The Last Gnostics

Adam Elenbaas

While other Gnostic traditions disappeared under the brutality of the Christian Church, the Mandeans somehow maintained their mystical culture throughout two-thousand centuries of strife and warfare in the Middle East. However, since the Iraq War, the 60,000 remaining Mandean gnostics are facing extinction. Because they are peaceful and are not allowed to take up arms in retaliation, the recent rioting and relentless fighting in Iraq has brought the number of remaining Mandeans down to a mere 5,000, with many fleeing to Syria and Jordan under the threat of violence by Islamic extremists.

The Mandeans have hoped to come to the United States in order to preserve their tradition, but currently the Bush Administration's plans to evacuate 7,000 refugees from Iraq by the end of the fiscal year have failed miserably, allowing only 2,000 in the U.S.. This number includes only a few Mandean families.

It would be a shame to lose such a rich spiritual tradition spanning over 2,000 years. In times of great planetary change, we should not underestimate how much help might come from the secret wisdom of the last remaining Gnostics.