A mobed is an ordained Zoroastrian priest, qualified through lengthy training in the Avestan language and the precise ritual procedures of Zoroastrian worship to perform the faith's central liturgical ceremonies, chief among them the Yasna, the primary devotional liturgy recited before the sacred fire, and the navjote, the initiation ceremony through which a young Zoroastrian formally enters the faith by receiving the sudreh, sacred shirt, and kushti, sacred cord, worn thereafter as visible marks of Zoroastrian identity and religious commitment. Ordination follows a hereditary requirement shared with the more senior dastur rank, restricting the priesthood to men born into recognized priestly families and requiring formal initiation rites of its own before a candidate may begin performing priestly functions for the wider community.
Mobeds also tend the sacred fire itself, a role requiring specific ritual purity procedures and, for the fire's ongoing maintenance, regular tending with specially prepared, ritually pure fuel, since the fire is understood not as a symbol alone but as a genuine sacred presence requiring continuous, correctly performed care; a mobed serving a smaller community fire temple may combine this responsibility with a considerably broader range of pastoral, educational and ceremonial duties than a senior dastur at a major, well-staffed Atash Behram would typically need to perform personally.