Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

I think another line of investigation for 'mythicism' is the origin of 'Mary' from a 'Holy Spirit hypostasis.' Consider this. The Qur'an draws on the Gospel of James (or related traditions), when the Gospel of James says that the virgin Mary grew up in the Holy of Holies, rather than in the outer court (it says so explicitly: "And Joseph stood up from the sackcloth, and called Mary, and said to her: O thou who hast been cared for by God, why hast thou done this and forgotten the Lord thy God? Why hast thou brought low thy soul, thou that wast brought up in the holy of holies, and that didst receive food from the hand of an angel?"). The same tradition is strangely also known to the Mandaeans in the John Book.

I don't think the author of the Gospel of James was necessarily ignorant of the Jewish tradition with respect to having a woman in the holy of holies. Some have tried to argue that the text wasn't committing a historical blunder and argue that the author was perfectly clear about the fact that only the High Priest was ever allowed into the Holy of Holies (and that only on the Day of the Atonement). The point he is trying to make is that DESPITE THAT, MIRACULOUSLY, the Virgin Mary was allowed in there and grew up there (presumably because Zachariah was inspired by the Holy Spirit to take her in there).

The theological point the Gospel of James is trying to make, I think, is that by growing up in the (Old-Testament) Holy of Holies, the Virgin Mary has now become the New Holy of Holies in which God the Word would dwell. This is in fact how the significance of the event is interpreted in Orthodox church hymns on the feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, e.g.


"Into the Holy of holies / is the holy and immaculate one / led by the Holy Spirit; / and she is fed by a holy angel, / in that she is the most holy temple / of our holy God, / Who hath sanctified all things by her entry / and hath deified the nature of mortal men // which had fallen."

So I think the Qur'an was familiar with this tradition (whether from the Gospel of James directly or from other sources), and thus the term "mihrab" in the Mary / Zachariah passages might well refer specifically to the Holy of Holies (even if that is odds with the Jewish tradition). I don't think that's a revisionist argument. I believe the Qur'an expected its audience to be familiar with these kinds of traditional Christian stories and interpretations and it thus alludes to them.

As many here may know well, the Qur'an is the first book in Arabic, and for questions regarding the origins of the Qur'anic terms, the first place one must be looking into is the Qur'an itself. I looked it up and found only four attestations for the word. Strangely enough, it is always used in connection with Biblical characters. Twice for referring to the quarter in which Mary used to live, once for the place where it was revealed to Zachariah that he is going to beget John-presumably in the Temple Mount-and once in David's story.

Some scholars-stepping in the path of classical Islamic scholars, looking into the words' roots-have argued that mihrab has possibly something to do with harb (war, fight), and hence means the place of fighting, a battlefield, arguing that it is the place where the Muslim fights the devil. But this argument is not convincing for many-including me.

The word "mihrab" in the Qur'an means "sanctuary" or "temple" and in the Mary / Zachariah passages it is essentially a reference to the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple (where according to the Protoevangelium of James and the Church tradition dependent on it, Mary grew up -- this is the origin of the feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, celebrated on November 21).

This is also the meaning of the term "mihrab" in Judeo-Arabic (see Blau's Dictionary of Judaeo-Arabic, s.v.: he shows that in Sa'adiah Gaon's translation of the Psalms, "mihrab" renders "dbir" = Holy of Holies), Christian Arabic, and even occasionally philosophical Arabic (Avicenna relates a story about a "mihrab haykal Asqlebiyus" which had the inscription: "Know yourself, O man, so you might know your Lord").

The origin of the word is Ethiopic (Eth. məkwərāb means "temple").

What we know today as "mihrab" (=niche in the mosque, showing the direction of the Meccan "temple") is a secondary meaning.

Here are some studies on "mihrab" (in various meanings):

Nuha N. N. Khoury, “The Miḥrāb: From Text to Form,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 30.1 (1998): 1-27

Heribert Busse, “The Tower of David/Miḥrāb Dāwūd: Remarks on the History of a Sanctuary in Jerusalem in Christian and Islamic Times,” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 17 (1994): 142-165

E. Whelan, “The Origins of the miḥrāb mujawwaf: A Reinterpretation,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 18 (1986): 205-223
On the Ethiopic origin see: Dan Shapira, “Stray Notes on Aksum and Himyar,” Scrinium 2 (2006): 433-443, at p. 443n29 [http://byzantinorossica.org.ru/sources/ ... 3-443.djvu]; W. Leslau, Comparative Dictionary of Ge‘ez (Classical Ethiopic), p. 341.

It ultimately boils down to an analysis of the Qur'anic passages containing the word mihrab.

These are:

Quran 3:37 [God providing for Mary in the miḥrāb, i.e. the Holy of Holies];
38:21 [two rivals entering the miḥrāb to present their case to David; cf. 2 Sam. 12];
3:39 [Zakariah is praying in the miḥrāb to have a son, and the angels tell him about John] 19:11 [Zakariah is coming out of the miḥrāb to speak to the people in signs]
34:13 [the jinn make maḥārīb for Solomon]

It's very problematic if the Qur'an is referring specifically to a sanctuary within the temple, else it would be making at atrocious historical mistake. According to the Talmud, and the Jewish tradition in general, no woman was allowed into the Inner Court, not the least inside the temple proper (hekel) (cf. Ber. 3, Ned. 11). We can also be certain that Q. 3:37 above was not referring to the Holy of Holies, as it was accessed once a year by the High Priest -both kohen and male!

In the passage Q 3:36-39 the word miḥrāb is mentioned twice, first where Zachariah runs into Mary with the child (v.37), and second when the angels appear to him while praying (v.39). According to the biblical tradition, Zachariah would have been praying inside the temple itself by the Alter of Incense (the other being the Alter of Burned Offering, cf. Luke 1:8-11; also Exodus 30:1-10, 39:38; Numbers 4:11). See the outline of Herod's temple.

Stephan Huller wrote:I think another line of investigation for 'mythicism' is the origin of 'Mary' from a 'Holy Spirit hypostasis.'

