meat; therefore it became a necessary duty to eat meat in imitation of the Lord Christ—even if only one day in the year—in order to remove any suspicion of adhering to the doctrine of the Mananites.

He said: In “al-Abriksis” it is recorded that the Apostle Peter, while in Jaffa, saw the descending sheet that contained every four-footed creature. On the basis of this ruling, anyone who abstains from eating meat is acting contrary to Christian law and is merely imitating the practice of the Greco-Sabeans, who to this very day do not bathe, for the Mananites do not recognize washing with water. Over time the Greco-Sabeans adopted this practice as an established custom.

Some people maintain that they avoided washing with water because of the extreme cold of their lands and of their water, which makes it virtually impossible for them to approach water in winter on account of its ice and chill; thus what began as a seasonal concession became a fixed practice in both winter and summer.

The Mananites are of two categories: the Sammāʿūn (Listeners) and the Ṣiddīqūn (Elect).

The Listeners fast on certain appointed days in every month.

The Elect fast throughout their entire lives and eat nothing except what grows from the earth.