Masbuta

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Artwork at the Ganzibra Dakhil Mandi in Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia depicting the masbuta

Maṣbuta (

Classical Mandaic: ࡌࡀࡑࡁࡅࡕࡀ; pronounced maṣwottā in Neo-Mandaic[1]: 16 ) is the ritual of immersion in water in the Mandaean religion.[2][3]

Overview

kušṭa - hand of truth) with the priest. The final blessing involves the priest laying his right hand on the baptized person's head.[6]
: 102 

Living water (fresh, natural, flowing water, called mia hayyi)[6] is a requirement for baptism, therefore can only take place in rivers. All rivers are named Yardna "Jordan River" and are believed to be nourished by the World of Light. By the riverbank, a Mandaean's forehead is anointed with sesame oil (misha) and partakes in a communion of sacramental bread (pihta) and water. Baptism for Mandaeans allows for salvation by connecting with the World of Light and for forgiveness of sins.[7][8][9]

Although masbuta rituals are typically held only in the presence of Mandaeans, a historic commemorative masbuta ceremony was held at the 13th conference of the ARAM Society (titled "The Mandaeans"), which took place during 13–15 June 1999 on the banks of the Charles River at Harvard University.[10][11]

Types

There are different types of masbuta used for different purposes. Similarly, there are also several different types of masiqta (see Masiqta § Types). A few types of masbuta are:

  • 360 baptisms: 360 consecutive baptisms are needed to cleanse a polluted priest.
    DC
    50).
  • Masbuta of Zihrun Raza Kasia, described in the Zihrun Raza Kasia scroll.[12]

Masbuta is distinct from

tevilah in Judaism and ghusl in Islam. Rišama is performed daily before prayers and religious ceremonies or after bowel evacuation and is comparable to wudu in Islam.[13]

Parallels with other religious traditions

Birger A. Pearson finds many parallels between the Sethian ritual of the Five Seals and the Mandaean baptismal ritual of masbuta.[14]

In Mandaic, Christian baptism is not referred to as maṣbuta, but rather as mamiduta (

Classical Mandaic: ࡌࡀࡌࡉࡃࡅࡕࡀ; cognate with Syriac ܡܥܡܘܕܝܬܐ mʿmudita, used by Syriac Christians to refer to baptism[15]), which Mandaean texts describe as unclean since it is performed in standing rather than flowing water.[16]

Gallery

Gallery of Mandaeans performing masbuta in the Karun River in Ahvaz, Iran:

See also

Further reading

  • Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (1989). "Why Once Is Not Enough: Mandaean Baptism (Maṣbuta) as an Example of a Repeated Ritual". History of Religions. 29 (1). University of Chicago Press: 23–34.
    S2CID 161224842
    .
  • Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2007). "Polemics and Exorcism in Mandaean Baptism". History of Religions. 47 (2/3). University of Chicago Press: 156–170.
    S2CID 162202078
    .
  • Nasoraia, Brikha (2022). Masbuta: The Mandaean Baptism (forthcoming). Belgium: Brepols Publishers.

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-80085-627-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of February 2024 (link
    )
  2. ^
    OCLC 65198443
    .
  3. ^ Segelberg, Eric (1958). Maṣbuta: Studies in the Ritual of Mandaean Baptism. Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksell.
  4. ^ McGrath, James (23 January 2015), "The First Baptists, The Last Gnostics: The Mandaeans", YouTube-A lunchtime talk about the Mandaeans by Dr. James F. McGrath at Butler University, retrieved 3 November 2021
  5. ^ "The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon". cal.huc.edu.
  6. ^ a b Drower, Ethel Stefana (1937). The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran. Oxford at the Clarendon Press.
  7. ^ "Mandeans", US News, archived from the original on 21 October 2013
  8. ISBN 978-1-931956-85-7
  9. ^ History, Mandean union, archived from the original on 17 March 2013
  10. ^ Coakley, J.F. (1999). "The Thirteenth Conference of the ARAM Society: The Mandaeans". ARAM, 11-12 (1999-2000), 199-208.
  11. ^ ARAM, "Masbuta (full Baptism) Harvard 1999," The Worlds of Mandaean Priests.
  12. OCLC 221130512
    .
  13. OCLC 68208613
    .
  14. ISBN 978-3-11-024751-0
    .
  15. ^ "Dukhrana Analytical Lexicon of the Syriac New Testament". Dukhrana Biblical Research. 13 February 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  16. ^ Drower, Ethel Stefana; Macúch, Rudolf (1963). A Mandaic dictionary. London: Oxford University Press. p. 245.

External links

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