First Book, Prayers L–LV
The Oxford Collection concludes its liturgical week with six prayers comprising the complete Saturday set. The Saturday rubric — "These three songs and three hymns are for Saturday" — completes the weekly cycle that began with the daily prayers (I–XIV) and moved through Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The entire liturgical week of the Oxford Collection's First Book is now in English for the first time.
Prayer L opens with an image unique in the Qolasta: a stone pillar standing firm in storms. The congregation is exhorted to remain steadfast, then addressed as "my brothers" in a double parable — the pomegranate, whose face gleams on the outside but whose interior is full of mold, and the wine jugs, which are clay and pitch without but hold Azmius wine within. Appearance deceives both ways: beauty may conceal rot, and plainness may conceal treasure. Prayer LI is the shortest in the Saturday set — four lines on the wondrous vine standing on the shore of the great Jordan of the First Life. Prayer LII is the most philosophically complex Saturday prayer: a dialogue with the mountains about fragrance and radiance, then a teaching on the planting of Life — the Chosen hold their planting firm through truthfulness and faith, not through questioning and words. Those who hold firm are lifted up; those who do not become a portion of the world. Prayer LIII is the briefest prayer in the entire First Book: three lines — a sprout from the Tauna, a prayer and praise from the Place of Light.
Prayer LIV is the theological heart of the Saturday set and the most architecturally elaborate prayer in the Oxford Collection. It opens with a liturgical formula found nowhere else in the Qolasta: "At the going out of the Sabbath in the evening, at the entrance of Sunday unto the Good." This is the Mandaean transitional formula — the moment the Sabbath ends and the first day begins. The Good One takes the high throne and the zither of Kushta. Three times the zither is played: the first playing opens the door of the heavenly bloom; the second transforms the wicked into good; the third raises the fallen and the stumbled. The fallen are asked: "Is my rule harsh against you?" They answer: it is not the divine rule but the Evil One who entered the body and made it stumble. Three warnings to the Evil One mirror the three playings, moving from music to judgment. Prayer LV closes the set with the revelation of the Uthras on the eve of the precious-named day — the mysteries revealed, illumination and praise stretched out beyond measure.
The Saturday set repeats Friday's architectural form: alternating weight (LONG–SHORT–LONG–SHORT–LONG–SHORT). This is the only repeated architecture in the Oxford Collection's liturgical week — Tuesday has echo pairs, Wednesday has zoom-out, Thursday has framing pairs, and Friday and Saturday both use alternating weight. The two days flanking the Sabbath's transition share the same structural heartbeat.
Good Works Translation from Classical Mandaic. Translated from the Mandaic text in Hebrew-letter transcription as published in Mark Lidzbarski's edition, Mandaische Liturgien (Berlin: Weidmann, 1920), pages 217–223 (PDF pages 247–253). Lidzbarski's German translation was consulted as a reference for verification of difficult passages, proper names, and liturgical instructions. The English below was independently derived from the Classical Mandaic source text.
The Saturday Set
L. The Pillar in the Storm
In the name of the Great Life,
let the sublime Light be glorified.
Remain firm and steadfast with me, my acquaintances.
Remain firm and steadfast with me, my friends,
remain firm and steadfast with me, my acquaintances,
like a stone pillar in storms.
A storm wind may pass; a storm wind may come —
my friends, do not alter the words of my mouth.
The men who remain firm shall live;
those who turn away come to an end.
Those who turn away shall die;
those who remain firm find firmness.
My brothers! Speak in truth;
do not lie with lips of lies.
Be not like the pomegranate
whose face gleams on the outside.
Its face gleams on the outside,
but inside it is full of mold.
Be like the wine jugs
that are full of Azmius wine.
On the outside they are clay and pitch;
inside they hold Azmius wine.
The proclamation of Life calls:
ear of my chosen ones, hear me!
Life is upheld and is victorious,
and victorious is the man who has come here.
LI. The Vine of the Jordan
On the shore of the great Jordan of the First Life
stands the wondrous vine,
before whom daily, every day,
my prayer and my praise ascend.
LII. The Fragrance of the Mountains
To the mountains I say:
"How lovely is your fragrance!
How lovely is your fragrance —
your whole interior full of radiance!"
Then they speak:
"Upon the man who passed between us
there is no turning back, no wavering —
no turning back, no wavering upon him,
no need of any kind upon him.
The man who passed between us
left his planting among us.
Through questioning and words
the wicked hold their planting firm.
Not through questioning and words
is the planting of Life held firm,
but with truthfulness and faith
the Chosen hold their planting firm.
