MANICHAEAN LITERATURE 633Glory to the first man, honor to the living spirit
and their unceasing work. Victory
to the soul of blessed Mary, Theona!nSong of the Bema, 223
Let Us Worship the SpiritLet us worship the spirit of the comforter,
bless lord Jesus who sent us the spirit of truth.
He came and split us from the world's error.
He came with a mirror, we looked.
In it was the cosmos. When the holy spirit came
she disclosed the way of truth.
It taught us two natures, light and darkness,
distinct from the beginning.
The kingdom of light has five greatnesses:
father and his twelve aeons,
and the aeons of aeons, the living air, the land of light,
and the enormous spirit through whom
they breath and which nourishes them with light.
But the kingdom of darkness has five storehouses:
smoke and fire and wind and water and darkness.
Their advocate creeps in them, inciting them
to make war on each other. When making war
they dared attack the land of light. They supposed11 The Coptic uses the G^ek^dlheona. Theona is identified by AllbeTrT^^o^irtT
Mary of a pair of martyrs. The name also suggests Mary as a female god.
12 The Bema was a rostrum on which Mani s picture was displayed during the Bema feast. The
Bema celebration commemorated the death of Mam in the early spring of the year (just as the
death and resurrection of Jesus were commemorated during the Christian holidays of Good
Friday and Easter, also in the spring of the year. A the Bema celebration, songs like this song
of the Bema were sung. In the song the comforter (or paraclete) is Mani.