THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Eve, but can not give them life, which was accomplished by Hibil, Sitil, and Anos, who obtained life from Mana 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 Uthras, 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. Man- three stories, each ruled by an old dasan king. These kings, named from above Cosmology, 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, Mana Rabba, into the lowest hell and wresting from Krun the knowledge of the secret name of darkness (see Name). Above the entrances to hell is the dwelling-place of Ruha, 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 Ruha finely illustrates Mandsean hostility to Christianity, since she is the Syriac ruha dekudsha, " the Holy Ghost " (cf. Gen. i. 2). She corresponds to the Manichean Hawwa (Eve). She is the mother of Ur, Fire, the most 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, Ruha 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 to 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 fixed on anvils which rest upon the belly of the conquered Ur. Heaven is by the Mandaans 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-
damans 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. Behind this mountain is the world of the blessed, a 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 Mandseans, since Pharaoh had been high priest and king of the Mandseans. 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 goverjied by a planet. According to the
Ginza, the human race has been three
6. Chro- times destroyed by water, fire, sword, nology and pestilence, only one couple reand Escha- maining alive after each time. At the tology. time of Noah, the world was 466,000 years 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 Mesiha (i.e., Jesus the Messiah), the planet Mercury, a sorcerer. Fortytwo years before him lived, under King Pontius Pilate, the only true prophet, Yahya, or Yuhana bar Zikarya (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 Anos Uthra, a younger brother of Hibil, who had descended from heaven, was baptized 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 (Adonai), was destroyed by Anos, while the Jews were dispersed into all the world, having killed John the Baptist. Two hundred and forty years after the appearance of the Messiah, 60,000 Mandseans came out of the world of Pharaoh. Their high priest settled 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 years, mankind will again be destroyed by a terrific storm; but the earth will be again repeopled by a man and a woman from the upper world, whose 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 Mandseans is Sunday, which is celebrated by abstention from work and by divine service, with reading of the scriptures by