Then Savior consented with his consort, Pistis Sophia, and revealed six androgynous spiritual beings who are the type of those who preceded them. Their male names are these: first, 'Unbegotten'; second, 'Self-begotten'; third, 'Begetter'; fourth, 'First begetter'; fifth, 'All-begetter'; sixth, 'Arch-begetter'. Also the names of the females are these; first, 'All-wise Sophia'; second, 'All-Mother Sophia'; third, 'All-Begettress Sophia'; fourth, 'First Begettress Sophia'; fifth, 'Love Sophia'; sixth, 'Pistis Sophia'. http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... ostos.html

Listen to my words, my son Seth. When God had created me out of the earth, along with Eve, your mother, I went about with her in a glory which she had seen in the aeon from which we had come forth. She taught me a word of knowledge of the eternal God. And we resembled the great eternal angels, for we were higher than the god who had created us and the powers with him, whom we did not know. http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/adam.html

For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her, and the power of the Highest would overshadow her: wherefore also the Holy Thing begotten of her is the Son of God; and she replied, 'Be it unto me according to thy word.' And by her has He been born, to whom we have proved so many Scriptures refer, and by whom God destroys both the serpent and those angels and men who are like him; but works deliverance from death to those who repent of their wickedness and believe upon Him. http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... rypho.html

Are you saying we're seeing a historicizing of Pistis/Sophia/NeoEve?

Yes. That's the bottom line.

On the issue of Mary the temple and ritual purity in the Proto-Evangelium; I think it is clear that Mary is allowed a home in the temple as long as the is pre-pubertal. As puberty approaches other arrangements have to be made.

Andrew Criddle

But since there is so much nonsense here (Jewish virgin cult, being sustained by an angel) there is no reason to even consider the idea of a girl growing up on the temple. Interesting halakhic question though

The question for me is always - why the name Mary? Does it have something to do with myrrh oil? There is an inkling of this on the Patristic account of Basilides. That Jesus was born from heavenly ointment

Stephan Huller wrote:The question for me is always - why the name Mary?

Do you buy this?

http://www.carotta.de/subseite/texte/jw ... tml#text59

The wife of Marius could certainly be named Maria (Mary), all the more likely by non-Romans.[59]

http://www.carotta.de/subseite/texte/jw ... tml#note59

[59] In Rome the woman receives the name of her father’s gens, but sometimes even scholars make the mistake of naming her after her husband—so Caesar’s wife Pompeia is called ‘Iulia’ by Appianus (BC 2.14). The differing accent, Mária and María results from the different rules of the Latin and Greek accentuation. Gr. Mários/María like Ky´rios/Kyría. [<]

I am glad we have ghost to provide us with the most unworkable suggestions possible. Why bother even contributing to the forum? These are all worse than stupid explanations to things.

