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MANDAEANS
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MANDAEANS , also known as See also:Sabians, Nasoraeans, or St See also: For our know-ledge of their doctrinal See also:system, however, we still depend chiefly upon the sacred books already mentioned, consisting of fragments of very various antiquity derived from an older literature.' Of these the largest and most important is the Sidra See also:rabba (" Great See also:Book "), known also as Ginza (" Treasure "), consisting of two unequal parts, of which the larger is called yamina (to the right See also:hand) and the smaller s'See also:mala (to the See also:left hand), because of the manner in which they are See also:bound together. The former is intended for the living; the latter consists chiefly of prayers to be read at the See also:burial of priests. As regards See also:doctrine, the See also:work is exhaustive; but it is diffuse, obscure, and occasionally self-contradictory, as might be expected in a work which consists of a number of unconnected paragraphs of various authorship and date. The last See also:section of the " right-hand " See also:part (the " Book of See also:Kings ") is one of the older portions, and from its allusion to " the Persian and Arabian kings " may be dated somewhere between A.D. 700 and 900. Many of the doctrinal portions may in substance well be still older, and date from the See also:time of the Sassanids. None of the See also:MSS., however, is older than the 16th century.'
The following See also:sketch represents, as far as can be gathered from these heterogeneous See also:sources, the See also:principal features of the Mandaean system. The ground and origin of all things is Pira, or more correctly Pera rabba (" the great See also:abyss," or from Iva, " to split," cf. the Gnostic (3vOos, or more probably cf. Heb. See also:peri, " the great See also:fruit "), associated with whom, and forming a triad with him, are the primal aeons Ayar zivd rabba, " the great shining See also:aether," and Mana rabba d'eieara, " the great spirit of See also:glory," usually called simply Aland rabba. The last-named, the most prominent of the three, is the See also: See also:Noldeke's admirable Mandaische Grammatik (See also:Halle, 1875). Narratio originis, rituum, et errorum Christianorum S. Joannis (See also:Rome, 1652). ° Reisebeschreibung, part iv. (See also:Geneva, 1674). 6 Voyage au See also:Levant (See also:Paris, 1664). 6 Reisen See also:im Orient, ii. 447 seq. ' M. M. Siouffi, Etudes sur la religion . . . See also:des Soubbas (Paris, i88o). ' Mandaean MSS. occur in the See also:British Museum, the Bodleian Library, the Bibliotheque Nationale of See also:France, and also in Rome, See also:Weimar and See also:Berlin. A number of Mandaean See also:inscriptions See also:relating to popular beliefs and superstitions have been published by H. Pognon, Inscriptions mandaites (2 vols., Paris, 1898-1899), also by M. Lidzbarski In his See also:Ephemeris (See also:Giessen, 19oo seq.). The first printed edition and See also:translation of the Sidra rabba, by Matth. Norberg (Codex Nazaraeus, See also:liber Adami appellatus, 3 vols., See also:Copenhagen, 1815-1816, followed by a See also:lexicon in 1816, and an onomasticon in 1817), is so defective as to be quite useless; even the name Book of See also:Adam is unknown to the Mandaeans. Petermann's See also:Thesaurus s. Liber See also:magnus, vulgo " Liber Adami " appellatus, See also:opus Mandaeorum summi ponderis (2 vols., Berlin and See also:Leipzig, 1867), is an excellent metallographic See also:reproduction of the Paris MS. A Germansoul, permeates the whole aether, the domain of Ayar. Along-See also:side of Mana rabbd frequent mention is made of D'mi thy, his " See also:image," as a See also:female See also:power; the name " image of the See also:father " arises out of the same conception as that which gives rise to the name of Evvoia among the See also:Greek Gnostics. Hanel rabba called into being the highest of the aeons properly so called, Hayye X admdye, " Primal Life," and then withdrew into deepest secrecy, visible indeed to the highest but not to the lowest aeons (cf. See also:Ionia and IIpoira-rn,p), yet manifesting himself also to the souls of the more pious of the Mandaeans after their separation from the See also:body. Primal Life, who is properly speaking the Mandaean See also:god, has the same predicates as the primal spirit, and every See also:prayer, as well as every section of the sacred books, begins by invoking him.10 The extremely fantastic delineation of the world of light by which Hayye 1(admaye is surrounded (see for example the beginning of Sidra rabbd) corresponds very closely with the Manichaean description of the See also:abode of the " king of the See also:paradise of light." The king of light " sits in the far See also:north in might and glory." The Primal Light unfolds himself by five great branches, viz. " the highest purest light, the See also:gentle See also:wind, the See also:harmony of sounds, the See also:voice of all the aeons, and the beauty of their forms," all these being treated as abstractions and personified. Out of the further development and See also:combination of these See also:primary