"the spiritual center.."
The ancient Persians were Zoroastrians who were montheists and worshipped one God. They believed in angels, a resurrection of the dead, a last judgment, the coming of a Messiah, the world as the site of a conflict between the forces of God and the forces of Evil.
Zoroastrianism had an impact on post-exilic Judaism and later Christianity with many of its ideas.
Zoroastrians and other ancient religions often have an uncanny resemblance to Judeo-Christianity. Some take this as a sharing of ideas. Others (such as Christians) take this as evidence that all peoples originally had information about God and the Messiah, and the hope of the Gospel, even if over time this information was somewhat lost or corrupted.
That is true many believe that the three wise men were Zoroastrian. I have read the translation of the Avesta Zoroastrian holy book it mentions the coming of the next Prophet born under a star. It is a remarkable prediction in the Avesta.