These sections appear in sequence,6 and in the first one Miriai states that she is the daughter of kings in Babel.7 (This city is often conflated with Jerusalem in Mandaean texts, and, in view of the sub- stantial Jewish population in Babylon in the early Christian centuries, the confusion is understandable.) Carried at a tender age in the priests’ robes into the temple, Miriai is then raised by these priests and compelled to perform harsh work for Adonai there.8 After what seems like a break in the story, Miriai is suddenly at her parents’ home, where her father prepares to go to the synagogue (bit ama) and her mother to the Jewish temple (mqadšia). Before they leave, both warn Miriai against stepping outside, lest the rays of the sun fall on her. Of course, Miriai ventures out, the sun rays affect her, and despite her best inten- tions to follow her father to the synagogue, her feet take her to the Mandaean temple (maškna). She enters while the Mandaeans are in the middle of their service, with the brethren giving sermons (drašas) and the sisters offering responses (nianas. Miriai falls into a swoonlike sleep, unaware that the service is soon over and that the celebrants have left her alone. While she sleeps, her “sister in truth (kušta)” warns Miriai to get up before the day breaks, for at that hour “the priests and sons of priests go out and sit in the shadows of the ruin Jerusalem.”9 Miriai leaves the maškna, and her father finds her, brusquely demanding to know what his disobedient daughter has been doing. He accuses her of being a prostitute, which she denies. Still, the father calls on everyone to come and see Miriai, who has scandalized her family and kin by leaving Judaism for the Mandaean religion, “to love her Lord.”10 Miriai now prefers white, the Mandaean color, to the Jewish dyed ones. Moreover, she takes no interest in silver and gold (which the Jews love), and she favors the Mandaean priestly headgear, the burzinqa, over the Jewish tutifta. Possessed by the extraordinary courage of the fresh convert, Miriai curses the Jews and their priests, call- ing for dust and ashes into the mouths of her opponents and for horse manure on the heads of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. Here, in John’s first story about Miriai, one notes the automatic association of con- version and adultery. I suspect that there is a pattern of equating women’s conversion with adultery, with sexual sin, a parallel seldom found if the convert is male. One needs only to look to the Old Testament to see an entire people, the Israelites, collectively cast into a female, adulterous role over against Yahweh, the scorned husband raging about his unfaithful wife (cf. Hosea; Ezekiel 16). There seem also to be echoes of the type provided by Thecla in the Christian apocryphal story about Paul and Thecla, in which a young woman falls for an alien man, thus enraging her parents and committing a social sin.11
Miriai 51
It is interesting to note the Mandaean emphasis on contrasts: the Mandaean temple versus the Jewish house(s) of worship; the opposed priestly headgears; white versus colors; her new religion as Miriai’s rightful place versus Judaism. Underlying the dichotomy between the two religions is a pun much savored in Mandaeism (though not mentioned in this text): the Mandaean word for miscarriage or abortion is iahta,12 based on the root HTA (to sin). “Jews” are iahudaiia, and it only takes a change in one consonant, making the t into a d, to bring out the wordplay showing that the Jewish religion is really one of those not yet full-born, still on in imperfect or badly developed fetus stage. But to be a Mandaean means to have a fully human status. John ‘s second tale about Miriai takes the reader to the mouth of the river Euphrates, where Miriai stands transformed as a vine giving shelter to birds that wish to build their nests there. The vine’s leaves and fruits are precious stones and pearls. A sweet scent emanates from the vine, which provides sacred food and drink for the birds.13 Sudden hurricanes attack the vine, however, and some birds manage to hold on, while others are blown off. The utra Hibil Ziwa appears as a white eagle to converse with the birds still clinging to the vine. The survivors wish to know what has befallen their lost companions, but Hibil Ziwa tells them that it is better not to ask. He then reveals that the others have been torn to pieces. (This clearly reflects a story of violent persecution.) Hibil Ziwa has come for two reasons: first, to admonish the remnant true believers to remain steadfast and second, to furnish companionship (ƒauta) to Miriai, for he himself will be her healer. But Hibil focuses on the believers; the attacked vine, Miriai, may have healed her- self. Hibil carries water in his white bucket to the plants, which are no longer birds, for “plants” (šitlia) is a common eponym for faithful Mandaeans. They grow to twice their former size. Miriai is now outrightly identified with Simat Hiia (Treasure of Life), the primary female Lightworld principle,14 and with Truth, Kušta. Hibil then flies off to wake up the sleeping Gnostics, and he curses the Jews who persecuted Miriai. One of these Jews is singled out. He is Zatan, one of the seven pillars of the Temple, and he has spread lies about Miriai. The enraged Jews appear, having pursued Miriai to the mouth of the Euphrates. Wanting to kill her and to hang her seducer on a pole, the Jews accuse the alien man of having broken down Jerusalem’s dove cotes and trapped its doves. But now, rising to the demanding occasion, Miriai has been transformed from a nurturing vine into a priest. This is quite extraordinary, for to my knowledge this is the only Mandaean myth that presents a female priest.15 Sitting on her throne, book in lap, priestly staff (margna) in hand and the priestly belt (himiana) enclosing her waist, Miriai presides with a priestly banner (drabša) stuck into the earth beside her. As she reads, the worlds shake. She prays and preaches, while fishes and birds listen in rapt attention. Sweet riha (incense) envelops her entranced, wide-awake audience. This spectacle makes the Jews even more angry. Among them, Miriai’s mother cries and pleads, asking her daughter to remember her former, exalted position in Judaism. The mother mentions a significant contrast: the uraita (Torah) used to lie in your lap, she says to Miriai—instead of the Mandaean scripture lying in your lap now. Jewish priests and their sons used to kiss Miriai’s hand, and the Jews at home were desolate after Miriai left. Now they stand on the rooftops of Jerusalem looking for her, hoping for her return.16 Since Miriai left, the Jews, who formerly loved gold, now regard it as
52 Beginnings
worthless, and lamps are extinguished in mourning over her absence. Miriai’s mother continues to plead with her daughter: “Come! Teach the little ones writing! And bring the Torah from the shelf! From the day when you laid down the hala (hallah), it has become a miscarriage (or: ‘excrement’). And bring it to your lap (or: ‘shelter’) and let us hear your voice as it was before!”17 With haughty laughter, Miriai dismisses her mother’s entreaties, accuses the Jews of worshiping a vault (azga—perhaps a confusion with the Muslim Dome of the Rock), and insists that she has not been seduced in any sexual sense. Hibil Ziwa, still as eagle, now reappears, chains the Jews, and drops them to the bottom of the ocean. Next he destroys the Jews in Jerusalem, their city, and the Temple.18 Hibil preaches to Miriai, and the two exchange kušta, the sacred hand clasp. Then, in heroic fashion, the utra embraces Miriai and lays her down on her throne while calling himself her “good messenger.”19 But no seduction scene ensues. Instead, he asks her for the kušta, which only a priest can give. This seems to show who really is in charge at this point. Like a true savior, Miriai promises him, “ I and you will wind our way upwards and victoriously ascend to the Place of Light.”20 Here end John’s stories about Miriai. One notices several points in this material. First, Miriai’s role is that of a “founding mother” who provides life-giving food and drink to the community. Second, the storm hurling off a portion of the birds shows a community in distress, subject to persecution. Third, Hibil Ziwa asks the remaining birds to be companions for Miriai. The word for “companion,” ƒauta, has a number of meanings, but here I would like to stress that while the usual gender balance appears, the genders are reversed, upsetting the expected pattern. A superior male may need a female as a spiritual or sexual companion, but here the community is put in a male role vis-à-vis Miriai. She maintains her superior position, while the males are her faithful believers. Fourth, the expected rescuing hero figure Hibil Ziwa appears to subject himself to Miriai, despite his initial “macho” pos- turing. Gender balance comes through, however, in the parallel actions of Miriai as vine, feeding her birds with her own substance, and Hibil Ziwa, who waters his plants. Last, and not least, comes the stunning portrayal of Miriai as female priest, in full rega- lia. One must conclude that the story offers very daring messages regaring gender hier- archy and gender balance. Because this is also a highly polemical tale, its treatment of the Jews is instructive. The Jews possess no power over the imposing female priestly figure, and Miriai’s mother is defeated, unable to lure her daughter back into Judaism. Miriai’s former, powerful position in that religion may, in fact, have prepared her quite well for her newfound role. Judaism’s loss is Mandaeism’s gain, and the Mandaeans emigrating from Jerusa- lem now have a new home on the Euphrates, under the tutelage of a female leader. (One may see this as a reflection of the mythical-historical scenario of the Mandaeans traveling eastward under King Ardban’s protection). Hibil Ziwa’s destruction of the Jews and their city may well recall what the Mandaeans knew of the events around the year 70 C.E. Similar to certain Christian interpretations, the Mandaean view emphasizes the just punishment of the Jews for their hostility against other, “quasi”-Jewish, religions in their midst. John’s story is subversive in many ways. It permits a female figure to turn into a priest, and it reverses the usual pattern of expected behavior for utras such as Hibil Ziwa. Even though Hibil, manfully, appears to rescue a grammatically and mythologi-
Miriai 53
cally female soul, he also, toward the end, asks Miriai for the handshake, and she promises him salvation. The initial hint of hieros gamos (holy marriage) is not played out, for it is the community, rather than Hibil Ziwa, who is Miriai’s ƒauta. Even if one sees Miriai as the soul rescuing the spirit (Hibil), according to the common pattern of salvation at the end of bodily life, the expected gender pattern does not work, because both soul and spirit are female in Mandaeism. Therefore, sexual imagery remains irrelevant in the promised, salvific union of Miriai and Hibil. While she was Jewish, Miriai had her hand kissed by the Jewish priests and their sons. Now it is Hibil Ziwa who asks for her handshake. His request almost seems to under- mine his status as savior. However, Miriai and Hibil rescue one another, and they are equals, both utras. First Hibil saves Miriai from the menace of the Jews, and then she vows that both of them will ascend back to the Lightworld together. The text seems to me to conduct a conversation with itself about the possibly competing roles of priests and saviors. Thus, John experiments with different patterns of gender and hierarchy.
