Third Messenger

The Third Messenger is the great redeeming god of the Manichaean Third Creation, evoked by the Father of Greatness once the Living Spirit has built the cosmos. His task is the liberation of the light still imprisoned in matter. He sets in motion the cosmic machinery — the wheels of the spheres, the columns and the vessels of moon and sun — by which freed light is conveyed upward and back to the Realm of Light. To wring the swallowed light from the dark archons he and his agents reveal a luminous, alluring form; in the most striking episode he sends the Maiden of Light to display herself to the male and female demons so that, in their lust, they discharge the captive light. In the Iranian texts he is named Narisah or Narēsaf and titled Rōšnšahr Yazd; confusingly, the Iranian name Mihr, which in Middle Persian denotes the Living Spirit, denotes this Third Messenger in Parthian and Sogdian.

Parentage

• parent: Father of Greatness

Children

• Column of Glory

Domains

• redemption of the light
• sun and light vessels

Powers

• to set turning the wheels that ferry liberated light to the moon and sun
• to reveal a radiant seductive form that wrings the swallowed light from the demons

Epithets

• Narisah YazdWerner Sundermann, 'Manicheism ii. The Manichean Pantheon', Encyclopaedia Iranica (online ed., 2009) (secondary); Werner Sundermann, 'Mithra iii. In Manicheism', Encyclopaedia Iranica (online ed., 2002) (secondary)
• Rōšnšahr YazdHans-Joachim Klimkeit, Gnosis on the Silk Road: Gnostic Parables, Hymns and Prayers from Central Asia (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993) (secondary)

Relations

• subordinate to: Father of GreatnessThe Third Messenger is the principal evocation of the Third Creation, called forth by the Father of Greatness.Werner Sundermann, 'Manicheism ii. The Manichean Pantheon', Encyclopaedia Iranica (online ed., 2009) (secondary)
• ally: Maiden of LightThe Third Messenger sends out the Maiden of Light as his agent to display herself to the archons and so extract the imprisoned light.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 Third Messenger (Iranian Narisah/Narēsaf) is the Manichaean god of the Third Creation who works the redemption of the light, dispatching the Maiden of Light to draw the swallowed light out of the demons.: Werner Sundermann, 'Manicheism ii. The Manichean Pantheon', Encyclopaedia Iranica (online ed., 2009) (secondary); Werner Sundermann, 'Mithra iii. In Manicheism', Encyclopaedia Iranica (online ed., 2002) (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)