Konrad Kessler and Griffithes Wheeler Thatcher

“ He created Adam and Eve, but was unable to make them stand upright, whereupon Hibil, Shithil and Anōsh were sent by the First Life to infuse into their forms spirit from Mānā rabbā 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’tāhīl but another was their creator and supreme God, who as “the great king of light, without number, without limit,” stands far above him. ”

“ Yōshamīn desired to raise himself above the Primal Light, but failed in the attempt, and was punished by removal out of the pure aetherial world into that of inferior light. Mandā, on the other hand, continues with the First Life and Mānā rabbā, and is called his “beloved son,” the “first born,” “high priest” and “word of life.” The “Life” calls into existence in the visible world a series of three great Helpers, Hibil, Shithil and Anōsh (late Judaeo-Babylonian transformations of the well-known names of the book of Genesis) , the guardians of souls. ”

“ Alongside of Mānā rabbā frequent mention is made of D’mūthā, his “image,” as a female power; the name “image of the father” arises out of the same conception as that which gives rise to the name of ἔννοια among the Greek Gnostics. Mānā rabbā called into being the highest of the aeons properly so called, Hayyē Kadmāyē, “Primal Life,” and then withdrew into deepest secrecy, visible indeed to the highest but not to the lowest aeons (cf. Σοφία and Προπάτωρ) , yet manifesting himself also to the souls of the more pious of the Mandaeans after their separation from the body. ”

“ 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 residence in Damascus. The last false prophet was M’hammad or Ahmat bar Bisbat (Mahomet) , but Anōsh, who remained close beside him and his immediate successors, prevented hostilities against the true believers, who claim to have had in Babylonia, under the Abbasids, four hundred places of worship. ”

“ Of the names of the planets Estera (Ishtar Venus, also called Rūhā d’Qudshā, “holy spirit”) , Enba (Nebo, Mercury) , Sīn (moon) , Kēwān (Saturn) , Bīl (Jupiter) , and Nirīg (Nirgal, Mars) reveal their Babylonian origin; Il or Il Il, the sun, is also known as Ḳādūsh and Adūnay (the Adonai of the Old Testament) ; as lord of the planetary spirits his place is in the midst of them; they are the source of all temptation and evil amongst men. ”

“ Another false prophet and magician was Yishu M’shīhā, who was in fact a manifestation of the planet Mercury. Forty-two years before his day, under King Pontius Pilate, there had appeared the true prophet Yahyā or John son of Zechariah, an incarnation of Hibil, of whose birth and childhood fantastic stories are told. Yahyā by a mistake gave baptism to the false Messiah, who had feigned humility ”

“ 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 Bible from Adam, Seth, Abel, Enos and Pharaoh to Jesus and John, a phenomenon which bears 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 history of religion presents other examples of the degradation of holy to demonic figures on occasion of religious schism. ”

“ Thursday has a special sacredness as the day of Hibil Zīvā. As regards secular occupation, the present Mandaeans are goldsmiths, ironworkers, and house and ship carpenters. The Sidrā Rabbā lays great stress upon the 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. ”

“ It is also known as Sidrā d’neshmātha, “Book of Souls,” and besides hymns and doctrinal discourses contains prayers to be offered by the priests at sacrifice and at meals, as well as other liturgical matter. The Mandaean marriage service occurs both in Paris and in Oxford as an independent MS. The Dīwān, hitherto unpublished, contains the ritual for atonement. The Asfar malwāshē, or “Book of the Zodiac,” is astrological. Of smaller pieces many are magical and used as amulets. ↑ The use of the word “life” in a personal sense is usual in Gnosticism ”