Berliner Turfantexte XXVII

Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst
Enrico Morano

Mani's Psalms
"

Middle Persian, Parthian and Sogdian texts in the Turfan Collection

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II BREPOLS

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x Introduction
works of 'all the earlier churches' as a reference to Christianity, though in a footnote (p. 42, n. 2) they refer to the
Zoroastrian Gathas. Interestingly, Polotsky 1935 does not include Mani's Psalms in his list of Mani's canon on
columns 244-5.In this he follows An-Nadim, who also makes no mention of Psalms or hymns of any kind.
Andreas-Henning 1933 and 1934 contain no text from the Psalms. Henning apud Tsui Chi 1943, 217 surveys the
Iranian hymn-cycles and then continues: 'In addition, there were several minor hymn-cycles among which the
Wazargan a{rfwan was the most prominent; it was also called QSwdg'n "frywn (not recognized by W.-L. [1926], p. 71) =
QSildagan a{rfwan = "Sanctification-hymn" because it mainly contained invocations beginning with the word qados
,,sanctus". Name and contents show that the Qsudagan a{rfwan had originally been written in the Syriac language,
according to the Sogdian version (see W.-L.[1926],p. 71) by Mani himself; ...'. This contains the interesting claim that
both titles refer to the same hymn-cycle rather than to related but separate ones. The claim supported or was
determined by Henning's etymology of qSwdg'n. If this etymology is abandoned the case for two distinct cycles
becomes clear.
Henning 1944, 112 on M 679, corrected Waldschmidt-lentz's translation of the initial formula in M 679 to: 'You are
praised and living, wakeful and eternal. Your sign, your Self,your aspect is our beneficent Father, etc.' Henning 1946,
713-4 (and n.6 on 713) noticed that the short text in Paris, P 25, 'a learner's first attempt at writing Sogdian, full of
mistakes' belongs to the Wuzurgan a{rfwan. The connection between Mani's Psalms in the Coptic list and the Iranian
texts was made by Haloun/Henning 1954, 208 who showed that the list of the Manichean canon in the Chinese
Compendium contains a transcription of MP a{rfn at the same position of the Psalms in the Coptic lists. There p. 204ff
the editors gave a survey of the Coptic lists of the Manichaean Canon and on p. 208 they pointed out that the Chinese
m
list of the canon includes, at the position of the Psalms in the Coptic, the Chinese fSiif HlL a-fu-yin which 'is Middle
Persian a{rfn (distinct from Parthian a{rfwan), cf. a-fu-yin-sa in the continuation of the Chinese document, Chavannes-
Pelliot, 137 [113], representing Middle Persian a{rfnsar ('prynsr in BBB,where the Parthian equivalent, 'frywnsr, also
occurs.)'. The use of the Middle Persian rather than the Parthian term reflects the title of the Middle Persian version
('pry(n)[ in M 209),but may also simply indicate the higher esteem of Middle Persian that harked back more directly
to Mani. The Chinese Compendium, part of a presentation by Manichaeans eager to win toleration for their religion
from the Chinese court, therefore confirms the high regard the litanies of praise were held in and shows a direct
attribution to Mani. Henning 1958,103-104published M 842 (MP)and its Parthian version M 215, to demonstrate how
a Middle Persian text was translated into Parthian.
In her Catalogue of 1960,M. Boyce included in the bibliography on p. xxxvi 'The Parthian Versions of Mani's Psalms
(in preparation)' and therefore (s. p. xxviii n.1) refrained from going into details. unfortunately, nothing came of this
edition. Boyce soon turned her attention to Zoroastrianism. Boyce 1968, 70 refers to known works of Mani's,
including the two psalms. In this connection and referring to Waldschmidt-Lentz 1926, p. 56 and p. 71 she wrote that:
'a Sogd. heading establishes that the long verse-text called in Parth, Wuzargan A{rfwan ("Blessing of the Great Ones")
was composed by the prophet. Many fragments of it exist, in Parth., Mpers. and Sogd., but most are still unpublished.
The work appears to consist of sustained praises addressed to the Father of Greatness and gods of the Third Creation.
It is markedly formal in construction, each of the sections into which it is divided being characterised by a set phrase,
