Manes

Also known as Mani or Manichaeus; Persian philosopher and religious teacher, founder of the Gnostic religion of Manichaeism (see Chapter 201 of Liber Aleph). Crowley's placement of Mani in this position is curious. Mani was a later teacher than Basilides, Valentinus and Bardesanes. Also, whereas these teachers considered themselves Christians, Mani was the founder of an entirely new religion, which claimed to be the culmination of Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Buddhism. The reader who is unfamiliar with Gnosticism may benefit by reading the sections on Basilides, Valentinus and Bardesanes before proceeding with Mani.
Mani's Persian name was Shuriak, or Cubricus in Latin. He was born in southern Babylonia of noble Persian stock. His father, Patak, was from Ekbatana, and was a religious leader of a Jewish-Christian baptizing sect called the Mughtasilah, founded by a prophet known as Elchasai, and it was within the religious framework of this sect, and under the careful tutelage of his father, that Mani was raised.

[Ibn al-Nadim

The Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadim, an Arabic writer, c. 987, found Mogtasilah, a sect of Sabians in the desert who counted al-Hasih (possibly Arabic for "Elchasai") as their founder.^[9]

The parents of Mani, founder of Manichaeanism were claimed, according to the Cologne Mani-Codex, to have been Elkasites

Elchasaites, were vegetarians and the young Mani had to naturally assist in the harvesting of fruit and vegetables. 

The Mughtasilah practiced a communion of unleavened bread and water and practiced ritual ablutions. 'Mughtasilah' means, 'Those Who Wash Themselves'.]

When he was twelve years old, he experienced a vision in which an Angel named At-Taum, "The Twin," instructed him to withdraw from the Mughtasilah and begin to purify himself with ascetic practices. The Angel returned to Shuriak the young man, and this second time, called upon him to preach a new religion.
In 242 e.v., he proclaimed a new, universal religion at the Persian court of Shapur I, proclaiming himself to be Mani, "The Vessel," the prophesied Paraclete, the divine helper of mankind, and the last of the great prophets. In his new religion, he consciously sought to reconcile the great religions of redemption, Christianity (Gnostic), Zoroastrianism (Zurvanite) and Buddhism (Mahâyâna), in a new Syncretism which also incorporated elements of Greek philosophy and Indian Jainism; while refuting patriarchal Judaism. He was not, at first, well received, and was forced to flee the country. He travelled to Trans-Oxiana (modern Uzbekistan), India and Western China, making converts wherever he went. He intended that his religion be a world-religion, in fact the first world-religion, and he consciously adapted his teaching to accommodate local beliefs and customs. He was regarded by his Christian adherents as the Paraclete, by his Persian followers as the Zoroastrian redeemer Saoshyant, and by his Buddhist disciples as the Avatar Maitreya.

In addition to an extensive body of anti-Manichaean literature in many languages, Mani and Manichaeism have themselves left us numerous texts in Latin, Greek, Coptic, Middle Iranian, Uighur, and Chinese. Manichaeism is, therefore, relatively well understood today. Among the extant Manichaean sacred texts are: The Living Gospel; The Treasure of Life; the Pragmateia; the Book of Mysteries; the Epistles; The Book of Giants; and Psalms and Prayers. These books were, at least in part, considered to have been inspired by Mani's Angel, At-Taum. There is also theShahburagan, a summary of the Manichaean teachings prepared for Shapur I; the Ardahang, a picture-book illustrating Mani's view of the world; and the Kephalaia, a collection of the sayings of Mani.
Mani eventually returned to Persia, where his following had greatly increased. This time, he was favorably received by Shapur and by his successor, Hormisdas I. He was allowed to preach freely, and was even given a city in Khuzistan for his residence. He finally fell victim to the established Zoroastrian priesthood during the reign of Bahram I, the successor of Hormisdas. He was arrested at Gundev Shapur in 276 e.v. and thrown into prison in chains, where he died after 26 days. His corpse was flayed, and his skin was stuffed with straw and nailed to the gate of the city. His Persian followers were then subjected to severe persecution, but Manichaeism outside Persia flourished. Records show the Manichaean religion to have spread to Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa, Asia Minor, Armenia, Dalmatia, Rome, Spain, Southern Gaul, Trans-Oxiana, Turkestan, India, China and even Tibet.