A Pious Believer
In sections 21 and 22, John offers more information about Miriai.21 Here are polemi- cal stories featuring John the Baptist in his role as preacher in Jerusalem. Miriai and Nisbai listen to his words and weep in response, knowing that John (and/or the women themselves) will soon depart from the city.22 A bit later, Miriai, Jaqif (perhaps a form of Jacob, Jesus’ brother), and Benia Amin (“the sons of Amin,” probably a misunderstanding of “Benjamin”) speak to John,23 who has replaced the Torah in Jerusa- lem with his own teaching. The Mandaeans will disappear from the city, he predicts, and the three inquirers wonder whether the Mandaean message and rituals will cease and the priests be murdered. In response to their anxious query, John predicts not only the dwindling of the Mandaean community and the destruction of Jerusalem but also the rise of Muhammad. Again, one sees the reflection of persecution and migration traditions.24 Jaqif, Benia Amin, and Miriai also appear in GR 15,25 in a section concerned with Anuš, the white eagle, which intervenes in the evil plans of Ruha and her planets, the builders of Jerusalem. Anuš declares Miriai to be perfect, and Jaqif and Benia Amin are her descendants, says the text.26 In turn, the two men give rise to 365 (a much-used mythological number in Mandaeism) disciples in Jerusalem. “Genealogy” leads to “his- tory,” for also in GR, the Jews are described as destroyers of Mandaeism in their midst. Like Hibil Ziwa in John, Anuš calls himself Miriai’s healer, and he takes care to men- tion that he does not demand payment for his services—probably an anti-Christian hint. Compared with John’s story about Hibil Ziwa and Miriai, GR’s seems more cautious in terms of gender portrayal, for the utra says that he has baptized Miriai, signing her with the pure sign. In John, nothing of that sort happens, perhaps because of Miriai’s priestly status. Nobody baptizes Miriai, who already is a priest. In GR, John the Baptist’s presence does not specifically portray him as a baptizer. Stories such as the one in Mandaeans, in which Miriai asks for baptism, stress an initiation ritual, a ritual that probably did occur in Mandaeism long ago, but this is not the regular Mandaean re- peated baptism, the maƒbuta.
54 Beginnings
The materials about Miriai in John, GR 15, and the oral legends constitute mytho- logical creations and reflections based on admittedly vague and as yet unretrievable, historical traditions. But the notion of a Jewess turned Mandaean seems to give some clues to Mandaean history, which naturally puts polemical issues in the forefront. Elabo- rations in the mythologies include Miriai’s role as a founding mother figure, a sustain- ing vine, and a priest—all highly positive to such a degree that these traditions appear almost provocative. In contrast, there is the story of Miriai as a demure follower (to- gether with Nisbai) of John the Baptist, though here, too, her foundress position is discernible.
Friday and Saturday
In my view, Miriai’s most significant appearance in the Mandaean literature is in the weekly liturgy, in two ancient prayers regularly uttered by priests. These are Prayerbook, numbers 149 and 162, of the prayer type rahmas (devotions), and these two are spoken on Friday morning and Saturday evening, respectively.27 Each day of the week has its own set of three prayers, and it is significant that the two prayers belong, respectively, to Friday morning, which heralds the Jewish Sabbath, and to Saturday evening, which marks the exit of the Jewish holy day. Both prayers have highly polemical contents. The first one, prayer 149, recalls the first section of John’s Miriai material, in which the young woman ventured outside in spite of her parents’ rules. In prayer 149, Miriai’s mother meets her daughter at the door of the bit ama, notes her sleepy expression and flushed cheeks, and demands an explanation. Miriai has spent several days in the Mandaean temple, listening to the beautiful service, she says. Her mother replies:
Have you not heard, daughter Miriai, what the Jews say about you? The Jews say, “Your daughter loves a man, she hates Judaism and loves the naƒiruta; she hates the door of the bit ama and loves the door of the maškna; she hates the tutifta and loves the fresh wreath. On the Sabbath (šapta) she carries out work; on Sunday (habšaba) she keeps her hand (from it).”28
In response, Miriai curses the Jews, as she did in John, with some of the same ex- pressions used in that text. She declares her love for her Lord, Manda d-Hiia, who will help her ascend from darkness to light. In contrast to John, in the Prayerbook Miriai plays a more subservient role, suitable for a new convert. She is the female recipient of the male savior’s grace, not a bestower of it. As Mandaean priests speak this prayer every Friday, they remind themselves of and re-create the tradition of their Jewish origins. Miriai is the figure who repeats the state- ment of Mandaeism’s cut ties with Judaism. As a “counter”-day to the Mandaean Habšaba, Sunday,29 the Jewish Sabbath represents danger, and the prayer can be seen as an exor- cism. As in John, the text in the Prayerbook lists the contrasts between the two religions, contrasts that are too close for comfort. Prayer 162, the rahma for Saturday evening, puts the Jewish Sabbath in opposition to the Habšaba. Miriai goes to the maškna to perform her prayers, but armed, evil people (presumably the Jews) accost her, demanding to know the character of her savior. She curses them, declares that they will never see what she has seen, and that Manda d-Hiia
Miriai 55
surpasses everyone else, for the earth trembles before him, he raises the dead, heals, and cures lepers.30 This prayer takes polemical care of both Christianity and Judaism, and the Sabbath is ushered out, perhaps with the relieved thought of “good riddance.” Even as the place is now cleared for the entry of the Mandaean holiday, the Jewish Sabbath is sure to reappear next week. And the weekly round of rahmas begins anew.
Across the Spectrum
To my knowledge, Mandaeism has no tradition in which John the Baptist appears as a proto-convert, like Miriai does. John, simply, is the chief Mandaean prophet, belonging to a prophetic tradition extending back to Adam, according to the Mandaean view. Carrying on the eternal message of the Great Life, John springs up as a timely counter- messenger to the Jewish religion. Nowhere does he baptize Miriai, though he reluctantly baptizes Jesus, who is on his way out of Mandaeism, in contrast to Miriai, who is enter- ing it. If Miriai is baptized at all, it is by an utra, the object of her love, not by a human being. One might have expected a closer connection between John and Miriai, but the two seem to belong to independent traditions,31 even though they occasionally appear together, as in GR 15, 11. Perhaps the Mandaean adoption of Miriai while denigrating her son reflects a his- torical development out of Judaism. From the Mandaean viewpoint, Jesus was wrong, an apostate from the true religion, but his mother is a Mandaean heroine. Miriai stands on her own, and her connections are all laudable. She is not upstaged by Elizabeth (Nisbai), whose role as mother of John the Baptist puts her in a special position. Tra- ditions such as Luke’s gospel (or Islamic reworkings of the story) about the two women seem to furnish Mandaeism with one among several possibilities of distancing Miriai from her pernicious son.32 On another note, the intimation of sexual innuendo in the conversion stories finds parallels in Christian apocryphal legends such as “Acts of Paul and Thecla.”33 Swoon- ing to the message by “the alien man,” Miriai, like Thecla, converts, and this is under- stood as sexual seduction, especially by the upset parents who take their daughter’s new view as a personal attack on them and on their community.34 The elevated position of Miriai as otherworldly vine and female Lightworld being, on the other hand, might be related to other Gnostic portrayals of a related kind, such as Ennoia in “The Apocryphon of John.”35 Mandaeism leaves the road open for depicting Miriai in exalted Lightworld roles because nothing in the religion prohibits such possibilities. Like Ruha, whose portray- als run from the most base and evil to the highest female in the Lightworld, Miriai, too, can be a female utra. Lofty female beings may exist independently, without male coun- terparts. Miriai leaps from human status upward, to priest and supernatural vine. Unlike culpable female figures in other forms of Gnosticism, such as the soul who falls, suffers, and finally is rescued by a male and restored to matrimonial harmony, Miriai never sins sexually, needs no pairing with a male, and does not repent. Com- pared with Ruha, Miriai seems much less endangered. Her “fall” is not one from a heavenly Lightworld down into matter but a horizontal breach with an earthly, religious tradition. In her move from Judaism to Mandaeism, from west to east, Miriai is not
56 Beginnings
brought back into any “fold” but instead, creates her own. Especially in John’s account, the daring apotheosis of Miriai makes sense as an illustration of the idea that if male priests are utras on earth, so may women be. Ironically, Miriai breaks out of a religion that seems very close to the one she enters. The polemical dichotomies and similarities listed in both John and the Prayerbook show that even if Miriai has now joined the better, more”mature” religion of Mandaeism (recall the pun on iahutaiia), its features are not that radically different from Judaism’s. Both have books, both treasure learning, both have priests with requisite headgear, and Miriai now inhabits an elevated position in Mandaeism—as she once did in her former religion, according to her mother’s statement. Miriai has simply made the obvious con- clusion that Mandaeism, the fully developed religion, is naturally preferable to the embryonic-abortive Judaism. The conversion of Miriai seems natural because it is a case of development and re- placement, not a matter of an extreme re-creation. The two religious universes are par- allel, not totally different, and religious polemical forms of literature gain particular force in such a situation. For battles are begotten not by enormous differences but by scan- dalous similarities. There is little point in engaging in heated polemics with a religion so different from one’s own as to furnish no real common ground on which to hurl arguments. Historically and mythologically, Mandaeism’s view is that Judaism and Mandaeism resemble one another too much. The Miriai traditions portray Mandaeism’s critical attitude toward its former home. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... huGjAxpd0w

