Xuāstvānīft: Studies in Manichaeism 2028205233

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XYASTVANIFT STUDIES

IN

MANICHAEISM

ACTA THEOLOGICA

DANICA

EDENDA CURAVERUNT: TORBEN CHRISTENSEN . EDUARD NIELSEN JOHANNES MUNCK . REGIN PRENTER

VOL. VII.

XUASTVANIFT STUDIES

IN MANICHAEISM

BY JES P. ASMUSSEN

PROSTANT

APUD

MUNKSGAARD

COPENHAGEN

1965

SØ od XYASTVANIFT STUDIES

IN MANICHAEISM BY

JES P. ASMUSSEN

PROSTANT

APUD

MUNKSGAARD

COPENHAGEN

1965

Translated by NIELS HAISLUND.

Denne afhandling er af det filosofiske fakultet ved Københavns universitet antaget til offentlig at forsvares for den filosofiske doktorgrad. København, den 16. november 1964. C.J. Becker h.a.dec.

O Jes P. Asmussen 1965

PRINTED

IN DENMARK

BY AARHUUS

STIFTSBOGTRYKKERIE

A-S

Til Anette

Preface Having finished this piece of work I wish to express my most sincere thanks to all those in this country and abroad who somehow, direct or indirectly, have helped me or rendered me valuable services. In this country first and foremost to Professor Kaj Barr, who with unfailing helpfulness and readiness has placed his rich experiences at my disposal and been my guide in all fields of Iranian studies, and to K. Thomsen Hansen, M.A., who always was ready to discuss Turkish problems with me, and abroad to Sir Harold Bailey, Professor Annemarie von Gabain, and Professor W. B. Henning, to all of whom I owe many things. To the staff &f the Royal Library I am greatly indebted for their kindness and efforts and to the University of Copenhagen for good working conditions. Last not least I most heartily thank Niels Haislund, M.A., for the care and great skill with which he has carried out the translation of this book.

Copenhagen, December 1964. Jes P. Åsmussen.

Contents Mani

and Manichaeism

…

+

20. ss

re

Notesiandireferences tochapterr one

ES

SEERE

II. The Avestan Terms apaitita-, paitita-, and paititi- and Their Significance in the Religio-Historical Development of Zoroastrianism . ... Appendix: Pahlavi Palitis'at

90

225,

Notes and references to chaptertwo

26

99

.....

. Some Remarks on the Christian Confession of Sins From the Primitive

Churehitothe Middle Ages

ER

113

SEA

125

Notes and references to chapter three

IV. Peoples and Religions in Central Asia BAnpendid Fre SOUR

Appendix Il kant

AR

130

. .

oa

ERR

BED FIRER

150

SN

152

SEER

FS5

Notes and references to chapter four

167

. The Confession of Sins Among the Manichaeans

239

Excursus on the Holy Ghost in Manichaeism

1258

Notes and references to chapter five

RESUME

SER

en

262

DE

Bibliographia Manichaical

2

Non-Manichaean Literature

HU

Abbreviations Index

.....

ERE

I SEN

ES

NE

… SSR

DANBLD

ER

SA

265 278 286 289

CHAPTER ONE Mani and Manichaeism In his survey of the Manichaean religion in De haeresibus ad Quodvultdeum 467 Augustine introduces the founder of the religion with the laconic and little in-

formative sentence: Manichaei a quodam Persa exstiterunt, qui vocabatur Manes. To these rudimentary biographical data he only adds the remark that the disciples of Mani, indeed, in order to avoid the nomen

insaniae —which

(uavia)

thus was Augustine's "etymology” of the name?—called him Manichaeus (= Måni hayya?) or Mannichaeus, ”"geminata N littera”, which was interpreted as meaning fshedding manna”, manna fundens (cf. Contra Faustum XDER22) ED OREsame slightly contemptuous quidam (Manes quidam) is also adduced in Hegemonius, Acta Archelai? (ed. C. H. Beeson, 1906, p. 4, line 22), who, however, offers a detailed contribution to a description of Mani's looks.” The question of Mani himself, his family and ancestry, his native town were of little or no interest. Everybody concentrated on his words and doctrines to such an extent that the mention of his name and perhaps a determination of nationality were considered sufficient information.

