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Najah Choheili
Ganzibra Najah Choheili () is an Iranian Mandaean priest who currently serves as the head of the Mandaean community in Iran. Biography Najah Choheili was born in Ahvaz, Iran into the Kuhailia (Persian pronunciation: ''Choheili'') family. His father was Ganzibra Jabbar Choheili, while his brother is Salah Choheili, who is currently the Rishama of the Mandaean community in Australia. He currently serves as the head of the Mandaean Council of Ahvaz and is the head of the Mandaean community in Iran. See also *Jabbar Choheili *Salah Choheili *Salem Choheili * Taleb Doraji *Mandaean Council of Ahvaz References External links Buta drabša(drabsha prayer from the Qulasta The Qulasta, also spelled Qolastā in older sources (; ), is a compilation of Mandaean prayers. The Mandaic word ''qolastā'' means "collection". The prayerbook is a collection of Mandaic prayers regarding baptisms ('' maṣbuta'') and other sa ..., CP 337-339 = Oxford Collection 4.8-11) as recited by Najah Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ganzibra
A ganzibra (singular form in , plural form in , literally 'treasurer' in Mandaic; ) is a high priest in Mandaeism. Tarmidas, or junior priests, rank below the ganzibras.Drower, E. S. 1960. ''The Secret Adam: A Study of Nasoraean Gnosis''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Symbolically, ganzibras are considered to be uthras on earth ( Tibil). Their responsibilities include performing masbuta, masiqta, wedding ceremonies, and other rituals, all of which can only be performed by priests. They must prepare their own food to maintain ritual purity. Ganzibra priests are also prohibited from consuming stimulants such as wine, tobacco, and coffee. Ordination The ganzibras go through an elaborate set of initiation rituals that are separate from those performed for the tarmidas. According Drower (1937), a ganzibra can only be initiated immediately before the death of a pious member of the Mandaean community. Two ganzibras and two shgandas are required to perform the initiation. Drower, E. S. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salem Choheili
Šganda Salem Choheili (; born 1935 in Ahvaz, Iran) is an Iranian Mandaean scribe, teacher, and author. He is also a shganda and ''yalufa'' (learned Mandaean layman) and is one of the leaders of the Mandaean Council of Ahvaz. Salem Choheili is a fully fluent speaker of Neo-Mandaic. Biography Salem Choheili was born in Ahvaz, Iran in 1935 into the Kuhailia (Persian pronunciation: ''Choheili'') family. His Mandaean baptismal name is Bayan bar Šarat (). As a child, he learned to speak colloquial Mandaic from his parents. Salem Choheili later served as Slovak linguist Rudolf Macúch's primary Neo-Mandaic linguistic informant in 1989, as well as a guide for Norwegian-American scholar Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley during her 1996 field trip to Iran. After serving in the Iranian military, Salem Choheili focused on transcribing Mandaic manuscripts. On April 12, 1989, he finished copying a handwritten manuscript of the Mandaean Book of John. Dr. Sinan Abdullah, the son of physicist Ab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iranian Mandaeans
Mandaeans (Mandaic: ࡌࡀࡍࡃࡀࡉࡉࡀ) ( ), also known as Mandaean Sabians ( ) or simply as Sabians ( ), are an ethnoreligious group who are followers of Mandaeism. They believe that John the Baptist was the final and most important prophet. They may have been among the earliest religious groups to practice baptism, as well as among the earliest adherents of Gnosticism, a belief system of which they are the last surviving representatives today. The Mandaeans were originally native speakers of Mandaic, an Eastern Aramaic language, before they nearly all switched to Mesopotamian Arabic or Persian as their main language. After the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies in 2003, the Mandaean community of Iraq, which before the war numbered 60,000–70,000 persons, collapsed with most of the community relocating to Iran, Syria and Jordan, or forming diaspora communities beyond the Middle East. The remaining community of Iranian Mandaeans has also been dwi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Religious Leaders From Ahvaz
Religion is a range of social-cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements—although there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion. It is an essentially contested concept. Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacredness, faith,Tillich, P. (1957) ''Dynamics of faith''. Harper Perennial; (p. 1). and a supernatural being or beings. The origin of religious belief is an open question, with possible explanations including awareness of individual death, a sense of community, and dreams. Religions have sacred histories, narratives, and mythologies, preserved in oral traditions, sacred texts, symbols, and holy places, that may attempt to explain the origin of life, the universe, and other phenomena. Religious pra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mandaean Priests
A Mandaean priest or ''Tarmida'' () refers to an ordained religious leader in Mandaeism. Overview All priests must undergo lengthy ordination ceremonies, beginning with tarmida initiation. Mandaean religious leaders and copyists of religious texts hold the title in Arabic, Sheikh. In Iran, they are also occasionally referred to as Mullah. All Mandaean communities traditionally require the presence of a priest, since priests are required to officiate over all important religious rituals, including masbuta, masiqta, birth and wedding ceremonies. Priests also serve as teachers, scribes, and community leaders. Many Mandaean diaspora communities do not have easy access to priests. Due to the shortage of priests in the Mandaean diaspora, ''halala'' () or learned Mandaean laymen who are ritually clean (both individually and in terms of family background) can sometimes assume minor roles typically assumed by ordained priests. Such laymen taking on limited priestly roles are called ''pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Living People
