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Manichaean Myth

The most coherent source on the myth of the Manichaean cosmogony is the narration by Theodore Bar Konai in his Book of Scholia, dating from the 8th century and written in Syriac, the language of most of the original writings of Mani. It starts with the original separation of Light and Darkness and ends with the creation of Adam and Eve.

"He says that there were Two Principles (lit. 'Natures'), the one Good and the other Evil, before existence of the heaven and the earth and all that therein is. The Good Principle (lit. 'Nature') dwelt in the Region of Light, and he calls Him the Father of Greatness. And they say that outside of (or beside) Him there dwell His (Five) Glories (or 'habitations, tabernacles') - (namely) (1) Intelligence (or 'Mind'), (2) Knowledge, (3) Reason, (4) Thought, (5) Deliberation. And the Evil Principle (lit. 'Nature') he calls the King of Darkness, and he says that he dwelt in his Dark Earth in his five worlds (narnely) (1) the world of smoke, (2) the world of fire, (3) the world of wind, (4) the world of waters, (5) the world of darkness.

He says that when the King of Darkness deliberated upon ascending to the region of Light, those Five Glories trembled. And he says that then the Father of Greatness deliberated and said, "I will not send (any) of the Five Glories from these Five Worlds of mine to the war, because they have been created by me for tranquillity and peace, but I myself will go and make this fight."

He says that the Father of Greatness evoked the Mother of Life; and the Mother of Life evoked the Primal Man; and the Primal Man evoked his Five Sons, just as a man who puts on armor for war.
He also says that an Angel, whose name is Nhsbt, went out before him, holding in his hand a crown of victory. And he says that Primal Man spread before himself the light. and when the King of Darkness saw it he deliberated and said, "The thing which I was seeking from afar I have found near by." Thereupon the Primal Man gave himself and his Five Sons as food to the Five Sons of Darkness, just as a man who has an enemy mixes deadly poison in a cake and gives it to him.

And he says that when they had eaten these (Elemental Sons of Primal Man), the intelligence of the Five Luminous Gods was taken from them and, by reason of the venom of the Sons of Darkness, they became like unto a man who is bitten by a mad dog or a snake.

And he says that when Primal Man regained his senses (lit. 'mind') he raised a prayer
? seven times to the Father of Greatness, and He evoked the Second Evocafion, (namely) the Friend of Light; and the Friend of Light evoked the Great Ban (Builder); and the Great Ban evoked the Living Spirit. The Living Spirit also evoked his Five Sons, (namely), (1) the Custody of Splendour from his Intelligence, (2) the Great King of Honor from his knowledge, (3) the Adamas of Light from his Reason, (4) the King of Glory from his Thought, (5) and (lit. 'but') the Supporter from his Deliberation.

These came to the Earth (land) of Darkness and found Primal Man, himself and his Five Sons, swallowed by the Darkness. The Living Spirit then called with his Voice, and the Voice of the Living Spirit was like (or took on the semblance of) a sharp sword, and it revealed the form of the Primal Man and said unto him, "Peace be unto thee, the righteous one in the midst of the wicked, the luminous one in the midst of darkness, the God dwelling in the midst of the beasts of fury who have no sense of their honor." Thereupon Primal Man responded to him and said to him, "Come thou for the peace of the one who is dead! Come, 0 thou treasure of tranquillity and peace!" And he said to him, "How are our Fathers, the Sons of Light, doing in their realm?" The Appellant said to him, "They are doing well."

<And the Living Spirit> And the Appellant and the Respondent joined together and ascended to the Mother of Life and to the Living Spirit And the Living Spirit put on (assumed) the Appellant, and the Mother of Life put on (assumed) the Respondent, her beloved son, and they descended to the Earth (land) of Darkness, to where Primal Man and his Sons (were). Thereupon the Living Spirit gave command to three of his Sons, the one to kill and the other to flay the Archons, the Sons of Darkness, and that they should deliver them to the Mother of the Living. The Mother of the Living spread out the heaven with their skins and made eleven (read 'ten') heavens, and they threw the bodies of these to the Earth (land) of Darkness, and they made eight earths. And the Five Sons were inducted, each one into his task. (Thus it was) the Custody (?) of Splendor who holds the Five Luminous Gods by their waists; and below their waists were spread out the heavens. (It was) the Supporter who kneels on one knee and bears the earths. The great King of Honor, after the heavens and the earths were made, sits in the midst of heaven and keeps guard over them all.

