[477]. Clem. Recogn. l.c. This portion of the Clementine Recognitions is apparently taken from an older Judaizing romance, the Ascents of James (see Galatians pp. 316, 349). Hegesippus also (in Euseb. H.E. iv. 22) mentions the Hemerobaptists in his list of Jewish sects; and it is not improbable that this list was given as an introduction to his account of the labours and martyrdom of St James (see Euseb. H.E. ii. 23). If so, it was probably derived from the same source as the notice in the Recognitions.
[478]. They are called Baptists by Justin Mart. Dial. 10, p. 307 A. He mentions them among other Jewish sects, without however alluding to John.
[479]. By the author of the Recognitions (l.c.) who denies the claim; and by the author of the Homilies (see below p. 166, note [482]), who allows it.
[480]. These Mandeans are a rapidly diminishing sect living in the region about the Tigris and the Euphrates, south of Bagdad. Our most exact knowledge of them is derived from Petermann (Herzog’s Real-Encyklopädie s. vv. Mendäer, Zabier, and Deutsche Zeitschrift 1854 p. 181 sq. 1856 p. 331 sq., 342 sq., 363 sq., 386 sq.) who has had personal intercourse with them; and from Chwolson (die Ssabier u. der Ssabismus I. p. 100 sq.) who has investigated the Arabic authorities for their earlier history. The names by which they are known are (1) Mendeans, or more properly Mandeans, מנדייא Mandāyē, contracted from מנדא דחייא Mandā dĕchāyē ‘the word of life.’ This is their own name among themselves, and points to their Gnostic pretentions. (2) Sabeans, Tsabiyun, possibly from the root צבע ‘to dip’ on account of their frequent lustrations (Chwolson I. p. 110; but see Galatians p. 312), though this is not the derivation of the word which they themselves adopt, and other etymologies have found favour with some recent writers (see Petermann Herzog’s Real-Encykl. Suppl. XVIII. p. 342 s.v. Zabier). This is the name by which they are known in the Koran and in Arabic writers, and by which they call themselves when speaking to others. (3) Nasoreans, נצורייא Nātsōrāyē. This term is at present confined to those among them who are distinguished in knowledge or in business. (4) ‘Christians of St John, or Disciples of St John’ (i.e. the Baptist). This name is not known among themselves, and was incorrectly given to them by European travellers and missionaries. At the same time John the Baptist has a very prominent place in their theological system, as the one true prophet. On the other hand they are not Christians in any sense.
These Mandeans, the true Sabeans, must not be confused with the false Sabeans, polytheists and star-worshippers, whose locality is Northern Mesopotamia. Chwolson (I. p. 139 sq.) has shown that these last adopted the name in the 9th century to escape persecution from the Mohammedans, because in the Koran the Sabeans, as monotheists, are ranged with the Jews and Christians, and viewed in a more favourable light than polytheists. The name however has generally been applied in modern times to the false rather than to the true Sabeans.
[482]. Hegesipp. in Euseb. H.E. iv. 22, Apost. Const. vi. 6. So also the Pseudo-Hieronymus in the Indiculus de Hæresibus (Corp. Hæres. I. p. 283, ed. Oehler).
[483]. Clem. Hom. ii. 23 Ἰωάννης τις ἐγένετο ἡμεροβαπτιστής, ὃς καὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ κατὰ τὸν τῆς συζυγίας λόγον ἐγένετο πρόοδος. It is then stated that, as Christ had twelve leading disciples, so John had thirty. This, it is argued, was a providential dispensation—the one number represents the solar, the other the lunar period; and so they illustrate another point in this writer’s theory, that in the syzygies the true and the false are the male and female principle respectively. Among these 30 disciples he places Simon Magus. With this the doctrine of the Mandeans stands in direct opposition. They too have their syzygies, but John with them represents the true principle.
[484]. Hær. xvii. 1 (p. 37) ἴσα τῶν γραμματέων καὶ Φαρισαίων φρονοῦσα. But he adds that they resemble the Sadducees ‘not only in the matter of the resurrection of the dead, but also in their unbelief and in the other points.’
[485]. See Galatians p. 311 sq. on this Book of Elchesai.