Mandæans

MANDÆANS

Origin and Names (§ 1).

Recent Reports. The System Outlined (§ 2).

The Earliest Theogony and Cosmogony (§ 3).

Later Theogony and Cosmogony (§ 4).

Mandæan Cosmology (§ 5).

Chronology and Eschatology (§ 6).

System of Ceremonial (§ 7).

The Clergy (§ 8).

Last Rites; the Soul's Hap (§ 9).

Present Conditions; the Language (§ 10).

Sources of Mandzean Doctrines (§ 11).

Babylonian and Manichean Ideas, Borrowed (§ 12).

1. Origin and Names.

The many Gnostic sects against which the Church Fathers strove left little literature to survive till the present. The Mandæans, who still are found in scanty numbers in Persia and the region of southern Babylonia, are an exception; and their rich literature is very suggestive of the varied sources of Gnostic systems. This sect, belonging to ophitic Gnosticism, to form its system combined elements from Judaism, early Christianity, and Saseanian Parseeism with an original Babylonian and early Names. Aramaic basis of religion. Connection is to be found also with the heretical sect of disciples of John the Baptist, and derivation is allowed by the Mandxans themselves from the Sabians of pre-Mohammedan Arabia (Koran, ii. 59. v. 73, xxii. 17). Indeed, "Sabian" is an Arabized word meaning "baptist." In their principal sacred work, the Ginza or the Sidra Rabba (" Great Book "), the Mandæans call themselves Nasorayya, the "Nazarenes." In the same source the name Mondayya is also employed, from the word madda.`, "knowledge," with which is combined hayya, " life," in the sense of gnosis or knowledge of life (see Gnosticism). Theodore bar Choni gives them other names, as Mashkenayye, from Mashkena, the Mandæan word for church; Dosti, from Persian dolt, " friend "; and AdonEeans, from their assumed founder, Ado, who was perhaps a reformer or leader of a party. Theodore makes Ado come from Adiabene to the district of Maishan (Mesene) on the lower Euphrates and Tigris, where he lived as a mendicant (perhaps like the Brahmanic bhikshu or fakir), surrounded by disciples. Ado is then said to have heard of a man named Papa on the upper course of the river Ulai (the modern Karun), of whom he sought shelter. There he settled by the wayside to beg from travelers. Theodore gives also the names of Ado's father, mother, and brothers, which names all have significance in the Mandæan religion. On account of the honor which they pay to John the Baptist, the Mandæans bear also the name Christians of St. John, though there is little in their life and nothing in their dogma which merits the name Christian, their doctrine of redemption going back to the god Marduk (see Babylonia, VII., 2, § 10).

2. Recent Reports. The System Outlined.

The first knowledge of this sect in modern times was brought to Europe by the Carmelite missionary Ignatius a Jesu, who in the middle of the seventeenth century lived many years in Basra and converted some of the adherents to Christianity (see bibliography below for his book). He regarded them as descendants of disciples of John the Baptist, who had fled thither from persecution, being led to this view by the honors paid by them to the Bap tist, their many legends of him, and their practise

of baptizing only in rivers. He gave their number as from 20,000 to 25,000 families, scattered through Babylonia, Persia, Goa, Ceylon, and India, in the latter country reckoning to them the Thomas-Christians (Nestorians). Further information came through Abraham Ecchellensis, the missionary Angelus a Sancto Josepho, Pietro dells Valle, Jean Thwenot, Carsten Niebuhr, and others. The reports of these writers have considerable value, dealing as they do with a time when the sect was relatively large. The sources of first importance for knowledge of the Mandwans are their own writings, especially the Ginza, which are, however, only fragments of a once large religious literature. The older parts of the Ginza date back to the early Mohammedan period, 700-900 A.D. Besides the great collections of the sect, there are many tracts for priests and for laity, dealing with sickness and demoniacal possession, often employed as amulets and worn on the breast. The present Mandæan religion has, under Mohammedan influence, taken on a monotheistic form. But study of the Ginza shows that this is the result of development; the early form was polytheistic (cf. W. Brandt, Die manddische Religion, Leipsic, 1889) and dealt with theogony and cosmogony; this was succeeded by a combination of Jewish-Christian sources under Indian influence. The next stage appears to have been under the ascendancy of Persian thought, especially in its eschatology, followed by a period of confusion, which in turn gave way to a monotheistic type of theology with a "Great King of Light" as the chief deity, from which the step to Allaha as God was easy.

