Mandaeism Mandaeism (Mandaic language, Classical Mandaic: ),https://qadaha.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/nhura-dictionary-mandaic-english-mandaic.pdf sometimes also known as Nasoraeanism or Sabianism, is a Gnosticism, Gnostic, Monotheism, ...

, Hayyi Rabbi (

Neo-Mandaic Neo-Mandaic, also known as Modern Mandaic, sometimes called the "''ratna''" ( "jargon"), is the modern reflex of the Mandaic language, the liturgical language of the Mandaean religious community of Iraq and Iran. Although severely endangere ...

; ), 'The Great Living God', is the supreme

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

from which all things emanate. Hayyi Rabbi is also known as "The First Life", since during the creation of the material world,

Yushamin In Mandaeism, Yushamin () and also known as the 'Second Life', is the primal uthra (angel or guardian) and a subservient emanation who was created by the Mandaean God 'The Great Life' (''Hayyi Rabbi'' or 'The First Life'), hence beginning the cre ...

emanated from Hayyi Rabbi as the 'Second Life'. According to Qais Al-Saadi, Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal, creator of all, the one and only in domination, who has no partner.Hanish, Shak (2019). The Mandaeans In Iraq. In "God is worshiped alone and praised as the Supreme Force of the universe. He presides over all the worlds and all of creation." In Mandaeism, is the belief in One God (cf.

Middle Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written and ...

(sāhdutā) "testimony").

Names

Hayyi Rabbi is also referred to in Mandaean scriptures as ''Hiia Rbia Qadmaiia'' ('The First Great Life') or ''Hiia Rbia Nukraiia'' ('The Alien/ Transcendental Great Life'). Other

names A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...

used are ('Lord of Greatness' or 'The Great Lord'), ('The Great Mind'), ('King of Light') and ('The First Life').Drower, Ethel Stefana. The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran. Oxford At The Clarendon Press, 1937. ''

Kušṭa In Mandaeism, kushta or kušṭa () can have several meanings. Its original literal meaning is "truth" in the Mandaic language, and is thus typically used to refer to the Mandaean religious concept of truth. The same word is also used to refer t ...

'' ('Truth', ) is also another name for Hayyi Rabbi, as well as ''Parṣupa Rba'' ('Great Immanence, Great Countenance'). In the

Ginza Rabba The Ginza Rabba (), Ginza Rba, or Sidra Rabba (), and formerly the Codex Nasaraeus, is the longest and the most important holy scripture of Mandaeism. The Ginza Rabba is composed of two parts: the Right Ginza (GR) and the Left Ginza (GL). T ...

(in

Right Ginza The Right Ginza () is one of the two parts of the Ginza Rabba, the longest and the most important holy scripture of Mandaeism. The other part of the Ginza Rabba is the Left Ginza. Summaries of each book (or tractate), based mostly on Häberl ( ...

books 1 and 2.1), the

divine countenance The divine countenance is the face of God. The concept has special significance in the Abrahamic religions. In Islam Islam considers God to be beyond ordinary vision as the Quran states that "Sights cannot attain him; he can attain sights", but ...

of Hayyi Rabbi is referred to as the "Great Countenance of Glory" ( , ''parṣufa'' in Neo-Mandaic). In the ''

Asut Malkia The ''Asut Malkia'' ("Salutation of Kings") is one of the most commonly recited prayers in Mandaeism. In the prayer, the reciter wishes health and victory (''asuta u-zakuta'' ) upon dozens of heavenly and ancestral figures. According to E. S. Dro ...

'', a commonly recited

Mandaean prayer Daily prayer in Mandaeism, called brakha in Mandaic language, Mandaic (cognate with Hebrew ''berakhah'' and Arabic ''barakah'') or occasionally ''birukta'' (''birukhta''), consists of set prayers that are recited three times per day. Mandaeans ...

, another name for Hayyi Rabbi is ''Aba Rba ḏ-ʿqara'' ( 'Great Father of Glory'). According to

E. S. Drower Ethel, Lady Drower ( Ethel May Stefana Stevens; 1 December 1879 – 27 January 1972) was a British cultural anthropologist, orientalist and novelist who studied the Middle East and its cultures.Christa Müller-Kessler, Drower ée Stevens Ethe ...

, the name Great Mind or Great

Mana Mana may refer to: Religion and mythology * Mana (Oceanian cultures), the spiritual life force energy or healing power that permeates the universe in Melanesian and Polynesian mythology * Mana (food), archaic name for manna, an edible substance m ...

refers to the "over-soul" or "over-mind", the earliest manifestation of Hayyi, from which the soul of a human might be seen as a spark or temporarily detached part. In book three of the

, Hayyi is said to have "formed Himself in the likeness of the Great

, from which He emerged".

Brikha Nasoraia Rishama Brikha H. S. Nasoraia (full name: Brikha Haithem Saed Naṣoraia; ; born 1964 in Iraq) is an Iraqi-Australian Mandaean priest and scholar based in Sydney, Australia. He is affiliated with the University of Sydney and Mardin Artuklu Univ ...

writes:

In prayers

Many Mandaean texts and prayers begin with the opening phrase ''b-šumaihun ḏ-hiia rabia'' (), "In the name of (/in their name) the Great Life" pronunciation: "Beeshmayhon 'dhayyi rabbi, (, similar to the

basmala The (; also known by its opening words ; , "In the name of God in Islam, God") is the titular name of the Islamic phrase “In the name of God in Islam, God, Rahman (name), the Most Gracious, Rahim, the Most Merciful” (, ). It is one of ...

in Islam and the Christian

Trinitarian formula The Trinitarian formula is the phrase "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (; ), or words to that form and effect, referring to the three persons of the Christian Trinity. It is often followed by an " amen". The T ...

References

{{Authority control Mandaeism Conceptions of God Names of God in Gnosticism Gnostic deities

Names

In prayers

See also

References