NATAL
707
NATAL
This female monster of chaos Nasorseans called the
Holy Ghost, the Deceiver (spirit is feminine in Ara-
maic) or Ruha, no doubt In si)ite the Cliristians.
This Ruha has a son ciJled Ur, the prince of devils.
Manda de Hayye conquers him and throws him into
chains. Unfortunately while (iabricl the Apostle and
Petahiel are beginning to create a good workl, Ur
escapes and begets with Ruha the seven planets, the
twelve signs of the Zodiac, and the five elements. A
truce is called and Petahiel amicably shares the crea-
tion of the world with the sons of Ur and Ruha. The
lifeless body of Adam is created, but the "Image of
God" is without motion. With the help of Abel,
Seth, Enos, and Adakas there is breathed into him the
spirit of life. The seven planets, however, and the
twelve signs of the Zodiac constitute an evil influence
in the world, which is continually being overcome
by the Manda de Hayye. With the doctrine of the
Light-King a considerable modification of aeonology
was introduced, but the main outline remained the
same. The Light-King, the Father of the aeons, be-
gets Manda de Hayye or Protanthropos, Adam as
the First man. This Manda de Hayye becomes in-
carnate in Hibil the Glorious or Hibil Ziva (KVT ?"3'n).
Kessler pointedly remarks that if Manda is the Christ
then Hibil is the Jesus Christ of Nasorajanism. Hibil's
descents into Hades play a great role in their theology.
Hibil is the Saviour and the Prophet of man. He is
Marduk attempting to displace Jesus of Nazareth.
A last emanation of the Light-King was John the
Baptist, who with Hibil, Seth, and Enos are brethren
of the Manda de Hayye. Frequent mention is made
of heavenly Jordans, being streams of living waters
from the transcendental realm of light. Hibil Ziva
was baptized in 360,000 of them before his descent to
the nether world.
111. Discipline and Ritual. — The Nasorsans strongly repudiate all ideas of cehbacy and asceti- cism; they have a true Semitic contempt for the unmarried and repeatedly inculcate the precept "in- crease and multiply". They reject all fasting and self- denial as useless and unnatural, and if they observed the Mohammedan fasts at least in outward appearance it was only to avoid trouble and persecutions. They are the reverse of Manichaeans; there may be much evil in this world but man is bound to make the best of it. No wonder Mani left them. They observe no distinctions of food, except that blood and things strangled are forbidden them, also all food prepared by strangers, and even food bought in the market, must be washed. They have no special hours for prayer except that they must only pray when it is light, no prayer is heard as long as it is dark. Not the Mohammedan Friday, or the Jewish Sabbath, but the Christian Sunday is their weekly holyday. This, however, is not a conscious imitation of the Christians, whose ' ' Carpenter-god "they hate as a son of the devil . The religious observance of other holidays seems of more recent origin, though no doubt their civil observ- ance, as in the case of New Year's day (first day of Wintermonth; their months have thirty days with five intercalary days to make a solar year), is ancient enough, being a festival of ancient Babylonia. They observe Ascension day (of Hibil Ziva returning from Hades) on the eighteenth of first Springmonth. the Great Baptismal Festival on the intercalary days, the Feast of the Egyptians apparently drowned in the Red Sea under Pharaoh (they were not really drowned, but escaped and were the forefathers of the Naso- rseans) , and a few other feasts. They possessed a hierarchical priesthood to whom they paid a profound veneration. Their patriarch is the Rash Amma, chief of the people, but they seem but rarely to have had such a dignitary; legend says only one before and one after John the Baptist. A kind of bishops, priests, and deacons form the hierarchy; they are called Ganzivra, TarmidhS,, and Shecanda, or Treas-
urer, Disciple, and Messenger. The ordination to
the priesthood is preceded by a so-called retreat of
sixty days during which the candidate submits to
many quaint rules and baptisms. The Shecanda
is only an assistant, but the priest's privilege is the
power to baptize; the bishop is the administrator
of the community. They possess three great sacra-
mental rites, Masbutha or baptism; Pehta and
Mabuha or communion, really morsel (bread) and
draught (water); and Kusta or troth, a handshake
and plighting of troth. Baptism, always in flowing or
living water of rivers and brooks, is the greatest of all
the rites. Children are baptized as soon as they can
bear total immersion. Self-baptism is frequent; the
priest when baptizing used originally the formula:
Thou art signed with the sign of life: The Name of
the Life and the Manda de Hayye is named over
thee. Baptism takes place on Sunday and on many
other occasions when forgiveness of sin is required.