Then the Living Spirit revealed his forms to the Sons of Darkness; and from the Light which had been swallowed by them from these Five Luminous Gods he purified the light and made the Sun and the Moon and the light (of the Stars) more than a thousand.

He made the Wheels (namely) the Wind, and the Water, and the Fire; and he descended (and) formed them (v.1. made them glide) below near the Supporter. And the King of Glory evoked and raised over them a covering in order that they might ascend over these Archons that are subjugated in the Earths so that they might be of service to the Five Luminous Gods that they be not burned by the venom of the Archons.

And he says: 'Then the Mother of the Living and the Primal Man and the Living Spirit stood in prayer and implored the Father of Greatness; and the Father of Greatness hearkened to them and evoked the Third Evocation, (namely) the Messenger.

The Messenger, moreover, evoked tne Twelve Virgins with their vestments and with their crowns and with their attributes. The (1) first (is) Sovereignty; (the attribute) of the (2) second, Wisdom; (that) of the (3) third Victory; (4) the fourth, Reconciliation; (5) the fifth, Purity; (6) the sixth, Truth; (7) the seventh, Faith; (8) the eighth, Longsuffering; (9) the ninth, Rectitude; (10) the tenth, Beneficence; (11) the eleventh, Justice; (12) the twelfth, Light.

And when the Messenger came to these Ships he ordered the three Servitors to make the Ships move. And he ordered the Great Ban to construct the New Earth, and the Three Wheels to ascend. And when the Ships went up and reached the middle of the heaven, the Messenger then revealed his forms, male and female, and was seen by all the Archons, the Sons of Darkness, males and females. Md at the sight of the Messenger, who was beautiful in his forms, all the Archons became filled with lust for him, the males for the form of the female, and the females for the form of the male, and in their lust they began the emit that light which they had swallowed from the Five Luminous Gods. And then that sin which was shut up in them mixed itself like the hair in the dough, with the light which came out from the Archons. They desired to go in; (but) then the Messenger concealed his forms and severed the light of the Five Luminous Gods from (lit. 'and') the sin that was with them. And it fell (back) upon the Archons from whom it had fallen; but (lit. 'and') they received it not, just as a man who is disgusted at his own vomit.
It then fell upon the earth, half of it upon the moist part, half of it upon the dry. Md that (which fell upon the moist) became a horrible monster in the likeness of the King of Darkness; and the Adamas of Light was sent against her (=it). He fought with her, and vanquished her, turned her on her back, struck her with (his) spear in her heart, pushed his shield upon her mouth, and placed one of his feet upon her thighs and the other upon her breast. And that (sin) which fell on the dry (earth) sprang up into Five Trees.

And he says: These Daughters of Darkness were previously pregnant of their own nature, and on seeing the beauty of the forms of the Messenger their foetuses dropped and fell upon the earth and devoured the buds of the trees. And the abortions took thought together and recollected the form of the Messenger which they had seen (or saw'), and they said, "Where is that form which we saw?" And Ashaqiun, Son of the King of Darkness, said to the abortions, "Give me your sons and your daughters and I will make for you a form like that which you have seen (lit. 'saw')." And th~y brought (these) to him and gave (them) to him. He, however, devoured the males and gave the females to Namrael29, his mate. And Namrael and Ashaqlun united together and she conceived by him and gave birth to a son, and she called his name Adam. She also conceived (again) and gave birth to a daughter and called her name Eve (Hawwa).

And he says: Jesus the Luminous approached Adam the Innocent and woke him from the sleep of death in order that he might be delivered from the [two] great (?) spirit(s). And just as a man who is righteous and finds a man possessed of a mighty demon and quiets him by his art, like this was also Adam because that Beloved One found him sunk in the great sleep. And he woke him and took hold of him and shook him; and he drove away from him the seductive Demon and bound away from him the great female Archon. Then Adam examined himself and recognized what he was. And He showed him the Fathers in the Height, and His own self thrown in all into the teeth of leopards and into the teeth of elephants and swallowed by the voracious and devoured by the gluttons and eaten by dogs, and mixed and imprisoned in all that exists and bound in the pollution of Darkness.

And he says that He raised him up and made him taste of the Tree of Life. And then Adam looked and wept; and he raised his voice mightily like a lion that roars and ravens, he loosened (his bosom) and smote (his breast) and said "Woe, woe! to the fashioner of my body and to the binder of my soul, and to the rebels who have enslaved me."