[2] Miriai is considered to have descended from "priest-kings" of Judea, and one of her duties was to clean the Jewish temple.
[3] Due to her conversion to Mandaeism and lateness in getting home, Miriai's father condemns her and calls her a prostitute.
[1] However, in the extracanonical Protoevangelion of James, which remained important to Orthodox Christians and had a significant impact on Orthodox and Catholic Mariology, the story is strikingly similar to that of Miriai in the Mandaean Book of John.
According to Charles G. Häberl, Christians identify Miriai with Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Mandaeans do not identify both Mary and Miriam as being Miriai, insisting that she was a different woman bearing the same name.