recurringly repeated within it. It is not yet certain whether the QSildagan A{rfwan ("Blessing of the Santification")
forms part of this text, or is an independent work. If the latter, similarities of construction and style suggest that it
may be a translation of Mani's second psalm.' This tentative departure from Henning's identification of the qSwdg'n
'frywn as a section of the wzrg'n 'frywn shows her ongoing work on the edition. Further on, on p. 74 she says that there
are 'three categories of verse-texts: the long verse-cycle, made up of a number of separate sections; the long but
undivided chant of praise (MPers. afuriSn, Parth. a{rfwan); and the short hymn, commonly but by no means always
abecedarian (MPers. mahr, Parth. biiSah).' On p.75 she continues: 'The long chant of praise appears to have been
addressed usually, though not invariably, to an individual god (and those addressed to the Bema are in fact addressed
to Mani himself), In this the Manichaeans followed the tradition of the Iranian yaSts.' She sees the fact that most of
these are addressed to 'the Father of Greatness and to the actively-redeeming gods of the Third Creation' as following
'the pattern set by Mani himself in his psalm Wuzargan A{rfwan.' The reference to a category of hymns similar in some
sense to the wzrg'n 'frywn but distinct from the latter is important, as it means that not every hymn with a headline
'frywn belongs to the wzrg'n 'frywn.
Boyce 1975 (Reader) contains a number of texts from the Psalms: M 40 and M 538 + M 75 (pp. 91-2, interpreting
qSwdg'n 'frywn as 'the Praise of Sanctification'); M 680 + M 189 (p. 122 'Probably verses from the Parthian version of
one of Mani's psalms'), M 369 (p. 123) and parts ofM 842 and M 215 (pp. 169-170).These are all texts that had been
previously published. She does not enter into any details on the texts nor add any new ones from her own planned
edition. The fact that she does not present the texts together but at various points in the book, makes it difficult for
the user to come to any appreciation of the works qSwdg'n 'frywn and wzrg'n 'frywn as such.
Following Sundermann 1983, Klimkeit (1989, 58-9 and 1993, 30) translates the title as 'The Praise of the Great Ones'
and 'The Praise of the Lesser (lit., Small) Ones'. Texts from the Psalms translated by Klimkeit are: M 40 (Klimkeit 1989,
Introduction xi
58; Klimkeit 1993, 30); M 538 and M 75 (Klimkeit 1989, 58-9; Klimkeit 1993, 30-1); So 14411 II (Klimkeit 1989, 100-1;
Klimkeit 1993, 63); M 680 and M 189 (Klimkeit 1989, 101-2; Klimkeit 1993, 64); M 369 (Klimkeit 1989, 102; Klimkeit
1993,64); M 842 (Klimkeit 1989, 156-7; Klimkeit 1993, 124). With the exception of So 14411 II (Klimkeit only) and M
215 (Boyce only), these are the same texts that Boyce presented in the same sequence.
Morano 1982revisited the hymns referring to Jesus first published by Waldschmidt-Lentz 1926.He established (p. 40)
that the heading of M 529 is q(s)[wd}(g)['n 'frywn} thereby placing it in the cycle. He gives a synopsis of the hymn pwr
kr'm in Parthian and Sogdian though only as far as the Sogdian version goes. Sundermann/Yoshida 1992 (superseded
by the version in Manichaica Iranica, 2, 683-695)published part of M 779; Colditz 2000, 384 published some more lines
from the same fragment. Sundermann 1997 included as the first fragment of his edition of the Sermon of the Soul (gy"n
wyfr's) the three short hymns on M 259c + M 453c and comments (on p. 30 and again on p. 96) that the paragraphs
§§5-7 of his text do not form part of the sermon: 'Es enthalt drei kiirze Texte begrifflicher Listen, die aber als
Anrufungen verstanden wurden und daher hymnischen Charakter besitzen. Als soIche konnten sie sehr wohl einen
hochangesehenen Lehrtext liturgisch begleitet haben und ihm in diesem Falle vorangegangen sein.' On pp. 96-100he
provides new details on the three short hymns on the basis of others' work and his own. Morano 2003 re-edited P 25,
M 40, M 79 and published M 80, Mainz 412 and a part of M 7352 for the first time. In M 7352 he found the Parthian
original of the text translated into Sogdian and preserved in P 25. He placed M 80, M 40 and M 79 in sequence and
demonstrated that Mainz 412 contains the Sogdian version of part of the same text. In 2004, as part of the long-term