Mead, Book of John

p. 62


II.—THE STORY OF THE BREACH WITH JUDAISM.

MIRYAI IS EXPELLED FROM JEWRY (§ 34).

In the Name of Great Life, may hallowed Light be glorified.

MIRYAI am I, of the Kings of Babel1 a daughter, a daughter of Jerasalem's mighty rulers. They have given me birth; the priests brought me up. In the fold of their robe they carried me up into the dark house, into the temple. Adonai laid a charge on my hands and on my two arms: I must scour and cleanse the house [that is] without firmness. There is naght therein for supporting the poor, naught to revive the tormented souls.

My father went to the house of the people, my mother went to the temple. My father went out and said to me, and my mother went out and charged me: "Miryai, close thy inner doors and bolt the bar. See that thou goest not forth into the main streets and that the suns of my Lord2 fall not upon thee."

But I, Miryai, listened not to what my mother did tell me, and hearkened not with the ear to what my father did charge me. I opened the inner doors, and the outer let I stand open. Out went I into the main streets and the suns of my Lord fell upon me. To the house of the people would I not go, but my way bore me unto the temple [sc. of the Mandæans]. I went and I found my brothers and sisters, how they stand and carry on proclamations. My brothers carry on proclamations and my sisters throw out explanations.3 With the voice of their proclamations and with the voice of their explanations I became drowsy and laid me down on the spot.4 My brothers went forth and did not wake me, and my sisters withdrew and roused me not. But thou, my sister in Truth,5 dost rouse me from sleep and dost say: "Arise, arise, Miryai, before the day breaks and the cock lets crow his morn-call, before the sun shines and his glory rises over the p. 63 worlds, before the priests and the priests' sons go forth and sit them down in the shade of the Ruins—Jerusalem, before thy father comes and brings upset upon thee such as thou never hast had."

