Seal and Comforter: On the Apocalyptic Prophethood of Elkasai, Mani, and Muħammad

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The Bible, the Qur’ān, & Their Interpretation:

Syriac Perspectives

The Bible, the Qur'an, & Their Interpretation: Syriac Perspectives, ed. Cornelia Horn (Eastern Mediterranean Texts and Contexts 1; Warwick, RI: Abelian Academic, 2013).

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Abelian Academic

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN TEXTS AND CONTEXTS

EDITORIAL BOARD

Cynthia Villagomez (Winston-Salem, NC, USA) Hagith Sivan (Lawrence, KS, USA) Robert R. Phenix (Berlin, Germany) Guita G. Hourani (Beirut, Lebanon)

Cornelia B. Horn (Tübingen & Berlin, Germany; Washington, DC, USA)

Sidney H. Griffith (Washington, DC, USA) Geoffrey Greatrex (Ottawa, Canada)

Volume 1

The Bible, the Qur’ān, & Their Interpretation: Syriac Perspectives


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The Bible, the Qur’ān, & Their Interpretation:

Syriac Perspectives

CORNELIA B. HORN, Editor

Abelian Academic An Imprint of The Abelian Group

Warwick, Rhode Island, USA


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THE BIBLE, THE QUR’ĀN, & THEIR INTERPRETATION: SYRIAC PERSPECTIVES

Copyright © 2013 Cornelia B. Horn and The Abelian Group.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Office, Abelian Academic, An Imprint of the Abelian Group, Warwick, Rhode Island, USA, [email protected].

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The Bible, the Qur’ān, & Their Interpretation: Syriac Perspectives / edit-ed by Cornelia B. Horn p. cm. – (Eastern Mediterranean Texts and Contexts; no. 1)

Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN: 06-1578-5042 (paper binding; v. 1: alk. paper) 1. Bible. O.T.—Interpretation, Translation, History and criticism.

2. Bible. N.T.—Interpretation, Translation, History and criti-cism. 3. Qur’ān—Interpretation. 4. Apocrypha. 5. Judaism—History of Interpretation. 6. Christianity—History of Interpreta-tion. 7. Islam—History of Interpretation. 8. Interreligious Rela-tionships. 9. Syriac Language and Literature. I. Horn, Cornelia B.

BP134 .B4 B53 2013 BL71 .H54 2013

Printed in the United States of America.

All rights reserved. ISBN: 06-1578-5042; ISBN-13: 978-06-1578-5042


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In Memory of

Fr. David W. Johnson, S.J.

(Nov. 6, 1938 – Nov. 24, 2011)

Scholar and Teacher

of the Ancient Christian Near East


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vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Introduction

Cornelia B. Horn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

xi

Adam’s Offspring, Male and Female: Comparative Perspectives on

a Trajectory in Jewish, Syriac Christian, and Early Islamic Litera‐

ture

Robert R. Phenix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1

Rendering Hebrew Sacrificial Terminology in Syriac Leviticus 1‐7

and Its Implications

James D. Moore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15

Ishodad of Merv’s Exegesis of Psalms 2, 8, and 45 in the Light of

Antiochene Exegesis

Herrie F. van Rooy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

47

Jesus’ Healing Miracles as Proof of Divine Agency and Identity:

The Early Syriac Trajectory

Cornelia B. Horn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

71

Remission and Restoration between Luke and Acts: The Riddle of

Luke 23:34a and the Role of the Syriac Translations

Ilaria L. E. Ramelli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

101

Mapping the Syriac Chrysostom: The Topography of His Legacy

in the Syriac Tradition

Jeff W. Childers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

135

Seal and Comforter: On the Apocalyptic Prophethood of Elkasai,

Mani, and Muħammad

Alexander Toepel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

157


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

viii

The Source for the Qur’ānic Story of the Companions of the Cave

(sūrat al‐Kahf 18)

Mark Whitters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

167

Biblical Phrases as Sources for Accents in Reciting Syriac Texts

Ulrike‐Rebekka Nieten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

189

Biblical Syriac Texts in Two Maronite Manuscripts

Gaby Abou Samra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

203

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

260

Index of Ancient Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

263


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157

Seal and Comforter: On the Apocalyptic Prophethood of Elkasai, Mani, and Muħammad*