schedule of the Turfanforschung, D. Durkin-Meisterernst started working on the Psalms. At the Orientalistentag in
Halle on the 21't of September 2004 he presented his preliminary survey of the material under the title: 'The Parthian
Psalms in the Turfan Collection'. Some of this lecture has been adapted for the present introduction. At the Sixth
International Meeting of the International Association of Manichaean Studies in Flagstaff in August 2005 E. Morano
talked about 'The beginning of Mani's Psalms in Middle Persian and Parthian', presenting the texts: Sogdian So 14570,
Parthian M 895 e, M 608 b + M 895v, ch/So 20501 + ch/u 6546 and Middle Persian M 379b. This has been published
(Morano 2009) and has also been incorporated into the present edition.
In all, not many fragments of the Psalms have been published. The reasons for this are twofold. Prior to Boyce's
catalogue an adequate survey of the texts was not available and, in any case, the state of preservation of many of the
fragments did not make them particularly inviting, though the information on the rather good state of part of the
Sogdian was already given by waldschmidt-Lentz 1933. With the publication of the Catalogue the expectation that
Boyce's projected edition would appear discouraged anyone else from working on the texts.' When D. Durkin-
Meisterernst asked M. Boyce in 2000 if she would be prepared to let him see and use her papers on the Psalms she
said she had destroyed them. After her death nothing has been found in her papers. In September 2006 the Ancient
India and Iran Trust kindly allowed D.Durkin-Meisterernst to consult a note-book in which M. Boyce had transcribed
the first three hundred M-fragments, including some fragments of the Psalms but this did not yield anything in the
way of a reconstruction of larger units of the text beyond that preserved on each page. The note-book seems to date
to a time before Boyce started to look at the Psalms in earnest. Henning's lexicological notebook, kindly made
available to the Ancient India and Iran Trust by his daughter Anne Kahle, contains a number of very valuable
identifications (s, in particular the edition of the MP and Parth. fragments M 379a and M 71 §9ff which has profited
greatly from his astute readings).
In summary, the previous work on the Psalms provided a lot of essential information, especially the existence of
versions in the three Iranian languages Middle Persian, Parthian and Sogdian, and the attribution of (at least part 00
the text to Mani. Other contributions have been confusing and reflect the difficulties the fragmentary preservation of
the text has caused and, unfortunately, will in part continue to cause. It has been possible to clear up some of these
points, i.e. qSwdg'n 'frywn and wzrg'n 'frywn seem to be distinct though related works rather than the former being a
section of the latter; and that the hymns to Narisaf do not belong to the hymn-cycles proper. Other points remain
undecided, e.g. whether the short preliminary hymns belong in some way to these hymn-cycles or rather to the
ceremonies in which the hymn-cycles and other texts such as the Sermon to the Soul were performed. Further points
such as the full extent of the texts will, without additional material, probably never be answered.
Attestation of the texts
The fragments range from almost completely preserved pages (and two double-pages preserved as such, M 261 and M
5785) to quite small pieces without any margins. The mss. are all written on paper, mostly of the fairly robust kind.
Some pages have been formed by gluing sheets of paper together so that a vertical or horizontal glue line is visible.
Occasionally, these glued sheets have become unstuck, leaving us with only one of the two pieces of paper. Page sizes
range from 4.1 to 14.5 em in width and 8 to 27 em in height (full sizes only). The combinations are, of course, not
freely available, as pages are generally nearly twice as high as they are wide (e.g. M 842 7.5 x 13; M 80 ca. 13 x 21; M
7 This is, of course, not intended as criticism of Boyce, whose work on Manichaean texts both before and after the Catalogue and
not least in the Catalogue itself is a constant and trusted companion of everyone working on these texts.