The earliest priestly form of the religion dealt, as did the systems of Phenicia and Babylonia, with the origins of gods and of the world. There stand out in this two forms, now distinct, now united, the "Great Fruit" (cf. Hebr. periy), Pira Rabba, and Mans Rabba, "Great Spirit."

3. The Earliest Theogony and Cosmogony.

Pira Rabba is the All, the comprehensive basis of things, bounded only by itself, from which all things came. It is the "golden egg" of the Brahmanic cosmogony which, at first a unit in which rests Brahma or Purushs, divides into heaven and earth. It is regarded as an independent and spontaneous deity and as creator. This is a conception not peculiar to India and the Mandæans. With Pira Rabba is closely connected Ayar Ziwa Rabba, "Great Lustrous Ether" (cf. Syr. o'ar, Gk. d'er), or Yora Rabba, ` Great Brilliance," from which last sprang the "Great Jordan" or stream of heaven. In Pira Ayar appears as a personal spirit Mans. Rabba de el~ara, "Great Spirit of Excellence," usually called in the system Mans, Rabba (ut sup.). While the origin and meaning of this last term are not clear, derivations are given from the Indo-Persian man,

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"thought," and Arabic mas'na, " mind," "meaning." It probably corresponds to the Indian at man, " principle of life or individuality." With it, as female potency, Demutha, "image," is joined, and a triad of Pira-Ayar, Mane Rabba, and Demutha is formed. Thus far no visible world or life existed, only the transcendental. Hence there appears Ijayye Kadmaye, "First Life," formed from Mans Rabba; and in Mandæan prayers he is always the first invoked. From him proceeded the countless emanations of gods, eons, and angels, whose task it was to create the visible world. (This theogony is not the only one present in the system, since other parts speak of a Nitufta, " Material of Life," corresponding to Hayye Kadmaye; another name given is Nebat, "sprout," who creates 800 eons and other beings.) From Man& Rabba proteed in fantastic completeness other Manes, called also Piras, more commonly Uthriyye (LTthras), " dominions " or " powers." From " First Life " emanated Hayye Tinyaniyye, "Second Life," called also Yoshamin (cf. Hebr. sJedmayim, " heavens "), who evoked Uthras, erected dwellings, and called a " Jordan " into existence. Three of these Uthras desired to enter upon the work of creation, to which Second Life agreed, but First Life was averse and called into existence Keba.r Rabba or Manda de hayye, "Spirit of Life," which personifies knowledge of life. This last creation becomes the center of Mandxan theology and its preexistent Christ, with which Hibil Ziwa, the power acting as redeemer in the world of fact, was identified. Yet this redemption and this "Christ" are not at all parallel to the conceptions carried by the same names in the Christian system. Manda de hayye is to be derived from Marduk, and his work may be equated with Marduk'a in vanquishing the monster Tiamat. Many epithets applied to Marduk are applied also to Manda de hayye, such as " beloved son," " good shepherd," " word of life "; and, like Marduk, Manda de hayye became potent in creation, acting in opposition to the presumptuous Uthras and Second Life. Before this, however, he had to make a " descent into hell," during which he came into conflict with the powers of darkness, including one Ru)aa (Heb. rush, the "Spirit of God" of Gen. i. 2, converted by the Mandaeana in their anti-Christian bias into a chief devil), conquered them and appointed as their punishment that their food should be fire and their drink foul water. He Created Gabriel, who was to be the demiurge (known also as Petahil, who appears elsewhere as an emanation of "Second Life "). The seven planets and the twelve signs of the zodiac are created, land, water, and the firmament follow in order, then the first man, in whose creation Hibil, Sitil, and Anos (cf. the Biblical Abel, Seth, and Enos), "brothers" of Manda de hayye, cooperate, after which they marry Adam to Eve. The "seven" (planets) attempt to lead the pair into sin, but are provented by the creators of man; vain attempts are also made to destroy man. Yet the evil spirits maintain their hold on the world, the "twelve" (zodiacal signs) divide the world-age among themselves, and the "Seven" found false religions and call into existence beasts of prey and other evil beings.

When the religion began to develop toward monotheism (ut sup., § 2, end), the divine figures took another form. Pira, Ayar, Yora, and Mana disappear, and instead of them the 4. Later "great king of light" reigns alone.