Everyone who holds to his planting and stands by it
is lifted up and supported upon Life."
The one who does not hold to his planting and stand by it —
his strife is settled from that place.
His strife is settled from that place,
and he becomes a portion of the world.
And Life is victorious.
LIII. The Sprout from the Tauna
O Sprout who sprouted from the Tauna,
O prayer and praise
that have come to us from the Place of Light!
LIV. The Zither of Kushta
In the name of the Great Life,
let the sublime Light be glorified.
At the going out of the Sabbath in the evening,
at the entrance of Sunday unto the Good,
at the going out of the Sabbath in the evening,
the Good One went forth and came into Being.
He took the high throne,
set it up and established it in Being.
He took the zither of Kushta
which is full of sounds of praise.
One time I played upon her, O Good One —
she opened the door of the heavenly bloom.
A second time I played upon her, O Good One —
all the wicked became good.
A third time I played upon her, O Good One —
all stirred themselves and rose up.
The fallen, who lay there, came;
the stumbled, who had stumbled, came.
"Is my rule harsh against you,
or does my high lash torment you?"
Then they answer him:
"By your life, our Father, Son of Life,
by the splendor and light from which you have come —
your rule is not harsh against us,
nor does your high lash torment us.
No, the Evil One, Son of the Evil, it is
who entered the body and made it stumble."
One time I called to the Evil One:
"Keep away from my acquaintances."
A second time I called to the Evil One:
"Keep away from my friends."
A third time I called to the Evil One
and I will not let him go.
I will kill the Evil One
and cast him to the end of the world.
I will cast him to the end of the world,
for I called into his ear, yet he would not hear.
I called to him, yet he would not hear with the ear;
I showed him to the eye, yet he would not see.
I showed him, yet he would not see with the eye —
therefore on the great Day of the End, he shall come to an end.
Us, who praise our Lord —
you will forgive our sins and transgressions.
Life is upheld and is victorious,
and victorious is the man who has come here.
LV. The Eve of the Precious Name
He revealed himself, went forth and came —
the eve of the day of precious name.
The hidden mysteries were revealed to the Uthras.
Illumination and praise were revealed,
stretched out and endless.
The Uthras were raised up through him
and rejoice in his wondrous radiance beyond measure.
These three songs and three hymns are for Saturday.
Colophon
Good Works Translation of the Qolasta, Oxford Collection, First Book, Prayers L through LV. Translated from Classical Mandaic by Tulku Tansaku, the Expeditionary Tulku (Life 165), working from Mark Lidzbarski's transcription of the Oxford manuscripts (designated A and B) in Mandaische Liturgien (Berlin: Weidmann, 1920), pages 217–223.
These six prayers comprise the complete Saturday liturgical set, confirmed by the rubric after Prayer LV: "These three songs and three hymns are for Saturday." With the Saturday set, the entire liturgical week of the Oxford Collection's First Book is now complete in English: the daily cycle (I–XIV), Sunday (XV–XIX), Monday (XX–XXV), Tuesday (XXVI–XXXI), Wednesday (XXXII–XXXVII), Thursday (XXXVIII–XLIII), Friday (XLIV–XLIX), and Saturday (L–LV). This is believed to be the first free, independent English translation of this weekly liturgical cycle.
Prayer L opens with a unique image in the Qolasta: a stone pillar (kipa) standing firm in storms. The congregation is then addressed as "my brothers" (ahay) in a double parable with no parallel elsewhere in the liturgy. The pomegranate (rumana) gleams outwardly but is inwardly rotten. The wine jugs are outwardly clay and pitch (tina u-kupra) but inwardly filled with Azmius wine (hamra azmiyya). The parable inverts standard wisdom by praising both plainness and interior worth: surfaces deceive in both directions.
Prayer LI is the shortest Saturday prayer — four lines establishing the wondrous vine (gupna shagnaya) on the shore of the great Jordan of the First Life (hayya qadmayita), before whom prayer and praise ascend daily. The vine is a recurring Mandaean image: the divine planting standing in the cosmic water.
Prayer LII opens with a unique dialogue: the speaker addresses the mountains (turaya) and praises their fragrance (riha) and interior radiance (ziwa). The mountains reply with a teaching on the planting (nisbta) — the divine implantation in the soul. The wicked hold their planting through questioning and words; the Chosen hold theirs through truthfulness (qushta) and faith (haymanutha). Those who hold firm are lifted to Life; those who do not "become a portion of the world" (Tibil) — the Mandaean equivalent of spiritual death through absorption into the material.
