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Manichaeism was one of the major religions of the world from the time of late antiquity and thereafter. Founded by the Iranian prophet Mani, this dynamic religious tradition incorporated Christian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and gnostic themes into its theology and practice. Manichaean religion attained nearly universal proportions, and it spread throughout southern Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East, and central and eastern Asia. The textual tradition of Manichaean religion is especially significant, and among the most impressive texts within Manichaean literature are the songs and hymns of the Coptic Manichaean Songbook.
1
The songs selected for inclusion in the present collection celebrate the liberation of one who is beautiful but oppressed in the world, and the return of the light below to the glory of the light above. The soul that sleeps awakens with the dawn, and the ferry of light reaches the sun, the moon, and the realm above.
SONGS OF
THOMAS
Song 9: The Lion and the Beautiful Daughter
The lion took my beautiful daughter. He seized her,
dragged her into his lair with his great dragon.
When she was in the pit, the lion screamed.
His companions gathered. The dragon whistled
and hissed. All the beasts gathered near him
and roared. They hid from my daughter,
roaring elsewhere, lest their powers diminish.
So my cry calls up to the mighty one,
who excels among the powers. I the son ask
my father. My garment hangs
on the universe, saying, If I have wronged
the great lion, let him eat me now in his lair.
If I’ve wronged the great dragon, let him swallow
me here. But if I haven’t wronged the lion
here in his midst, let me escape his lair and take
my daughter from him. Father of us all
place the garment over us all. I pounded
their nets. I cracked open their lair.
I cast stones on it. I seized the great dragon, and his
consort I enmeshed in a trap. I took my daughte
r
from them and placed her high above them all.
I hurled stones at their wheel till it collapsed
under them, and my daughter and I destroyed
all their nets. We drove the great lion
and the dragon out of the cosmos, and we came
to the village land of the just. They know
it too. From the heart of a second lair I
took my daughter into the land. They now
are also happy. And it will happen soon
just as the bride enters the bridal chamber.
Song 12: Jesus Dug a River
Jesus dug a river in the cosmos. He dug a river,
even he of the sweet name. He dug it with a spade
of truth. He dredged it with a basket of wisdom.
The stones he dredged from it are drops
of incense from Lebanon. All the waters in it
are roots of light. Three ships sail.
They voyage in the river, testing. One is full,
one half freighted. The third is empty.
The full ship sails fearlessly. One half full.
The empty one comes empty
and leaves nothing behind. It will suffer
at the customs. It has nothing to give
,
nothing on board. They will tear it apart
wickedly and send it back to the port.
The ship will suffer what corpses suffer. Empty.
They called it and it heard nothing.
Song 20: Cry of Pamoun the Ox
Hear an ox. The cry of Pamoun, an ox. Mercy.
I make the worlds weep.
What have the children of the earth given me?
They grabbed two-edged axes
and stuck me in marshes. They felled fat trees
and even thin ones.
They didn’t leave alone. With the fat tree
they cut out a plow.
From the thin one they made a sharp goad.
Then took it to an artist
who in his own hand fashioned a yoke,
stuck it on my neck,
and hooked the plow hanging behind me.
They used the goad
to pierce my ribs. Then they carried me
to the butcher’s son,
the fattener of oxen; it was the butcher’s
son who chopped me up
,
scattered me to foreign tents, hung me
in far markets, and
before anybody tossed my bones to stray
from the owners. They don’t buy me. They burn
what is inside me,
even that. Don’t beat Pamoun, the ox.
Shake the spirit vessels in you.
3
SONG OF
HERAKLEIDES
Come Together
Come together, O sons of the earth, and hear
the angel who was sent out
with the message of the skies.
You came and were a gathering, you came
and they gathered in you.
Tell us the message of the skies.
You came and the aeons were in rank,
you came and they gathered in you.
Tell us
the message of the skies.
Wake, you who sleep.
Wake, you who sleep. Sleep in the caver
n
that you can receive the sky’s message.
The carrier of the message is on his way
with the message from the land of light
to speak out the message of the skies.
He was sent out. He raced laughing
to the first man to tell him the message.
He came and knocked on the gates
and shouted, Open up at once.
I have the message of the skies!
The Call Is Heard
The call, the call, is once again heard.
I came and they were gathered.
I came and the gods were happy.
I came and they were gathered round me.
Look, this is the message!
I came and the father was gathered.
The aeons were gathered round the father.
Look, this is the message!
Look, this is the message!
The harpists were gathered and the pipes were sonorous.
I was sent out, and the air was ecstatic
to be all gathered and round the father
.
I was sent out, and the walls were dug in the earth,
and the sentinels of the towers
were guarding them.
Look, this is the message!
I was sent out, and the father
was sleeping in his quarters in the land of light.
Look, this is the message! I was sent out, and the father
was happy and the virgins encircled him.
Look, this is the message!
I was sent out, and the pipes were sonorous
on the mooring places.
Look, this is the message! I was sent out,
and the sea was placid,
and the raft of heaven was towed out.
Look, this is the message!
I was sent out, and ships touched land,
and the seaports were secured.
Look, this is the message! I came, and the walls
were set in foundations,
and the sentinels on the tower guarded them.
Look, this is the message
!
SONG TO
JESUS
, 264
Ferry Me to the Sun
Take me, firstborn. The path of light
spreads before me from my own first city.
I look for someone. The dissolving image
of the savior comes to me. O first one, the light
of the virgin touches me, the brightest
picture of truth with her three angels
who give grace. Firstborn, the portals of
the sky fly open before me in the rays
of my savior and his portrait of light.
I left my garment on the earth.
Senile diseases were mine. I dress in the deathless
robe. Ferry me to the sun and the moon.
Ferry of light at peace over three earths.
Firstborn, I am a holy bride in her chamber
of light, resting. I keep my victory gift. I have worked;
it is good. My end is happy eternal possession.
O firstborn, glory and conquest for lord Mani,
his holy elect, and for blessed Mary’s soul
.
WANDERER
SONG
O Soul, Sleeping
O soul, sleeping. You who sleep, you who
doze, wake. Sun rises on you.
Morning is the truth of the commandments
the dead, the corpses have risen.
Here is the habitat of robbers,
the house of cares and sadnesses.
They are merciless scavengers,
hearing no call. They have no heart
for the condemned. They flatter you
the tree. The good man has come.
Jewel garland, you. Wandering sheep,
your shepherd seeks you. Noble and despised,
your king wants you. Where are
your angelic cloths, robes that don’t age?