ALEXANDER TOEPEL

SCHOLARSHIP HAS SHOWN repeatedly that Muħammad’s identifi‐

cation with the Paraclete of John 14:16‐17, 26; 15:26; and 16:13 is

not found in the Qur’ān itself, but made its first appearance in

Muħammad b. Isħāq’s biography of the Islamic prophet, written

in or around 733 C.E.1 The term Ibn Isħāq used, munaħħemanā, is in

fact a Syro‐Aramaic word. In Christian‐Palestinian Aramaic this

* This article had its origins in a paper presented at the SBL 2010 Annual

Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, in November 20‐23, 2010. A more comprehensive

German version of this study, entitled “Tröster und Siegel. Ein Beitrag zur Pro‐

phetologie,“ is to be found in Timo Güzelmansur, ed., Hat Jesus Muhammad ange‐

kündigt? Der Paraklet des Johannesevangeliums und seine koranische Bedeutung

(CIBEDO‐Schriftenreihe 1; Regensburg: Pustet, 2012), 51‐72. I am indebted to

Cornelia Horn and Robert Phenix for improving the style of my presentation and

correcting several mistakes, as well as to Stephen Shoemaker, who first drew my

attention to the topic of apocalyptic prophethood. 1 Cf. Alfred Guillaume, “The Version of the Gospels Used in Medina Circa

700 A.D.,” Al‐Andalus 15 (1950), 289‐296; Heribert Busse, “Ahmad, Muhammad

und der Paraklet in der islamischen Exegese von Sure 61:6,” in Hat Jesus Muham‐

mad angekündigt? Der Paraklet des Johannesevangeliums und seine koranische Bedeu‐

tung (ed. Timo Güzelmansur; CIBEDO‐Schriftenreihe 1; Regensburg: Pustet,

2012), 27‐50, here 35, with reference to Alfred Guillaume, tr., The Life of Muham‐

mad. A Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah (Oxford: Oxford University

Press, 1955), 103‐104.


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●◦◦ BIBLE, QUR’ĀN, INTERPRETATION: SYRIAC PERSPECTIVES

158

word means “comforter,” rendering the Greek paraklētos. Yet in

Syriac it carries the meaning of “one who raises the dead.”2 In its

latter meaning, the term generally refers to Christ in Syriac litera‐

ture and corresponds to Hebrew menaħem, a designation of the

Messiah known from Talmud and Midrash.3 Ibn Isħāq connected

the term with “Muħammad” on the basis of phonetic similarity

and went on to identify Muħammad with the Paraclete foretold in

John’s gospel.

Orthodox Christian tradition understands the Paraclete in

John’s Gospel to refer to the Holy Spirit, who is not to be identi‐

fied with a historical person. Thus the question arises how Islamic

tradition could connect this term with the prophet Muħammad

and see it as a confirmation of his prophethood. The Hebrew and

Syriac terms menaħem and munaħħemanā, which refer to the Messi‐

ah, prima facie make probable an origin in the Judaeo‐Christian

tradition, and it is there that we have to look for possible origins

of this usage within the Islamic tradition.

THE PARACLETE AS THE “ONE WHO RAISES THE DEAD”

Manichaeans formed a group of ancient religionists who were ge‐

ographically and chronologically relatively close to Ibn Isħāq. Ma‐

nichaeism remained strong in the eighth century C.E., making it

all the more relevant for the present study since its founder Mani

was not only designated to be the “Paraclete,” but was called the

“Seal of the Prophets” as well. This, of course, is used as a desig‐

nation for Muħammad in sūrat al‐Aħzāb 33:41.4 Both attributes

2 Cf. Anton Baumstark, “Eine altarabische Evangelienübersetzung aus dem

Christlich‐Palästinensischen,” ZS 8 (1932), 201‐209, here 202‐203. 3 See Baumstark, “Eine altarabische Evangelienübersetzung,” 203; and The‐

odor Nöldeke and Friedrich Schwally, Geschichte des Qorans (Leipzig: T. Dieter,

second ed. 1909; repr. Hildesheim: Olms, 1961), p. 9, n. 1. 4 To be sure, the Manichaean use of the term “seal” seems to have arisen

over and against an Islamic background; see Guy G. Stroumsa, “«Seal of the

Prophets». The Nature of a Manichaean Metaphor,” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic

and Islam 7 (1986), 61‐74, here 61‐63 and 74; and Carsten Colpe, Das Siegel der

Prophe‐ten (Arbeiten zur neutestamentlichen Theologie und Zeitgeschichte 3;

Berlin: In‐stitut Kirche und Judentum, 2nd ed., 2007), 24‐26.


