Miryai Saga Miryai is Expelled from Jewry A Variant of the Above from the Oxford Manuscript The Exiled Community Settle on the Euphrates The Jews Persecute the Mandaeans They Beg Then to Return Yahi-Yohanna Saga Portents of John`s Birth John`s Proclamation concerning himself and his assumption of the Prophet's mantle John`s Light-Ship John the Ascetic Of Judgement Day The Letter of Truth John`s Invulnerability John and the Baptism of Jesus John's Marriage John on His own Passing John's Birth , Uprising, and First Appearance John's Answer to Jesus Concerning the Angel of Death Fisher Saga The Fisher of Souls Saga The Light Ship of the Fisher The Good Fisher Rejects the Overtures of the Evil Ones and Overwhelms Them The Final Submission of the Evil Fishers Good Shepherd Prayers   THE LOVING SHEPHERDS OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD THE GOOD SHEPHERD Odds and Ends The Song of the Poor's Exhaltation Exhortations In the Beginning The Treasury of Life

Sidra d-Yahia

Miryai Saga

THE STORY OF THE BREACH WITH JUDAISM

They Beg Them to Return

All the Jews gathered together and followed after Miryai. They went and found that a throne was set up for Miryai on the bank of Euphrates. A white standard was for her unfurled and a book stood upright on her lap. She reads in the Books of Truth and rouses all worlds from their sleep. She holds in her hand the staff of Life's water, the girdle is bound round her loins. Miryai in humbleness prays and proclaims with wondrous voice. The fishes gather out of the sea, the birds' from the mouth of Euphrates. They come to hear Miryai's voice and no more long to lie down to sleep. They breathe in the sweet scent around her and forget the world. When the Jews saw this, they stood up before her. They felt shamed, doubled their fists, smote on the fore-court of their breast and lamented. The mother of Miryai spake, and tears streamed into her bosom. "Look on me, Miryai, my daughter," says she unto her; "look on me who am thy mother! My daughter art thou and the daughter of all of the priests. Thy head is the great chief of the temple. Rememberest thou not, Miryai, that the Torah lay on thy lap? Thou didst open it, read therein and knewest what stands in it. The outer keys lay in thy hands, and the inner thou didst put in chains. All the priests and priests' sons came and kissed thy hand. Far whom thou wouldst, thou didst open the door: whom thou wouldst not, must turn and go hack to his seat. A thousand stand there and two thousand sit there. They submit themselves to thee, as a eunuch-made slave, and they give ear to thy word in Jerusalem. Why didst thou forget thy brothers and thy heart abandon the priests? Lo, the brides weep in Judea, the women and men in Jerusalem. Their beloved gold have they cast from them, end they give themselves up to wailing and mourning for thee. They say: 'We will make away with our goods, until Miryai returns. Gold forge we (? no longer), and cast away fair raiments of silk and bracelets (?). They stand on the roofs and look out, that they may see thee again in Jerusalem. For thee they make vows, if thou comest to me and we go hence. My daughter, arise, come back to thy dwelling-place the city Jerusalem. Come, light up thy lamps which have been put out from the day when thou with drewest thysellf.' Have no longing after this man, who has prisoned thee and taken thee off. Leave the man, mho is not of thy dwelling place alone by himself in the world. Let him not say: I have gone and carried off Miryai from her place· Come, teach the chidren, so that they may learn. Lay the Torah in thy lap and let us hear thy voice as it used to be. From the moment and the day when thou didst detach the dough has it been covered up…" When Miryai heard this from her mother, she laughed and rejoiced in her mind: " It surely could not be the Jews," says she unto her, " the infamous, worthless priests! It surely would not be the Jews who stand there and bow damn to a brick grave! They shall be buried in the Darkness. " Go, go," says she unto them, " ye fools, ye abortions: ye who were not of the world." I am no woman who is stripped for wantoning: and it is not that I have fallen in love with a man. Stripped am I not for returning to you and for again seeing you, doming of blasphemy. Go, go hence from me, ye who have witnessed falsehood and lying against me. Against me ye witnessed wantonness and thieving, and held me up as ye are yourselves. Blessed be the Man who freed me front my fetters and planted my feet here. No wantonness have I committed with him and attempted no theft in the world. Instead of the witness ye have witnessed against me, there came to me prayer and praise giving." As the priests stand there and speak with Maryai at the mouth of Euphrates, there came a pure eagle-bird, whose wings are the fullness of worlds. He flew down on the Jews, dashed at them with his wings, bound them and sank them down unto the water's bottom, deeper [down] than the foul-smelling mud. He sank them deeper down than the blazing [water] that is inside the dark water. He sank their ships down to the blazing water's bottom. He destroyed the temple and laid fire to Jerusalem. He brought downfall upon them and in Jerusalem slew the disciples. He descended unto her (Miryai), folded before her his wings, settled down by her, narrated and proclaimed to her, and they held out the loved hand of Truth to each other. He embraced her in potent embracing, forced her down and set her on the throne. "Miryai," he speaks to her, "with favor look upon me, remember me in the Life's presence. I am thy Good Messenger, the Man, who gives ear to thy discourse. I beseech thee for the high Truth, the Truth which the Jordans have chosen." " O Good Treasure," she makes answer unto him, "Treasure whom Life has sent! Thy glory and thy light has risen upon us, and thy honor is approved in Light's region. Everyone who gives ear to thy voice, will be in the pure region included. In Life's Treasury will he be included and thy rays will rise (over him) twofold. For everyone who gives not ear to thy voice, making and sleep will be wiped out. Let him belong to the Jews, to the slaves and all of the priests, the sons of the Harlot. I and thou will circle aloft and victorious mount to Light's region." May Life be our pledge, and Life is victorious.

Miryai Saga Miryai is Expelled from Jewry A Variant of the Above from the Oxford Manuscript The Exiled Community Settle on the Euphrates The Jews Persecute the Mandaeans They Beg Then to Return Yahi-Yohanna Saga Portents of John`s Birth John`s Proclamation concerning himself and his assumption of the Prophet's mantle John`s Light-Ship John the Ascetic Of Judgement Day The Letter of Truth John`s Invulnerability John and the Baptism of Jesus John's Marriage John on His own Passing John's Birth , Uprising, and First Appearance John's Answer to Jesus Concerning the Angel of Death Fisher Saga The Fisher of Souls Saga The Light Ship of the Fisher The Good Fisher Rejects the Overtures of the Evil Ones and Overwhelms Them The Final Submission of the Evil Fishers Good Shepherd Prayers   THE LOVING SHEPHERDS OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD THE GOOD SHEPHERD Odds and Ends The Song of the Poor's Exhaltation Exhortations In the Beginning The Treasury of Life

From the book Gnostic John the Baptiszer: Selections from the Mandaean John-Book by G.R.S. Mead pages 67 - 70