In the doctrine of Manichaeism, "The Teaching of Light" as it was called, the Universe was originally divided between two eternal, uncreated, and utterly irreconcilable principles: Light and Darkness. The Realm of Light was located in the North, tended upwards, and extended infinitely to the North, East and West. It was ruled by the Father of Greatness (identified with Zurvan in Persia), and was manifested as five "worlds": Nous (Mind), Ennoia (Thought), Phronêsis (Prudence), Enthymêsis (Reflection), and Logismos (Reason); which are surrounded by a great number of Aions. Twelve of these Aions, the "first-born," surround the Father, three to each quarter of the Heavens.
The Realm of Darkness (Hylê, meaning  matter or stuff. It can also be the material cause underlying a change in Aristotelian philosophy.) was located in the South, tended downwards and extended infinitely only to the South. It was ruled by the Prince of Darkness, and was also manifested as five "worlds": smoke, fire, storm, mud and darkness. From each of these five worlds grew a tree, and from the Five Trees came the five species of demons. The demons were divided into two sexes, and their existence was characterized by constant warfare and procreation. Each world of Darkness was ruled by an Archon: a Demon, a Lion, an Eagle, a Fish and a Dragon. The Prince of Darkness combined within himself the attributes of all five Archons.
Due to its inherent restlessness, the Realm of Darkness was always approaching the borders of the Realm of Light and contending with its forces. Once, a chance shift in the battles within Darkness elevated the Prince of Darkness to the highest point of his realm, where he beheld the Light, and the magnificence of the Realm of Light bred in him the desire to possess it. He resolved to make war on the Realm of Light with his demons.
The Father of Greatness saw that it was necessary to meet the challenge of the forces of Darkness. But his Aeons were meant for peace, and they could not be sent to do battle with the demons; so the Father resolved to go to battle himself. To do this, He called forth three Evocations from Himself.
In the First Evocation, the Father called forth the "Great Spirit" or "Wisdom" (Sophia). The Great Spirit projected the "Mother of the Living," and the Mother of the Living projected the "First Man" (identified with Ohrmazd in Persia). The First Man, with his five sons, fire, wind, water, light and ether who composed his Soul and were also the "five garments of Light" which made up his armor, descended into the Realm of Darkness to do battle with the invading demons.
While battling the Demons in the Realm of Darkness, the First Man managed to sever the roots of the Five Trees of Darkness, thus preventing the further growth of evil. However, the demons eventually overwhelmed him. He sacrificed his Soul, composed of his five sons who were his five garments, to the swarming demons. The demons devoured his sons, his Soul, and left him lying unconscious on the battlefield.
Light, the substance of the Soul of the First Man, was thus engulfed by the Darkness of matter. Over time, this Light was poisoned by matter, and lost consciousness of its nature; but also matter was poisoned by the Light, and gradually became utterly dependent upon it for survival.
Eventually recovering consciousness, the First Man stirred himself on the battlefield and prayed seven times for help to the Father of Greatness. The Father heard his prayer, and responded by initiating the Second Evocation of Himself, in which He called forth "The Friend of the Lights," who called forth "Great Architect" who called forth the "Living Spirit" (identified with Mithra in Persia). The Living Spirit called forth five sons: "Bearer of Brightness," "King of Honor," "Adamas of Light," "King of Glory," and "the Supporter" (Atlas), who descended into Darkness to find the First Man.
The Living Spirit then sent out an awakening Call to the First Man below. The Call, together with the First Man's Answer, arose from the depths into the Realm of Light. The Living Spirit accepted the Call and donned it as a cloak; and the Mother of the Living accepted the Answer, and donned it as a cloak. The Living Spirit and the Mother of the Living then went down into the Realm of Darkness where the First Man and his sons were. "Call" and "Answer" together became personified as a divinity named "Reflection of Life" or the "Great Idea."
Encountering the First Man, the Living Spirit stretched forth his right hand to him, lifted him up from the Darkness, and led him back to the Light; but the Soul of the First Man, the particles of Light from his five sons, remained behind, submerged in Darkness, awaiting redemption. Reflection of Life strengthened the desire of the lost particles of Light for their Home in the North.
The Living Spirit then returned to the Realm of Darkness and made war upon the demons. He created the World from their bodies and the Light imprisoned therein. From their bodies he fashioned the eight earths, from their skins the ten heavens. He fastened the five Archons, living, in the firmament. He divided the Light which was within the Realm of Darkness into three parts, according to its degree of mixture with matter. From the remaining undefiled Light he created the sun and moon, from the remaining Light which had been slightly defiled he created the stars. He created three great Wheels for the redemption of that Light which was retained by matter: the Wheel of Fire, the Wheel of Water, and the Wheel of Wind; all under the control of the King of Glory. Bearer of Brightness was set to hold up the ten heavens, and Supporter was stationed to hold up the three upper earths. The Living Spirit had created the World as a vast mechanism for the Redemption of the Light-- all that remained was for the mechanism to be set in motion, a task to be accomplished by the Third Evocation.
At the entreaty of the Mother of the Living, the First Man and the Living Spirit, the Father of Greatness called forth the Third Evocation. The principle figure of the Third Evocation was the "Third Envoy," or the "God of the Realm of Light," who dwelt within the sun. The Third Envoy was of both male and female aspect, and engendered twelve daughters, the Maidens of Light, who represent the Zodiac.
Before the great universal machine could be set in motion, the Third Envoy had to create a pathway to the Realm of Light. This he did in the form of the "Pillar of Glory" or "Column of Light," also called the "Perfect Man." The Pillar of Glory can be seen in the night sky as the Milky Way. When the universal machine was set in motion, the purified particles of Light would ascend via the Pillar of Glory to the moon during the first fifteen days of each month. When the moon became full, it would empty its collected Light into the sun during the final fifteen days of each month, whence the redeemed Light would pass on to a place called the "New Aeon"-- a place designed by the Great Architect and ruled by the First Man. The New Aeon was consubstantial with the Realm of Light, but would remain apart from it until the Last Day.
Upon completion of the Pillar of Glory, the Third Envoy set the sun and moon and the Three Wheels of Fire, Water and Wind in motion. It was then necessary to deprive the Archons, suspended in the sky by the Living Spirit, of the Light they had consumed. To accomplish this task, the Third Envoy revealed his/her male and female aspects naked to the Archons. The male Archons, beholding the nakedness of the female aspect of the Third Envoy, the Virgin of Light, ejaculated. Their seed fell to earth, and with it the Light they had swallowed. A portion of their seed fell on the water, and became a huge sea monster which Adamas of Light attacked and defeated. The portion of the seed that fell on land became the five types of vegetable life. The female Archons, sickened by the turning of the wheel of the zodiac to which they were bound, aborted the embryos they carried as a result of their unions in Darkness. The abortions fell to earth and became demons which began to devour the plants and procreate, thereby producing the five types of animal life. Through the changing of the seasons and the cycle of life, the process of the redemption of the Light had been initiated.
The Prince of Darkness beheld the beginning of the process of Redemption, and feared the final loss of the particles of Light. In order to bind the Particles of Light to itself more closely, Darkness conceived of an Averse Creation. It conjured two demons, the male Asaqlun or Saklas and the female Nebroel or Namrael to devour the offspring of the other abortions, absorbing and concentrating their Light; they were then to unite and produce two children in the male/female image of the Third Envoy.
The Light collected by the two demons by devouring the other demons was passed on to their two children as the Soul, and the two children were named Adam and Eve. Imprisoned along with the Soul of Light in the demon-born bodies of the first human pair is the Dark Spirit, Az, composed of lust and greed, who was placed there by Darkness to ensure that the Light would continue to remain imprisoned in matter.
In a counter-maneuver, the Third Envoy called forth Yiso Ziva, "Jesus the Radiant" or "the Shining" to awaken Adam and enlighten him with respect to the divine origin of the Soul, and its imprisonment in the body. Jesus the Radiant took on material form, crucifying himself on the cross of matter, to confront Adam. Enlightened, Adam resolved upon chastity, renouncing the prolongation of suffering which was procreation. Eve, however, was seduced by a demon, and bore to the demon two children, Cain and Abel. The continued bondage of a portion of the Light was thus assured, and its ultimate redemption was considered the responsibility of Humankind.
To assist Humankind in its Work towards Redemption, Jesus the Radiant called forth the "Mind of Light," the Father of All Apostles (the Holy Spirit), to send prophets who would bring the Gnosis to the people and show them the Way to Redemption. The Mind of Light caused Adam and Eve to unite one time to bring forth the first such prophet, whose name was Seth. Later prophets were Noah, Shem, Abraham, Enosh, Nikotheos, Enoch, Buddha, Aurentes, Zoroaster, Jesus (whose crucifixion was the resolution of the earlier crucifixion of Jesus the Radiant on the cross of matter), Paul, and, finally, Mani, who was the "Seal of the Prophets."
With the Gnosis comes the will to redemption, and the Gnosis enables the Soul to withstand evil by clothing it in the five virtues of Love, Faith (or Law), Perfection, Patience and Wisdom. Religion is the weapon of the Gnosis in striving to keep the Soul awake and resolute against the attacks of Darkness which cause forgetfulness. When the individual dies, the body descends to Darkness. The Soul, if awakened, ascends the Column of Light to the moon, thence to the sun, and thence to the New Aeon. If asleep, the soul is reincarnated on earth.
The Last Day, the end of the World, will occur when the deliverance of the Light is nearly complete, and the World, being deprived of most of its Light, is in a degenerate state of materialism. The Last Day will be signaled by a great war, followed by the second coming of Jesus. Jesus will separate the remaining awakened souls from those remaining asleep, then withdraw himself with the last awakened souls to the New Aeon. Bearer of Brightness and Supporter will abandon their posts, and the great mechanism of the World, now useless, will collapse upon itself in a great fire which will burn for 1468 years, liberating the last remaining particles of Light from matter. These particles will gather together to form the "Last Man," or the "Last Statue," and ascend to the New Aeon. Darkness will collapse into a lifeless clod, which will be cast into the pit that was once its realm, and the pit will be sealed with an enormous stone. Having been deprived of the Light upon which it had become dependent, it will be powerless to ever again attack the Realm of Light. Finally, the New Aeon will be united with the Realm of Light, and the restoration of the Light will be complete.
The Manichaean Church had the task of caring for the Light that remained in the world, protecting it from injury, and attempting to purify it and lead it on to the path of deliverance. The means of accomplishing this task was strict ascetism, the reduction of all relations of life to a minimum.
In practice, such rigid ascetism can only be accomplished by a few; thus, the Manichaean community was divided into two distinct groups: the Electi, or "Perfect," who adhered to a rigid ascetism and who formed the real core of the Church, and the Auditores, or "Hearers," who gathered around the Elect to hear their teachings and to obtain merit by serving them. The church hierarchy, recruited only from the Elect, consisted of Mani's successor, the Head of the Church, called the Archêgos or Princeps, twelve master teachers called Magistri, 72 Bishops or Deacons, and 360 Presbyters or Elders. Women could become Elect but not officers.
The Elect were bound by the Three Seals: of the Mouth; of the Hand; and the Genitals. These Seals required them to abstain totally from meat and wine, lying and hypocrisy, work, sexual intercourse, ill-treatment of animals and plants, pollution of water, and the owning of personal property. They were allowed one vegetarian meal per day, and were required to fast every Monday and for two successive days five times each year. They were dedicated to contemplation, study and the translation of religious writings (the Manichaeans had developed their own script), and were enjoined to pray, by the singing of hymns facing the sun or moon, seven times each day. By adherence to this strict regimen, the Elect expected to achieve deliverance for their Souls at death.
Such a life could obviously not be led without external support, which was provided by the Hearers. The guilt incurred by the Hearers in performing the work necessary to support the Elect was absolved by the Elect, but nevertheless resulted in a delay of the deliverance of the Souls of the Hearers by a period of one or more incarnations. The Hearers were expected only to live by ten commandments: 1. to take but one spouse; 2. not to fornicate; 3. not to lie; 4. not to be hypocritical; 5. not to worship idols; 6. not to practice magic; 7. not to kill animals (though they were allowed to eat meat from animals killed by others); 8. not to steal; 9. not to doubt their faith; and 10. not to neglect their duties to care for the Elect. Four prayers per day were prescribed for the Hearers. They were expected to fast every Sunday. Once each year, for 30 days, they were expected to eat only one meal per day along with the Elect. Before his conversion to Christianity, Saint Augustine was a Manichaean Hearer for nine years. He later advocated the wholesale burning of all their books, regardless of their beauty.
The restrictions on ownership of personal property, although applicable to the individual Elect, did not extend to the Manichaean community as such. The accumulation of communal property was permitted, and many communities accumulated considerable wealth through money lending.
The Manichaeans rejected the Eucharist and most of the Christian sacraments, replacing them with their own ceremonies of prayer, recitation and reading of scriptures, music, singing, fasting and feasting, and weekly confession. The central ritual of the community was the Table-- the daily common meal-- in which the Hearers would ritually serve, and the Elect would ritually consume, such foods as were to considered to possess a high content of Light, such as cucumbers, melons, wheat bread and fruit juice. The Light would be absorbed into the bodies of the Elect, there to be retained until their deaths, when it would be delivered up the Column of Light with their souls. The Light contained within animals was considered to be too closely bound to matter for liberation through digestion.
The Manichaeans also celebrated the annual feast of the Bema, or the Master's Chair, each Spring. The Bema was a commemoration of Mani's death, and was the culmination of the 30 day fast enjoined on the Hearers.
Manichaeism ultimately failed in Europe and the Middle East by its inability to compete with Islam and Christianity. The rival faiths offered much easier paths to understand and to follow, were far more ruthless in their campaigns of conversion, and, unlike Manichaeism, threatened an afterlife of eternal torture for unbelievers. Perhaps even more significantly, both Muslims and Christians were allowed to become wealthy; which assured the support of the nobility and the merchant class.
Manichaeism continued to flourish in the barren plains of Central Asia, where it became centered at the city of Turfan in what is now northwest China. It even became the state religion of the short-lived Uighur Empire, until it was wiped out in the 13th century e.v. by the Mongol invasions. It survived in Southern China as the "Religion of the Venerable Light" until the 17th century e.v.
Even after its official demise in Europe in the 6th century e.v., a number of similar Christian sects arose from its ashes, persisting until well into the Middle Ages. The most important of these sects were the Bogomils of Bulgaria and the Cathars or Albigenses of the Languedoc region of Southern France. While these later sects were "Manichaean" only in the sense that they shared certain concepts and practices with the old followers of Mani, they were, nevertheless, as vigorously persecuted by the political-religious power structure as were the Manichaeans.
The Cathars were highly successful from about 1150 e.v. to 1209 e.v., and helped to turn the Languedoc into a prosperous medieval center of learning and culture-- the birthplace of the troubadours-- where Christian (Cathar), Jewish and Islamic scholars freely intermingled and discoursed upon theology, philosophy and science. The Cathars were probably highly influential in the development of the traditions of the Holy Graal, and may also have influenced the Knights Templar. Some scholars believe that what we know today as the Hebrew Qabala was codified in the spiritual melting-pot of Southern France and Spain during these times. Pope Innocent III proclaimed what came to be known as the Albigensian Crusade against the "dangerous Cathar heretics" in 1209 e.v. During the 40 years of this infamous horror, many thousands of men, women and children were brutally slaughtered and their cities pillaged; and the Languedoc was reduced to rubble and barbarism.
References:
Baigent, Michael; Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln; Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Dell, NY 1982
Benton, William (Publ.); Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1768/1973
Burkitt, F.C.; The Religion of the Manichees, Cambridge, 1925, reprinted by AMS Press, NY, 1978
Couliano, Ioan P.; The Tree of Gnosis: Gnostic Mythology from Early Christianity to Modern Nihilism, Harper San Francisco 1990
Forlong, J.G.R.; Faiths of Man, a Cyclopaedia of Religions [Bernard Quaritch, 1906], University Books, NY 1964
Jackson, Samuel McCauley (Ed. in Chief); The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI 1953
Laetscher, Lefferts A. (Ed. in Chief); The Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, an Extension of the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI 1955
Lieu, Samuel N.C.; Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China, A Historical Survey, Manchester Univ. Press, 1985
Puech, Henri-Charles; "The Concept of Redemption in Manichaeism" [1936], in The Mystic Vision, Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks, Bollingen Series XXX.6, edited by Joseph Campbell, Princeton/Bollingen, Princeton NJ 1968
Rudolph, Kurt; Gnosis, Harper & Rowe, San Francisco, 1977
Scholem, Gershom; Origins of the Kabbalah, Jewish Publication Society/Princeton University Press, Princeton 1962/1987
Widengren, Geo; Mani and Manichaeism, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, NY 1961/65
Yamauchi, Edwin; Pre-Christian Gnosticism, Tyndale Press, London, 1973
Many Manichaean texts may be found here.
Also see here.

5/9/95

Originally published in Red Flame No. 2 -- Mystery of Mystery: A Primer of Thelemic Ecclesiastical Gnosticism by Tau Apiryon and Helena; Berkeley, CA 1995 e.v.

Mani (in Middle Persian Māni and Syriac Mānī, Greek Μάνης, Latin Manes; also Μανιχαίος, Latin Manichaeus, from Syriac ܡܐܢܝ ܚܝܐ Mānī ḥayyā "Living Mani", c. 216–274 AD), of Iranian origin,^[3][4][5][6] was the prophet and the founder of Manichaeism, a gnostic religion of Late Antiquity which was once widespread but is now extinct. Mani was born in or near Seleucia-Ctesiphon inParthian Babylonia^[1] (Iraq), at the time still part of the Parthian Empire. Six of his major works were written in Syriac Aramaic, and the seventh, dedicated to the king of the empire, Shapur I, was written in Middle Persian, his native language.^[7] He died in Gundeshapur, under the Sassanid Empire.

