FigLeafe
From across this grey land...
(Dead
but dreaming)
An Introduction to Manichaeism
Part 4
The gods of the Manichaean pantheon: It was the custom among Manichaean missionaries (originating evidently with Mani himself) either to translate the Aramaic names of the divinities of his faith into the local language, or to identify these divinities with the divine beings of the dominant local religion, which in Iran was Zoroastrianism. The following are the English renderings of the names of Mani's gods (which have mostly come down to us in their Latin forms), with the Persian and Parthian translations and equivalences, as far as these are known. Mani may himself have been responsible for choosing the Persian ones, but the Parthian terms and identifications were presumably selected by Mar Ammo and his fellow-missionaries to the north-east of Iran.
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Sasanian Pahlavi |
Parthian Pahlavi |
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The Father of Greatness |
Pid i wuzurgi, Zurvan, Wahisht(aw) shahriar |
Pidar wuzurgift, Pidar roshn, Pidar hasenag, Sroshaw Yazd |
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The Great Spirit |
Waxsh zindag, Waxsh yozdahr |
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The First Creation |
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The Mother of Life |
Madar i zindagan, Zindagan Madar, Ohrmizdbay Mad |
Mad ziwandag, Ardawan Mad, Mad roshn, Ohrmizdbag Mad |
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The First Man |
Ohrmizbay |
Ohrmizdbag, Mard hasenag, Mardohm naxwen |
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His five Sons (the five Elements) |
(A)mahraspandan |
Panj roshn |
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Ether |
frawahr |
ardaw frawardin |
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Wind |
wad |
wad |
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Light |
roshn |
roshn |
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Water |
ab |
ab |
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Fire |
adur |
adur |
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His sixth Son, the Answer-God |
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Padwaxtag Yazd |
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The Living Self (made up of the five Elements) |
Griw zindag, Griw roshn |
Griw ziwandag, Griw roshn |
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The Second Creation |
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The Friend of the Lights |
Roshnan xwarist |
Frih roshn |
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The Great Builder |
Nogshahrafuryazd |
Bamyazd |
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The Living Spirit |
Mihr yazd |
wad ziwandag |
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His five Sons |
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Panj puhran |
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The keeper of the Splendour |
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The King of Honour |
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The Adamas of Light |
Wisbed, Taskirbyazd |
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The King of Glory |
Wadahramyazd |
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Atlas |
Manbed, Parmanagen Yazd |
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His sixth Son, the Call-God |
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Xroshtag Yazd |
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The Third Creation |
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The Third Messenger |
Narisah Yazd, Roshnshahryazd, Zenares bay |
Narisaf Yazd, Mihr Yazd, Roshnshahryazd |
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Jesus the Splendour |
Yosho ziwa(h), Yisho ispixtan, Xradeshahryazd |
Yisho Ziwa(h) |
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The Maiden of Light |
Kanig roshn |
Kanig roshn |
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The Coloumn of Glory |
Srosh-ahray, kishwarwaryazd |
Bamistun |
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The Great Nous |
Wahman (wuzurg) |
Manohmed roshn |
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His five Limbs |
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Reason |
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Bam |
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Mind |
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Manohmed |
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Intelligence |
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Ush |
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Thought |
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Adeshishn |
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Understanding |
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Parmanag |
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The Just Justice |
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The Last God |
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Istomen yazd |
Jesus in Manichaeism: Mani appears to have recognized three entities under the name of Jesus: 1) Jesus the Splendour, the redeeming god; 2) the Suffering Jesus, the name given in western Manichaeism to the Living Self, i.e. to the sum of the Light suffering in Matter, "crucified" as Jesus was crucified on the cross; 3) Jesus the Messiah, prophet and "son of God", who had taken on the appearance of man, and had seemed to suffer death on the cross. (Mani, with his abhorrence of matter, rigidly opposed the doctrine of the real incarnation of Jesus and his actual crucifixion.) The three conceptions of Jesus are not always kept wholly distinct.
The prophet Jesus was regarded by Mani as his own
immediate forerunner, whose apostle he himself was. Mani also honoured
the Buddha and Zoroaster, but there is no evidence that he was directly
familiar with their teachings in his formative years.
