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Matarta

{{Short description|Watch-house or purgatory in Mandaean cosmology}}

File:MS DC 8 - Nbu wolves.jpg. From the Scroll of Abatur (MS DC 8).]]

{{Mandaeism}}

In Mandaean cosmology, a maṭarta ({{langx|myz|ࡌࡀࡈࡀࡓࡕࡀ}}; plural form: {{transliteration|myz|maṭarata}} {{lang|myz|ࡌࡀࡈࡀࡓࡀࡕࡀ}}) is a "station" or "toll house" that is located between the World of Light (alma ḏ-nhūra) from Tibil (Earth). It has variously been translated as "watch-station",{{cite thesis|url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1444088/|last=Aldihisi|first=Sabah|year=2008|title=The story of creation in the Mandaean holy book in the Ginza Rba|type=PhD|publisher=University College London}} "toll-station",{{cite book|last=Buckley|first=Jorunn Jacobsen|title=The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people|publisher=Oxford University Press|publication-place=New York|year=2002|isbn=0-19-515385-5|oclc=65198443}} "way-station", or "purgatory". Maṭartas are guarded by various uthras (celestial beings from the World of Light) and demons. Ruha, the queen of the underworld, is the ruler or guardian of one of the maṭartas.

To reach the World of Light (alma ḏ-nhūra) from Tibil (Earth), souls must pass through the various maṭartas that are situated in between. Rituals such as the masiqta can help guide souls past the various maṭarta so that they could reach the World of Light.

In the Ginza Rabba

In the Ginza Rabba, Chapter 3 in Book 5 of the Right Ginza, Book 6 of the Right Ginza (also known as the "Book of Dinanukht"), and Chapter 4 in Book 1 of the Left Ginza give detailed descriptions of the maṭartas.Häberl, Charles G. (2007). [https://scholarship.libraries.rutgers.edu/discovery/fulldisplay/alma991031549909304646/01RUT_INST:ResearchRepository Introduction to the New Edition, in The Great Treasure of the Mandaeans, a new edition of J. Heinrich Petermann’s Thesaurus s. Liber Magni, with a new introduction and a translation of the original preface by Charles G. Häberl]. Gorgias Press, LLC. https://doi.org/10.7282/T3C53J6P

Some of the matarta guards are:{{cite book |url=https://livingwaterbooks.com.au/product/ginza-rba/ |last1=Gelbert |first1=Carlos |title=Ginza Rba |year=2011 |publisher=Living Water Books |location=Sydney |isbn=9780958034630}}

Order of matarta guards in Right Ginza 5.3:

  1. the Virgin (ptula)
  2. Zan-Hazazban
  3. Yur, Yahur, and Arhum
  4. Pilpin-Pipin
  5. Jesus the Messiah
  6. the userers
  7. Ruha ḏ-Qudša

Order of matarta guards in Right Ginza 6:

  1. Nbaz-Haila
  2. Zan-Hazazban
  3. Ewat-Ruha
  4. Himun
  5. Ptahil
  6. Abatur

Order of matarta guards in Left Ginza 1.4:

  1. Nbaz and the clergy
  2. Nbu and the scribes
  3. Seven of Ptahil and the sinners
  4. userers
  5. The Messiah (Jesus) and the celibates
  6. Ewat (i.e., Ruha) and the fasting hypocrites
  7. Ptahil and the wicked rulers
  8. Abatur and the unobservant Naṣoraeans

Left Ginza 3.51 is about the soul passing through seven matarta stations. The names of the matarta guards are simply the "First," "Second," "Third," "Fourth," "Fifth," "Sixth," and "Seventh," respectively.

Parallels in other religions

{{see also|Seven heavens}}

In the Nag Hammadi library, the Coptic Apocalypse of Paul describes an ascent through the seven lower heavens, which are guarded by various angels inflicting punishments on sinners. Heavenly "toll collectors" are mentioned in the First Apocalypse of James (33,2-27), which mentions "three detainers who carry off souls by theft," as well as angels torturing the soul in the Book of Thomas the Contender (141,36-39) and Pistis Sophia.{{cite book|last1=Meyer|first1=Marvin|author-link1=Marvin Meyer|title=The Nag Hammadi scriptures|publisher=HarperOne|publication-place=New York|year=2007|isbn=978-0-06-162600-5|oclc=124538398}}

Matartas in Mandaeism are also similar to aerial toll houses ({{langx|bg|{{linktext|митарство}}}}; {{langx|ru|{{linktext|мытарства}}}}) in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. (The aforementioned Slavic words are not cognate with the Mandaic word.)

The Second Book of Enoch, a Jewish apocryphal text written in the first century CE, describes the mystical ascent of the patriarch Enoch through a hierarchy of Ten Heavens. Enoch passes through the Garden of Eden in the Third Heaven on his way to meet the Lord face-to-face in the Tenth (chapter 22). Along the way he encounters vividly described populations of angels who torment wrongdoers; he sees homes, olive oil, and flowers.{{cite book|author=Edward Langton|title=Good and Evil Spirits: A Study of the Jewish and Christian Doctrine, Its Origin and Development|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RT2QBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA248|date=11 July 2014|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-62564-991-1|pages=248–}}

See also

;Apocryphal texts

;Other texts

References

{{reflist}}

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Category:Mandaean cosmology

Category:Afterlife places

Category:Mandaic words and phrases