>I am assuming from the texts given above that Syranthir was of the
>Insravel persuasion.
Yes.
> Perhaps Insravelism (Insravel being a purifying
>god) is closer to Zoroastrianism and Mandeanism is closer to
>Carmanianism [Cosmic Light/Darkness, a savior spirit that assists
>souls to worlds of light (in later times Sedenya illuminism)
>secretive and doesn't promote asceticism].
Well, I'm leery of such comparisons given that Zorastorianism changed over the centuries and nobody knows much about Mandeanism.
>So was Syranthir of the Insravel persuasion? Did he believe Malkion
>to be the corrupting God, and therefore the God Learners were (in a
>sense) devil worshippers?
Malkion is a personage of mythical times. He appears in many forms and guises of which the common interpretation is that he was degenerating along with the Cosmos before finally redeeming both.
The Malkioni have written records and in some cases personal remembrances of Malkion when he walked the earth. However all these deal with his later corrupt manifestations. Nobody, with the singular exception of Zzabur, knows what Malkion was like before and nobody trusts Zzabur.
So the key question for the Malkioni is what is the first and primal form of Malkion to which we can offer thanks and praise. To answer this question, the Malkioni have to go beyond fact and historical research into metaphysics, theology and faith.
The Loskalmi believed and still do that the first and primal form was Irensavel, the Hidden Mover. The God Learners believe on the basis of the Abiding Book that the first and primal form was Makan. The two beliefs were eventually reconciled but that doesn't concern the time period that we are talking about.
Both sides saw each other's god as false, misconceived, a manifest error etc. But that does not mean that Syranthir saw _Malkion_ as the corrupting God. The Carmanians still rever him in the form of Malakinus.
--Peter Metcalfe
Powered by hypermail