Sources[edit]

Until the 20th century, no reliable information on Mani's biography was known. Such medieval accounts as were known are either legendary orhagiographical, such as the account in Fihrist by Ibn al-Nadim, purportedly byal-Biruni, or were anti-Manichaean polemics, such as the 4th century Acta Archelai. Among these medieval accounts, Ibn al-Nadim's account of Mani's life and teachings is generally speaking the most reliable and exhaustive. Notable in this account is the near-complete absence of the "Third Ambassador", who is merely mentioned with the name bašīr, "messenger of good news", and the absence of the topos of "Mani the Painter" (which in other Islamic accounts almost completely replaces that of "the founder of a religion").^[8]

In 1969 in Upper Egypt a Greek parchment codex dating to ca. 400 AD was discovered. It is now designated Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis because it is conserved at the University of Cologne. It combines a hagiographic account of Mani's career and spiritual development with information about Mani's religious teachings, and contains fragments of his writings.

Life[edit]

This work and other evidence discovered in the 20th century establishes Mani as a historical individual.^[9]

Mani was born near Seleucia-Ctesiphon, perhaps in the town Mardinu in the Babylonian district of Nahr Kutha, according to other accounts in the town Abrumya. According to medieval Muslim sources, first put forth by Ibn Nadim, Mani's father Pātik (Middle Persian Pattūg;^[10] Greek Παττικιος, Arabic Futtuq), was a native of Ecbatana^[11] (modern Hamadan, Iran), who moved to Mesoptamia, where his son was born. He was a member of the Jewish-Christian sect of the Elcesaites (a subgroup of the Gnostic Ebionites). According to the some authors' reading of Ibn Nadim, both his parents were probably of royal Parthian^[12][13] descent (from "the Armenian Arsacid family of Kamsarakan"^[14]); her name is reported variously, among others Mariam. At ages 12 and 24, Mani had visionary experiences of a heavenly twin of his, calling him to leave his father's sect and teach the true message of Christ. In 240–41, Mani travelled to "India" (i.e. to the Sakhas in modern-day Afghanistan), where he studied Hinduism and was probably influenced by Greco-Buddhism. Returning in 242, he joined the court of Shapur I, to whom he dedicated his only work written in Persian, known as the Shabuhragan. Shapur was not converted to Manichaeanism and remained Zoroastrian.^[15]

Shapur's successor Hormizd I (who reigned only for one year) appears to still have patronized Mani, but his successor Bahram I, a follower of the Zoroastrian reformer Kartir, began to persecute the Manichaeans. He incarcerated Mani, who died in prison within a month, in AD 274.^[16] Mani's followers depicted Mani's death as a crucifixion in conscious analogy to the death of Christ.

Works[edit]

The canon of Mani included six works originally written in Syriac, and one in Persian, the Shapuragan, While none of his books have survived in complete form, there are numerous fragments and quotations of them, including a long Syriac quotation from one of his works, as well as a large amount of material in Middle Persian, Coptic, and numerous other languages. Examples of surviving portions of his works include: the Shabuhragan (Middle Persian), the Book of Giants(numerous fragments in many languages), the Fundamental Epistle (quoted in length by Saint Augustine), a number of fragments of his Living Gospel (or Great Gospel), a Syriac excerpt quoted by Theodore Bar Konai, and his Letter to Edessacontained in the Cologne Mani-Codex. Mani also wrote the book Arzhang, a holy book of Manichaeism unique in that it contained many drawings and paintings to express and explain the Manichaeist creation and history of the world.

Teaching[edit]

Main article: Manichaeism

Mani's teaching is designed as succeeding and surpassing the teachings of Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism. It is based on a rigid dualism of good and evil, locked in eternal struggle. In his mid-twenties, Mani decided that salvation is possible through education, self-denial, fasting and chastity. Mani claimed to be the Paraclete promised in the New Testament, the Last Prophet. On what is known of Mani's theology, the following points are made regarding especially Christianity.

While his religion was not strictly a movement of Christian Gnosticism in the earlier mode, Mani did declare himself to be an "apostle of Jesus Christ" [1], and extant Manichaean poetry frequently extols Jesus Christ and his mother Mary with the highest reverence. Manichaean tradition is also noted to have claimed that Mani was the reincarnation of different religious figures from Buddha, Lord Krishna, Zoroaster, and Jesus.

Mani's followers were organized in a church structure, divided into a class of "elects" (electi) and "auditors" (auditores). Only the electi are required to follow the laws strictly, while the auditores care for them, hoping to become electi in their turn after reincarnation.

Christian and Muslim tradition[edit]

Late Antique Christian accounts[edit]

The Christian tradition of Mani is based on Socrates of Constantinople, a historian writing in the 5th century. According to this account, one Scythianos, a Saracen, husband of an Egyptian woman, "introduced the doctrine of Empedocles andPythagoras into Christianity"; that he had a disciple, "Buddas, formerly named Terebinthus," who travelled in Persia, where he alleged that he had been born of a virgin, and afterwards wrote four books, one of Mysteries, a second The Gospel, a third The Treasure, and a fourth Heads. While performing some mystic rites, he was hurled down a precipice by a daimon, and killed. A woman at whose house he lodged buried him, took over his property, and bought a boy of seven, named Cubricus. This boy she freed and educated, leaving him the property and books of Buddas-Terebinthus. Cubricus then travelled into Persia, where he took the name of Manes and gave forth the doctrines of Buddas Terebinthus as his own. The king of Persia, hearing that he worked miracles, sent for him to heal his sick son, and on the child's dying put Manes in prison. Thence he escaped, flying into Mesopotamia, but was traced, captured, and flayed alive by the Persian king's orders, the skin being then stuffed with chaff and hung up before the gate of the city.

For this narrative, Socrates gives as his authority "The Disputation [with Manes] of Archelaus bishop of Caschar," a work either unknown to or disregarded by Eusebius, who in his History (vii.31) briefly vilifies Manes without giving any of the above details. In the Chronicon of Eusebius the origin of the sect is placed in the second year of Probus, AD 277.^[17]According to Jerome, Archelaus wrote his account of his disputation with "Manichæus" in Syriac, whence it was translated into Greek. The Greek is lost, and the work, apart from extracts, subsists only in a Latin translation from the Greek, of doubtful age and fidelity, probably made after the 5th century. By Photius it is stated that Heraclean, bishop of Chalcedon, in his book against the Manichæans, said the Disputation of Archelaus was written by one Hegemonius, an author not otherwise traceable, and of unknown date.

In the Latin narrative, "Manes" is said to have come, after his flight from court, from Arabion, a frontier fortress, to Caschar or Carchar, a town said to be in Roman Mesopotamia, in the hope of converting an eminent Christian there, named Marcellus, to whom he had sent a letter beginning: "Manichæus apostle of Jesus Christ, and all the saints and virgins with me, send peace to Marcellus." In his train he brought twenty-two (or twelve) youths and virgins. At the request of Marcellus, he debated on religion with bishop Archelaus, by whom he was vanquished; whereupon he set out to return to Persia. On his way he proposed to debate with a priest at the town of Diodorides; but Archelaus came to take the priest's place, and again defeated him; whereupon, fearing to be given up to the Persians by the Christians, he returned to Arabion. At this stage Archelaus introduces in a discourse to the people his history of "this Manes," very much to the effect of the recapitulation in Socrates. Among the further details are these: that Scythianus lived "in the time of the Apostles"; that Terebinthus said the name of Buddas had been imposed on him; that in the mountains he had been brought up by an angel; that he had been convicted of imposture by a Persian prophet named Parcus, and by Labdacus, son of Mithra; that in the disputation he taught concerning the sphere, the two luminaries, the transmigration of souls, and the war of thePrincipia against God; that "Corbicius" or Corbicus, about the age of sixty, translated the books of Terebinthus; that he made three chief disciples, Thomas, Addas, and Hermas, of whom he sent the first to Egypt, and the second to Scythia, keeping the third with him; that the two former returned when he was in prison, and that he sent them to procure for him the books of the Christians, which he then studied. According to the Latin narrative, finally, Manes on his return to Arabion was seized and taken to the Persian king, by whose orders he was flayed, his body being left to the birds, and his skin, filled with air, hung at the city gate.^[18]

Medieval Muslim accounts[edit]

Painter Mani presenting king Bukhram-Gur (Bahram) with his drawing. 16th-century painting by Ali-Shir Nava'i, Shakrukhia (Tashkent).

In the medieval Islamic tradition, Mani is described as a painter who set up a sectarian movement in opposition to Zoroastrianism. He was persecuted byShapur I and fled to Central Asia, where he made disciples and embellished with paintings a Tchighil (or picturarum domus Chinensis) and another temple calledGhalbita. Provisioning in advance a cave which had a spring, he told his disciples he was going to heaven, and would not return for a year, after which time they were to seek him in the cave in question. They then and there found him, whereupon he showed them an illustrated book, called Ergenk, or Estenk, which he said he had brought from heaven: whereafter he had many followers, with whom he returned to Persia at the death of Shapur. The new king, Hormisdas, joined and protected the sect; and built Mani a castle. The next king, Bahram or Varanes, at first favoured Mani; but, after getting him to debate with certain Zoroastrian teachers, caused him to be flayed alive, and the skin to be stuffed and hung up. Thereupon most of his followers fled to India, and some even to China, those remaining being reduced to slavery.

In yet another Muslim account we have the details that Mani's mother was named Meis or Utachin, or Mar Marjam (Sancta Maria); and that he was supernaturally born. At the behest of an angel he began his public career, with two companions, at the age of twenty-four, on a Sunday, the first day of Nisan, when the sun was in Aries. He travelled for about forty years; wrote six books, and was raised to Paradise after being slain under Bahram "son of Shapur." Some say he was crucified "in two halves" and so hung up at two gates, afterwards called High-Mani and Low-Mani; others that he was imprisoned by Shapur and freed by Bahram; others that he died in prison. "But he was certainly crucified."^[19]

See also[edit]

• Mar Ammo
• Cologne Mani-Codex
• Mandaeism
• Gospel of Mani
• The Gardens of Light
• Arzhang

References[edit]