manifestations arise numerous aeons (' Uthre, " splendours," from sins, " is See also:rich "), of which the number is often stated to be three See also:hundred and sixty. They are divided into a number of classes (kings, hypostases, forms, &c.); the proper names by which they are invoked are many, and for the most part obscure, borrowed doubtless, to some extent, from the Parsee angelology. From the First Life proceeds as a principal See also:emanation the " Second Life,"Hayye Tinyane, generally called Yoshamin. This last name is evidently meant to be See also:Hebrew, "Yahweh of the heavens," the God of the See also:Jews being of a secondary See also:rank in the usual Gnostic See also:style. The next emanation after Yoshamin is " the messenger of life " (Mandy d'hayye, literally yvwvis Tits Nrls), the most important figure in the entire system, the mediator and redeemer, the X6yos and the See also:Christ of the Mandaeans, from whom, as already stated, they take their name. He belongs to the heathen Gnosis, and is in his essence the same as the Babylonian See also:Marduk. Yoshamin desired to raise himself above the Primal Light, but failed in the See also:attempt, and was punished by removal out of the pure aetherial world into that of inferior light. Manda, on the other hand, continues with the First Life and Mana rabba, and is called his " beloved son," the " first See also:born," " high See also:priest " and " word of life." The " Life " calls into existence in the visible world a See also:series of three great Helpers, Hibil, Shithil and Anosh (See also:late Judaeo-Babylonian transformations of the well-known names of the book of See also:Genesis), the guardians of souls. The last son of the Second Life is Hayye t'lithaye, the " Third Life," usually called father of the Uthre (See also:Aba d"Uthre, Abathur). His usual epithet is " the Ancient " ('Atiga), and he is also called " the deeply hidden and guarded." He stands on the borderland between the here and the hereafter, translation of about a See also:quarter of this work has been published in W. Brandt's Mandaische Schriften, with notes (See also:Gottingen, 1893). A See also:critical edition still remains a desideratum. Next in importance to the Sidra rabba is the Sidra d' Yahya, or " Book of John," otherwise known as the D'rasche d'Malke, " Discourses of the Kings," which has not as yet been printed as a whole, although portions have been published by Lorsbach and Tychsen (see Museum f. bibl. u. orient. Lit. (1807), and Staudlin's Beitr. z. Phil. u. Gesch. d. Relig. u. Sittenlehre 1796 seq.). The Kolasta (Ar. Khulasa, " See also:Quintessence "), or according to its See also:fuller title 'Enyane uderashe d'masbutha umassektha (" Songs and Discourses of See also:Baptism and the Ascent," viz. of the soul after See also:death), has been admirably lithographed by Euting (See also:Stuttgart, 1867). It is also known as Sidra d'neshmatha, " Book of Souls," and besides See also:hymns and doctrinal discourses contains prayers to be offered by the priests at See also:sacrifice and at meals, as well as other liturgical See also:matter. The Mandaean See also:marriage service occurs both in Paris and in See also:Oxford as an See also:independent MS. The Diwan, hitherto unpublished, contains the See also:ritual for See also:atonement. The Asfar malwashe, or " Book of the See also:Zodiac," is astrological. Of smaller pieces many are magical and used as amulets. ''' The use of the word " life " in a See also:personal sense is usual in Gnosticism; compare the Zwr) of Valentin and el-hayat el-muallama, " the dark life," of Mani in the Fihrist. like the mysterious rpev( &Trls rpiros or senex terdius of Mani, whose becoming visible will betoken the end of the world. Abathur sits on the farthest See also:verge of the world of light that lies towards the See also:lower regions, and weighs in his See also:balance the deeds of the departed See also:spirits who ascend to him. Beneath him was originally nothing but a huge void with muddy See also:black See also:water at the bottom, in which his image was reflected, becoming ultimately solidified into P'tahil, his son, who now partakes of the nature of matter. The See also:demiurge of the Mandaeans, and corresponding to the Ialdabaoth of the See also:Ophites, he at the instance of his father frames the See also:earth and men—according to some passages in See also:conjunction with the seven See also:bad planetary spirits. He created Adam and See also:Eve, but was unable to make them stand upright, whereupon Hibil, Shithil and Anosh were sent by the First Life to infuse into their forms spirit from Mdna rabbd himself. Hibil, at the instance of the supreme God, also taught men about the world of light and the aeons, and especially gave them to know that not P'tahil but another was their creator and supreme God, who as " the great king of light, without number, without limit," stands far above him. At the same time he enjoined the pair to marry and See also:people the world. P'tahil had now lost his power over men, and was driven by his father out of the world of light into a See also:place beneath it, whence he shall at the See also:day of See also:judgment be raised, and after receiving baptism be made king of the `Uthre with divine honours.
