Maiden of Light

The Maiden of Light (Greek Parthenos tou Phōtos; Middle Persian Kanīg ī Rōšn) is a redeeming goddess of the Manichaean Third Creation and the chief female agent of the Third Messenger. Her best-known act is the so-called Seduction of the Archons: at the Messenger's command she reveals her radiant beauty to the imprisoning demons — to the males as a beautiful maiden, to the females as a handsome youth — so that, overcome with desire, they discharge the particles of light they had swallowed. Thereafter she is associated with the ongoing purification of the light, cleansing it from the clouds and the atmosphere as it ascends. The figure is variously configured across the sources, sometimes splitting into a group of twelve maidens; in the Coptic and western tradition she is the Virgin of Light, occasionally associated with Jesus the Splendour in the rousing of souls.

Domains

• purification of the light
• radiant beauty

Powers

• to display her beauty to the demons and so draw out the light they have swallowed
• to cleanse the captive light from the clouds and the atmosphere

Epithets

• Parthenos tou PhōtosPaul Van Lindt, The Names of Manichaean Mythological Figures: A Comparative Study on Terminology in the Coptic Sources (Studies in Oriental Religions 26) (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1992) (secondary); Iain Gardner, The Kephalaia of the Teacher: The Edited Coptic Manichaean Texts in Translation (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 37) (Leiden: Brill, 1995) (secondary)

Relations

• subordinate to: Third MessengerThe Maiden of Light acts as the agent of the Third Messenger, dispatched by him to seduce the archons into releasing the light.Werner Sundermann, 'Manicheism ii. The Manichean Pantheon', Encyclopaedia Iranica (online ed., 2009) (secondary)
• ally: Third MessengerThe Maiden of Light and the Third Messenger act in concert in the work of the Third Creation, she displaying her form at his command to wrest the light from the demons.Werner Sundermann, 'Manicheism ii. The Manichean Pantheon', Encyclopaedia Iranica (online ed., 2009) (secondary); Iain Gardner and Samuel N. C. Lieu (eds.), Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) (secondary)

Sources

• The Maiden of Light (Greek Parthenos tou Phōtos; Middle Persian Kanīg ī Rōšn) is the female agent of the Third Messenger who lures the demons into discharging the imprisoned light and purifies it from the atmosphere.: Werner Sundermann, 'Manicheism ii. The Manichean Pantheon', Encyclopaedia Iranica (online ed., 2009) (secondary); Iain Gardner and Samuel N. C. Lieu (eds.), Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) (secondary); Paul Van Lindt, The Names of Manichaean Mythological Figures: A Comparative Study on Terminology in the Coptic Sources (Studies in Oriental Religions 26) (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1992) (secondary)