1. ^ Jump up to:^a b Taraporewala, I.J.S., Manichaeism, Iran Chamber Society, retrieved 08-09-2012
2. Jump up^ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sasanian-dynasty
3. Jump up^ Boyce, Mary (2001), Zoroastrians: their religious beliefs and practices, Routledge, p. 111, "He was Iranian, of noble Parthian blood..."
4. Jump up^ Ball, Warwick (2001), Rome in the East: the transformation of an empire, Routledge, p. 437, "Manichaeism was a syncretic religion, proclaimed by the Iranian Prophet Mani".
5. Jump up^ Sundermann, Werner (2009), "Mani, the founder of the religion of Manicheism in the 3rd century CE", Iranica(Sundermann), "According to the Fehrest, Mani was of Arsacid stock on both his father’s and his mother’s sides, at least if the readings al-ḥaskāniya (Mani’s father) and al-asʿāniya (Mani’s mother) are corrected to al-aškāniya and al-ašḡāniya (ed. Flügel, 1862, p. 49, ll. 2 and 3) respectively. The forefathers of Mani’s father are said to have been from Hamadan and so perhaps of Iranian origin (ed. Flügel, 1862, p. 49, 5–6). The Chinese Compendium, which makes the father a local king, maintains that his mother was from the house Jinsajian, explained by Henning as the Armenian Arsacid family of Kamsarakan (Henning, 1943, p. 52, n. 4 = 1977, II, p. 115). Is that fact, or fiction, or both? The historicity of this tradition is assumed by most, but the possibility that Mani’s noble Arsacid background is legendary cannot be ruled out (cf. Scheftelowitz, 1933, pp. 403–4). In any case, it is characteristic that Mani took pride in his origin from time-honored Babel, but never claimed affiliation to the Iranian upper class."
6. Jump up^ Bausani, Alessandro (2000), Religion in Iran: from Zoroaster to Baha'ullah, Bibliotheca Persica Press, p. 80, "We are now certain that Mani was of Iranian stock on both his father's and his mother's side".
7. Jump up^ Henning, W.B., The Book of Giants, BSOAS, Vol. XI, Part 1, 1943, pp. 52–74: "…Mani, who was brought up and spent most of his life in a province of the Persian empire, and whose mother belonged to a famous Parthian family, did not make any use of the Iranian mythological tradition. There can no longer be any doubt that the Iranian names of Sām, Narīmān, etc., that appear in the Persian and Sogdian versions of the Book of the Giants, did not figure in the original edition, written by Mani in the Syriac language."
8. Jump up^ W. Sundermann, "Al-Fehrest, iii. Representation of Manicheism.", Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1999.
9. Jump up^ Böhlig, Manichäismus, 5ff.
10. Jump up^ D. N. MacKenzie. A Concise Pahlavi Dictionary. Routledge Curzon, 2005.
11. Jump up^ Encyclopædia Britannica. Mani (Iranian religious leader) (2011)
12. Jump up^ Henning, W.B., The Book of Giants, BSOAS, Vol. XI, Part 1, 1943, pp. 52–74: "It is noteworthy that Mani, who was brought up and spent most of his life in a province of the Persian empire, and whose mother belonged to a famous Parthian family, did not make any use of the Iranian mythological tradition. There can no longer be any doubt that the Iranian names of Sām, Narīmān, etc., that appear in the Persian and Sogdian versions of the Book of the Giants, did not figure in the original edition, written by Mani in the Syriac language."
13. Jump up^ W. Eilers (1983), "Iran and Mesopotamia" in E. Yarshater, The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 500: "Mani, a Parthian on his mother's side, was born at Ctesiphon in the last decade of the Arsacid era (AD 216). "
14. Jump up^ Sundermann, Werner (2009), "Mani, the founder of the religion of Manicheism in the 3rd century CE", Iranica, "...his mother was from the house Jinsajian, explained by Henning as the Armenian Arsacid family of Kamsarakan".
15. Jump up^ Marco Frenschkowski (1993). "Mani (iran. Mānī<; gr. Mανιχαῑος < ostaram. Mānī ḥayyā »der lebendige Mani«)". In Bautz, Traugott. Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German) 5. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 669–80. ISBN 3-88309-043-3.
16. Jump up^ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bahram-the-name-of-six-sasanian-kings
17. Jump up^ the passage is attributed to Jerome by Tillemont and Lardner (Works, ed. 1835, iii, 256, 261).
18. Jump up^ John M. Robertson, Pagan Christs (2nd ed. 1911), § 14. The Problem of Manichæus, online at http://www.sacred-texts.com
19. Jump up^ John M. Robertson, Pagan Christs (2nd ed. 1911), § 14. The Problem of Manichæus. Gustav Flügel, Mani, seine Lehre and seine Schriften, 18f 2 (trans. from the Fihrist of Muhammad ben Ishak al Nurrâk, with commentary), pp. 84, 97, 99-100, 102-3.

• Asmussen, Jes Peter, comp., Manichaean Literature: Representative Texts, Chiefly from Middle Persian and Parthian Writings, 1975, Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, ISBN 978-0-8201-1141-4.
• Alexander Böhlig, 'Manichäismus' in: Theologische Realenzyklopädie 22 (1992), 25–45.
• Amin Maalouf, The Gardens of Light [Les Jardins de Lumière], translated from French by Dorothy S. Blair, 242 p. (Interlink Publishing Group, New York, 2007). ISBN 1-56656-248-1

-------------------

Manichaeism (/ˈmænɨkiːɪzəm/;^[1] in Modern Persian آیین مانی Āyin e Māni;Chinese: 摩尼教; pinyin: Móní Jiào) was a major Gnostic religion that was founded by the Iranian^[2] prophet Mani (in Persian: مانی, Syriac: ܡܐܢܝ, Latin: Manichaeus or Manes) (c. 216–276 AD) in the Sasanian Persian Empire.^[3][4]

While most of Mani's original writings have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived. Manichaeism taught an elaboratedualistic cosmology describing the struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness. Through an ongoing process which takes place in human history, light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light whence it came. Its beliefs were based on local Mesopotamian gnostic and religious movements.^[5]

Manichaeism was quickly successful and spread far through the Aramaic-Syriac speaking regions.^[6] It thrived between the third and seventh centuries, and at its height was one of the most widespread religions in the world. Manichaean churches and scriptures existed as far east as China and as far west as the Roman Empire.^[7] It was briefly the main rival to Christianity in the competition to replace classical paganism. Manichaeism survived longer in the East than in the West, and it appears to have finally faded away after the 14th century in southern China,^[8] contemporary to the decline in China of theChurch of the East – see Ming Dynasty.

An adherent of Manichaeism is called, especially in older sources,^[9] a Manichee, or more recently Manichaean. By extension, the term "manichean" is widely applied (often disparagingly) as an adjective to a philosophy or attitude of moral dualism, according to which a moral course of action involves a clear (or simplistic) choice between good and evil, or as a noun to people who hold such a view.

History[edit]

Life of Mani[edit]

Manichaean priests, writing at their desks. Manuscript from Khocho, Tarim Basin.

Main article: Mani (prophet)

Mani, an Arsacid Iranian by birth,^[10] was born 216 AD in Mesopotamia (Iraq), which was ruled by Persia,^[11] then within the Sassanid Empire province ofAsuristan. According to the Cologne Mani-Codex,^[12] Mani's parents were members of the religious sect of Elcesaites. The king of Persia put him to death in 274 or 277.^[11]

Mani believed that the teachings of Buddha, Zoroaster, and Jesus were incomplete, and that his revelations were for the entire world, calling his teachings the "Religion of Light."^[11] Manichaean writings indicate that Mani received revelations when he was 12 and again when he was 24, and over this time period he grew dissatisfied with the Elchasaite sect he was born into.^[13]Mani began preaching at an early age and was possibly influenced by contemporary Babylonian-Aramaic movements such as Mandaeanism, and Aramaic translations of Jewish apocalyptic writings similar to those found atQumran (such as the book of Enoch literature). With the discovery of the Mani-Codex, it also became clear that he was raised in a Jewish-Christian baptism sect, the Elcesaites, and was influenced by their writings as well. According to biographies preserved by Ibn al-Nadim and the Persian polymath al-Biruni, he allegedly received a revelation as a youth from a spirit, whom he would later call his Twin (Aramaic Tauma (תאומא), from which is also derived the name of theapostle Thomas, the "twin"), his Syzygos (Greek for "partner", in the Cologne Mani-Codex), his Double, his Protective Angel or Divine Self. It taught him truths which he developed into a religion. Hisdivine Twin or true Self brought Mani to Self-realization and thus he became a gnosticus, someone with divine knowledge and liberating insight. He claimed to be the Paraclete of the Truth, as promised in the New Testament.

Mani composed seven writings, six of which were written in Syriac Aramaic. The seventh, the Shabuhragan,^[14] was written by Mani in Middle Persian and presented by him to the contemporary King of Sassanid Persia, Shapur I in the Persian capital of Ctesiphon. Although there is no proof Shapur I was a Manichaean, he tolerated the spread of Manicheanism and refrained from persecuting it in his empire's boundaries.^[15] According to one tradition it was Mani himself who invented the unique version of the Syriac script called Manichaean script, which was used in all of the Manichaean works written within the Persian Empire, whether they were in Syriac or Middle Persian, and also for most of the works written within theUyghur Empire. The primary language of Babylon (and the administrative and cultural language of the Sassanid Empire) at that time was Eastern Middle Aramaic, which included three main dialects: Judeo-Aramaic (the language of the Talmud),Mandaean Aramaic (the language of the Mandaean religion), and Syriac Aramaic, which was the language of Mani, as well as of the Syriac Christians. "Mani" is a Sanskrit name used in all three Aramaic dialects and therefore common among their speakers.

Manichaeism's views on Jesus are described by historians:

"Jesus in Manichaeism possessed three separate identities: (1) Jesus the Luminous, (2) Jesus the Messiah and (3) Jesus patibilis (the suffering Jesus). (1) As Jesus the Luminous... his primary role was as supreme revealer and guide and it was he who woke Adam from his slumber and revealed to him the divine origins of his soul and its painful captivity by the body and mixture with matter. Jesus the Messiah was a historical being who was the prophet of the Jews and the forerunner of Mani. However, the Manicheans believed he was wholly divine. He never experienced human birth as notions of physical conception and birth filled the Manichaeans with horror and the Christian doctrine of virgin birth was regarded as equally obscene. Since he was the light of the world, where was this light, they asked, when he was in the womb of the Virgin? (2) Jesus the Messiah was truly born at his baptism as it was on that occasion that the Father openly acknowledged his sonship. The suffering, death and resurrection of this Jesus were in appearance only as they had no salvific value but were an exemplum of the suffering and eventual deliverance of the human soul and a prefiguration of Mani’s own martyrdom. (3) The pain suffered by the imprisoned Light-Particles in the whole of the visible universe, on the other hand, was real and immanent. This was symbolized by the mystic placing of the Cross whereby the wounds of the passion of our souls are set forth. On this mystical Cross of Light was suspended the Suffering Jesus (Jesus patibilis) who was the life and salvation of Man. This mystica cruxificio was present in every tree, herb, fruit, vegetable and even stones and the soil. This constant and universal suffering of the captive soul is exquisitely expressed in one of the Coptic Manichaean psalms" ^[16]

Historians also note that Mani declared himself to be an "apostle of Jesus Christ" ^[17] Manichaean tradition is also noted to have claimed that Mani was the reincarnation of different religious figures from Buddha, Lord Krishna, Zoroaster, and Jesus.

