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Manichaean Death
AnNadim on the Three Kinds of
Death
1 When death comes to the Righteous, the First
Man sends him a Bright God in the form of the Sage, the Guide, and three
Gods1 (come) with him carrying the Flask and the Fillet and the Crown and
the Garland (all of) the Light; and with them comes the Maiden, the Image.
of the soul of that Righteous One. Then the demon of Greed appears to him,
together with Lust a and the (other) demons, and when the Righteous sees
them he appeals to the deity who is in the Sage's a form, and to the three
Gods, for help. Then they draw near to him, and when the demons see them they
turn away in flight. They then take that Righteous One and clothe him in
the Crown and Garland and Robe, and they give him the Flask in his hand.
They go up with him in the Column of Glory to the spheres of 'the Moon,
and to the First Man, and to the Radiant One, Mother of the Living, to
his first possession in the Gardens of the Light. Then his flesh remains
lying there, while the Sun and the Moors. and the Bright Gods draw the
Power out of it namely the Water and the Fire and the Air. So he is raised
to the Sun and becomes God, while the dregs of his -flesh are thrown Out
to a hell which is wholly darkness.
2. Now as for the man striving for and well
disposed to the Religion and Innocence, who guards both these and the Righteous
Ones,1 well, when his death takes place, these Gods whom I have mentioned
are present, and the demons are (also) there. Then he calls for help and
relies on what he used to do for Innocence and guarding the Religion and
the Righteous Ones; so they save him from the demons'. But (as) in the
world the likeness of the man who in his dream sees phantoms and does not
cease5 plunging into mud and mire, so too he does not cease in that way,
until his Light and his Spirit are freed, and after the long time of his
wandering about he soars up into the Assembly of the Righteous Ones and
puts on their Robe.
3. As for the wicked man, over whom Greed
and 'Lust have prevailed, well, when his death draws near the demons are
present with him; then they seize him, harass him and make him see horrors.
Then these 'Gods come and that Robe with them so the wicked man fancies
they have come to save him; but they are there only to revile him, and
to remind him of his deeds, and to compel the realization that he
has lost the help of the Righteous Ones. Then he does not cease to roam
about miserably in the world until the time of the End, when he is
thrown into hell.
4. Mani said: Well, these three paths in which
human souls are grouped: one of them (leads) to the 'Gardens, and they
are the Righteous ; and the second to the world and the phantoms, and they
are the guardians of the Righteous and the third to hell, and that is the
(road) of the wicked man. (335 : 10 29)
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