Mandæans, an oriental religious sect of great antiquity, formed out of heterogeneous Christian, Jewish, and heathen elements, and still found about the cities of Wâsit and Basra, and in Khâzistân (Susiana) on the eastern shore of the Tigris, working as jewellers, blacksmiths, carpenters, &c. The name is due to the word Mandâ, 'gnosis' (whence Mandâyê, 'gnostics'), but the public name they take is that of Sabians (Subbâ, 'baptists'), thus professing to identify themselves with the Sabæans tolerated in the Koran. They were formerly called Christians of St John the Baptist from their habit of baptism or ablation. In their religious system the supreme is Pirâ rabbâ ('the great glory'), with which is connected the Mandâ rabbâ, which, after calling forth the first life, retired into an obscurity that can be penetrated only by the most holy after death, and that but once. The first life (Chayê Kadmâyê) is the active deity as revealed, and which alone can be worshipped. From it, besides the 'second life,' emanated the Mandâ d'hayyê ('spirit of life'), the mediator and saviour of the Mandæans, from whom they derive their name. He reveals himself to man in his three sons, Hibîl, Sîtîl, and Anûs; of these Hibîl is the most important. From the second life emanated the Uthrê ('angels'), the greatest of whom is Abâtûr, whose son Gabriel built the earth and formed man, save that his spirit was infused into him by Mandâ rabbâ. There is an elaborate cosmogony extending to the kingdoms of darkness, of hell, the mountains of the blessed, and the planets. The succession of false prophets from Nû were Abraham, Mishâ (Moses), Shîmûn (Solomon), and Yishu M'shiha (Jesus), who had been baptised through deceit by the only true prophet, Yahyâ. The last of the false prophets is M'hamad.
The Mandæans had three degrees in the priesthood, with a supreme official (Rîsh ammâ) as the source of both civil and ecclesiastical authority. The priests officiate in white robes, barefooted, and women may be admitted to their order. Their principal rite is the masbatha or baptism. Their sacred language is an Aramaic dialect close to the Babylonian Talmud. They have five important sacred books: Sidrâ rabbâ ('the great book'), called also ginza, 'treasure'; Sidrâ d'Yahyâ ('book of John'); the Qolasta, a collection of hymns; Dîvân, a ritual; and Asfar Malwâsê, a manual of astrology.
Brandt traces this system of religion back to the period of amalgamation of the Assyro-Babylonian religion with Greek speculation.
See Chwolsohn, Die Sabier u. der Sabismus (1856); Siouffi, Les Sabéens (1880); Babelon, Les Mændéites (1882); Brandt, Die Mændäische Religion (1889).