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ALEXANDER TOEPEL: Seal and Comforter ◦◦●

159

achieve greater clarity when they are viewed in the context of

Mani’s upbringing and his conversion experience. Mani apparent‐

ly spent his youth among the Elkasaites, a Judaeo‐Christian bap‐

tismal community in southern Mesopotamia that featured strong

Gnostic tendencies.5 According to the Cologne Mani Codex, at the

age of maturity Mani witnessed the apparition of a luminous an‐

gel who resembled him in outer appearance and whom Mani

identified as his heavenly twin or syzygos.6 Mani went on to identi‐

fy this angel, who revealed to Mani knowledge of his true nature

and origin from the otherwordly God, with the Paraclete spoken

of in John’s gospel. Knowledge of God and self thus fell into one:

By realizing his own true nature—after all, the revealing angel is

Mani—he gained knowledge of his origins out of this world and

the cosmic drama that led to his imprisonment within matter. Ac‐

cordingly, Mani was foremost a recipient of revelation. Only by

internalizing this revelation did he in turn become a revealer and

paraclete for others.7

This double procedure seems to have been important since

Mani interpreted the mission of other prophets, most importantly

that of Jesus, according to the same pattern. Like Mani, Jesus was

at first simply a human being, the son of Mary and Joseph. Only

5 On Mani’s biography, see Hans‐Joachim Klimkeit, “Mani, Manichäismus,”

in LThK 6 (Freiburg i. Br.: Herder, 3rd ed., 1997), 1265‐1267; and Henri‐Charles

Puech, Le Manichéisme. Son fondateur—sa doctrine (Musée Guimet; Bibliothèque de

Diffusion 56; Paris: Civilisations du Sud, 1949), 15‐57. For Mani’s connections

with the Elkasaites, see especially Georg Schöllgen, “Eine elchasaitische Synode

im Kölner Mani‐Kodex?” Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 51 (2008), 55‐67.

Gerard P. Luttikhuizen (Gnostic Revisions of Genesis Stories and Early Jesus Tradi‐

tions [NHMS 58; Leiden: Brill, 2006], 170‐184) questions whether the group Mani

belonged to in his youth were indeed Elkasaites. 6 CMC 11‐17. See Ludwig Koenen and Cornelia Römer, eds., Der Kölner Ma‐

ni‐Kodex (Papyrologica Coloniensia 14; Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1988), 6‐

10; English translation in Ron Cameron and Arthur J. Dewey, eds. and tr., The

Cologne Mani Codex (SBL Texts and Translations 15; Early Christian Literature

Series 3; Missoula: Scholars Press, 1979), 15 and 19. 7 See Ludwig Koenen, “From Baptism to the Gnosis of Manichaeism,” in

The Rediscovery of Gnosticism 2: Sethian Gnosticism (ed. Bentley Layton; Studies in

the History of Religions 4; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1981), 734‐756, here 735 and 741‐743.


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160

after meeting his heavenly twin did he become a revealer and par‐

aclete for his followers. Thus it was consequential that Mani un‐

derstood himself as Jesus’ direct successor and quite consciously

strove to achieve the imitatio Christi in his own life. Accordingly,

he saw himself not as an innovator, but rather as a renovator of an

ancient and at its roots basically self‐identical message, which ac‐

cording to later Manichaean teaching had been preached by a se‐

ries of prophets going back through Buddha, Zoroaster, Noah,

and Seth to Adam himself.8

This latter motif of a chain of prophets going back to Adam

seems to have been present among the Elkasaites, too, and is like‐

wise attested in the Pseudo‐Clementine Homilies.9 While the exact

procedure of revelation is not spelled out in the extant texts, a

comparison with Mandaean sources allows one to gain insights

into the details. In the Mandaean texts, it is Hibil‐Ziwa who made

Adam wake up and stand on his feet by revealing gnosis to him,

thus fulfilling the role of the luminous angel in Mani’s conversion

8 Cf. Puech, Le Manichéisme, 61, with n. 241; and John C. Reeves, Heralds of

That Good Realm (NHMS 41; Leiden: Brill, 1996), 7‐17. There is an obvious similar‐