I, Miryai, keep secret my prayers and utterly secret keep my discourses.

Early, day began to dawn, early the cock let crow his call, early the sun shone and his glory rose over the worlds. The priests and priests' sons went out and sat them down in the shade of the Ruins—Jerusalem. Then came my bodily father and brought on me upset such as I never have had. He spake:

"Where hast come from, thou debauched trough, whom [? locks] and bars [cannot keep in]? Where hast thou come from? Woe [unto thee], thou bitch in heat, who [? mindest] not [door-] pins and lockings! Where hast thou come from? Woe, woe [unto thee], thou bit of coarse stuff that has been patched on my robe!"

"If I am a debauched trough, I will burst thy [boltings] and bars. If I am a bitch in beat, I will draw back the pins and the lockings. If I am a bit of coarse stuff that has been patched on thy robe, then out of thy robe cut and rip me."

Thereon he cried: "Come (pl.), look on Miryai, who has left Jewry and gone to make love with her lord. Come, look on Miryai, who has left off coloured raiment and gone to make love with her lord. She forsook gold and silver and went to make love with her lord. She forsook the phylacteries1 and went to make love with the man with the head-band."2

Then Miryai makes answer unto him: "Far lies it from me to love him whom I have hated. Far lies it from me to hate him whom I have loved. Nay, far from me lies it to hate my Lord, the Life's Gnosis, who is for me in the world a support. A support is he in the world for me and a helper in the Light's region. Dust in the mouth of the Jews, ashes in the mouth of all of the priests! May the dung that is under the feet of the horses, come on the high ones and Jerusalem's mighty rulers."

Life is exalted and is victorious, and victorious is the Man who has come hither.

p. 64




A VARIANT OF THE ABOVE FROM THE OXFORD MS. (L.'s J. B., pp. 123-125).

In the name of Great Life, may hallowed Light be glorified.

AT the door of the house of the people her mother came upon Miryai. Her mother came upon Miryai and put question to her: "Whence com'st thou, my daughter, Miryai, whose face gathers roses? Roses gathers thy face and of sleep are thy eyes full. Full of sleep are thy eyes, and upon thy forehead lies slumber."

Thereon she made answer: "It is two,—three days to-day that my brothers sat down in the house of my Father. In my Father's house sat down my brothers and let wonderful proclamations be heard. Because of the voice and the ringing of the proclamation of the treasures, my brothers, there comes no sleep over my eyes. Sleep comes not over my eyes, nor slumber upon my forehead."

"Hast thou not heard, Miryai, my daughter, what the Jews are saying about thee? The Jews are saying: Thy daughter has fallen in love with a man. She has gotten hate against Jewry and love for Nazōræanity. Hate has she gotten against the house of the people and love for the door of the temple (sc. of the MM.). Hate has she gotten against the phylacteries and love for the flaunting wreaths. Work does she on Sabbath; on Sunday she keeps her hands still. Miryai has cast aside straightway the Law that the Seven have laid [upon us]."

As Miryai stands there, she puts dust on her feet, and speaks: "Dust in the mouth of the Jews and ashes in the mouth of all of the priests! May the dung that lies under the horses, come on the elders who are in Jerusalem! I cannot hate him whose love I have won, nor love him 'gainst whom I have gotten hate. Yea, I have won the love of my Lord the Life's Gnosis, [and hope] that in him a helper will for me arise, a helper and a support from the region of Darkness unto Light's region."

Thou hast won the victory, Gnosis of Life, and helped all thy friends to victory.

And Life is victorious.

p. 65




THE EXILED COMMUNITY SETTLE ON THE EUPHRATES (§ 35).

In the Name of Great Life, may hallowed Light be glorified.

MIRYAI am I, a vine, a tree, who stands at the mouth of Eu-phrates (Frash). The tree's leaves are precious stones, the tree's fruits pearls. The vine-tree's foliage is glory, its shoots precious light. Among the trees its scent it diffuses, and it spreads over all the worlds. The birds of the air scented it; a flock settled down on the tree. A flock on it down-settled, and they would build their nest there. They flutter about in it and settle not down in it firmly. Of its foliage they eat . . . from its inner part they drink wine. They eat what is not to be cast away, and drink what was not wine.1

While the birds sat on the vine, winds and tempests broke loose. They shook the good birdlets awake, they smote 'gainst the tree; on all sides they scattered the leaves of the vine-tree and scared the birds out of their place. Many a bird there was who flew not away, but held on fast with claws and with wings, till the winds and the tempests were over. Many again held not on fast and were hurried away ... . Woe unto those who did not hold fast, but were dashed from the tree and flew off. How fair is the tree of Life and fair the birds who dwell on it!

The winds and the tempests passed and rest came over the world.

As the birds sit there and chirp and would be a-building their nest, as the birds sit on the vine, an eagle wheeled and flew hither. A white eagle-bird2 came, looked down and caught sight of the birds. Round wheeled he, sped down on them with his wings, and came and sat on the tree. In converse with him joined the birds, and said to him:

"By thy Life, Eagle! On this tree were we birds without number.—But there broke loose against them the winds, and on the tree came raging tempests. They shook them off from the tree, so that they tore their wings from them [nearly]. Many a one held fast, whom the winds and tempests could not tear away; but many a one flew off at top speed.—We speak to thee, therefore, p. 66 O Eagle, we ask thee respecting the birds, because thou art sharp of sight and dost see all in this world: What have the winds and the tempests done with those birds, our brothers? What spyest thou out (?) over them?"