Theogony The portrayal of the world of light, and in which this being sits enthroned, Cosmogony. agrees with the Manichean picture of the "kings of the paradise of light." The address to him at the beginning of the Ginza is noteworthy: " Praised, blessed, glorified, celebrated and highly honored be thou, O god of truth, whose might is great, who bast no bounds, who art pure glory and sheer light which nothin8 dims a gracious, approachable and spiritual existence [art thou], a kind deliverer of all who are faithful, supporting and upholding all good in strength and wisdom." The bridge to the creation of the visible world is found, according to this phase of Mandæan thought, in the unfolding of the light-god in his shining ether. From this early epitome of light go forth the numerous eons (`Uthre, " splendors "), Second Life, sometimes called Yoshamin (" Yahweh of the heavens "), then Manda de hayye, the life-spirit, mediator and savior of Manda?an theology, the first man. Second Life seeks to gain supremacy over First Life, fails, and is exiled from the world of pure ether into that of dimmer light. Then there issue a series of emanations, the first of whom are Hibil, Sitil and Anos (ut sup.). The last is John the Baptist. These appear both H8 brothers and as eons of Manda de bayye, and also in other relationships. Of these I-libel, or Hibil Ziwa, is the most celebrated. He receives the same titles as Manda, has the same activity, and indeed is merged as though he were the same being. From Second Life also emanate sons, the last one named variously Third Life and Abathur, the "Ancient One," also called Father of Uthra. He sits at the outermost bound of the world of light, where is the great gate which leads to the middle and lower regions; there he weighs the deeds of the departed who come to him, returning to the lower regions those spirits whose deeds prove too light, while to the others Abathur opens the way to the higher regions of light. In the beginning there was under Abathur an immense void, and at the bottom the troubled black W414rl (~ ~~ l~b~ jllto this and saw bis image reflected, Petahil (the material nature of the deep of Chaos) came into existence as his son to become the demiurge of the Manda:ans, equivalent to the Yaldabaoth (" Chaosson ") of the Ophitea. He was commanded by his father to create the earth and man. Some passages make him do this alone, others assign to him de- mons as his helpers, especially the seven spirits of the Planets. From this point confusion exists as to the sequence of events. Here begin "the entanglements of Mandæan theology" (A. J. H. W.

Brandt, ut, sup., pp, 4g-55). The course of action follows in part the usual Semitic Cosmogony-

, erects the heaven, reduces the diffused, floating matter into form as the earth and fixes it in position, and creates the bodies of Adam and

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Eve, but can not give them life, which was accomplished by Hibil, Sitil, and Anon, who obtained life from Mans, Rabba. Petahil, because of his failure, was by his father Abathur excluded from the world of light until the judgment day, when he will be raised by Hibil, be baptized and made king of the Uthrae, and receive worship.

The underworld, described in the Ginza, consists of four entrances and three hells. Each of the entrances is governed by a king and queen. The kingdom of darkness is divided into

5. Mandæan Cosmology.

three stories, each ruled by an old king. These kings, named from above downward, are S'dum, the "Warrior," Giv, the "Great," and Krun or Karkum, the oldest and mightiest, most often called the "Great Mountain of Flesh." The entrances to hell contain filthy, slimy water; in hell there is no water, and in the lowest hell (Krun's) there are only ashes, dust, and vacancy. In these regions fire continually burns, but, though it consumes, it gives no light. From these kings Hibil Ziwa took away all power by descending, clothed with the might of the god of light, Mans, Rabba, into the lowest hell and wresting from Krun the knowledge of the secret name of darkness (see NenE). Above the entrances to hell is the dwelling-place of Rubs, a mighty she-devil, mother of Kin, queen of the fourth entrance. She was brought out from the underworld by Hibil and prevented from returning thither. The conception of Rubs. finely illustrates Mands'an hostility to Christianity, since she is the Syriac ruha dekudeaha, "the Holy Ghost" (cf. Gen. i. 2). She corresponds to the Manichean Hawwa (Eve). She is the mother of Ur, Fire, the moat fearful of all devils, corresponding to the original devil of the Manicheans. Ur attempted to take by storm the world of light, but was by Hibil cast back into the "black waters," chained there, and surrounded by seven iron and seven golden walls. While Petahil was engaged in the work of creation, Rubs, bore to her son Ur first seven sons, then twelve, and finally five more, all of whom Petahil set in the heavens, the seven as the planets, the twelve as the zodiacal signs, while what the five were is as yet undetermined. The planets are the sun, Venus, Mercury, the moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, and the names given td the last five are the old Babylonian names. These planets were set in the seven heavens; the sun is the ruler and is in the middle (fourth) heaven. They were intended by the creator to be helpers of man, but instead they sought to do him harm. They are the sources of evil. They have their stations to which they return after completing their heavenly journeys, and these stations are fined on anvils which rest upon the belly of the conquered Ur. Heaven is by the Mandæans regarded as created out of the purest, clearest water, but so solidified that even the diamond will not cut it. On this water the planets and other stars sail; these are all, like evil demons, dark by nature, but are illuminated by radiant crosses carried by angels. The clearness of the firmament enables man to look through all seven heavens to the polar star, the central sun about which the other bodies revolve, and to which Man- daeana turn their face at prayer. The earth they regard as a circle, inclining somewhat to the south, and surrounded on three sides by the sea. On the north is a great mountain of turquoise, the reflection of which causes the sky, to appear blue. Bohind this mountain is the world of the blessed, s kind of lower paradise, where the Egyptians reside who did not perish with Pharaoh in the Red Sea. They are regarded as the ancestors of the Mandaeana, since Pharaoh had been high priest and king of the Mandæans. Both worlds are surrounded by the Yamma rabba d'suf, the outer sea.

