576 MANICHAEAN LITERATURE
the primal man's armor. Having unwittingly fallen into the trap of the father
of greatness, they are now dependent on the light for their continued exis-
tence. The primal man awakens from his sleep of forgetfulness, remembers his
divine origins, and prays for his rescue. The father of greatness responds by
evoking a series of beings who initiate the rescue of the primal man: the friend
of lights evokes the great architect, who then evokes the living spirit, who
evokes his five sons (the custodian of splendor, the great king of honor,
Adamas of light, the king of glory, and Atlas). The living spirit cries out from
the kingdom of light into the darkness to the primal man, who answers. The
cry and answer (representing the divine word of salvation and the positive
human response) are hypostasized, that is, they become divine beings who as-
cend to the kingdom of light. The living spirit then grasps the primal man by
the hand and rescues him from the kingdom of darkness.
The rest of the drama in the "present time" focuses on the work of the fa-
ther of greatness to regain all of the light particles swallowed by the five evil ar-
chons. The living spirit first creates ten heavens and eight earths out of the
material corpses of the slain demons. He separates the swallowed light parti-
cles into three types: the first is undefiled, and from these he creates the sun
and the moon; the second is only partly defiled, and from these he creates the
stars; the third is completely defiled, and so he creates an elaborate cosmic
mechanism to distill the light from the matter. The living spirit then evokes
the third messenger, who evokes the zodiacal twelve maidens, collectively the
maiden of light, who operate the cosmic three wheels created to distill the
light particles out of the material universe. Another evocation is the column of
glory (the Milky Way), which transports the recovered light particles from the
distilling three wheels to the moon and then the sun, which function as ships
transporting the light particles to their temporary haven (the new earth cre-
ated by the great architect). The third messenger and the maiden of light then
excite the sexual nature of the male archons, causing them to ejaculate the
light particles from within them. The sin that excites the archons falls to the
earth, becoming the source of all plant life. The female archons miscarry their
light-bearing fetuses, which fall to the earth and copulate among themselves,
becoming the source of all animal life. The sum total of all of these precious
light particles trapped in deadly matter, including plants and animals, is called
the suffering Jesus (Jesus patibilis), who is on the light cross (crux luminus).
The prince of darkness, in an attempt to frustrate the cosmic distillation of
light particles, gives birth to the two evil demons, Sakla (Ashqulan) and Ne-
broel (Namrael), who eat the monstrous offspring of the miscarried fetuses