The underworld is made up of four vestibules and three hells properly so called. The vestibules have each two rulers, Zartay and Zartanay, See also:Hag and Mag, Gaf and Gafan, Anatan and See also:Kin. In the highest See also:hell rules alone the grisly king Sh'dum, " the See also:warrior "; in the See also:storey immediately beneath is Giv, " the great "; and in the lowest is Krim or Karkum, the See also:oldest and most powerful of all, commonly called " the great See also:mountain of flesh " ( Turd rabbd d'besra), but also " the first-born of darkness." In,the vestibules dirty water is still to be met with, but the hells are full of scorching consuming See also:fire, except Krun's domain, where is nought but dust, ashes and vacancy. Into these regions descended Hibil the brilliant, in the power of Mdnd rabbd, just as in the Manichaean See also:mythology the " primal See also:man," armed with the elements of the king of light, descends to a contest with the primal See also:devil. Hibil lingers, gradually unfolding his power, in each of the vestibules, and finally passing from hell to hell reaches Karkum. Hibil allows himself to be half swallowed by the See also:monster, but is unhurt, and compels his antagonist to recognize the superiority of Aland rabbd, the God of light, and to divulge his profoundest See also:secret, the hidden name of darkness. Armed with this he returns through the successive hells, compelling the disclosure of every secret, depriving the rulers of their power, and barring the doors of the several regions. From the See also:fourth See also:vestibule he brought the female devil Ruha, daughter of Kin, and set her over the whole four. This Ruha, the See also:mother of false-See also:hood and lies, of poisoning and fornication is an See also:anti-Christian See also:parody of the Ruha d'Qudsha (See also:Holy Spirit) of the See also:Syriac See also: Of the names of the planets Estera (See also:Ishtar See also:Venus, also called Ruha d'Qudsha, " holy spirit "), Enba (See also:Nebo, See also:Mercury), See also:Sin (See also:moon), Kewan (See also:Saturn), Bil (See also:Jupiter), and Nirig (Nirgal, See also:Mars) reveal their Babylonian origin; Il or 11 11, the See also:sun, is also known as Kadush and Adunay (the Adonai of the Old Testament); as See also:lord of the planetary spirits his place is in the midst of them; they are the source of all temptation and evil amongst men. The houses of the planets, as well as the earth and a second world immediately to the north of it, See also:rest upon anvils laid by Hibil on the belly of Ur. In the Mandaean See also:representation the See also:sky is an ocean of water, pure and clear, but of more than adamantine solidity, upon which the stars and planets See also:sail. Its transparency allows us to see even to the See also:pole See also:star, who is the central sun around whom all the heavenly bodies move. Wearing a jewelled See also:crown, he stands before Abathur's See also:door at the See also:gate of the world of light; the Mandaeans accordingly invariably pray with their faces turned northward. The earth is conceived of as a See also:round disk, slightly sloping towards the south, surrounded on three sides by the See also:sea, but on the north by a high mountain of turquoises; behind this is the abode of the blest, a sort of inferior paradise, inhabited by the Egyptians who were saved from drowning with See also:Pharaoh in the Red Sea, and whom the Mandaeans look upon as their ancestors, Pharaoh himself having been their first high priest and king. The See also:total duration of the earth they See also:fix at four hundred and eighty thousand years, divided into seven epochs, in each of which one of the planets rules. The Sidra Rabba knows of three total destructions of the human See also:race by fire and water, pestilence and See also:sword, a single pair alone surviving in each See also:case. In the Mandaean view the Old Testament See also:saints are false prophets; such as See also:Abraham, who arose six thousand years after Nu (See also:Noah) during the reign of the sun, Misha (See also:Moses), in whose time the true religion was professed by the Egyptians, and Shlimun (See also:Solomon) See also:bar Davith, the lord of the demons. Another false See also:prophet and magician was Yishu M'shiha, who was in fact a manifestation of the See also:planet Mercury. See also:Forty-two years before his day, under King Pontius See also:Pilate, there had appeared the true prophet Yahya or John son of See also:Zechariah, an incarnation of Hibil, of whose See also:birth and childhood fantastic stories are told. Yahya by a See also:mistake gave baptism to the false See also:Messiah, who had feigned humility; on the completion of his See also:mission, after under-going a seeming See also:execution, he returned clothed with light into the See also:kingdom of light. As a contemporary of Yahya and the false Messiah Hibil's younger See also:brother Anosh `Uthra came down from See also:heaven, caused himself to be baptized by Yahya, wrought miracles of healing and of