ity here to the chain of prophets known to Islamic tradition and Adam indeed

looms large in Islamic mysticism. For a contemporary assessment of Adam’s role

vis‐à‐vis God and humankind from a Muslim perspective see Enes Karić, Essays

(on Behalf of) Bosnia (Sarajevo: El‐Kalem, 1999), 22 and 36‐38. Karić emphasizes at

the same time Adam’s universal role, symbolized by the first letter of his name

aleph/alif, which comprises in itself all other letters and in fact “every other visual

symbol” (p. 21) and the anti‐anthropocentric tradition of Islam as embodied in

the tenth‐century Rasāʾil Ikhwān aṣ‐Ṣafāʾ wa Khullān al‐Wafā, the “Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity and of the Friends of Loyalty,” which emphasizes human

beings as being part of nature, albeit at the end of a hierarchy from minerals

through plants and animals. 9 Cf. Kurt Rudolph, “Jüdische und christliche Täufertraditionen im Spiegel

des CMC,” in Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis (eds. Luigi Cirillo and Amneris Ro‐

selli; Cosenza: Marra, 1986), 69‐80, here 75; Ethel S. Drower, “Die Täufer und der

verborgene Adam,” in Der Mandäismus (ed. Geo Widengren; Wege der For‐

schung 167; Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1982), 196‐205, here

199; Han J. W. Drijvers, “Adam and the True Prophet in the Pseudo‐Clemen‐

tines,” in Loyalitätskonflikte in der Religionsgeschichte (eds. Christoph Elsas and

Hans G. Kippenberg; Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 1990), 314‐323, here

314‐318.


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161

experience by making known to Adam his own true nature. Man‐

daean myth repeatedly describes this procedure as rising or wak‐

ing up from sleep and connects it with baptism. This aspect is im‐

portant when one considers in greater detail the motif of the seal,

which I shall do below.10

If interpreted in this sense, the revealing angel could be un‐

derstood as the “one who raises from the dead”—Syriac munaħħe‐

manā. Accordingly, in the second‐century Gospel of Peter,11 Jesus

himself is said to have been raised from the dead by two giant

luminous angels.12 Ascensio Isaiae 9:27‐36 and Elkasaite myth iden‐

tified these angels as Christ and the Holy Spirit, which seems to be

the first explicit connection between Christ and the Paraclete, with

the Christian Palestinian and Syriac usages of the term munaħ‐

ħemanā being remnants that survived into an orthodox context.13

The mid‐third‐century Pistis Sophia (ch. 61) pushed the date of Je‐

sus’ encounter with his twin angel back to his childhood, while

Hippolytus’ report on the gnostic Justin (ref. 5.26.29‐30), had Jesus

be twelve years of age on that occasion, a detail which represents

a close parallel to Mani’s first encounter with his angel.14

The angel’s twin character is paralleled by a heightened inter‐

est in Jesus’ brothers as well. First Apocalypse of James 30:24 calls

10 Cf. Otto Betz, Der Paraklet (Arbeiten zur Geschichte des Spätjudentums

und Urchristentums 2; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1963), 225. Betz refers to Ginza R. 101,2‐

102,19 (tr. Mark Lidzbarski, Ginzā. Der Schatz oder Das grosse Buch der Mandäer

[Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1925], 108‐110) and the Canonical Prayer‐

book (tr. Ethel S. Drower, The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans [Leiden: E. J.

Brill, 1959], 29 and 31). 11 Gospel of Peter 9 and 10 (eds. and tr. Thomas J. Kraus and Tobias Nicklas,

Das Petrusevangelium und die Petrusapokalypse [GCS Neue Folge 11; Berlin: Walter

de Gruyter, 2004], 40 and 42). 12 Cf. Guy G. Stroumsa, “Le couple de l’ange et de l’esprit: traditions juives

et chrétiennes,” Revue Biblique 88 (1981), 42‐61, here 43‐47. 13 Ascensio Isaiae 9:27‐36 (eds. and tr. Paolo Bettiolo and others, Ascensio Isai‐

ae. Textus [CCSA 7; Turnhout: Brepols, 1995], 105‐109). 14 Cf. Oscar Cullmann, tr., “Kindheitsevangelien,” in Neutestamentliche Apo‐

kryphen 1: Evangelien, eds. Edgar Hennecke and Wilhelm Schneemelcher (Tübing‐

en: Mohr Siebeck, 5th ed., 1987), 361‐363.