The period of duration of the earth is fixed at 480,000 years, divided into seven epochs, each of which is governed by a planet. According to the Ginza, the human race has been three 6. Chronology times destroyed by water, fire, sword, and pestilence, only one couple re and Escha- maining alive after each time. At the tology. time of Noah, the world was 466,000 yearn old. After him rose many false prophets. The first prophet was Abraham, who came 6,000 years after Noah, when the sun ruled the world. Then came Moses, in whose time the Egyptians had the true religion. After him came Solomon, to whom the demons yielded obedience. The third false prophet is Yishu Meaiba (i.e., Jesus the Messiah), the planet Mercury, a sorcerer. Forty two years before him lived, under King Pontius Pilate, the only true prophet, Yahya, or Yuhana bar Zikaryl (i.e., John, son of Zacharias; Luke i. 13), whose mother was Enishbai (Elizabeth); Yahya, being deceived by the Messiah, baptized him. He is an incarnation of Hibil, who had preached repentance in the time of Noah. As a contemporary of the Messiah and John the Baptist lived Anon Uthra, a younger brother of Hibil, who had descended from heaven, was baptised by John, wrought miracles, healed the sick, raised the dead, was the cause of the crucifixion of the false Messiah, proclaimed the true religion, and, before his return to the world of lights, sent 360 prophets into the world to proclaim his teaching. Jerusalem, which was once built at the command of Adunay (Adona,i), was destroyed by Anon, while the Jews were dis persed into all the world, having killed John the Baptist. Two hundred and forty years after the appearance of the Messiah, 60,000 Mandæans came out of the world of Pharaoh. Their high priest set tled in Damascus, and their sacred writings are concealed there in the cupola of the mosque of the Omayyade. The last of the false prophets was Mohammed, called "the Perverter." After 4,000 or 5,000 dears, mankind will again be destroyed by a terrific storm; but the earth will be again re peopled by a man and a woman from the upper world, where descendants will dwell on earth for 50,000 years in piety and virtue. Then will Ur destroy the earth and the other middle worlds, after which, bursting asunder, he will fall into the abyss of darkness, to be annihilated there with all worlds and powers of darkness. Then the universe will become a realm of light, enduring forever.

The weekly holy day of the Mandæans is Sunday, which is celebrated by abstention from work and by divine service, with reading of the scriptures by