"Other than incorporating the symbols and doctrine of dominant religious traditions, Manichaeism also incorporated the symbols and deities of indigenous traditions, in particular the Hindu deity Ganesha into its fold, demonstrated by the image available in the article, Manichaean art and calligraphy by Hans-Joachim Klimkeit. Mani was allegedly claiming to be the reincarnation of the Buddha, Lord Krishna, Zoroaster and Jesus depending on the context in which he was carrying out his preachings. Such strategic claims fostered a spirit of toleration among the Manicheans and the other religious communities and this particular feature greatly assisted them in gaining the approval of authorities to practice in different regions along the Silk Road." ^[18]

Also academics note that since much of what is known about Manichaeism comes from later 10th and 11th Century AD Islamic historians like Al-Biruni and especially the Shia Muslim Persian historian Ibn al-Nadim (and his work Fihrist); "Islamic authors ascribed to Mani the claim to be the Seal of the Prophets" This topic is discussed by an Israeli academicGuy G. Stroumsa^[19][20]

Manichaean Electae, Kocho, 10th century.

Another source of Mani's scriptures was original Aramaic writings relating to the book of Enoch literature (see the Book of Enoch and the Second Book of Enoch), as well as an otherwise unknown section of the book of Enoch called the "Book of Giants". This book was quoted directly, and expanded on by Mani, becoming one of the original six Syriac writings of the Manichaean Church. Besides brief references by non-Manichaean authors through the centuries, no original sources of "The Book of Giants" (which is actually part six of the "Book of Enoch") were available until the 20th century.

Scattered fragments of both the original Aramaic "Book of Giants" (which were analysed and published by Józef Milik in 1976)^[21] and of the Manichaean version of the same name (analyzed and published by W.B. Henning in 1943)^[22]were found with the discovery in the twentieth century of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Judaean Desert and the Manichaean writings of the Uyghur Manichaean kingdom in Turpan. Henning wrote in his analysis of them:

It is noteworthy that Mani, who was brought up and spent most of his life in a province of the Persian empire, and whose mother belonged to a famous Parthian family, did not make any use of the Iranian mythological tradition. There can no longer be any doubt that the Iranian names of Sām, Narīmān, etc., that appear in the Persian and Sogdian versions of the Book of the Giants, did not figure in the original edition, written by Mani in the Syriac language.^[22]

From a careful reading of the Enoch literature and the Book of Giants, alongside the description of the Manichaean myth, it becomes clear that the "Great King of Honor" of this myth (a being that sits as a guard to the world of light at the seventh of ten heavens in the Manichaean myth,^[23]) is identical with the King of Honor sitting on the heavenly throne in the Enoch literature. In the Aramaic book of Enoch, in the Qumran writings in general, and in the original Syriac section of Manichaean scriptures quoted by Theodore bar Konai,^[24] he is called "malka raba de-ikara" (the great king of honor).

Noting Mani's travels to the Kushan Empire (several religious paintings in Bamiyan are attributed to him) at the beginning of his proselytizing career, Richard Foltz postulates Buddhist influences in Manichaeism:

Buddhist influences were significant in the formation of Mani's religious thought. The transmigration of souls became a Manichaean belief, and the quadripartite structure of the Manichaean community, divided between male and female monks (the "elect") and lay followers (the "hearers") who supported them, appears to be based on that of the Buddhist sangha.^[25]

While Manichaeism was spreading, existing religions such as Christianity and Zoroastrianism were gaining social and political influence. Although having fewer adherents, Manichaeism won the support of many high-ranking political figures. With the assistance of the Persian Empire, Mani began missionary expeditions. After failing to win the favour of the next generation of Persian royalty, and incurring the disapproval of the Zoroastrian clergy, Mani is reported to have died in prison awaiting execution by the Persian Emperor Bahram I. The date of his death is estimated at AD 276–277.

Later history[edit]

The spread of Manichaeism (AD 300– 500). Map reference: World History Atlas, Dorling Kindersly.

Manichaeism continued to spread with extraordinary speed through both the east and west. It reached Rome through the apostle Psattiq by AD 280, who was also in Egypt in 244 and 251. It was flourishing in the Fayum area of Egypt in AD 290. Manichaean monasteries existed in Rome in 312 AD during the time of the Christian Pope Miltiades.

The spread and success of Manichaeism were seen as a threat to other religions, and it was widely persecuted in Hellenistic, Christian, Zoroastrian,Islamic,^[26] and Buddhist cultures.^{[citation needed]}

In 291, persecution arose in the Persian empire with the murder of the apostle Sisin by Bahram II, and the slaughter of many Manichaeans. In AD 296,Diocletian decreed against the Manichaeans: "We order that their organizers and leaders be subject to the final penalties and condemned to the fire with their abominable scriptures", resulting in many martyrdoms in Egypt and North Africa (seeDiocletian Persecution). By AD 354, Hilary of Poitiers wrote that the Manichaean faith was a significant force in southern Gaul. In AD 381 Christians requested Theodosius I to strip Manichaeans of their civil rights. He issued a decree of death for Manichaean monks in AD 382.

St. Augustine was once a Manichaean.

Augustine of Hippo (AD 354–430) converted to Christianity from Manichaeism, in the year 387. This was shortly after the Roman Emperor Theodosius I had issued a decree of death for Manichaeans in AD 382 and shortly before he declared Christianity to be the only legitimate religion for the Roman Empire in 391. According to his Confessions, after nine or ten years of adhering to the Manichaean faith as a member of the group of "hearers", Augustine became aChristian and a potent adversary of Manichaeism (which he expressed in writing against his Manichaean opponent Faustus of Mileve), seeing their beliefs that knowledge was the key to salvation as too passive and not able to effect any change in one's life.^[27]

I still thought that it is not we who sin but some other nature that sins within us. It flattered my pride to think that I incurred no guilt and, when I did wrong, not to confess it... I preferred to excuse myself and blame this unknown thing which was in me but was not part of me. The truth, of course, was that it was all my own self, and my own impiety had divided me against myself. My sin was all the more incurable because I did not think myself a sinner. (Confessions, Book V, Section 10)

Some modern scholars have suggested that Manichaean ways of thinking influenced the development of some of Augustine's ideas, such as the nature of good and evil, the idea of hell, the separation of groups into elect, hearers, and sinners, and the hostility to the flesh and sexual activity.^[28]

A 13th-century manuscript from Augustine's book VII of Confessionscriticizing Manichaeism.

How Manichaeism may have influenced Christianity continues to be debated. Manichaeism may have influenced the Bogomils, Paulicians, and Cathars. However, these groups left few records, and the link between them and Manichaeans is tenuous. Regardless of its accuracy the charge of Manichaeism was levelled at them by contemporary orthodox opponents, who often tried to make contemporary heresies conform to those combatted by the church fathers. Whether the dualism of the Paulicians, Bogomils, and Cathars and their belief that the world was created by a Satanic demiurge were due to influence from Manichaeism is impossible to determine. The Cathars apparently adopted the Manichaean principles of church organization. Priscillian and his followers may also have been influenced by Manichaeism. The Manichaeans preserved many apocryphal Christian works, such as the Acts of Thomas, that would otherwise have been lost.^[29]

Manichaeism maintained a sporadic and intermittent existence in the west (Mesopotamia, Africa, Spain, France, North Italy, the Balkans) for a thousand years, and flourished for a time in the land of its birth (Persia) and even further east in Northern India, Western China, and Tibet. While it had long been thought that Manichaeism arrived in China only at the end of the seventh century, a recent archaeological discovery demonstrated that it was already known there in the second half of the sixth century.^[30]

Some Sodgians in Central Asia believed in the religion.^[31][32] Uyghur rulerKhagan Boku Tekin (AD 759–780) converted to the religion in 763 after a 3 days discussion with its preachers,^[33][34] the Babylonia headquarters sent high rank clerics to Uyghur, and Manichaeism remained the state religion for about a century before the collapse of the Uyghur empire in 840. In the east it spread along trade routes as far as Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty in China. In the ninth century, it is reported that the Muslim Caliph Al-Ma'mun tolerated a community of Manichaeans.^[35] However, al-Mahdi persecuted the Manichaeans, establishing an inquisition to root out their "heresy", even resorting to outright massacre against them.^[36] In the Song andYuan dynasties of China remnants of Manichaeanism continued to leave a legacy contributing to sects such as the Red Turbans.

Manichaeism claimed to present the complete version of teachings that were corrupted and misinterpreted by the followers of its predecessors Adam, Zoroaster, Buddha and Jesus. Accordingly, as it spread, it adapted new deities from other religions into forms it could use for its scriptures. Its original Aramaic texts already contained stories of Jesus. When they moved eastward and were translated into Iranian languages, the names of the Manichaean deities (or angels) were often transformed into the names of Zoroastrian yazatas. Thus Abbā dəRabbūṯā ("The Father of Greatness", the highest Manichaean deity of Light), in Middle Persian texts might either be translated literally as pīd ī wuzurgīh, or substituted with the name of the deity Zurwān. Similarly, the Manichaean primal figure Nāšā Qaḏmāyā "The Original Man" was rendered "Ohrmazd Bay", after the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda. This process continued in Manichaeism's meeting with Chinese Buddhism, where, for example, the original Aramaic karia (the "call" from the world of Light to those seeking rescue from the world of Darkness), becomes identified in the Chinese scriptures with Guan Yin (觀音 or Avalokitesvara in Sanskrit, literally, "watching/perceiving sounds [of the world]", the Chinese Bodhisattva of Compassion).

Persecution and extinction[edit]

In 732 Emperor Xuanzong of Tang banned local conversion to the religion.^[37][38] In 843 Emperor Wuzong of Tang gave the order to kill all Manichaean clerics as part of his campaign against Buddhism and other religions, and over half died.^[39]Caliph Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah also killed thousands of Manichaeans and Al-Muqtadir killed so many that Ibn al-Nadimknew only 5 Manichaeans in Baghdad, the headquarters of the religion.^[40]

Later movements accused of "Neo-Manichaeism"[edit]

During the Middle Ages, several movements emerged which were collectively described as "Manichaean" by the Catholic Church, and persecuted as Christian heresies through the establishment, in 1184, of the Inquisition.^[41] They included theCathar churches of Western Europe. Other groups sometimes referred to as "neo-Manichaean" were the Paulicianmovement, which arose in Armenia,^[42] and the Bogomils in Bulgaria.^[29] An example of this usage can be found in the published edition of the Latin Cathar text, the Liber de duobus principiis (Book of the Two Principles), which was described as "Neo-Manichaean" by its publishers.^[43] As there is no presence of Manichaean mythology or church terminology in the writings of these groups, there has been some dispute among historians as to whether these groups were descendants of Manichaeism.^[44]

Present day[edit]

Some sites preserved in Xinjiang and Fujian in China.^[45][46] Several small groups claim to continue to practice this faith such as http://manichaean.org^[47][48]

Teachings and beliefs[edit]

General[edit]

Mani's teaching dealt with the origin of evil,^[11] by addressing a theoretical part of the problem of evil by denying the omnipotence of God and postulating two opposite powers. Manichaean theology taught a dualistic view of good and evil. A key belief in Manichaeism is that the powerful, though not omnipotent good power (God) was opposed by the semi-eternal evil power (Satan). Humanity, the world and the soul are seen as the byproduct of the battle between God's proxy, Primal Man, and Satan. The human person is seen as a battleground for these powers: the soul defines the person, but it is under the influence of both light and dark. This contention plays out over the world as well as the human body—neither the Earth nor the flesh were seen as intrinsically evil, but rather possessed portions of both light and dark. Natural phenomena (such as rain) were seen as the physical manifestation of this spiritual contention. Therefore, the Manichaean worldview explained the existence of evil with a flawed creation which God took no role in forming but rather was the result of Satan striking out against God.^[49]

Cosmogony[edit]

Uyghur Manichaean clergymen, wall painting from the Khocho ruins, 10th/11th century AD. Located in the Museum für Indische Kunst, Berlin-Dahlem.