The completely unheeded scholium on the Basilicaef (Bas. XXI, I,

exXLV [Sch. h. II 580], ed. W. Ernst Heimbach II, p. 417) therefore is a typical position:

Oi Mavévtoc tod II&poov uadntai dvo åpydg EiCÅyYOVvTEG Kai dvo JEOLG, åyadJdv kai movnpåv, TNV TåCGaVv Jpnokziav ådetodor TØ Tovnpå avTnv a åmovéuovtec, Kai TNV kevnv PåacenHodorv. Zyovor å& Tva &dayyEMm kai c&ANVNV rapåypanta katå Pilinnov kai Omuåv. céBovor då fMov AEYOVOLV. yYEvEcdar v pavTacia KaTd av? ovv toic doTpOLG, Kai TNV oikovopi tra as well the In the case of Mani? and Jesus and to a certain extent Zarathus the person brief, uncertain, and in part completely erroneous information about and certain himself thus is strangely conflicting with the much more copious routes and the and means, its and cult sources of the complex of doctrines, the vollståneine chkeit Unmågli results of the mission. It is certainly "ein Ding der dige Biographie des Måni zu verfassen”!? ty. According to a Only the year of Mani's birth can be fixed with full certain only work written in Perquotation adduced by Biruni from Såhbuhragån, Mani's A.D. 216-217. By a sian, he was born in the year 527 katå Xandaiovc, i.e. the correct interpreand aia combination of this statement and one from Kephal n of the day and month: tation of a Chinese text we obtain the exact determinatio

10 14 April 216." This seems to be the last of the completely certain data; for regarding the native town?” in Babylonia (no doubt near Seleucia-Ctesiphon), as well as Mani's father's and mother's family,” his first public appearance, his relation to the three Sassanid Kings Såhpuhr I and his sons Hårmizd I and Bahråam I," during whose reign the work of his manhood was done, his travels? and his last years with his imprisonment, and finally his death-é in 274 (Haloun-Henning 1952, p. 197 ff.), 275 (Alfaric, Les écritures man. I, p. 25), 276 (O. Klima”), or 2717 (S. H. Taqizadeh, The Early Sasanians, BSOAS XI, 1943, p. 49 f., Puech, Le Man. p. 53), the statements change almost from source to source, and the forms of the names are rendered so corruptly that it is extremely complicated to find one's way out of this tangle and attain to the historical facts. These vague biographical data have not, of course, been blameless as regards the fact that Mani in the later Islamic tradition was not remembered as founder of a religion or as the great religious personality, but pre-eminently as an artist. The image of Mani drawn by this tradition is completely dominated by the idea of the painter Mani,?8 an essential feature of Manichaeism in general as well as in the person Mani thus being preserved for posterity. The tradition is historically well founded, partly in the Manichaeans” well-known care of and interest in paper, writing, and illustrations (cf. e.g. BBB p. 33—34 and Gåhiz' statement quoted in Kessler, Mani p. 366), partly in the existence of Mani's AÅrdhang,?? a picture-book (cf. in Abu'1-Ma'åli's Bayånu'l-Adyån, ed. Ch. Schefer Ep Stine "because they entered in the pact of conversion (i.e. the confession of the faith), but did not depart from the road of sinners (faithless ones)”,”? the Manual of Discipline from the Dead Sea I, 24 (ed. M. Burrows, New Haven 1951) unv3 JN? DBINN DTM 17735 277398 n|, "..] those who enter into the pact shall confess after them and say: we have sinned…,” and in the New Testament, Mark 1,15 ustavosite Kai TLOTEVETE åv TØ EDOAYYEMD, Acts 26,20 — ustavosiv kai åmrotpéperv &Ti tov dzdv, d£1a tÅjg UETAavoiag Épya mpåocovtac, and Hebr. 6,1 — — YzuéMov — — uetavolag åd vekpåv ÉpYWV, kai Tiotswg årmi Jzdv. But the key to the understanding of the Pahlavi Vendidad 3,40 = 8,28 is much nearer, viz. in Denkart (DkM) 57,1—6, which can almost be considered a commentary on the passage: måtakvar vitin menisn pat åstuvanih i apar den patit i hat vinås; apar ké åstuvånihå apar den né menisnik

kad gåfisnik vas-it xYåneh ut kunisnik vas nimåyéh adakit & den né raséh ".' ut goBisSnik kunisnik-it patit i haé kastar-ié vinås kad menisnik apaxSih i hadas neé apåk…?? "the fundamental decision of the mind in the confession of the faith is the repentance of sin: as to the one who at the confession of the faith is not involved in his mind, [it applies] that even if he were to say and do ever so much, he would not attain to the faith ". and repentance in speech and even in deed of even the slightest sin when the repentance of the mind does not take part in it…” The confession of the faith then is the exterior manifestation of a mental radicality which means the penitent rupture with the past and the promising assumption of a life under other ethical and religious ideals; in short, the confession is faith in all its aspects, for which reason one "must not throughout one's whole life turn from thé confession of the faith” (zivandak dranåd haé åstuvånih i den bé né vastan, Pahlavi Texts II, 129, 12—13; cf. Bailey, Zor. Probl. 159).

