Abstract
Mandaeism is a dualistic religion whose doctrine corresponds to the basic features of the late antiquity gnosis typological model. The Mandaean religion is characterized by elaborate ritual practice involving water rituals and ritual feasts.
The Mandaean texts are varied in both genre and various doctrine traditions they contain. In one aspect, however, they are fairly uniform: the image of Christianity they offer is polemical and consistently negative; in Mandaean texts we cannot find a single neutral or even positive mention of Christianity.
For the Mandaeans the personification of Christianity is "Christ" (Mšiha). In the text I explain the concept of Christ in the Mandaean normative texts as follows: a) Christ is derived from darkness (the Mandaean image of the world is dualistic, the light stands against darkness); b) Christ is identified with Mercury - he is one of the planets; c) The individual episodes / activities of Christ, which we know from the New Testament, describe the texts as various incarnations of Mercury-Christ.
Mandaeans expresses this fact as different forms (dmuta) in which Mercury-Christ "comes" to the (earthly) world or as different body garments he takes on herself (pagra labiš). It is only against the background of this specific Mandaean Christology that we can understand the passages in the Mandaean texts that depict episodes of Jesus / Christ's life known from the New Testament Gospels.
I submit a translation of several such passages with a brief commentary. In the next step, I turn to the question of what kind of Christianity the Mandaean texts present, ie with what forms of Christianity the Mandaeans were confronted.
The image of Christianity in the Mandaean texts corresponds to the documented expansion of Christianity in Babylonia from the second half of the 3rd century. It is not always possible to unambiguously determine with which particular form of Christianity the texts are in polemic.
The controversy with the Syrian Christianity prevails, with whose practices and organizational structure the Mandaeans are quite familiar. In conclusion, I present briefly the image of Jesus / Christ in folk tradition and an example of the contemporary mutual image of Christianity and Mandaeans on the institutional level.