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the priest. Modern travelers record the use of Thursday also as holy and as sacred to Hibil Ziwa The Ginza does not enjoin other sacred 7. System seasons, but it seems clear that cer of Cere- tam festivals have been long in use. monial. New Year's Day is mentioned in the Ginza as a time to abstain from ablutions in running water, probably on the ground that on that day the angel who protects the waters is engaged in celebrating a festival and consequently the evil powers find their opportunity for assailing men; Mandmans are therefore on that day not to leave the house and especially not to approach water. Yet scholars testify to the celebration of a New Year's festival, called Nauruz rabba, be, ginning on the first day of the first winter month and continuing six days, or seven, if with them be reckoned the last day of the old year. On the first day of the year the priests and scholars forecast the prospects of that year. From the eighteenth to the twenty-second of the fourth month is celebrated the feast of the ascension of Hibil Ziwa from the regions of darkness to his own realm of light. The five days intercalated between the eighth and ninth months of the year are a great festival of baptism during which all Mancheans must bathe three times daily, before meals, and dress wholly in white. The first day of the eleventh month is a feast in honor of the 360 Uthras. The first day of the fifth month is employed to cornmmorate the Egyptians who perished in the Red Sea. The last day of the old year is preparatory to the New Year's festival. The MandEean year is solar, divided into twelve months of thirty days each, with five days intercalated between the eighth and ninth months. The year is further divided into seasons of three months each, beginning with winter. The week has seven days, named after the planets. In the matter of the time for prayer there is some contradiction; one Passage seems to require it three times a day and twice in the night, another seems to forb-ld it during the darkness. Prohibition Of fasting appear, as a mark Of Opposition to Christianity, though a pretense of fasting is said now to be made because of fear of the Mohammedans. Yet spiritual fasts are enjoined in keeping the member, and organs of the body from sinning; moreover, there are times when the priests abstain from flesh. Mandieans may not eat of the blood of animals, Of anything that is Pregnant, or of that which stiff has life or which a beast of prey has pulled down. What has been killed with iron, cleansed, and purified is edi ble, provided it has not been prepared by others than the faithful. There is no distinction made between what in the natural world is clean and unclean, since "all things which Petahil has made were made for Adam." Of Mandioan sacraments the chief is baptism with which is bound up communiOn. Unbapt ized children are not reckoned as belonging to the Mandmn community, Baptism must be Performed in running later and not in Pools Or tanks, and is by complete and trine immersiOD- The baptism number of cases; Of adults is required in a great when demanded by an act of consecration or of 'in, 11 Sunday and festivals, on return from a foreign land' after contact with a, corpse, after being bitte e, after being n by a snake or a wild ani m or w al, s or whheen a ceremony has been omitted. In the corpse, Eucharist are used two elements, corresponding to corpse, after being bitte r

O.t and ne t Eucharist thee Host and wine of Catholic ceremonial. Its pur- p; ose is to consecrate the participant by imparting N P - ngth. rrerequisities an baptism, good ,ial Ntrp , L special stien rth repute, and adherence to the Mandæan faith. It is received at the festivals. The bread is prepared from fine white flour by priests, without salt or leaven, divided into small portions, and baked in a new oven. It is kept in the priest's house, and is received directly into the mouth from the priest's fingers. Another usage connected with baptism and with Sunday observance is the giving of the hand, called by the Mandaeans kusta (" fidelity "), which may be understood from a corresponding Manichean custom to signify mutual support. As a provision against sudden death, unprovided with the common consecration, there is a sort of mesa for the soul by the bishop, by which the beneficiary is obligated to an ascetic life. The church building proper of the Mandieans is for the priests and their helpers only; the laity remain at the entraneo. I!

is small, holding only a very few persons, has only two windows, and the door is always at the south, so that the entrant may look at the North Star. It contains no altar and no ornament, but has a few shelves in the corners for vessels. It is always near running water. At the consecration of a church a dove is sacrificed-a trams of the old Ishtar worship. The injunction to marry and peoplc the earth is stringent, and condemnation of Christian asceticism severe.

The Mandæan ministry has three grades. The first is that of Shkanda, deacon. The candidate must be without physical blemish, and is generally taken from the family of a priest or a bishop. He undergoes a preliminary training of twelve years under priests, accompanying them on their jour- neys, and at the age of nineteen ii wa;ned and begins to assist the priest or bishop in 8.The the services. After a year in this Clergy. grade, he is admitted to the second grade that of Tarrrcida, priest or presbyter, being ordained by a bishop and two priests or by four priests empowered by the bishop, but only on condition that the candidate is approved by the community. The period of probation involves a trial lasting over at least sixty-two days, and may through inadvertence or accident in the conduct of the trial be prolonged for several months. A part of the ceremony is bathing three times daily in a river in full clothing, the wet robes being changed only after the candidate has completed a ritual of prayer. The ordination is terminated by baptism, in which the candidate's wifo liq,mal participate, if they are sill jiving, and a feast in which presents are given to the poor, The highest grade is Ganxivrd, "treasurer," or bishop. The candidate, who is chosen from among the presbyters, must show his ability to explain difficult pas. sages in the Mandaean scriptures. Still another grade 's''ep"rted by Petermann , that of Risk camp, "head of the people," a rank corresponding to that of patriarch or pope. This grade, according to the

Mandarans, has been filled only twice, ones before

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John the Baptist by Pharaoh, and once since, by a certain Adam abu al-farash, both of whom were not of this world but came from the upper world. Women are admitted to the clergy. They enter the diaconate as virgins and become presbyters only after marriage with one of the higher orders. The official dress of the clergy is white throughout, consisting of breeches, tunic, girdle, stole, and turban, and on the little finger of the right hand the priest wears a gilt and the bishop a golden ring, on which is inscribed chum Yawar ziwar, "name of Yawar Ziwa," i.e., of Hibil Ziwa. In exercising their ministerial functions the clergy go barefooted.