Manichaeism presented an elaborate description of the conflict between the spiritual world of light and the material world of darkness. The beings of both the world of darkness and the world of light have names. There are numerous sources for the details of the Manichaean belief. There are two portions of Manichaean scriptures that are probably the closest thing to the original Manichaean writings in their original languages that will ever be available. These are the Syriac-Aramaic quotation by the Nestorian Christian Theodore bar Konai, in his Syriac "Book of Scholia" ("Ketba de-Skolion", eighth century),^[24]and the Middle Persian sections of Mani's Shabuhragan discovered at Turpan (a summary of Mani's teachings prepared for Shapur I^[14]). These two sections are probably the original Syriac and Middle Persian written by Mani.

From these and other sources, it is possible to derive an almost complete description of the detailed Manichaean vision^[50] (a complete list of Manichaean deities is outlined below). According to Mani, the unfolding of the universe takes place with three "creations":

The First Creation: Originally, good and evil existed in two completely separate realms, one the World of Light, ruled by the Father of Greatness together with his five Shekhinas (divine attributes of light), and the other the World of Darkness, ruled by the King of Darkness. At a certain point, the Kingdom of Darkness notices the World of Light, becomes greedy for it and attacks it. The Father of Greatness, in the first of three "creations" (or "calls"), calls to the Mother of Life, who sends her son Original Man (Nāšā Qaḏmāyā in Aramaic), to battle with the attacking powers of Darkness, which include theDemon of Greed. The Original Man is armed with five different shields of light (reflections of the five Shekhinas), which he loses to the forces of darkness in the ensuing battle, described as a kind of "bait" to trick the forces of darkness, as the forces of darkness greedily consume as much light as they can. When the Original Man comes to, he is trapped among the forces of darkness.

The Second Creation: Then the Father of Greatness begins the Second Creation, calling to the Living Spirit, who calls to his five sons, and sends a call to the Original Man (Call then becomes a Manichaean deity). An answer (Answer becomes another Manichaean deity) then returns from the Original Man to the World of Light. The Mother of Life, the Living Spirit, and his five sons begin to create the universe from the bodies of the evil beings of the World of Darkness, together with the light that they have swallowed. Ten heavens and eight earths are created, all consisting of various mixtures of the evil material beings from the World of Darkness and the swallowed light. The sun, moon, and stars are all created from light recovered from the World of Darkness. The waxing and waning of the moon is described as the moon filling with light, which passes to the sun, then through the Milky Way, and eventually back to the World of Light.

The Third Creation: Great demons (called archons in bar-Khonai's account) are hung out over the heavens, and then theFather of Greatness begins the Third Creation. Light is recovered from out of the material bodies of the male and female evil beings and demons, by causing them to become sexually aroused in greed, towards beautiful images of the beings of light, such as the Third Messenger and the Virgins of Light. However, as soon as the light is expelled from their bodies and falls to the earth (some in the form of abortions – the source of fallen angels in the Manichaean myth), the evil beings continue to swallow up as much of it as they can to keep the light inside of them. This results eventually in the evil beings swallowing huge quantities of light, copulating, and producing Adam and Eve. The Father of Greatness then sends theRadiant Jesus to awaken Adam, and to enlighten him to the true source of the light that is trapped in his material body. Adam and Eve, however, eventually copulate, and produce more human beings, trapping the light in bodies of mankind throughout human history. The appearance of the Prophet Mani was another attempt by the World of Light to reveal to mankind the true source of the spiritual light imprisoned within their material bodies.

Outline of the beings and events in the Manichaean mythos[edit]

Beginning with the time of its creation by Mani, the Manichaean religion had a detailed description of deities and events that took place within the Manichaean scheme of the universe. In every language and region that Manichaeism spread to, these same deities reappear, whether it is in the original Syriac quoted by Theodore bar Konai,^[24] or the Latin terminology given by Saint Augustine from Mani's Epistola Fundamenti, or the Persian and Chinese translations found as Manichaeism spread eastward. While the original Syriac retained the original description which Mani created, the transformation of the deities through other languages and cultures produced incarnations of the deities not implied in the original Syriac writings. This process began in Mani's lifetime, with "The Father of Greatness", for example, being translated into Middle Persian asZurvan, a Zoroastrian supreme being.

The World of Light[edit]

• The Father of Greatness (Syriac: ܐܒܐ ܕܪܒܘܬܐ Abbā dəRabbūṯā; Middle Persian: pīd ī wuzurgīh, or the Zoroastrian deity Zurwān; Parthian: Pidar wuzurgift, Pidar roshn)
• His Five Shekhinas (Syriac: ܚܡܫ ܫܟܝܢܬܗ khamesh shkhinatei; Chinese: 五种大 wǔ zhǒng dà, "five great ones"):^[51]

Shekhina:	Reason	Mind	Intelligence	Thought	Understanding
Syriac	ܗܘܢܐ haunâ	ܡܕܥܐ madde´â	ܪܥܝܢܐ reyana	ܡܚܫܒܬܐ mahšabtâ	ܬܪܥܝܬܐ tar´îtâ
Parthian	bâm	manohmêd	uš	andêšišn	parmânag
Chinese	相 xiāng, "phase"	心 xīn, "heart"	念 niàn, "idea"	思 sī, "thought"	意 yì, "meaning"
Turkish	qut	ög	köngül	saqinç	tuimaq
Greek	νοῦς (Nous)	εννοια (Ennoia)	φρονησις (Phronēsis)	ενθυμησις (Enthomisis)	λογισμος (Logismos)
Latin	mens	sensus	prudentia	intellectus	cogitatio

• The Great Spirit (Middle Persian: Waxsh zindag, Waxsh yozdahr; Latin: Spiritus Potens)

The first creation[edit]

• The Mother of Life (Syriac: ܐܡܐ ܕܚܝܐ ima de-khaye)
• The First Man (Syriac: ܐܢܫܐ ܩܕܡܝܐ Nāšā Qaḏmāyā; Middle Persian: Ohrmazd Bay, the Zoroastrian god of light and goodness; Latin: Primus Homo)
• His five Sons (the Five Light Elements; Middle Persian: Amahrāspandan; Parthian: panj rošn)
  • Ether (Middle Persian: frâwahr, Parthian: ardâw)
  • Wind (Middle Persian and Parthian: wâd)
  • Light (Middle Persian and Parthian: rôšn)
  • Water (Middle Persian and Parthian: âb)
  • Fire (Middle Persian and Parthian: âdur)
  • His sixth Son, the Answer-God (Syriac: ܥܢܝܐ ania; Middle Persian: khroshtag; Chinese: 勢至 Shì Zhì "The Power of Wisdom", a Chinese Bodhisattva). The answer sent by the First Man to the Call from the World of Light.
• The Living Self (made up of the five Elements; Middle Persian: Griw zindag, Griw roshn)

The second creation[edit]

• The Friend of the Lights (Syriac: ܚܒܝܒ ܢܗܝܖܐ khaviv nehirei). Calls to:
• The Great Builder (Syriac: ܒܢ ܖܒܐ ban raba). In charge of creating the new world which will separate the darkness from the light. He calls to:
• The Living Spirit (Syriac: ܪܘܚܐ ܚܝܐ rūḥā ḥayyā; Middle Persian: Mihryazd; Chinese: 净活风 jing huo feng; Latin:Spiritus Vivens). Acts as a demiurge, creating the structure of the material world.
• His five Sons (Syriac: ܚܡܫܐ ܒܢܘܗܝ khamsha benauhi)
  • The Keeper of the Splendour (Syriac: ܨܦܬ ܙܝܘܐ tzefat ziwa; Latin: Splenditenens; Chinese: 催明). Holds up the ten heavens from above.
  • The King of Glory (Syriac: ܡܠܟ ܫܘܒܚܐ melekh shubkha; Latin: Rex Gloriosus; Chinese: 地藏)
  • The Adamas of Light (Syriac: ܐܕܡܘܣ ܢܘܗܪܐ adamus nuhra; Latin: Adamas; Chinese: 降魔使). Fights with and overcomes an evil being in the image of the King of Darkness.
  • The Great King of Honour (Syriac: ܡܠܟܐ ܪܒܐ ܕܐܝܩܪܐ malka raba de-ikara; Dead Sea Scrolls Aramaic: מלכא רבא דאיקרא malka raba de-ikara; Latin: Rex Honoris; Chinese: 十天王). A being which plays a central role in the Book of Enoch (originally written in Aramaic), as well as Mani's Syriac version of it, the Book of Giants. Sits in the seventh heaven of the ten heavens and guards the entrance to the world of light.
  • Atlas (Syriac: ܣܒܠܐ sabala; Latin: Atlas; Chinese: 持世主). Supports the eight worlds from below.
  • His sixth Son, the Call-God (Syriac: ܩܪܝܐ karia; Middle Persian: padvakhtag; Chinese: 觀音 Guan Yin"watching/perceiving sounds [of the world]", the Chinese Bodhisattva of Compassion). Sent from the Living Spirit to awaken the First Man from his battle with the forces of darkness.

The third creation[edit]

• The Third Messenger (Syriac: ܐܝܙܓܕܐ īzgaddā; Middle Persian narēsahyazad, Parthian: hridīg frēštag; Latin: tertius legatus)
• Jesus the Splendour (Syriac: ܝܫܘܥ ܙܝܘܐ Yisho Ziwa). Sent to awaken Adam and Eve to the source of the spiritual light trapped within their physical bodies.
• The Maiden of Light
• The Twelve Virgins of Light (Syriac: ܬܪܬܥܣܪܐ ܒܬܘܠܬܐ tratesra btultē; Middle Persian kanīgān rōšnān; Chinese: 日宮十二化女 ri gong shi er hua nyu). Reflected in the twelve constellations of the Zodiac.
• The Column of Glory (Syriac: ܐܣܛܘܢ ܫܘܒܚܐ esṭūn šubḥa; Middle Persian: srōš-ahrāy, from Sraosha; Chinese: 蘇露沙羅夷, su lou sha luo yi and 盧舍那, lu she na, both phonetic from Middle Persian srōš-ahrāy). The path that souls take back to the World of Light; corresponds to the Milky Way.
• The Great Nous
• His five Limbs
  • Reason
  • Mind
  • Intelligence
  • Thought
  • Understanding
• The Just Justice
• The Last God

The World of Darkness[edit]

• The King of Darkness (Syriac: ܡܠܟ ܚܫܘܟܐ melech kheshokha; Middle Persian: Ahriman, the Zoroastrian supreme evil being)
• His five evil kingdoms Evil counterparts of the five elements of light, the lowest being the kingdom of Darkness.
• His son (Syriac: ܐܫܩܠܘܢ Ashaklun; Middle Persian: Az, from the Zoroastrian demon, Azi Dahaka)
• His son's mate (Syriac: ܢܒܪܘܐܠ Nebroel)
  • Their offspring – Adam and Eve (Middle Persian: Gehmurd and Murdiyanag)
• Giants (Fallen Angels, also Abortions): (Syriac: ܝܚܛܐ yakhte, "abortions" or "those that fell"; also: ܐܪܟܘܢܬܐ arkhonata, the Gnostic archons; Greek, Coptic: ’Εγρήγοροι Egrēgoroi, "Giants"). Related to the story of the fallen angels in theBook of Enoch (which Mani used extensively in his Book of Giants), and the נפילים nephilim described in Genesis (6:1–4), on which the story is based.

