Prayer LXXVII is the third and final of the Three Prayers for the Baptism and Death Mass — the climactic doxology that closes the liturgical triptych at the heart of the Qolasta. Where Prayer LXXV was the community's confession before the Life and Prayer LXXVI was the Life's invocation to the faithful, LXXVII is the great praise: a cosmic roll call naming every station of the divine hierarchy, each honoured with the fourfold litany "To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless." The prayer descends through twenty stations — from the First Life and the well-guarded Mana, through the creators of the Light, the guardians of the gate, the messengers who split the firmament, the Uthras whose fingers dripped fire into the material world, the baptizers who act "not in the name of idolatry and of Christ," the four Sons of Salvation, the three indestructible heroes Hibil, Sitil, and Anosh, to the hidden Adams whose names shine individually in the House of the Life — and culminates in a sevenfold benediction of the Name and a closing petition for the soul of the baptismal candidate.

Good Works Translation from Classical Mandaic. Translated from the Mandaic text in Hebrew-letter transcription as published in Mark Lidzbarski's edition of Bodleian MS Marsh 691 (Mandaische Liturgien, Berlin, 1920), pages 141-145 (PDF pages 171-175). Lidzbarski's German translation was consulted as a reference for verification of difficult passages, proper names, and text-critical notes.

LXXVII. The Great Doxology

In the Name of the Life.

Thee, O Life, it is meet to praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless — the First Life, the Second Life, the Third Life, Joshn-Jofatin, Sam the well-guarded Mana, the Vine who is entirely Life, the great Tree who is entirely Healings.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless Osar-Hai and Pta-Hai, who create the creation of the Life, plant the planting of the Light, and establish the First Image in the House of the Life.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless Nbat, the First Sprout, the Outflow from the Life, whose byname is from the Life itself.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless the Lord of the great and lofty Fruit, who blossomed and caused to blossom and created for himself the great Fruit.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless Jokabar-Ziwa, who was mighty in his splendor, great in his light.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless Jozataq Manda d'Hayye, the Life that arose from the Life, the Kushta that was from the very beginning, who was great in his splendor from the worlds of light.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless Has, the Vessel of splendor, of radiance, of light, and of glory. A thousand times a thousand are his sprouts; ten thousand times ten thousand are his tendrils. Blessed is he who has beheld that Tree. Bihram, who beheld it, received Life, Light, Healing, and Endurance, and his name did not die.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless Sanasel, who stands at the gate of the Life and prays for the spirits and souls. He reveals silence, grants hope, and guards the prayers of the spirits and souls of the truthful, faithful men at the Place of Light.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless Haijashum-Kushta, the Messenger of the Life, the Word of the first men of proven righteousness, who penetrated through the worlds, came, split the firmament, and revealed himself.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless Bhaq-Ziwa, who is called "He who acted and prospered in his Shekhina."

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless Jokabar, the Vessel of splendor, the Radiance that grants and the Light that shows.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless the brave Birjawis-Kanna. The Kanna perceived that his splendor was great.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless the Ether, the pure Vine, who rests in the great, lofty treasure of light.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless Jo-Samin the Pure, who rests upon the treasures of the water and upon the mighty springs of the Light.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless Tawrel-Uthra, the Man, who rests upon the hiddenness of the waters. From the little finger of his right hand it dripped off and froze in the Tibl, and consuming fire came into being in the World of the Lie.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless Adatan and Jadatan, who stand at the gates of the Life, praise the Life and hold it high, and pray for the spirits and souls of the truthful, faithful men at the Place of the Life.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless Silmai and Nidbai, the two Uthras, the messengers of Manda d'Hayye, who through Kushta cause Life to arise and bring it about, who with the attestation of the Life baptize the living, luminous, radiant, flourishing souls who went to the Jordan with Kushta — not in the name of idolatry and of Christ.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless Sum-Hai, R'hum-Hai, In-Hai, and Zamar-Hai, the four men, the Sons of Salvation, who went to meet the truthful, faithful men and took them from under the bonds and the hands of the Evil Ones, from under the claws of those who plotted evil, and led them away and brought them to the great Place of Light and the luminous dwelling, took them into the community of the Life, and built them into the great Building of Truth.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless Hibil, Sitil, and Anosh, the Sons of the living, luminous, radiant, lofty stock, the men whom the sword did not cut down, whom the firebrands did not burn, through whom the water-floods did not sweep, whose shoe-straps on their feet the water did not unbind. They led a lawsuit and judged, sought and found, and arrived at the great Place of Light and the luminous dwelling.

To praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless the Uthras Shihin, Pardin, and Kanfin, whose name is each individually in the House of the Life, the Uthras Adam the Hidden, Bihram, and Ram the Great, whose name is each individually in the House of the Life, whose bynames are in pairs. Also strengthened was the name of the truthful, faithful men at the Place of Light.

Your name shines. Your name is bright. Your name is pleasant. Your name is established. Your name is victorious, and victorious are the words of the Kushta that come from your mouth, above all works.

Make victorious and establish this my soul, the soul of NN, and the Life is victorious above all works.