Man consists of three parts, the body, the animal soul, and the heavenly soul. On the approach of death a Mandwan is attended by a deacon and two or more nurses, is bathed with warm and then with cold water, and then clothed in the funeral robes consisting of seven pieces. The body is laid out with the head to the south so that g. Last the eyes are directed to the polar star, Rites; the and the grave is dug so that the body Soul's Hap. maintains the same position, and prayers are offered at the interment. The soul of the dead passes out of the earth-region into the sphere of light, and according to some passages of the scriptures is accompanied by an Uthra, who comes for that purpose from the kingdom of light, finally passing a stream which constitutes the last hindrance to its approach to the " house of life." At the door of this house sits Abathur with his scales to weigh the deeds of the departed; after passing this ordeal, the soul is received and clothed in garments of light. Those whose deeds do not permit their reception are remitted to the lower regions, there to receive punishment of stripes without end. The end of the world is called " the day of the end " and " the second death," and is brought about by the serpent Leviathan which destroys all' not belonging to the world of light and the earth itself. Mandæans are not willing to disclose their beliefs to strangers for fear of arousing the fanaticism of the Mohammedans. Part of the knowledge gained came through the son of a priest who became a convert to Roman Catholicism and communicated information to M. N. SiouBi, the French consul in Mosul 1A74-75.

While in the seventeenth century the numbers of the Manda?ans were given at about 20,000 families, at present there is only a small remnant of about 1,500 persons, living south of Bagdad along the Tigris and Euphrates and in Khuzistan, plying the trades of goldsmiths, black io. Present smiths, builders, and carpenters. They Conditions; are not to be confused with the Mo the hammedan sect of Nosairiyah in Language. Lebanon. Externally the Manda;ana do not distinguish themselves from Mohammedans. Since the. latter arrogate to themselves white clothing, which the Ginza regards as holy, Manda'ans usually wear brown raiment or brown with white stripes. Mandsaana speak Arabic or Persian, but the language of their scriptures is an Aramaic dialect of great value for the student of language and is related lexically and grammatically to that of the Babylonian Talmud and to the Na- bataean tongue. It was probably the native tongue of Mani, and the Ginza doubtless contains long passages from the Manichean writings (see Mnivi, MnxicaF,ANs, § 13). Nevertheless, the pronunciation as at present employed by Mandæans has not been correctly transmitted. The vocabulary is Aramaic in groundwork, with loan words from Jewish, Syrian-Christian, and especially Persian sources, while the later writings are mixed with Arabic. The alphabet, which probably arose in Babylonia and combines the early Aramaic and Palmyrene ele- elements, has twenty-two letters.

The origins of Mandæan doctrine, it moat firmly be maintained, are to be sought in the religion of Babylonia; and Babylonia itself was the place where it arose. A Jewish or Christian source in Palestine is out of the question. Mandaeana are not the descendants of the disciples of John the Baptist, although he and the Jordan are so fre quently mentioned in their writings. 11. Sources The tradition of the people themselves of Mandaean that they arose in Galilee, were perse toted in Jerusalem and driven thence Doctrines. by the caliphs is historically worth less. They are to be compared with such sects as the Hemerobaptiats of the Church Fathers (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., IV., xxii. 6; NPNF, 2 ser., i. 199; Epiphanius, Her. xvii.; " Clementine Recognitions," i. 54: " Some even of the disciples of John, who seem to be great ones, have separated themselves from the people and proclaimed their own master as the Christ "; ANF, viii. 92). The reputed founder and other Biblical characters and coloring have come into the religion through the syncretistic process. To connect them with these early sects is no more right than to associate them with the Nazaraioi, of Epiphanius (Hær. xviii.). The mistake arose in the misapprehension of mis sionaries of the seventeenth century, who mistook them for a kind of Christians on account of their practise of baptism and related them with the Bap tist and with Galilee. It is true that during the second and third centuries the religion passed through a period of sympathetic feeling for Chris tianity and was influenced by its ritual. Thus Biblical reminiscences and nomenclature, from Adam to John and Jesus, including even theter minology of parts of the Jewish ritual, went to the bviiding of the Mandwan scriptures and teaching. But the antiehriatian bias appears in making Moses a false prophet, Jesus the evil planet Mercury, and the Holy Ghost the most devilish evil spirit, as well as in the polemics against Christian monasticism and other Christian institutions. Still more ob servable is the antijudaic bias, especially in the utter abhorrence of circumcision. While the con stant use of the name "Jordan" might seem to imply derivation of the sect from people who once dwelt on that river, the usage is to be compared with that in Hippolytus (Her. v. 2; ANF, v. 52), where the "great Jordan" is employed in the Naassene system to express the idea of the great sanctifying element of life in the world of light. Thus the name of the Biblical Jordan was employed in the earliest Gnostic systems, and notably in that of the Peratse (who were in the Euphrates region),