Organization and religious practices[edit]

Organization of the Manichaean Church[edit]

The Manichaean Church was divided into "Elect" – those who had taken upon themselves the vows of Manicheaism, and "Hearers" – those who had not, but still participated in the Church. The terms for these divisions were already common since the days of early Christianity. In the Chinese writings, the Middle Persian and Parthian terms are transcribed phonetically (instead of being translated into Chinese).^[52]

• The Leader, (Parthian: yamag; Chinese: 閻默) Mani's designated successor, seated at the head of the Church inCtesiphon (Babylonia).
• 12 Apostles (Latin: magistri; Middle Persian: možag; Chinese: 慕闍)
• 72 Bishops (Latin: episcopi; Middle Persian: aspasag, aftadan; Chinese: 拂多誕; see also: Seventy Disciples)
• 360 Presbyters (Latin: presbyteri; Middle Persian: mahistan)
• The general body of the Elect (Latin: electi; Middle Persian: ardawan, dēnāwar; Chinese: 電那勿)
• The Hearers (Latin: auditores; Middle Persian: niyoshagan)

The Bema Fest[edit]

The most important religious observance of the Manichaeans was the Bema Fest, observed annually:

The Bema was originally, in the Syriac Christian churches, a seat placed in the middle of the nave on which the bishop would preside and from which the Gospel would be read. In the Manichean places of worship, the throne was a five-stepped altar, covered by precious cloths, symbolizing the five classes of the hierarchy. The top of the Bema was always empty, as it was the seat of Mani. The Bema was celebrated at the vernal equinox, was preceded by fasts, and symbolized the passion of Mani, thus it was strictly parallel to the Christian Easter.^[53]

While it is often presumed that the Bema seat was empty, there is some evidence from the Coptic Manichaean Bema Psalms, that the Bema seat may have actually contained a copy of Mani's picture book, the Arzhang.^[54]

Primary sources[edit]

Statue of prophet Mani as the "Buddha of Light" in Cao'an Temple in Jinjiang, Fujian, "a Manichean temple in Buddhist disguise",^[55] which is considered "the only extant Manichean temple in China"^[56]

Mani wrote either seven or eight books, which contained the teachings of the religion. Only scattered fragments and translations of the originals remain.

The original six Syriac writings are not preserved, although their Syriac names have been. There are also fragments and quotations from them. A long quotation, preserved by the eighth-century Nestorian Christian author Theodore bar Konai,^[24] shows that in the original Syriac Aramaic writings of Mani there was no influence of Iranian or Zoroastrian terms. The terms for the Manichaean deities in the original Syriac writings are in Aramaic. The adaptation of Manichaeism to the Zoroastrian religion appears to have begun in Mani's lifetime however, with his writing of the Middle Persian Shabuhragan, his book dedicated to the King Shapuhr.^[14] In it, there are mentions of Zoroastrian deities such as Ohrmazd, Ahriman, and Az. Manichaeism is often presented as a Persian religion, mostly due to the vast number of Middle Persian, Parthian, and Soghdian (as well as Turkish) texts discovered by German researchers nearTurpan, in the Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan) province of China, during the early 1900s. However, from the vantage point of its original Syriac descriptions (as quoted by Theodore bar Khonai and outlined below), Manichaeism may be better described as a unique phenomenon of Aramaic Babylonia, occurring in proximity to two other new Aramaic religious phenomena,Talmudic Judaism and Babylonian Mandaeism, which were also appearing in Babylonia in roughly the third century AD.

The original, but now lost, six sacred books of Manichaeism were composed in Syriac Aramaic, and translated into other languages to help spread the religion. As they spread to the east, the Manichaean writings passed through Middle Persian,Parthian, Sogdian, Tocharian and ultimately Uyghur and Chinese translations. As they spread to the west, they were translated into Greek, Coptic, and Latin.

Henning describes how this translation process evolved and influenced the Manichaeans of Central Asia:

Beyond doubt, Sogdian was the national language of the Majority of clerics and propagandists of the Manichaean faith in Central Asia. Middle Persian (= Pārsīg), and to a lesser degree, Parthian (= Pahlavānīg), occupied the position held by Latin in the medieval church. The founder of Manichaeism had employed Syriac (his own language) as his medium, but conveniently he had written at least one book in Middle Persian, and it is likely that he himself had arranged for the translation of some or all of his numerous writings from Syriac into Middle Persian. Thus the Eastern Manichaeans found themselves entitled to dispense with the study of Mani’s original writings, and to continue themselves to reading the Middle Persian edition; it presented small difficulty to them to acquire a good knowledge of the Middle Persian language, owing to its affinity with Sogdian.^[57]

Originally written in Syriac[edit]

• The Evangelion (Syriac: ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ; Greek, Coptic: Ευαγγελιον, meaning roughly "good news"). Also known as theGospel of Mani. Quotations from the first chapter were brought in Arabic by Ibn al-Nadim, who lived in Baghdad at a time when there were still Manichaeans living there, in his book the "Fihrist" (written in 938), a catalog of all written books known to him.
• The Treasure of Life
• The Treatise (Coptic: πραγματεία)
• Secrets
• The Book of Giants: Original fragments were discovered at Qumran (pre-Manichaean) and Turpan.
• Epistles: Augustine brings quotations, in Latin, from Mani's Fundamental Epistle in some of his anti-Manichaean works.
• Psalms and Prayers. A Coptic Manichaean Psalter, discovered in Egypt in the early 1900s, was edited and published by Charles Allberry from Manichaean manuscripts in the Chester Beatty collection and in the Berlin Academy, 1938-9.

Originally written in Middle Persian[edit]

• The Shabuhragan, dedicated to Shapur I: Original Middle Persian fragments were discovered at Turpan, quotations were brought in Arabic by al-Biruni.

Other books[edit]

• The Ardahang, the "Picture Book". In Iranian tradition, this was one of Mani's holy books which became remembered in later Persian history, and was also called Aržang, a Parthian word meaning "Worthy", and was beautified with paintings. Therefore Iranians gave him the title of "The Painter".
• The Kephalaia (Κεφαλαια), "Discourses", found in Coptic translation.
• On the Origin of His Body, the title of the Cologne Mani-Codex, a Greek translation of an Aramaic book which describes the early life of Mani.^[12]

Non-Manichaean works preserved by the Manichaean Church[edit]

• Some portions of the Book of Enoch literature.
• Some literature relating to the apostle Thomas (who by tradition went to India, and was also venerated in Syria), such as portions of the Syriac The Acts of Thomas, and the Psalms of Thomas. The Gospel of Thomas was also attributed to Manichaeans by the early Church Fathers.^[58]
• The legend of Barlaam and Josaphat passed from an Indian story about the Buddha, through a Manichaean version, before it transformed into the story of a Christian Saint in the west.

Later works[edit]

摩尼教文獻 The Chinese Manichaean "Compendium"

In later centuries, as Manichaeism passed through eastern Persian speaking lands and arrived at the Uyghur Empire, and eventually the Uyghur kingdom ofTurpan (destroyed around 1335), long hymn cycles and prayers were composed in Middle Persian and Parthian.^[59] A translation of one of these produced the Manichaean Chinese Hymnscroll (the 摩尼教下部贊, which Lieu translates as "Hymns for the Lower Section [i.e. the Hearers] of the Manichaean Religion"^[60]), now available in its entirety (see the external links section).

Critical and polemic sources[edit]

Until discoveries in the 1900s of original sources, the only sources for Manichaeism were descriptions and quotations from non-Manichaean authors, either Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or Zoroastrian. While often criticizing Manichaeism, they also quoted directly from Manichaean scriptures. This enabled Isaac de Beausobre, writing in the 18th century, to create a comprehensive work on Manichaeism, relying solely on anti-Manichaean sources.^[61] Thus quotations and descriptions in Greek and Arabic have long been known to scholars, as have the long quotations in Latin by Saint Augustine, and the extremely important quotation in Syriac by Theodore bar Khonai.

Patristic depictions of Mani and Manchæeism[edit]

Eusebius commented as follows:

The error of the Manichees, which commenced at this time.

— In the mean time, also, that madman Manes, (Mani is of Persian or semetic origin) as he was called, well agreeing with his name, for his demoniacal heresy, armed himself by the perversion of his reason, and at the instruction of Satan, to the destruction of many. He was a barbarian in his life, both in speech and conduct, but in his nature as one possessed and insane. Accordingly, he attempted to form himself into a Christ, and then also proclaimed himself to be the very paraclete and the Holy Spirit, and with all this was greatly puffed up with his madness. Then, as if he were Christ, he selected twelve disciples, the partners of his new religion, and after patching together false and ungodly doctrines, collected from a thousand heresies long since extinct, he swept them off like a deadly poison, from Persia, upon this part of the world. Hence the impious name of the Manicheans spreading among many, even to the present day. Such then was the occasion of this knowledge, as it was falsely called, that sprouted up in these times.^[62]

Acta Archelai[edit]

An example of how inaccurate some of these accounts could be is seen in the account of the origins of Manichaeism contained in the Acta Archelai. This was a Greek anti-manichaean work written before 348, most well known in its Latin version, which was regarded as an accurate account of Manichaeism until the end of the 19th century:

In the time of the Apostles there lived a man named Scythianus, who is described as coming 'from Scythia,' and also as being 'a Saracen by race' ('ex genere Saracenorum'). He settled in Egypt, where he became acquainted with 'the wisdom of the Egyptians,' and invented the religious system which was afterwards known as Manichaeism. Finally he emigrated to Palestine, and, when he died, his writings passed into the hands of his sole disciple, a certain Terebinthus. The latter betook himself to Babylonia, assumed the name of Budda, and endeavoured to propagate his master's teaching. But he, like Scythianus, gained only one disciple, who was an old woman. After a while he died, in consequence of a fall from the roof of a house, and the books which he had inherited from Scythianus became the property of the old woman, who, on her death, bequeathed them to a young man named Corbicius, who had been her slave. Corbicius thereupon changed his name to Manes, studied the writings of Scythianus, and began to teach the doctrines which they contained, with many additions of his own. He gained three disciples, named Thomas, Addas, and Hermas. About this time the son of the Persian king fell ill, and Manes undertook to cure him; the prince, however, died, whereupon Manes was thrown into prison. He succeeded in escaping, but eventually fell into the hands of the king, by whose order he was flayed, and his corpse was hung up at the city gate.