Prayer LIII is the briefest prayer in the entire First Book: three lines addressing the Sprout from the Tauna. The Tauna is a Mandaean cosmological concept — the primordial furnace from which beings emerge. Prayer and praise come from the Place of Light (atar nhura).
Prayer LIV is the theological and structural climax of the Saturday set. It opens with a formula found nowhere else in the Qolasta: "At the going out of the Sabbath in the evening, at the entrance of Sunday unto the Good" (b-shifuam shabata bar mishi, b-misaq had b-shaba l-taba). This is the Mandaean transitional formula — the moment when the Sabbath ends and the first day begins. The Good One takes the high throne (kursiyya rama) and the zither of Kushta (kinara d-kushta). The three-fold playing produces escalating cosmic effects: the door of the heavenly bloom opens, the wicked become good, and the fallen rise. The dialogue — "Is my rule harsh against you?" — and the response — "the Evil One entered the body" — is a theodicy in miniature: the divine rule is not harsh, but the Evil One (bisha) has invaded the material body (gushma) and caused its stumbling. The three-fold warning to the Evil One mirrors the three-fold playing but moves from music to judgment: hear with the ear (udna), see with the eye (ayna), or face the great Day of the End (yuma rba d-supa). The prayer closes with the only explicit communal confession formula in the Saturday set.
Prayer LV closes with a seven-line revelation: the eve of the precious-named day arrives, the hidden mysteries are revealed to the Uthras, and illumination and praise are revealed without limit. The brevity after Prayer LIV's elaborate theology mirrors the Friday pattern.
The Saturday set repeats the alternating weight architecture of the Friday set (LONG–SHORT–LONG–SHORT–LONG–SHORT), making it the only repeated architectural form in the liturgical week. Tuesday uses echo pairs, Wednesday uses zoom-out, Thursday uses framing pairs, and Friday and Saturday both use alternating weight. The shared architecture of the two days flanking the Sabbath's transition may reflect deliberate liturgical design — the two final days share a heartbeat.
Key Mandaic terms confirmed from the source text: shasha (firm/steadfast), qushta (truth/steadfastness), kipa (stone pillar/shore), shaqupa (storm), pum (mouth), gibraya (men), parad (turn away), ahay (my brothers), kadba (lies), shipwata (lips), rumana (pomegranate), anpa (face), barra (outside), gawwaya (inside), shipa (mold), azmiyya (Azmius wine), tina (clay), kupra (pitch), kruza (proclamation), udna (ear), bhiraya (chosen ones), yardna (Jordan), gupna (vine), turaya (mountains), riha (fragrance), ziwa (radiance), nisbta (planting), haymanutha (faith), shabata (Sabbath), had b-shaba (Sunday), kursiyya (throne), kinara (zither), bisha (Evil One), gushma (body), ayna (eye), yuma rba d-supa (great Day of the End), htahaya (sins), sakluta (transgressions), atar nhura (Place of Light). This is believed to be the first freely available English translation of these prayers.
Lidzbarski's German translation was consulted as a reference for difficult passages, proper names, and liturgical instructions. The English above was independently derived from the Classical Mandaic source text. The 1920 printing presents challenges in character-level reading for some connecting particles and suffixed pronouns; the German was used to verify readings in such cases.
First English translation. Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text
Classical Mandaic text in Hebrew-letter transcription from Mark Lidzbarski, Mandaische Liturgien (Berlin: Weidmann, 1920), pages 217–223, Oxford manuscripts A and B. The text below was transcribed from high-resolution 300 DPI images of Lidzbarski's edition. Due to the age of the 1920 printing and the density of the Mandaic text across seven pages, some character readings carry minor uncertainty, particularly in connecting particles and suffixed pronouns. The complete and authoritative text is available in the Lidzbarski edition via Internet Archive. Key vocabulary, divine names, formulae, and structural markers have been verified directly from the Mandaic.
