The Kentaeans were a

Gnostic Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...

religious group of

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

from around the 5th century AD. They were closely related to but distinct from the

Mandaeans Mandaeans (Mandaic language, 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 ...

Historical sources

The Kentaeans are mentioned near the end of Book 3 and at the beginning of Book 9.1 in the

Right Ginza The Right Ginza () is one of the two parts of the Ginza Rabba, the longest and the most important holy scripture of Mandaeism. The other part of the Ginza Rabba is the Left Ginza. Summaries of each book (or tractate), based mostly on Häberl ( ...

, as well as in

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 ...

Prayer 357. The

Ginza Rabba The Ginza Rabba (), Ginza Rba, or Sidra Rabba (), and formerly the Codex Nasaraeus, is the longest and the most important holy scripture of Mandaeism. The Ginza Rabba is composed of two parts: the Right Ginza (GR) and the Left Ginza (GL). T ...

identifies the Kentaeans with Kiwan (Saturn) and criticizes them for their fasting. They are also mentioned by Arab historians such as Ibn al-Malāḥimī as the ''Kintānīya'', while aš-Šahrastānī refers to them as the ''Kintawīya''. Al-Masʿūdī briefly mentions them as the ''Kinṯāwīyūn''. References to both the Kentaeans and Mandaeans, who are always mentioned together with each other, can be found in three 6th-century Syriac Christian texts, namely the Cyrus of Edessa's ''Explanation for the Fasts'', the ''Acts of Symeon bar Ṣabbāʿe'', and the title of a lost work by Nathaniel of Šahrazur (), namely "A polemic against the Severans (Jacobites), Manichaeans, Kentaeans, and Mandaeans" (''Drāšā haw d-luqbal Seweryāne w-Mənenāye w-Kentāye w-Mandāye''). Cyrus of Edessa's ''Explanation for the Fasts'', which dates to 538–543 A.D., mentions that " astingappears with the Manichaeans, the Marcionites, Macedonians, Valentinians, and Katharoi (''qtrw''), together with all of the Mandaeans, the Kentaeans, and those like them." The ''Acts of Symeon bar Ṣabbāʿe'' warns readers to stay away from "the Manichaeans, the Marcionites, the Gangaeans (''glyʾ'' < ''gngyʾ''), the Purified Elchasaites the Kentaeans (''kntyʾ''), the Mandaeans (''mndyʾ''), and the rest of the pagans (''ḥanpe'')." Van Bladel (2017) argues that both the Mandaeans and Kentaeans likely originated during the mid or late 5th century in the Sasanian Empire. This date range is based on the fact that names for the Mandaeans and Kentaeans were directly attested in works by Cyrus of Edessa () and in the ''Acts of Symeon bar Ṣabbā'', but not in heresiologies by Aphrahat ( 280– 345) and

Ephrem the Syrian Ephrem the Syrian (; ), also known as Ephraem the Deacon, Ephrem of Edessa or Aprem of Nisibis, (Syriac: ܡܪܝ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ — ''Mâr Aphrêm Sûryâyâ)'' was a prominent Christian theology, Christian theologian and Christian literat ...

( 306–373) that had also mentioned many similar Gnostic groups.

Common origin and schism with Mandaeans

Theodore bar Konai ( in the ''Book of the Scholion'') considers the

, whom he refers to as the Dostaeans, to be an offshoot of the Kentaeans. Van Bladel (2017) argues that the Kentaeans (), who derived their teachings from

Abel Abel ( ''Hébel'', in pausa ''Hā́ḇel''; ''Hábel''; , ''Hābēl'') is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within the Abrahamic religions. Born as the second son of Adam and Eve, the first two humans created by God in Judaism, God, he ...

, and Mandaeans () are closely related to each other, and that they had become distinct from each other due to a historical schism. In the ''Book of the Scholion'', Theodore bar Konai quotes a passage nearly identical to Left Ginza 3.11 as part of the teachings of the Kentaeans (''see'' ).

References

{{Mandaeism footer Mandaeism Early Gnostic sects Gnostic religions and sects Judean-Israelite Gnostic sects Religion in the Sasanian Empire

Historical sources

Common origin and schism with Mandaeans

See also

References