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who also employed "Egyptians" and "Red Sea" in just such a metaphorical sense as did the Man doeans. Indeed, the question of the sources of Mandaeism is just that of the sources of Ophitism and Gnosticism in general. These, systems are not traceable to the teachings of the Persian Zarathus tra, nor to Phenician heathenism, nor to the Greek mysteries, but simply to the Babylonian-Chaldean national religion, which was domiciled in the region where Ophites, Perat�, and Mandamus lived, and where they were distinguished from Christians (cf. W. Anz, Zur Frage mach der Ursprung des Grlosti ziSmus, pp. 59 sqq., Leipsic, 1897). While some fundamental conceptions are changed, as when the names of Babylonian deities become the names of the planets and are regarded as evil spirits, yet the derivation is so clear upon investigation that no doubt can be entertained upon this point. The Mandwan baptism can not be derived from the Jewish baptism of proselytes, nor is it Christian baptism taken over and exaggerated; the Man daean practise is diametrically opposed to both. Christian baptism implies metanoia, rz. Baby- ethical rebirth, and it marks the in= lonian and auguration of an ethical renewing of Manichean the heart after the pattern of the Sa Ideas vior; the Mandæan rite, so frequently Borrowed. repeated, is a theurgio-magical operation and aims at an ever-increasing insight into the secrets of the kingdom of light through the mediation of water, the element of the king of light. The Mandæan light-god Maria Rabba is to be identified with the Babylonian Ea (see Babylonia, VII., 2, § 3), and his emanation Manda de hayye or his son Hibil Ziwa with Ea's son Mar duk (see Babylonia, VII., 2, § 10). Ea, the god of profound knowledge, father of the mediator Marduk, enthroned in the world-sea, whose holy element is water, is the Ea of the brilliant ocean of heaven, as comes out in the Ayar-yora and the heavenly Jordan of the Mandwans. Similarly, as Marduk, the conqueror of Tiamat, appears in vari ous incarnations like that of Gilgamesh, so do Hibil Ziwa and his successors. The parallels of Ishtar's descent into hell and that of Hibil Ziwa, the divi sion of the planetary worlds into a system of seven, and the seat of Es, in the -North with the Mandæan direction of worship to that quarter are sufficiently obvious. Similar relationship can be established with Manicheanism. Mani was in his youth an ad herent of the Babylonian Mu'tasilah (" baptizers "), an early Babylonian sect. Palestinian Hemero baptists, Elkesaites (q.v.), Nazarenes, and Ebionites (q.v.) were sects which propagated in the West under Jewish influence Babylonian ideas, especially those of a mediator and the closely connected rite of baptism; these sects took form in pre-Christian times and later were hostile to Christianity. John the Baptist gave to the rite of baptism, thus de rived, a new ethical content by connecting with it the Old-Testament expectation of a Messiah. Sim ilarly the second sacrament of the Mandmans, the Eucharist, must be explained upon usage grounded in nature-religions, in honor paid to the pure elements of nature and its gifts, and not as a perver sion of the Christian mystery. The original teach- declared in the fourth century the State religion, its doctrines had been in conflict with many op posing forms of belief. But its doughtiest oppo nent was not the decrepit faith in the gods of Greece and Rome. A more dangerous foe was found in ancient philosophy, especially in its latest form of Neoplatonism, which strove for spiritual control of the world and combined the theoretical with the practical. The one lack of Neoplatonism was a pering of Mani could not have been very different in this matter from the common Mandæan-Gnostic doctrine (see Mani, Manicheans). The conception of eons and of the ruh al-hayat, " spirit of life," are alike in the two systems (cf. the Valentinian Zoe). Similarly the work of the original man in combating the original devil is practically the same in Man daeism and Manicheanism, though the former has made the development more complex by introdu cing a stratum of Aramaic thought in the names of angels and devils. While, then, the religious sys tem of the Mandaxans has especial interest rather in connection with the universal history of religion than with the theology of Christianity, yet there is much in it which can shed light upon the history of doctrine. In particular, the form of the Mandæan sacraments affords ground for thought to the in vestigator of the history of the Christian saprament of baptism.

