthood system in the Zoroastrian community of Iran. Although the focus of this text is on the contemporary era, at first, the roles of the mobeds after the Sasanian Empire (224–651 AD) till the twentieth century in preserving Zoroastrianism will be reviewed briefly. Some of the ups and downs of the laity’s and the mobeds’ lives during this period are also mentioned here to better show the reasons that many mobeds had to earn their living with difficulty, and the mobed -borns who saw these problems decided to choose other ways of living than their fathers. Zoroastrian priestly terminology in Iran and a glance at the changes and innovations in the body of the Zoroastrian clergy system that happens to meet the needs of the society are also discussed and explained here, including the forming the Council of Mobeds in Iran, initiation of people from non- mobed families into the priestly structure as mobedyars in the 1980s, and initiation of women mobedyars in 2011.
