In 1668 appeared the first volume of the Acta eanctorum ordinia sancti Benedidi, relating to the sixth century. After thirtyfour years of work, nine folio volumes bad appeared, bringing the work down to 1100, and the material for a tenth was in shape. Papebroch set down most of the early documents conveying monastic privileges, and especially the Merovingian archives of SaintDenie, as forgeries. Indeed, the question of the sources of Mandaeism is just that of the sources of Ophitism and Gnosticism in general. While some fundamental conceptions are changed, as when the names of Babylonian deities become the names of the planets and are regarded as evil spirits, yet the derivation is so clear upon investigation that no doubt can be entertained upon this point.
Christian baptism implies metanoia, rz.
Similarly, as Marduk, the conqueror of Tiamat, appears in vari ous incarnations like that of Gilgamesh, so do Hibil Ziwa and his successors. The parallels of Ishtar's descent into hell and that of Hibil Ziwa, the divi sion of the planetary worlds into a system of seven, and the seat of Es, in the -North with the Mandaean direction of worship to that quarter are sufficiently obvious. Similar relationship can be established with Manicheanism. John the Baptist gave to the rite of baptism, thus de rived, a new ethical content by connecting with it the Old-Testament expectation of a Messiah. Sim ilarly the second sacrament of the Mandmans, the Eucharist, must be explained upon usage grounded in nature-religions, in honor paid to the pure ele ments of nature and its gifts, and not as a perver sion of the Christian mystery.