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162

James the “comforter,”15 whereas Thomas, whose Aramaic name

Taumā means “twin,” became a veritable cult figure in Early Syri‐

an Christianity. The Acts of Thomas, which introduced him under

the name “Judas Thomas”—perhaps a reminiscence of Matt 13:55,

which mentioned a brother of Jesus named Judas—contains the

twin‐motif as well, and I would contend that the seal‐comforter‐

complex here finds its clearest expression.16 Paragraphs 108‐113 of

the Acts of Thomas contain an older hymn telling the story of a Par‐

thian prince whose parents sent him to Egypt to recover a price‐

less pearl.17 Initially, the prince wore a luminous garment, yet he

had to leave it with his parents upon descending to Egypt. Once

there, he forgot his mission until a letter arrived from his parents,

which induced him to recover the pearl and return to his home‐

town. Upon approaching his home two treasurers met him, bring‐

ing him his garment, which was now said to be a mirror‐image of

the prince and which was becoming one with him.

It seems that all the elements of the paraclete‐motif are pre‐

sent in this story: At first, the believer is in a state of sleep and for‐

getfulness; a heavenly revelation reminds him / her of his / her

supernal origin; the return to the heavenly home is described as

meeting one’s mirror‐image, presumably a heavenly twin, and

becoming one with it.

THE SEAL AS “HELPER IN BAPTISM”

One of the questions that remain to be addressed is the extent to

which this material and narrative relate to the terminology of the

15 For the context of this passage see Wolf‐Peter Funk, tr., “The First Revela‐

tion of James,” in The Nag Hammadi Scriptures (ed. Marvin Meyer; New York:

Harper Collins Publishers, 2007), 321‐330, here 327. 16 On the Manichaean reception of Acts of Thomas, see Paul‐Hubert Poirier,

“Les Actes de Thomas et le manichéisme,” Apocrypha 9 (1998), 263‐289. 17 On this text see generally Paul‐Hubert Poirier, L’hymne de la perle des Actes

de Thomas (Homo Religiosus 8; Louvain‐la‐Neuve: Centre d’histoire des religions,

1981); on its clothing metaphors see Robin D. Young, “Notes on Divesting and

Vesting in The Hymn of the Pearl,” in Reading Religions in the Ancient World (eds.

David E. Aune and Robin Darling Young; Supplements to Novum Testamentum

125; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2007), 201‐214.


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“seal” and especially to the notion of the “seal of the prophets.”

To begin with, a sealing of prophets, or rather prophethood, is

mentioned in Dan 9:24, which refers to the ceasing of prophecy at

the end of time.18 It is important to note that this stands in relation

to the forgiveness of sins, because the term is used in exactly the

same context in Acts of Thomas 26‐27. There the seal makes its ap‐

pearance in the context of repentance and anointing. As is well

known, anointing in the Acts of Thomas finds its place in a baptis‐

mal environment, which becomes all the more apparent as the

anointing is followed by a eucharistic celebration. The baptismal

function of anointing is made explicit in Acts of Thomas 121, where

anointing and baptism are understood as procedures of becoming

similar to or, in fact, one with Christ. Interestingly enough, anoint‐

ing is mentioned in Dan 9:24 as well. There the term mašiaħ is

used. The implications for Acts of Thomas seem to be clear enough:

the baptized person becomes mašiaħ, i.e. Christ, and most likely

this presupposes that Jesus himself underwent a similar proce‐

dure before becoming a savior for others.