Then made he answer unto them: "You had better not to have known, my brothers, what has become of those birds. Slingshots drove them far from me; their wings broke; torn off were they, broken off; they went hence and relied on the bird-catchers.1 The harrier and hawk wheeled round them, tore pieces out of their flesh and fed on those who were fat. Woe to those who fell prey to the water,2 if there was no portion for them at the crossing. Well for you, ye birds, who hold fast to this vine [here]; you became a companionship of Miryai, the vine, who stands at the mouth of Euphrates. See and satisfy yourselves, ye birds, that I have come to you. I have come to my brothers to be a support for them in this world. I have come to heal Miryai, [come] to bring water to the good, beloved plants, to the vines, who stand at the mouth of Euphrates. In a white3 pail I draw water and bring it to my plants. I bear and I hold [it] on the arms of glory which are my own. I bear and I hold [it] and give [them] to drink. Well for him who has drunk of my water. He drinks, finds healing and confirmation, and grows to double [his stature]. The vines who drank water, brought forth good fruit. Their leaves turned on high and made a brave show. The branches which drank no water, brought forth bitter herbs and worm-wood (?). Woe to those who have not gone forward upon the Way; woe to those who have not passed on by the way-stone! They hated Life's Treasure-House,4 Miryai, the dear Truth.

"My brothers, hold fast, be a companionship of Miryai. I will look round in the world, let Life's call sound forth and rouse the sleeping and wake [them]."

The eagle flew off from the tree; he wheeled round and instructed his friends. He speaks to them: "Give ear to me, my p. 67 brothers! Stay fast and endure persecution. Be a companionship to Miryai. Woe to the Jews, who were a persecution for Miryai! Woe to Elizar, the great house, the pillar that props the temple! Woe to Zatan, the pillar,1 who has witnessed lies against Miryai!"



THE JEWS PERSECUTE THE MANDÆANS (§ 35 CONTD.).

ALL the Jews gathered together, the teachers, the great and the little; they came [together] and spake of Miryai: "She ran away from the priests, fell in love with a man, and they took hold of each other's hands. Hold of each other's hands they took, went forth and settled at the mouth of Euphrates. We will slay them and make Miryai scorned in Jerusalem. A stake2 will we set up for the man who has ruined Miryai and led her away. There shall be no day in the world when a stranger3 enters Jerusalem."

They split open their fellings and catch the doves in Jerusalem.4



THEY BEG THEM TO RETURN (§ 35 CONTD.).

ALL the Jews gathered together and followed after Miryai. They went and found that a throne was set up for Miryai on the bank of Euphrates. A white stnndard was for her unfurled and a book stood upright on her lap. She reads in the Books of Truth and rouses all worlds from their sleep. She holds in her hand the staff of Life's water; the girdle is bound round her loins. Miryai in humbleness prays and proclaims with wondrous voice. The fishes gather out of the sea, the birds5 from the mouth of Euphrates. They come to hear Miryai's voice, and no more long to lie down to sleep. They breathe in the sweet scent around her and forget the world. p. 68 When the Jews saw this, they stood up before her. They felt shamed, doubled their fists, smote on the fore-court of their breast and lamented. The mother of Miryai spoke, and tears streamed into her bosom.

"Look on me, Miryai, my daughter," says she unto her; "look on me who am thy mother! My daughter art thou and the daughter of all of the priests. Thy head is the great chief of the temple. Rememberest thou not, Miryai, that the Torah lay on thy lap? Thou didst open it, read therein and knewest what stands in it. The outer keys lay in thy hands, and the inner thou didst put in chains.1 All the priests and priests' sons came and kissed thy hand. For whom thou wouldst, thou didst open the door; whom thou wouldst not, must turn and go back to his seat. A thousand stand there and two thousand sit there. They submit themselves to thee, as a eunuch-made slave, and they give ear to thy word in Jerusalem. Why didst thou forget thy brothers and thy heart abandon the priests? Lo, the brides weep in Judæa, the women and men in Jerusalem. Their beloved gold have they cast from them, and they give themselves up to wailing and mourning for thee. They say: 'We will make away with our goods, until Miryai returns. Gold forge we [? no longer], and cast away fair raiments of silk and bracelets (?).' They stand on the roofs and look out, that they may see thee again in Jerusalem. For thee they make vows, if thou comest to me and we go hence. My daughter, arise, come back to thy dwelling-place, the city Jerusalem. Come, light up thy lamps, which have been put out from the day when thou withdrewest thyself.2 Have no longing after this man, who has prisoned thee and taken thee off. Leave p. 69 the man, who is not of thy dwelling-place,1 alone by himself in the world. Let him not say: I have gone and carried off Miryai from her place. Come, teach the children, so that they may learn. Lay the Torah in thy lap and let us hear thy voice as it used to be. From the moment and the day when thou didst detach the dough2 has it been covered up ... ...."

When Miryai heard this from her mother, she laughed and rejoiced in her mind. "It surely could not be the Jews," says she unto her, "the infamous, worthless priests! It surely would not be the Jews who stand there and bow down to a brick-grave!3 They shall be buried in the Darkness.

"Go, go," says she unto them, "ye fools, ye abortions,4 ye who were not of the world.5 I am no woman who is stripped for wantoning; and it is not that I have fallen in love with a man. Stripped am I not for returning to you and for again seeing you, doming of blasphemy. Go, go hence from me, ye who have witnessed falsehood and lying against me. Against me ye witnessed p. 70 wantonness and thieving, and held me up as ye are yourselves. Blessed be the Man who freed me from my fetters and planted my feet here. No wantonness have I committed with him and attempted no theft in the world. Instead of the witness ye have witnessed against me, there come to me prayer and praise-giving."

As the priests stand there and speak with Miryai at the mouth of Euphrates, there came a pure eagle-bird, whose wings are the fulness of worlds.1 He flew down on the Jews, dashed at them with his wings, bound them and sank them down unto the water's bottom, deeper [down] than the foul-smelling mud. He sank them deeper down than the blazing [water], that is inside the dark water. He sank their ships down to the blazing water's bottom. He destroyed the temple and laid fire to Jerusalem.2

He brought down all upon them and in Jerusalem slew the disciples.

He descended unto her (Miryai), folded before her his wings, settled down by her, narrated and proclaimed to her; and they held out the loved hand of Truth to each other. He embraced her in potent embracing, forced her down and set her on the throne.