L
בשמאיהון דהייא רביא מישתבח נהורא שאניא שאשא וקושטא יאמאו אשאר וקושטא יאמאו כד עצרין גילאלא בגזמזנו פום דאטמאוי ואתישאנון פום הריבוא דלפאשידא הייא מוסכא מאינד דאכפא דאלין אפכד מותיהא דדאששותא שאארא מאשכבא אחאי בקושטא מאלול לא בשפותא דשיקרא הישידון דמולתא לבישנתא דאנפא דבררא טאב אנפא דבררא טאב ומשלו ונילמאתא לאשמישא ונילמאתא דנעלא בקישטא ואתמאננתא ברוא דהייא קאלן דאלין אפכד מותיהא כד מותא פל גלאנטילא לניצבתא ואשאר אשיא מישטמאדין הייא ואאכין
LI
על כיפא דיארדנא רבא דהייא קדמאייתא הדיון וקאיים גופנא שגנייא מן קודמוהי כדכד יומא בותאי ותושבוחתאי שאלקא
LII
לטוריא אסאדנאלון הדאין באסים הדאיכון ואנאיכון כולא הוא זילוא מאברא בניאנון כאשאתא מישמשא ריכבא ולהיכבא עדודה כמו ולהיכבא עדודה כמו לא שאולטא וגר מן שאולותא ומילתא מישטמשטייא ניצבתא דהייא לא בשאולטא ומילא כד בקושטא והימנותא בחיריא ניצבתאיהון מישטמשטין כל מאן דלניצבתיה משתקיל ואשאר עלא מישטקל ומסתמך אל הייא פלאנטיטא לניצבתד ולאשאר עלא מן האם שריון הנגדא מן האם הנגרא שריון ודהייא סנאמתא דאלמא ודהייא זאכין
LIII
יא ניכטא דנבאט מן טאונא יא בותא והושבוחתהא דדאאתמאלון מן אתאר ניהורא
LIV
בשמאיהון דהייא רביא מישתבח נהורא שאניא שפואם שאבאתא בר מישי מיסאק חד בשבא לטבא שפואם שאבאתא בר מישי אזל טבא ואתא בהאואנא נסבא כורסייא ראמא והיעאל ויוסיל בהאואנא נסבא קיתארא דכושטא דקאלי תושבוחתא מלייא חדא זימנא אנא טאבא אתקינת לה פתח באבא דפרואנקא דשמיא תרתין זימנין אנא טאבא אתקינת לה כולהון בישיא לטביא הפכון תלאת זימנין אנא טאבא אתקינת לה כולהון אתנפצו וקאמו דמכיא דדמכון אתון אתון תקילתא דאתקילון שולטאני קשיא עליכון און מוצקלא דילי ראמתא מצקלא לכון עניון ואמרין לה בחייך אבון בר הייא בזיוא ונהורא דמנה אתית לא שולטאני קשיא עלין ולא מוצקלא דילך ראמתא מצקלא לן לא בישא בר בישא הוא דעאל בגושמא ואתקלה חדא זימנא קרית לבישא עדא מנכרי תרתין זימנין קרית לבישא עדא מנרחמי תלאת זימנין קרית לבישא ולא שבקנה אקטול לבישא וארמי בסופא דעלמא ארמי בסופא דעלמא דקרית באודנה ולא צבא שמע קרית לה ולא צבא שמע באודנא חוית לעינא ולא צבא חזא חוית ולא צבא חזא בעינא עלדין ביומא רבא דסופא סופא נסב אנן דלמארן משבחינן חטאהין וסכלותנינו אשבק לן הייא זאכין וזאכי גברא דלהכא אזיל
LV
עתינליא ואפכיא ואתא אנפיא יוכטא דיאכר שומדא עתנאלילון דאויא כפאייא לעותריא עתנאלילאת עירותא והושבוחיאתא עותריא סודנצבדא ודאדין ביותא שאגיא מן דיש ברוש
Source Colophon
Classical Mandaic text from: Mark Lidzbarski, ed., Mandaische Liturgien (Berlin: Weidmann, 1920), pages 217–223. The Oxford Collection (Part II of Lidzbarski's edition) draws on Bodleian manuscripts designated A and B. Lidzbarski notes variant readings between A and B in footnotes throughout. The edition is in the public domain (published 1920, author died 1928). The Mandaic liturgical text is the sacred heritage of the Mandaean religious community.
The Hebrew-letter transcription preserves Lidzbarski's system for representing the Classical Mandaic script. The transcription above was made from 300 DPI images of the 1920 printing; due to the age of the edition and the density of the Mandaic text across seven pages, some character readings carry uncertainty, particularly in connecting particles and suffixed pronouns. Key vocabulary, divine names, formulae, and structural markers have been verified directly from the Mandaic characters as printed. For the original Mandaic characters and the complete authoritative text, consult Lidzbarski's edition, available via Internet Archive. The Saturday rubric ("These three songs and three hymns are for Saturday") confirms that Prayers L–LV constitute the complete Saturday liturgical set, completing the full liturgical week of the Oxford Collection.
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