It is still left for us to deal with the Pahlavi commentary on Vendidad 7,72 (Sanjana 132,3 ff., Spiegel 100,1 ff.), which is of special interest because of the importance obtained by the passage in the development of the history of religion:

48 kad né pat (cf. Sanjana p. 132, note 1, and the apparatus in Jamasp I, p. 289) atuvånikih? ziyånak?% råd heh, €& paitåk (several MSS. have apaitåk!) baveh ki ke kasån råd pat patit bavet å-S patitih kår; apurnåyak i 7 (also "6” and "8” are recorded; Sanjana note 3) sålak råd hat apaståk paitåk kad-as pit pat patitih bavet, Såyet (cf. the text in Jamasp I, p. 289; several MSS. have aSåyet, others (e.g. Spiegel's text) have pat patit adåyet) yezi aedam (the text has aeSam) patard iSaro. Ståitya "if, because of ineptitude, it should not be possible for the woman, it is (opt.!) signified: He who does penance (repents) on behalf of others (actually: some), his act of penance (act of repentance) is effective. As to a child of seven years? it appears from Apaståk: When its father performs the act of penance (the act of repentance), it is valid. "Tf their fathers immediately …..” ”. With the principal word of this passage, atuvånikih, the Pahlavi commentary adduces a new element, which is introduced because of tuvånikih in the preceding section (7,71) in an attempt at completing the directions of the Avestan text by means of an account of the measures applying to the negative case. But in Pahlavi-Vendidad tuvånikih (Sanjana 131,17 étån ån i nairik tuvånikih åp x?art heh (HWHyb)) is a translation of zast&.miti- (ada acSa nåirika zastd.mitim (with K;) åpom franuharåt "and then this woman” is to drink a handful% of water”) and was interpreted as a characteristic of nairik. Therefore, the case in which the situation of the woman

is atuvånikih, is enforced as a matter of course.

But the canonical

legitimacy of the section obviously is affected, to judge from readings like apaitåk and aSåyet (cf. the text above). Nevertheless this very passage has given rise to the Pahlavi Rivåyat on Dåtastån i denik LIII (ed. Dhabhar p. 164,1—6), where the determination is rendered in an extended form and without text-critical reservation: patitikih kad zan atuvånik ut kad 368 påtaxSai, mart råd Såyet; pit apurnåyak i 8 sålak tåk 15 sålak (råd) (cf. the Vendidad passage) kad be kuntét, Såyet; apårik kas pat rås i paitambarih kad mart-é be & mart-é gåfet ka Sav i man råd pat patit bås, Sayet "when the woman is inept, and when the husband is qualified (authorized), the act of penance (act of repentance) is valid because of (as regards) the man; when a father performs it for a child between eight and fifteen years, it is valid; others (can do it) by being sent: When a man says to another: "Go for me and do penance,” it is valid.” This passage at the same time—with its clearly legal character—is a key to the understanding of Vd. 7,72, the addition of which is only logical and natural when "pat patit” and "patitih” are interpreted as some kind of compensation, penance. For just in 7,72 the question was raised of the character of the compensation or punishment (kå-hé asti fida = Sanjana 132,1 katår ave (rad) hast tåZisn). The fact that a woman in certain situations and a child under age cannot assume the economic burden or physical load required by a compensation or penance, is as obvious as the rigorism which would be expressed here if one kept in mind the formulary recitation, would be difficult to understand, more especially considering the offhand manner in which, in Late Zoroastrianism, also minors' knowledge of sacred texts and ability to recite them were taken for granted (cf. e.g. Iné. 5,2, ed.

49 Tavadia 91—92). It must be supposed that practically all—if necessary—would be able to recite a text or at any rate repeat it!?? But then, on the other hand, it must be energetically emphasized that the copyists of the extant Pahlavi texts, who in the colophons do not mention copyings antedating the year 1000,1% judged these on the basis of their own qualifications and the religious ideas to which they were accustomed. This fact ought to be considered in what follows when the patit passages in the Pahlavi literature known to us and the religious literature of the Persians written in New Persian is adduced. This presentation of texts is intended to serve two purposes, partly, in so far as allowed by the contexts, to try to define the ideas connected with the concept of patit in the two literary groups, partly, by the mere presentation of the text to obtain a clear distinction of the terminological differences manifesting themselves between the two groups. Of the non-religious Pahlavi literature, which in itself is of a slight extent, only one passage, even provided with text-critical difficulties, can be adduced, viz. from Kårnåmak i ArtaxSir i Påpakån 1,43 (ed. D. P. Sanjana, Bombay 1895—96, p. 10,2 f., H. S. Nyberg, Hilfsbuch I, p. 8,2 f., and—with the reading pytyk rejected here—ed. K. A. Nosherwån, Bombay 1896, p. 6,6 f. (= $ 28-29) and ed. B. T. Anklesaria, Bombay 1935, p. 14,2 f. (= II, 26); in the latest Persian edition, ed. M. Jr Maskiur, Tehrån 1950, p. 7, line 14 f., in the Persian translation:-pasimåni

angår), in which Påpak in a letter admonishes ArtaxSir to show caution and reserve, as Årdavån is a sovereign ruler (kåm-kårtar påtaxSåh) of life and property, and adds the following request: nun-ié båZisn gof