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Sacred hymns, parables and texts of Mani
Mani (216–274 CE) was born in Mesopotamia under the Sasanians and founded a religion centred on the struggle between Light and Darkness. He and his followers wrote in many languages. Today only fragments survive: mostly from Turfan in Central Asia, in Middle Persian, Parthian and Sogdian, and from Egypt in Coptic. No complete collection has survived anywhere.
Language: Parthian
Huwīdagmān is one of the two great Parthian Manichaean hymn cycles preserved among the Turfan fragments. Its cantos describe the suffering of the soul trapped in darkness and its deliverance into light; tradition attributes it to Mār Ammō, a disciple of Mani.
برگردان فارسی از ترجمهٔ انگلیسی: کیست که مرا از سیلابِ دریای خروشان بگذراند — آن پهنهٔ پیکار که در آن آرامشی نیست؟
Who will take me over the flood of the tossing sea - the zone of conflict in which there is no rest?
The soul sees the material world as a stormy sea and longs for a saviour.
— Boyce, Hymn-Cycles in Parthian (1954), Huwīdagmān IVa.2, pp. 80–83; Quoted in S. N. C. Lieu, Anthologia Manichaica Orientalia IV, p. 117
برگردان فارسی از ترجمهٔ انگلیسی: کیست که مرا از آروارهٔ همهٔ ددانی برهاند که بی‌رحمانه یکدیگر را نابود می‌کنند و می‌هراسانند؟
Who will save me from the jaws of all the beasts who destroy and terrify (?) one another without pity?
The “beasts” symbolise the forces of darkness and greed in the world.
— Boyce 1954, Huwīdagmān IVa.3; Quoted in S. N. C. Lieu, Anthologia Manichaica Orientalia IV, p. 117
برگردان فارسی از ترجمهٔ انگلیسی: بر روانِ خویش می‌گریم و می‌گویم: کاش از این رهایی یابم، و از هراسِ ددانی که یکدیگر را می‌درند!
I weep for (my) soul, saying : May I be saved from this, and from the terror of the beasts who devour one another!
The soul's lament over its captivity and its hope of salvation.
— Boyce 1954, Huwīdagmān IVa.6; Quoted in S. N. C. Lieu, Anthologia Manichaica Orientalia IV, p. 117
Language: Parthian
Angad Rōšnān (“Rich in Lights”) is the second great Parthian hymn cycle, continuing the theme of the soul's redemption and its return to the Realm of Light.
برگردان فارسی از ترجمهٔ انگلیسی: بیا ای روان، دیگر مهراس! مرگ فرو افتاد و بیماری گریخت.
Come, spirit, fear no more! Death has fallen, and sickness fled away.
The saviour answers the soul: suffering is over, deliverance begins.
— Boyce 1954, Angad Rōšnān VII.1, pp. 154–65; Quoted in S. N. C. Lieu, Anthologia Manichaica Orientalia IV, p. 120
برگردان فارسی از ترجمهٔ انگلیسی: روزگارِ روزهای پرآشوب به سر آمد و هراسش در میانِ ابرهای آتش رفت.
The term of troubled days is ended, its terror departed amid clouds of fire.
The age of darkness has come to an end.
— Boyce 1954, Angad Rōšnān VII.2; Quoted in S. N. C. Lieu, Anthologia Manichaica Orientalia IV, p. 120
برگردان فارسی از ترجمهٔ انگلیسی: نزدیک‌تر بیا، با شادیِ بی‌پشیمانی؛ در سرای مرگ خرسند میارام.
Come yet nearer, in gladness without regret; lie not content in the dwelling of death.
An invitation to return to the Realm of Light.
— Boyce 1954, Angad Rōšnān VII.6; Quoted in S. N. C. Lieu, Anthologia Manichaica Orientalia IV, p. 120
Language: Middle Persian
Hymns of praise, daily prayers and hymns for the Bēma festival (commemorating Mani's death), written in Manichaean script on paper and leather fragments found at Turfan.
برگردان فارسی از ترجمهٔ انگلیسی: بنگرید، سکاندارِ نیک و فرخنده می‌آید، که کشتی‌ها را نیز از [دریا] بیرون می‌برد.
Behold, the good and fortunate helmsman comes, who even leads the ships out of the [sea]
Mani is praised as a helmsman who brings souls safely out of the sea of the world.
— M224 I, Hymn in praise of Mani: Boyce, Reader (1975) §cl.3, p. 142; tr. J. P. Asmussen, Manichaean Literature (1975) p. 52, revised, Quoted in S. N. C. Lieu, Anthologia Manichaica Orientalia IV, p. 16
برگردان فارسی از ترجمهٔ انگلیسی: تو، ای پدر، خداوندگار مانی، سزاوارِ ستایش و آفرینی، و نیز ایزدان و مهراسپندان (عناصرِ نور).
You, Father, Lord Mani, are worthy of praise and blessing, and the gods and the Light-Elements (mahrāspandān).
The mahrāspandān are the five Light-Elements held captive in matter.
— M224 I: Boyce, Reader §cl.6, p. 142; tr. Asmussen (revised), Quoted in S. N. C. Lieu, Anthologia Manichaica Orientalia IV, p. 16
Language: Middle Persian
The only book Mani himself wrote in Middle Persian, dedicated to the Sasanian king Shapur I. Only fragments survive, chiefly on the end of the world and the last judgement.
برگردان فارسی از ترجمهٔ انگلیسی: گرسنه و تشنه بودم [و] مرا خوراک دادید.
I was hungry and thirsty [and] you gave me food.
The Judge addresses the righteous on the right at the Last Judgement, echoing Matthew 25.
— D. N. MacKenzie, “Mani's Šābuhragān”, BSOAS 42.3 (1979), p. 507
برگردان فارسی از ترجمهٔ انگلیسی: اسیر بودم و مرا آزاد کردید.
I was a captive and you set me free.
Care for others is rewarded at the final judgement.
— MacKenzie, BSOAS 42.3 (1979), p. 507
Language: Middle Persian, Parthian and Sogdian
Manichaeans taught through stories and parables; fragments of these survive in several Iranian languages among the Turfan finds.
Translation not yet added.
Language: Coptic
A large collection of Manichaean psalms discovered at Medinet Madi, Egypt, in the 1930s, including the Bēma psalms and the Psalms of Jesus.
برگردان فارسی از ترجمهٔ انگلیسی: روحِ فارقلیط را بپرستیم. خداوندمان عیسی را بستاییم که روحِ حقیقت را برای ما فرستاد.
Let us worship the Spirit of the Paraclete. Let us bless our Lord Jesus who has sent us the Spirit of Truth.
Manichaeans identified Mani with the Paraclete promised by Jesus.
— Coptic Psalm-Book, Bema psalm (CCXXIII/CCXXIV); wording as transcribed by The Gnosis Archive — page and translator in Allberry (1938) not yet checked
برگردان فارسی از ترجمهٔ انگلیسی: او آمد و ما را از گمراهیِ جهان جدا کرد؛ آینه‌ای برای ما آورد، نگریستیم و کیهان را در آن دیدیم.
He came and separated us from the Error of the world, he brought us a mirror, we looked, we saw the Universe in it.
Mani's teaching is a mirror revealing the truth of the universe.
— Same Bema psalm; Gnosis Archive transcription — Allberry attribution not yet checked