It seems important in this regard to understand the nature

and function of a seal. A seal is primarily a stamp, i.e., a tool for

transmitting a form and shaping an amorphous mass. This is also

the sense in which the Gnostic community, as it is referred to by

Hippolytus in ref. 8.10.7, understood Jesus’ baptism: upon being

baptized in the Jordan, Jesus was shaped according to the form of

the supernal Christ and his material body was actually replaced

with a heavenly one. Therefore, at Jesus’ crucifixion, when Jesus

had been freed from his material body, he could ascend to the

heavenly realm.19 The structural parallel to the presentation of the

Acts of Thomas is evident: Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph, is sealed

in baptism, with the seal being understood as a heavenly being

18 Cf. Colpe, Das Siegel der Propheten, 9‐11. 19 Hippolytus, refutatio 8.10.7 (ed. Miroslav Marcovich, Hippolytus. Refutatio

Omnium Haeresium [PTS 25; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1986], 328‐329). Two other

texts from Nag Hammadi, Exegesis on the Soul and Apocalypse of Adam, likewise

understand baptism to be a sealing; cf. Koenen, “From Baptism to the Gnosis of

Manichaeism,” 751‐752.


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standing in intimate relationship with Jesus and forming him ac‐

cording to its own shape. Even though Hippolytus did not men‐

tion an anointing, the motif fits nicely: through his baptism Jesus

became the Christ, and the same presumably holds true for those

who believe in him.20

This latter idea is clearly stated in Gospel of Philip 67, where all

of the relevant aspects are present in a dense manner. Resurrec‐

tion is brought about by the image, presumably the heavenly

twin; baptismal anointing makes one, properly understood, not a

christianus but a Christ.21 To round things off, in chapter 38 of the

Martyrdom of Philip, which is part of the fourth‐century Acts of

Philip, the seal is understood as a magnificent garment, which

readily brings to mind the Acts of Thomas and the poetic text in‐

corporated therein.22 Last, but not least, it should be mentioned

that “seal” is a common term for baptism in Shepherd of Hermas,

simil. 9.16.3 and 9.17.4; 2 Clem. 7:6 and 8:6; and Tertullian, de pu‐

dicitia 9.23

20 Cf. Franz J. Dölger, Sphragis (Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des Al‐

tertums 5.3‐4; Paderborn: Schöningh, 1911), 76. In the New Testament the verb

sphragizein, “to seal,” is used in connection with the Holy Spirit in 2 Cor 1:21‐22

and Eph 1:13 and 4:30; cf. Dölger, Sphragis, 77‐78. For the same reason early Syri‐

an baptismal rites were modeled on the baptism of Jesus; see for this Gabriele

Winkler, “Zur frühchristlichen Tauftradition in Syrien und Armenien unter Ein‐

bezug der Taufe Jesu,” Ostkirchliche Studien 27 (1978), 281‐306. On connections

between Christian and Mandaean baptismal liturgies, see most recently Jon O.

Ryen, “Baptism in Jordan—for Christians and Gnostics: Remarkable similarities

between Old Syrian baptismal liturgies and the Mandaean masbuta,” ZAC 13

(2009), 282‐315. 21 Gospel of Philip 67 (ed. and tr. Hans‐Martin Schenke, Das Philippus‐Evan‐

gelium [TU 143; Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1997], 44). 22 Acts of Philip, Martyrdom, ch. 38 (eds. and tr. François Bovon and others,

Acta Philippi [CCSA 11; Turnhout: Brepols, 1999], 422 and 423). 23 Shepherd of Hermas, simil. 9.16.3 and 9.17.4 (eds. and tr. Andreas Linde‐

mann and Henning Paulsen, Die apostolischen Väter [Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck,

1992], 510‐512 and 514); 2 Clem. 7:6 and 8:6 (eds. and tr. Lindemann and Paulsen,

Die apostolischen Väter, 160 and 162); and Tertullian, de pudicitia 9.16 (ed. and tr.

Charles Munier, Tertullien. La Pudicité [SCh 394; Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf,

1993], 192). Cf. Stroumsa, “Le couple,” 53‐54 and 64; and Dölger, Sphragis, 86‐87.


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In making use of the metaphor of the “seal,” Mani and his fol‐

lowers apparently stood in some relationship to these traditions.

