Chapter 23
Zarathustra, the All Pure, inquired concerning protection against impostors. To which I’hua’Mazda answered, saying: Prove all things on the altar. If a man comes before the people saying: Behold, I am a prophet! and he teaches strange doctrines, he shall be tied on the wheel with his face toward the sun at high noon. And if he is a true prophet, the spirits who dwell by the altar will set him free. But, if he is not released on the third night, the wheel shall be carried out into the forest and stood up by the bushes. And if he is an impostor, the wild beasts will come and devour his flesh.
Zarathustra inquired concerning the wheel after an imposter had perished on it. I’hua’Mazda said: When an impostor has perished on the wheel, behold, the wheel shall no longer be used as before. But the disciples shall cut away the rim of the wheel, and cast it away, for it is useless. But the cross-bars of the center of the wheel shall be retained, for it was on the bars that he was bound, and the cross of the bars is sacred; and it shall be hung in the place of worship, for it is a true cross.