Manichaean Jacob, Seth, and Arhant: A Comparative Textual Analysis of the Transformation of Three Apostles into Angels

With a comparative textual approach, the present study tries to show how the previous termini technici and concepts have been redefined in Manichaeism, which was able to create celestial angels from certain earthly apostles, prophets, and sages, and why the function of any of the Manichaean figures is not equivalent to the function of their counterparts in other religions. After describing and determining the nature and function of the famous Semitic prophets Jacob and Seth, and the Buddhist sage Arahant, this study tries to find a satisfactory answer to why the Manichaeans considered these originally pre-Manichaean characters as angels. For the first time, the present survey paves the way for the hypothesis and logical speculation that syṭ ʻSeth the angelʼ is the angelic form of šytyl ʻSeth the prophet/ apostleʼ and ʾhryndws ʻArhant the angelʼ is the angelic form of (ʾ)rhnd/t ʻArhant the sageʼ and ultimately proves that the Manichaeans used each of these in two different contexts to refer to the two concepts ʻmessenger, prophet, sageʼ and ʻangelʼ simultaneously, which are two sides of the same coin.

Manichaean Jacob, Seth, and Arhant: A Comparative Textual Analysis of the Transformation of Three Apostles into Angels Keywords:

Manichaean Redefinition of Concepts , Jacob , Seth , Arhant , Manichaean theology , Manichaean angels