Colophon

Source: Lidzbarski, Mark. Mandaische Liturgien (Mandaean Liturgies). Abhandlungen der Koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse, Neue Folge, Band XVII, 1. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1920. Pages 141-145. Public domain.
Manuscript: Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Marsh 691.
Translation: Good Works Translation by NTAC (New Tianmu Anglican Church), April 2026. First free independent English translation of Qolasta Prayer LXXVII from Classical Mandaic.
Method: Good Works Translation. English independently derived from reading the Classical Mandaic text in Lidzbarski's Hebrew-letter transcription. Lidzbarski's German translation consulted as reference for verification of difficult passages, proper names, and text-critical notes. E.S. Drower's English (1959) was not consulted.
Blood Rule: The English is independently derived from the Mandaic source text. Lidzbarski's German confirmed readings but did not generate the English.
Text-critical notes: (1) "The Kanna perceived" — Lidzbarski notes (p. 142 n.1) that the Mandaic word here is difficult; the structure parallels the other stations where it functions as a divine epithet. (2) "The Ether, the pure Vine" — the Ether here is a cosmic substance in Mandaean cosmology, a heavenly region between the worlds of light and darkness. (3) "It dripped off and froze in the Tibl" — Tawrel-Uthra's finger drips a substance that solidifies in the material world (Tibl), a cosmogonic image: the created world is a condensation of heavenly substance. Lidzbarski reads "consuming fire" (verschwendetes Feuer); the Mandaic phrase suggests fire that was consumed or spent in the act of creation. (4) "Not in the name of idolatry and of Christ" — a structural feature of Mandaean liturgy, marking the Mandaean baptism as distinct from Christian practice. The same formula appears in the Oil Anointing Manual (Prayer XXIII). (5) "Whose bynames are in pairs" — Lidzbarski notes (p. 145 n.1) that this refers to the Uthras being known by two names each: Shihin = Adam the Hidden, Pardin = Bihram, Kanfin = Ram the Great. The "pairs" are the exoteric and esoteric names of the same being.
Scribal note: Prayer LXXVII is the third and final of the Three Prayers for the Baptism and Death Mass. The triptych is now complete: LXXV (the Great Confession — the community speaks to God), LXXVI (the Cosmic Invocation — God speaks to the community), LXXVII (the Great Doxology — both speak together in praise). This tripartite structure mirrors the fundamental liturgical pattern found across traditions: confession, promise, praise. The Jewish liturgy follows this arc (Vidui, Shemoneh Esrei, Kedushah); the Christian follows it (Confiteor, Gloria, Sanctus); the Buddhist refuge formula echoes it (confession, vow, dedication). The Mandaean Three Prayers may preserve one of the oldest forms of this universal pattern, composed in an Aramaic milieu that predates or parallels the earliest Christian liturgies. Prayer LXXVII descends through twenty stations of the divine hierarchy — a systematic theology encoded as a litany. Each station receives the identical fourfold praise ("to praise, to venerate, to glorify, to bless"), creating a cumulative weight that turns the roll call into incantation. The prayer's most distinctive feature is its anti-Christian polemic: the baptizers Silmai and Nidbai act "not in the name of idolatry and of Christ" — a formula that places Christian baptism alongside paganism as something from which Mandaean practice must be distinguished. This is not hostility but boundary-marking: the Mandaeans know their rite resembles Christian baptism, and they insist it is not. The closing sevenfold benediction — "Your name shines, your name is bright, your name is pleasant, your name is established, your name is victorious" — is the most concentrated praise formula in the Qolasta, a cascade of attributes applied to the Name itself. Seventy-seven of four hundred and fourteen prayers complete. The Three Prayers for the Baptism and Death Mass are now complete.

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Source Text: LXXVII

Classical Mandaic text in Hebrew-letter transcription, from Mark Lidzbarski, Mandaische Liturgien (1920), pages 141-145 (PDF pages 171-175). Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Marsh 691. Presented for reference and verification.

בשומיהון דהייא עלמין דילכון הייא לשבוהתא לאיקארא לאהרוביתא לאברכתא קאדמייתא ולהייא תנינייתא ולהייא תליתייתא ויושן יופטין וסאם מאנא מתירא ולגופנא כלא הייא ועילאנא רבא דכולא אסותא

לשבוהתא לאיקארא לאהרוביתא לאברכתא אוסרהייא ופתאהייא דברייתא דהייא בראו לנצבתא דנהורא נצבו ודמותא קדמייתא בביתא דהייא שכנו

[Source text continues for approximately four and a half pages of Lidzbarski's edition. The complete Mandaic text is available in Lidzbarski's edition, pages 141-145, freely accessible via Internet Archive. The PDF is staged at Tulku/Tools/mandaean/lidzbarski_liturgien.pdf, pages 171-175.]

Source Colophon

Source: Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Marsh 691. Hebrew-letter transcription and apparatus by Mark Lidzbarski, Mandaische Liturgien (Abhandlungen der Koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, Philologisch-historische Klasse, Neue Folge, Band XVII, 1), Berlin, 1920.
License: Public domain (published 1920, author died 1928).
Digital source: Internet Archive, staged at Tulku/Tools/mandaean/lidzbarski_liturgien.pdf.
PDF pages: 171-175 (book pages 141-145).

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