It is followed by a kind of anointing with moist
sesame. Communion is given in thin unleavened
cakes kept in the priest's house and a handful of
water. Kushta is a solemn sign of fellowship with
brother Nasora>ans. "Brethren of the flesh pass
away, Kushta brethren remain forever", says the
proverb. The history of Nasoraeanism is practically
unknown. The Genza contains a Book of Kings of a
pseudo-historical character, but the utter confusion
of their historical reminiscences makes it difficult to
find a kernel of truth. The Nasora;ans were lo.st to
history till Ignatius a Jesu brought the news of their
existence. They have been a prominent religion, as
they were classed with Christians and Jews by the
Mohammedans. It is often held that they once ac-
tually dwelt in Palestine near the Jordan and immi-
grated into Chaldea. Their bitter hatred of all that is
Jewish or Christian (for Moses is a false prophet,
Jesus, the Great Deceiver, whom Enos justly brings
to the cross), together with their extensive use of
Biblical names, would lead one to believe that though
their "theology" is Indian-Babylonian they were once
historically connected with Jewish Christians.
Brandt, Die manddische Religion (Leipzig. 1889): Idem, Das Schicksal der Seete nach dem Tode e(c. in JahrbUch. der prot. Theol. (1892); Idem, il/anddisc/ie -Sc/^^i/ien (Gottingen, 1893); Kessler, an extensive article in Realencykl. fiir pTot. Theolog. (1903), s. v. Mand&er; Idem. Mandaans in Encyclopad. Britan.; Ochser, Sidra d' Nismata (Book of Souls), tr. ; Zeitschrift d. deut. morgent. Gesell. (1907) ; DE Morgan, Textes Mandaites in Missions Scientifiques en Perse, V (Paris, 1904) ; Siouffi, Etudes sur la religion des Soubbas (Paris, 1880); Babelon, Les Mendaites in Annates de Philos. Chret, (1881) ; Petermann, Reisen im Orient (Leipzig. 1861) ; NoLDEKE, Manddische Grammatik (Leipzig, 1875).
J. P. Arendzen.
Natal, Vicariate Apostolic of. — The history of the Catholic Church in South Africa goes back to 1660, when a French bishop and a few priests were saved from the wreck of the Marichal near the Cape of Good Hope. But they were only allowed to land, and no permission was given them to minister to the few Catholics who were already in Cape Town. It was not until 1803 that a Catholic priest was per- mitted to say Mass in Cape Colony. Fathers Joannes Lansink, Jacobus Melissen, and Lambertus Prinsen landed at Cape Town in 1803; the following year they were expelled. Pius VII by letters Apos- tolic dated 8 June, 1818, appointed the Rt. Rev. Ed- ward Bede Slater, O.S.B., the first vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope and the neighbouring is- lands, Mauritius included. Bishop Slater on his way to Mauritius in 1820, left Rev. Fr. Scully at Cape Town in charge of the Catholics. In 1826 Rev. Theodore Wagner became resident priest. He was succeeded by Rev. E. Rishton in 1827. On 6 June, 1837, Gregory XVI established the Vicariate of the Cape of Good Hope, separate from Mauritius, and from that time Cape Colony has had its own bishops.
South Africa, comprising the country between Cape Agulhas and the tenth degree of south latitude, and