Purpose: Because living persons may suffer personal harm from inappropriate information, we should watch their articles carefully. By adding an article to this category, it marks them with a notice about sources whenever someone tries to edit them, to remind them of WP:BLP (biographies of living persons) policy that these articles must maintain a neutral point of view, maintain factual accuracy, and be properly sourced. Recent changes to these articles are listed on Special:RecentChangesLinked/Living people. Organization: This category should not be sub-categorized. Entries are generally sorted by family name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give .... Maintenance: Individuals of advanced age (over 90), for whom there has been no new documentation in the last ten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qulasta
The Qulasta, also spelled Qolastā in older sources (; ), is a compilation of Mandaean prayers. The Mandaic word ''qolastā'' means "collection". The prayerbook is a collection of Mandaic prayers regarding baptisms ('' maṣbuta'') and other sacred rituals involved in the ascension of the soul ('' masiqta''). In Mandaic, individual prayers are generally called ''buta'' (plural form: ''bawata''), although some prayers also known as ''qaiamta'', ''šrita'' (loosing or deconsecration prayers), and other Mandaic designations. There is no standardized version of the Qulasta; different versions can contain varying numbers of prayers, and ordering of the prayers can also vary. The most commonly used Qulasta versions are those of E. S. Drower (1959 English translation) and Mark Lidzbarski (1920 German translation). The most complete versions have approximately 340 prayers, excluding duplicates. Eric Segelberg (1958) contains a detailed study of many of the first 90 Qulasta prayers (m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drabsha
The drabshaDrower, Ethel Stefana (1937). ''The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran''. Oxford at the Clarendon Press. (; Modern Mandaic: ''drafšā'') or darfash () is the symbol of the Mandaean faith. It is typically translated as 'banner'. Etymology The Mandaic term ''drabša'' is derived from the Middle Persian word ''drafš'', which means 'banner or standard; a flash of light; sunrise'. In Mandaic, ''drabša'' can also mean 'a ray or beam of light'. An uncommon variant spelling is ''drapša'', which may have been the original spelling. Description and symbolism The drabša is a banner in the shape of a cross made of two branches of olive wood fastened together and half covered with a piece of white cloth traditionally made of pure silk, and seven branches of myrtle. The drabša white silk banner is not identified with the Christian cross. Instead, the four arms of the drabsha symbolize the four corners of the universe, while the pure silk cloth represents the Light of God (Hayyi Ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taleb Doraji
Ganzibra Taleb Doraji (also spelled Taleb Doragi, Taleb Dorragi, or Talib Durašia (); born 1937 in Ahvaz, Iran) is an Iranian Mandaean priest and goldsmith from Ahvaz, Khuzestan. He became a tarmida in 1998 and later attained the rank of ganzibra. Biography Taleb Doraji was born in Ahvaz in 1937. He is the cousin of Jabbar Choheili, since they both have the same grandfather, named Salim. Taleb Doraji is a member of the Durašia (also spelled Durakia in the colophons of Mandaean texts; modern Persianized pronunciation: "Doraji") clan. On June 13, 1999, Taleb Doraji (who had just become a tarmida a year earlier), together with Ganzibra Salah Choheili from Ahvaz, performed the first-ever masbuta on a university campus and at an academic conference, the ARAM 13th International Conference at Harvard University. The masbuta was performed in the Charles River, with Salem Choheili and his brother assisting as shgandas. Taleb Doraji is a goldsmith who owns a jewellery shop in the Ahv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mandaean Australians
Mandaean Australians are Australians of Mandaean descent or Mandaeans who have Australian citizenship. Most Mandaeans in Australia live in Greater Western Sydney. As of 2023, Australia has the largest Mandaean population in the world, followed by Sweden (which has the largest Mandaean population in Europe) and the United States. Sydney metropolitan area The Sydney metropolitan area in Australia has the largest Mandaean diaspora community in the world. The community is centered in Greater Western Sydney suburbs such as Fairfield, Liverpool, and Penrith. In Liverpool, the main mandi (Beth Manda) is Ganzibra Dakhil Mandi. The Sabian Mandaean Association of Australia has purchased land by the banks of the Nepean River at Wallacia, New South Wales, where Wallacia Mandi is currently being built. Another mandi in Greater Sydney is Yahya Yuhana Mandi (or Mandi Yehya Youhanna), located in Prestons. In Western Sydney, Mandaeans mainly perform masbuta (baptisms) at Lighthorse Park i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zidqa Brikha
In Mandaeism, the zidqa brikha (or ''zidqa brika''; ) is a type of ritual meal blessed by Mandaean priests. ''Zidqa'' means oblation and can also mean alms, while ''brikha'' means blessed.Drower, Ethel Stefana. 1937. ''The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran''. Oxford At The Clarendon Press. Unlike the lofani, which is a minor ritual meal does not require the presence of a priest, the zidqa brikha needs to be prepared by a priest. The zidqa brikha is offered and eaten at the end of tarmida (junior priest) initiation ceremonies, after the novice's 60-day seclusion period. It is also offered at qabin, weddings and during the Parwanaya festival. During Parwanaya, the zidqa brikha is performed privately by priests around midnight, rather than in front of a large congregation of laypeople. The ''ahaba ḏ-mania'' or ''hava ḏ-mania'' (presentation of garments) is a form of zidqa brika for those who have not died wearing the ritual garment, or for the ritually impure. It is performed on a pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