raising the dead, and brought about the crucifixion of the false Messiah. He preached the true religion, destroyed See also:Jerusalem (" Urashlam," i.e. " the devil finished it "), which had been built by Adunay, dispersed over the world the Jews who had put Yahya to death, and previous to his return into the worlds of light sent forth three hundred and sixty prophets for the See also:diffusion of the true religion. All this speaks of intense hatred alike of Jews and Christians; the fasts, See also:celibacy and monastic and anchoret life of the latter are peculiarly objectionable to the Mandaeans. Two hundred and forty years after the appearing of the false Messiah there came to the world sixty thousand saints out of Pharaoh's world to take the place of the Mandaeans, who had been completely extirpated; their high priest had his See also:residence in See also:Damascus. The last false prophet was M'See also:hammad or Ahmat bar Bisbat (See also:Mahomet), but Anosh, who remained See also:close beside him and his immediate successors, prevented hostilities •against the true believers, who claim to have had in Babylonia, under the See also:Abbasids, four hundred places of See also:worship. Subsequent persecutions compelled their withdrawal to `Ammara in the neighbourhood of Wasit, and ultimately to Khuzistan. At the end of the world the devil Ur will See also:swallow up the earth and the other intermediate higher worlds, and thereupon will burst and fall into the abyss of darkness where, along with all the worlds and See also:powers of darkness, he will ultimately cease to be, so that thenceforward the universe will consist of but one ever-lasting world of light. The See also:chief depositaries of these Mandaean mysteries are the priests, who enjoy a high degree of power and social regard. The priest-hood has three grades: (I) the Sh'kanda or See also:deacon is generally chosen from episcopal or priestly families, and must be without bodily blemish. The See also:candidate for orders must be at least nineteen years old and have undergone twelve years' preparation; he is then qualified to assist the priesthood in the ceremonies of religion. (2) The Tarmida (i.e. " Talmida," " initiated ") or priest is ordained by a See also:bishop and two priests or by four priests after a See also:long and extremely painful See also:period of preparation. (3) The Ganzivrd (" treasurer ") or bishop, the highest dignitary, is chosen from the whole body of the Tarmidas after a variety of tests, and
possesses unlimited authority over the See also:clergy. A supreme priestly rank, that of Rah 'amnia, or " See also:head of the people." is recognized, but only in theory; since the time of Pharaoh this See also:sovereign pontificate has only once been filled. See also:Women are admitted to priestly offices as well as men. The priestly See also:dress, which is all See also: The neighbourhood of running water (for baptisms) is essential. At the consecration of a church the sacrifice of a See also:dove (the See also:bird of Ishtar) has place among the ceremonies. Besides Sundays there are six great feasts : (1) that of the New See also:Year (Nauruz See also:rabbet), on the first day of the first See also:month of See also:winter; (2) Dehwa h' nina, the anniversary of the happy return of Hibil Ziva from the kingdom of darkness into that of light, lasting five days, beginning with the 18th of the first month of See also:spring; (3) the Marwana, in See also:commemoration of the drowned Egyptians, on the first day of the second month of spring; (4) the great five days' baptismal festival (pantsha), the chief feast, kept on the five See also:intercalary days at the end of the second month of summer—during its continuance every Mandaean, male and female, must dress In white and bathe thrice daily; (5) Dehwa d'daimana, in See also:honour of one of the three hundred and sixty 'Uthras, on the first day of the second month of autumn; (6) Kanshe Zahlet, the preparation feast, held on the last day of the year. There are also fast days called m'battal (Arab.), on which it is forbidden to kill any living thing or eat flesh. These, however, are really " rest-days," as See also:fasting is forbidden in Mandaeism. The year is See also:solar, and has twelve months of See also:thirty days each, with five intercalary days between the eighth and the ninth month. Of the seven days of the See also:week, next to See also:Sunday (habshaba) See also:Thursday has a special sacredness as the day of Hibil Ziva. As regards See also:secular occupation, the See also:present ]Mandaeans are goldsmiths, ironworkers, and See also:house and See also:ship carpenters. The Sidra Rabbet, See also:lays great stress upon the See also:duty of procreation, and marriage is a duty. In the 17th century, according to the old travellers, they numbered about 20,000 families, but at the present day they hardly number more than 1200 souls. In See also:external See also:appearance the Mandaean is distinguished from the Moslem only by a See also: After the burial a funeral feast is held in the house