"Miryai," he speaks to her, "with favour look upon me, remember me in the Life's presence. I am thy Good Messenger, the Man, who gives ear to thy discourse. I beseech thee for the high Truth, the Truth which the Jordans have chosen."

"O Good Treasure," she makes answer unto him, "Treasure whom Life has sent! Thy glory and thy light has risen upon us, and thy honour is approved in Light's region. Everyone who gives ear to thy voice, will be in the pure region included. In Life's Treasury will he be included and thy rays will rise [over him] twofold. For everyone who gives not ear to thy voice, waking and sleep will be wiped out. Let him belong to the Jews, to the slaves and all of the priests, the sons of the Harlot. I and thou will circle aloft and victorious mount to Light's region."

May Life be our pledge, and Life is victorious.


Next: II. iii. Some Typical Examples


Footnotes

p. 62

1 A by-name for Jerusalem.

2 Presumably Adonai; M.'s Lord is (below) the King of Light and later on her Lord is Gnosis of Life.

3 Cp. the prophesyings and interpretations of Early Christendom and the 'glossolaly' of the earliest Pauline communities.

4 M. became entranced.

5 Presumably a heavenly visitant.

p. 63

1 Ṭuṭiftā = Heb. tefillīm.

2 Cp. § 22, 'the pure burzinqā,' and J. B., pp. 301 and 501.

p. 65

1 The whole description is intentionally symbolic or allegorical.

2 The White Eagle is manifestly Gnosis of Life.

p. 66

1 Presumably the Seven.

2 Presumably the End-Sea.

3 White for purity, the M. colour par excellence. The water is of course the Living Water or Water of Life.

4 Or Treasury, Sīmath-Haiyē, a feminine personification, called elsewhere the Mother of all the [Light] Kings'; she is par excellence the Treasure or Treasury of Light.

p. 67

1 Mentioned also in § 32 {p. 57}, but unexplained.

2 In the Lud (cp. note on R. Eliezar, founder of the Lud school in § 18, p. 34) Ben Stada Talmūd Jesus stories, Jeshu is stoned and hanged on a stake afterwards (see D. J. L. 100 B.C.?—pp. 176ff.). It was the custom for the dead body after the stoning (e.g. of an adulterer, or of a fornicator—i.e. heretic) to be exposed on a stake or post.

3 Gnosis of Life is called the Stranger (sc. to the world) par excellence.

4 The MM. were bitterly persecuted. The fellings or slaughterings of the 'trees' and the snaring or imprisonment of the 'doves' refer to the martyrdom of the faithful. Cp. the hewing-down of the 'trees' in the Synoptic John-sermon and also the John-Jonah (Dove) word-play.

5 'Fishes' and 'birds' are the new 'hearers' of the faith.

p. 68

1 Presumably kept hidden, or made conditions concerning their revelation.

2 Compare with the above eloquent invitation to return the similar motive in the Talmūd Jesus stories: (1) "When King Jannai directed the destruction of the Rabbis. R. Joshua ben Perachiah and Jeshu went to Alexandria. When security returned, R. Simeon ben Shetach sent him a letter to this effect: From me, Jerusalem the holy city, to thee, Alexandria in Egypt, my sister. My spouse tarries in thee, and I dwell desolate'" (Bab. Sandedrim, 107b, Sota, 47a). (2) "The inhabitants of Jerusalem intended to appoint Jehuda ben Tabbai as Nasi [Prince or President of the Sanhedrim] in Jerusalem. He fled and went away to Alexandria, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem wrote: 'From Jerusalem the Great to Alexandria the Little: How long lives my betrothed with thee, whilst I am sitting grieving for him?'" (Pal. Chagiga, 77d). See my D. J. L. 100 B.C.?—pp. 137ff., 148ff.—for a discussion of these passages. Can Tabbai possibly in any way connect with the Ṭāb-Yōmīn of the Portents-piece § 18 {p. 35}?

p. 69

1 Clearly indicating that the Mandā was originally not Jewish.

2 Heb. ḥallah, the priests' share of the dough, Cp. Lev. 15:20, 21: "Of the first of your dough (marg. coarse meal) ye shall offer up a cake for a heave-offering."

3 Cp. L.'s note (p. 1142), referring to the above-quoted (p. 68, n. 2) Talmūd passage (1), where the same bowing down is recorded of Jeshu, namely: "he set up a brick-bat and worshipped it." L. again prefers to render the two words here as 'vault' simply. The Talmūd puzzle has never been solved; but the passage of the J. B. above (p. 55) connects it with a coffin, and strongly suggests an Egyptian atmosphere. Cp. now what Josephus (Antiqq. I. ii.; Cory's An. Fragg. pp. 171, 172), Hebraïzing the Egyptian tradition, says of the Sons of Sēth ( = Sōthis = Sirius), how "they made two [kinds of] monuments, one of brick and the other of stone, and on each engraved their discoveries." This passage is from Manetho's lost work Sothis, on the authenticity of which and its implications, I would refer the reader to my lengthy researches in Thrice-greatest Hermes, i. 99-127: the above passage will be found on p. 114. From this I would venture to suggest that the Talmūd charge against Jeshu of learning 'magic' in Egypt is reflected in the queer term 'brick-bat' or 'bricking.' According to Manetho's legend or tradition the most ancient lore of the priests, of the period of the First Thoth or Hermes, before the Flood, was preserved in the most primitive brick pyramids. The pyramids were originally tombs. That my suggested version is in the right direction is borne out by the following sentence of the text: "They shall be buried in the Darkness."

4 A common Gnostic figure, appearing frequently in Manichæism. In the Christianized Gnosis it is the technical term for the unripe birth from Achamōth, the Wisdom Without. For the most interesting echo in the N.T. cp. Paul's famous utterance: "And last of all he appeared unto me also, as unto 'the Abortion'"—sc. of whom you have all heard.

5 This is presumably ironical = "who thought that ye were not of this world."

p. 70

1 That is, presumably, fill the whole of the worlds in their span.

2 The MM. evidently believed that the destruction of Jerusalem was a retribution for the persecution of their community.