[3] The themes and content of the psalms bear a considerable resemblance to the Hymn of the Pearl from the Acts of Thomas.
This is because the latter is referred to in other parts of the Coptic Manichaean Psalm-book as a distinct person from the Apostle.
The enigma has since deepened with the publication of the Cologne Mani-Codex in the 1970s, which showed that Mani himself came out of a baptizing Christian sect called the Elkasaites (= Elcesaites).
Säve-Söderbergh's work on the psalms demonstrating that Mandaeism did not derive from Manichaeism, as was formerly commonly believed.
Van Bladel (2017) suggests that an equally plausible scenario is that of Manichaeism and Mandaeism both having borrowed the hymns from another common source, likely the funeral prayer(s) of an Aramaic-speaking Judeo-Christian group in Mesopotamia such as the Elchasites.