of See also:mourning. The Mandaeans are strictly reticent about their theological dogmas in the presence of strangers; and the knowledge they actually possess of these is extremely small. The See also:foundation of the system is obviously to be sought in Gnosticism, and more particularly in the older type of that_ doctrine (known from the See also:serpent See also:symbol as Ophite or Naassene) which obtained in See also:Mesopotamia and Further See also:Asia generally. But it is equally See also:plain that the Ophite See also:nucleus has from time to time received very numerous and often curiously perverted accretions from Babylonian Judaism, Oriental See also:Christianity and Parsism, exhibiting a striking example of religious See also:syncretism. In the Gnostic basis itself it is not difficult to recognize the See also:general features of the religion of ancient Babylonia, and thus we are brought nearer a See also:solution of the problem as to the origin of Gnosticism in teneral. It is certain that Babylonia, the seat of the present Iandaeans, must be regarded also as the See also:cradle in which their system was reared ; it is impossible to think of them as coming from See also:Palestine, or to attribute to their doctrines a Jewish or Christian origin. They do not spring historically from the disciples of John the Baptist (Acts xviii. 25; xix. 3 seq.; Recog. Clem. i. 54) ; the tradition in which he and the Jordan figure so largely is not See also:original, and is therefore worthless; at the same time it is true that their baptismal praxis and its See also:interpretation place them in the same religious group with the See also:Hemerobaptists of See also:Eusebius (H. E. iv. 22)and See also:Epiphanius (Haer., xvii.), or with the sect of disciples of John who remained apart from Christianity. Their reverence for John is of a piece with their whole syncretizing attitude towards the New Testament. Indeed, as has been seen, they appropriate the entire personale of the See also:Bible from Adam, See also:Seth, See also:Abel, See also:Enos and Pharaoh to Jesus and John, a phenomenon which bears See also:witness to the close relations of the Mandaean doctrine both with Judaism and Christianity—not the less close because they were relations of hostility. The See also:history of religion presents other examples of the degradation of holy to demonic figures on occasion of religious See also:schism. The use of the word " Jordan," even in the plural, for " sacred water," is precisely similar to that by the Naassenes described in the Philosophumena (v. 7) ; there o sayas 'IopSavns denotes the spiritualizing sanctifying fluid which pervades the world of light. The notions of the Egyptians and the Red Sea, according to the same work (v. 16), are used by the Peratae much as by the Mandaeans. And the position assigned by the Sethians (En8tavot) to Seth is precisely similar to that given by the Mandaeans to Abel. Both alike are merely old Babylonian divinities in a new Biblical garb. The genesis of Mandaeism and the older gnosis from the old and elaborate Babylonio-Chaldaean religion is clearly seen also in the fact that the names of the old See also:pantheon (as for example those of the planetary divinities) are retained, but their holders degraded to the position of demons—a conclusion confirmed by the fact that the Mandaeans, like the allied Ophites, Peratae and Manichaeans, certainly have their original seat in Mesopotamia and Babylonia. It seems clear that the trinity of See also:Anu, See also:Bel, and See also:Ea in the old Babylonian religion has its counterpart in the Mandaean Pira, Ayar, and See also:Malta rabba. The D'mutha of Mana is the Damkina, the wife of Ea, mentioned by See also:Damascius as See also:Darien, wife of 'Aos. Mandy d'hayye and his image Hibil Ziva with his incarnations clearly correspond to the old Babylonian Marduk, Merodach, the " first-born " son of Ea, with his incarnations, the chief divinity of the See also:city of See also:Babylon, the mediator and redeemer in the old religion. Hibil's contest with darkness has its prototype in Marduk's See also:battle with See also:chaos, the See also:dragon Tiamat, which (another striking parallel) partially swallows Marduk, just as is related of Hibil and the Manichaean primal man. Other features are borrowed by the Mandaean mythology under this head from the well-known epos of Istar's descensus ad inferos. The sanctity with which water is invested by the Mandaeans is to be explained by, the fact that Ea has his seat " in the depths of the world sea." Cf. K. Kessler's See also:article, " Mandaer," in See also:Herzog-Hauck's Realencyklopadie, and the same author's See also:paper, " Ueber Gnosis u. altbabylonische Religion," in the Abhandh. d. funften internationalen Orientalisten-congresses zu Berlin (Berlin, 1882) ; also W. Brandt's Mandaische Religion (Leipzig, 1889), and M. N. Siouffi's Etudes sur la religion des Soubbas (Paris, 188o). (K. K.; G. W. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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