Identification of a new Manichaean manuscript fragment of the hymns in honour of the church leaders and patrons (Berlin Turfan Collection, M1218)

Abstract This article aims to identify the unpublished Middle Persian Manichaean fragment M1218 from the Turfan Berlin collection, which can definitively complete the lower part of fragment M586 (published by Leurini in 2017). This identification offers scholars a more complete and lucid text, shedding light on the content of a sheet belonging to an installation hymn. The reconstructed text comprises four hymns: of the hymns with captions, the first, attributed to the “great assembly” ( qlʾn hnzmn ) is followed by the second with the rubric “From Jacob the brave” ( ʾc yʾkwb nrymʾn ). Two unknown hymns appear at the top of M586. After presenting a diplomatic edition of the two fragments and offering a unified text, the article addresses philological and textual commentaries on specific words and phrases to provide a clearer picture of the structure and content of this manuscript page.