(K. Kessler.)

Bibliography: The Ginza, called also the Sidra rabba, is best consulted in the ed. of H. Petermann, Thesaurus give liber magnua, vulgo "Liber Adami," vol. i., Berlin, 1867, vol. ii., Leipsic, 1867 (based on a comparison of four MSS. of 16th and 17th centuries). A prior ed. was by M. Norberg, Codex Nasaraua, liber Adami appellatua, vols. i.-iv., Copenhagen, vol. v (onomasticon), Lund, 1817 (misleading, being a Syriac transcription, but has Latin transl.). A Germ. transl., with notes, has been issued by W. Brandt, Göttingen, 1893, and the same scholar gives the titles of the tracts or books of which the Ginza is composed in his very scholarly Manddische Religion, pp. .207-209, Leipsic, 1889. Other Manderan writings published are: Qolaeta, by J. Euting, Stuttgart, 1867 (a liturgical work); parts of the Sidra de Yahya ("Book of John"), in Germ. transl. by G. W. Lorsbaeh, in Beiträgen zur Philosophie and Geschichte, v (1799), 1-44. Mandman inscriptions have been published: H. Pognon, Inscriptions mandaitea les coupes de Khouabir, 2 vols., Paris, 1898-99 (cf. the review by M. Lidzbarski in TLZ, 1899); idem, Une incantation contre les genies malfaiaanta en Mandaite, Paris, 1892; M. Lidzbarski, in Ephemeris für semitische Eloigraphik, i. 1 (1900), 89-106; cf. J. H. Mordtmann and D. H. Moller, Sabdische Denkmaler, Vienna, 1883.

For early reports concerning the Mandæans consult: F. Ignatius a Jesu, Narratio originia, rituum et erromm Christianorum S. Joannia, Rome, 1652; Abraham Ecchellensis, Eutychius patriarchs Alexandrinus vindicatua, pp. 310-336, Rome, 1660; Jean Thdvenot, Voyage au Levant, Paris, 1664; J. Chardin, Journal du voyage . . . en Peres, London, 1686; C. Niebuhr, Reisebeachreibung nach Arabien and andern . . . Ldndern, 3 vols., Hamburg, 1774-1837, Eng. transl., 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1792. The two important modern works besides that of W. Brandt, ut sup., are by H. J. Petermann, Reisen im Orient, 2 vols., Leipsic, 1861; and M. N. Siouffi, -0tudea our la religion les Soubbae ou SaWene, laura dogma, leurs maura, Paris, 1880. Not to be overlooked is W. Brandt, in JPT,:viii (1892), 405-438, 575-603. Consult further: J. Matter, Hist. du gnoaticiarm, ii. 394-422, Paris, 1828; L. E. Burckhardt, Les Nazoriene ou Mandai-Jahja (disciples de Jean), Stras. burg, 1840 (based on Norberg); D. Chwolsohn, Die Saabier, i. 100-138, St. Petersburg, 1856; J. M. Chevalier Lyeklama, Voyages . . dana la Mlaopotamie, vol. iii., book 3, chap. iv., Paris, 1868; Babelon, in Annales de philosophie chrétienne, 1881; E. Bischoff, Im Reiche der Gnosis. Die mystischen Lehren des judischen und christlichen Gnoaticismus, Manddismus and Manichdismus und ihr babyloniach-mtraler Ursprung, Leipsic, 1906; an important body of magazine literature is indicated in Richardson. Encyclopaedia, pp . 674-675; Encyclop'todia Brfr tannica, xv. 467. For the language: T. Nöldeke, ManddiSche Grammatik, Halle, 1875; idem, in Abhandlungen der Göttinger Gesellschaft, 1862; H. Pognon, Inscriptions, ut. sup., pp. 257-308.