The expression “seal of the prophets” was applied to Mani only in

Islamic times.24 Yet there is enough evidence to suggest that the

term in fact was common in older Manichaeism as well. To begin

with, “seal” designated the Manichaean initiation ceremony and

ascetic lifestyle that had to be followed thereafter. In the Coptic

Manichaean Psalms (250) Jesus is referred to as the seal, and accord‐

ing to Kephalaia ch. 90 receiving the “seal” is equivalent to attain‐

ing gnosis. Finally, in the Cologne Mani Codex “seal of the prophet”

is used in reference to Mani’s disciples who, as it were, complete

his mission in this world.25

CONCLUSIONS

To sum up, the terms “seal” and “comforter” seem to have stood

in an intimate relationship with one another. Both made their ap‐

pearance in a baptismal context, and there is a rather large body of

writings which identified the two by understanding them as refer‐

ring to a heavenly double of the neophyte, which revealed knowl‐

edge of one’s true nature. This would, on the one hand, entail

knowledge about one’s origins, presumably in an extra‐mundane

realm, and, on the other hand, it is understood in the sense of a

transformation that re‐shapes a person according to the image of

his / her heavenly twin. The metaphor of the “seal” appears to re‐

fer especially to this latter procedure. As a seal leaves its impres‐

24 For a comprehensive collection of Islamic testimonies on Manichaeism

see John C. Reeves, Prolegomena to a History of Islamic Manichaeism (Sheffield:

Equinox Publishing, 2011), non vidi. 25 Coptic Manichaean Psalms 250 (ed. and tr. Charles R. C. Allberry, A Mani‐

chaean Psalm‐Book [Manichaean Manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Collection 2;

Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1938], 60); Kephalaia ch. 90 (ed. Hans Jacob Polotsky,

Kephalaia 1 [Manichäische Handschriften der staatlichen Museen Berlin 1; Stutt‐

gart: W. Kohlhammer, 1940], 225; English translation of Kephalaia 90 in Iain

Gardner, tr., The Kephalaia of the Teacher [NHMS 37; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995], 233);

and Cologne Mani Codex 72.4‐7 (eds. Koenen and Römer, Mani‐Kodex, 50; tr. in Ca‐

meron and Dewey, eds., Mani Codex, 57). Cf. Stroumsa, “Seal of the Prophets,”

65‐66, 69‐70, and 74.


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sion upon wax, so the “seal” is imprinting its shape upon the bap‐

tized person. The implication of this is that the seal’s image is the

real form which a human being can attain only by being modelled

after it. It is clear, therefore, that “seal of the prophets” in this

sense can never signify an actual human person; it is rather a

thoroughly eschatological reality which opens a gateway to the

heavenly realm.

In contrast to this, the concepts of “seal” and “comforter” as

found in the Islamic tradition do not exhibit any traits of “realized

eschatology.”26 On the contrary, eschatology here seems to have

been brought back into time by understanding both terms in a

temporal sense: Muħammad was the seal of the prophets insofar

as he was the last prophet. “Seal” was understood here much in

the same way as in Dan 9:24. “Paraclete” is interpreted along simi‐

lar lines as well. The term is seen as referring to someone to come

after Jesus. This person, from the Islamic point of view, could

have been only Muħammad.27 It is not clear whether Muħammad

himself expected the end to be imminent, but if he did his follow‐

ers would have faced a similar problem of delayed parousia as did

the early disciples of Jesus. The influence this would have had up‐

on the formation of traditional Islam cannot be investigated here.

Yet it seems obvious that eschatological tension was one of the

more important factors that contributed to Muħammad’s prophet‐

ic mission.

26 On the links between a Manichaean and a Muslim seal‐tradition, see

more generally Colpe, Das Siegel der Propheten, 200‐221. 27 On the final character of Muħammad’s mission see the Bosnian Muslim

theologian Enes Karić (Essays, 115): “During the historical epoch closest to us, it

was in the Middle East in particular that God’s messengers of the highest rank

were sent: Ibrahim, Musa, Isa and Mohammed, the last of God’s prophets”; the

temporal meaning of “seal” is clearly visible. Interestingly enough, Karić empha‐

sizes the importance of Gnostic and Manichaean traditions, among others, for the

interpretation of the Qurʼān, but he is adamant with regard to the unity of God

as opposed to the divinization of redeemer figures and accordingly insists on the

uniqueness of the Qurʼān; see Karić, Essays, 117, 178‐179, and 239. The temporal

understanding of “seal” and the finality of the divine message are thus bound up

in an inextricable way.


Seal and Comforter: On the Apocalyptic Prophethood of Elkasai, Mani, and Muħammad

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Transcript of Seal and Comforter: On the Apocalyptic Prophethood of Elkasai, Mani, and Muħammad