A. A. Bevan, who quoted this story, commented that it 'has no claim to be considered historical.'^[63]

View of Judaism in the Acta Archelai[edit]

According to Hegemonius' portrayal of Mani, the devil god which created the world was the Jewish Jehovah. Hegemonius reports that Mani said, "It is the Prince of Darkness who spoke with Moses, the Jews and their priests. Thus the Christians, the Jews, and the Pagans are involved in the same error when they worship this God. For he leads them astray in the lusts he taught them." He goes on to state: "Now, he who spoke with Moses, the Jews, and the priests he says is the archont of Darkness, and the Christians, Jews, and pagans (ethnic) are one and the same, as they revere the same god. For in his aspirations he seduces them, as he is not the god of truth. And so therefore all those who put their hope in the god who spoke with Moses and the prophets have (this in store for themselves, namely) to be bound with him, because they did not put their hope in the god of truth. For that one spoke with them (only) according to their own aspirations."^[64]

Central Asian and Iranian primary sources[edit]

In the early 1900s, original Manichaean writings started to come to light when German scholars led by Albert Grünwedel, and then by Albert von Le Coq, began excavating at Gaochang, the ancient site of the Manichaean Uyghur Kingdom near Turpan, in Chinese Turkestan (destroyed around AD 1300). While most of the writings they uncovered were in very poor condition, there were still hundreds of pages of Manichaean scriptures, written in three Iranian languages (Middle Persian, Parthian, and Sogdian) and old Turkish. These writings were taken back to Germany, and were analyzed and published at the Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften in Berlin, by Le Coq and others, such as Friedrich W. K. Müller and Walter Bruno Henning. While the vast majority of these writings were written in a version of the Syriac script known as Manichaean script, the German researchers, perhaps for lack of suitable fonts, published most of them using Hebrew letters (which could easily be substituted for the 22 Syriac letters).

Perhaps the most comprehensive of these publications was Manichaeische Dogmatik aus chinesischen und iranischen Texten (Manichaean Dogma from Chinese and Iranian texts), by Ernst Waldschmidt and Wolfgang Lentz, published in Berlin in 1933.^[65] More than any other research work published before or since, this work printed, and then discussed, the original key Manichaean texts in the original scripts, and consists chiefly of sections from Chinese texts, and Middle Persian and Parthian texts transcribed with Hebrew letters. (After the Nazi party gained power in Germany, the Manichaean writings continued to be published during the 1930s, but the publishers no longer used Hebrew letters, instead transliterating the texts into Latin letters.)

Coptic primary sources[edit]

Additionally, in 1930, German researchers in Egypt found a large body of Manichaean works in Coptic. Though these were also damaged, hundreds of complete pages survived and, beginning in 1933, were analyzed and published in Berlin before World War II, by German scholars such as Hans Jakob Polotsky.^[66] Some of these Coptic Manichaean writings were lost during the war.

Chinese primary sources[edit]

After the success of the German researchers, French scholars visited China and discovered what is perhaps the most complete set of Manichaean writings, written in Chinese. These three Chinese writings are today kept in London, Paris, and Beijing. Some of the scholars involved with their initial discovery and publication were Édouard Chavannes, Paul Pelliot, andAurel Stein. The original studies and analyses of these writings, along with their translations, first appeared in French, English, and German, before and after World War II. The complete Chinese texts themselves were first published in Tokyo, Japan in 1927, in the Taisho Tripitaka, volume 54. While in the last thirty years or so they have been republished in both Germany (with a complete translation into German, alongside the 1927 Japanese edition),^[67] and China, the Japanese publication remains the standard reference for the Chinese texts.

Greek life of Mani, Cologne codex[edit]

In Egypt a small codex was found and became known through antique dealers in Cairo. It was purchased by the University of Cologne in 1969. Two of its scientists, Henrichs and Koenen, produced the first edition known since as the Cologne Mani-Codex, which was published in four articles in the Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. The ancient papyrusmanuscript contained a Greek text describing the life of Mani. Thanks to this discovery, much more is known about the man who founded one of the most influential world religions of the past.

Figurative use[edit]

The terms "Manichaean" and "Manichaeism" are sometimes used figuratively as a synonym of the more general term "dualist" with respect to a philosophy or outlook.^[68] They are often used to suggest with a somewhat disparaging undertone that the world view in question simplistically reduces the world to a struggle between Good and Evil. For example, Jean-Paul Sartre in the essay Anti-Semite and Jew referred to the antisemitic world view as "a form of Manichaeism", since "it explains the course of the world by the struggle of the principle of Good with the principle of Evil" (the "principle of Evil" being equated, by an Anti-Semitic person, with the Jews). Similarly, Zbigniew Brzezinski used the phrase "Manichaean paranoia" in reference to U.S. President George W. Bush's world view (in the The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, March 14, 2007); Brzezinski elaborated that he meant "the notion that he (Bush) is leading the forces of good against the empire of evil".

See also[edit]

• Abū Hilāl al-Dayhūri (eighth century)
• Agapius (Manichaean) (fourth or fifth centuries)
• Assyro-Babylonian religion
• Faustus of Mileve (fourth century)
• Gnosticism
• Hiwi al-Balkhi
• Indo-Iranian religion
• Mar Ammo (third century)
• Mar Zaku (third century)
• Mazdakism
• Ming Cult
• Muhammad al Warraq
• Pattig (third century)
• Yazdanism
• Zurvanism

References[edit]

1. Jump up^ "manichaeism". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. September 2005.
2. Jump up^ "Mani (Iranian prophet)". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
3. Jump up^ "Manichaeism". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
4. Jump up^ "Manichaeism". New Advent Encyclopedia. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
5. Jump up^ Widengren, Geo Mesopotamian elements in Manichaeism (King and Saviour II): Studies in Manichaean, Mandaean, and Syrian-gnostic religion, Lundequistska bokhandeln, 1946.
6. Jump up^ Jason BeDuhn; Paul Allan Mirecki (2007). Frontiers of Faith: The Christian Encounter With Manichaeism in the Acts of Archelaus. BRILL. pp. 6–. ISBN 978-90-04-16180-1. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
7. Jump up^ Andrew Welburn, Mani, the Angel and the Column of Glory: An Anthology of Manichaean Texts (Edinburgh: Floris Books, 1998), p. 68
8. Jump up^ Jason David BeDuhn The Manichaean Body: In Discipline and Ritual Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2000 republished 2002 p.IX
9. Jump up^ Such as the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers First Series, ed. Philip Schaff, writing of Augustine
10. Jump up^ 1) Mary Boyce, "Zoroastrians: their religious beliefs and practices", Routledge, 2001. pg 111: "He was Iranian, of noble Parthian blood..." 2) Warwick Ball, "Rome in the East: the transformation of an empire ", Routledge, 2001. pg 437: "Manichaeism was a syncretic religion, proclaimed by the Iranian Prophet Mani.. 3) Sundermann, Werner, "Mani, the founder of the religion of Manicheism in the 3rd century AD", Encyclopaeia Iranica, 2009. Sundermann summarizes the available sources thus:"According to the Fehrest, Mani was of Arsacid stock on both his father’s and his mother’s sides, at least if the readings al-ḥaskāniya (Mani’s father) and al-asʿāniya (Mani’s mother) are corrected to al-aškāniya and al-ašḡāniya (ed. Flügel, 1862, p. 49, ll. 2 and 3) respectively. The forefathers of Mani’s father are said to have been from Hamadan and so perhaps of Iranian origin (ed. Flügel, 1862, p. 49, 5–6). The Chinese Compendium, which makes the father a local king, maintains that his mother was from the house Jinsajian, explained by Henning as the Armenian Arsacid family of Kamsarakan (Henning, 1943, p. 52, n. 4 = 1977, II, p. 115). Is that fact, or fiction, or both? The historicity of this tradition is assumed by most, but the possibility that Mani’s noble Arsacid background is legendary cannot be ruled out (cf. Scheftelowitz, 1933, pp. 403–4). In any case, it is characteristic that Mani took pride in his origin from time-honored Babel, but never claimed affiliation to the Iranian upper class."
11. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d John Kevin Coyle (15 September 2009).Manichaeism and Its Legacy. BRILL. pp. 13–.ISBN 978-90-04-17574-7. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
12. ^ Jump up to:^a b L. Koenen and C. Römer, eds., Der Kölner Mani-Kodex. Über das Werden seines Leibes. Kritische Edition, (Abhandlung der Reinisch-Westfälischen Akademie der Wissenschaften: Papyrologica Coloniensia 14) (Opladen, Germany) 1988.
13. Jump up^ John C. Reeves (1996). Heralds of That Good Realm: Syro-Mesopotamian Gnosis and Jewish Traditions. BRILL. pp. 6–. ISBN 978-90-04-10459-4. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
14. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Middle Persian Sources: D. N. MacKenzie, Mani’s Šābuhragān, pt. 1 (text and translation), BSOAS 42/3, 1979, pp. 500–34, pt. 2 (glossary and plates), BSOAS 43/2, 1980, pp. 288–310.
15. Jump up^ Welburn (1998), pp. 67–68
16. Jump up^ Lieu, Samuel N. C. (1992-01-01). Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China.ISBN 9783161458200.
17. Jump up^ The Manichean Debate, by Saint Augustine (Bishop of Hippo). Books.google.com. 2006.ISBN 9781565482470. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
18. Jump up^ "The movement of the Manichaean tradition along the Silk Road". Silkspice.wordpress.com. 2011-04-05. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
19. Jump up^ "stroumsa".
20. Jump up^ "stroumsa pdf".
21. Jump up^ J. T. Milik, ed. and trans., The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976.
22. ^ Jump up to:^a b In: Henning, W.B., The Book of Giants", BSOAS,Vol. XI, Part 1, 1943, pp. 52–74.
23. Jump up^ See Henning, A Sogdian Fragment of the Manichaean Cosmogony, BSOAS, 1948
24. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Original Syriac in: Theodorus bar Konai, Liber Scholiorum, II, ed. A. Scher, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium scrip. syri, 1912, pp. 311–8,ISBN 978-90-429-0104-9; English translation in: A.V.W. Jackson, Researches in Manichaeism, New York, 1932, pp. 222–54.
25. Jump up^ Richard Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road, Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd edition, 2010, p. 71 ISBN 978-0-230-62125-1
26. Jump up^ Manichaeans were the original Zindīqs. See: Mahmood Ibrahim, Religious Inquisition as Social Policy: The Persecution of the 'Zanadiqa' in the Early Abbasid Caliphate, in Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), Vol. 16, 1994.
27. Jump up^ Catholic Online (1976-04-04). "Catholic Online". Catholic.org. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
28. Jump up^ A. Adam, Das Fortwirken des Manichäismus bei Augustin. In: ZKG (69) 1958, S. 1–25.
29. ^ Jump up to:^a b Runciman, Steven, The Medieval Manichee: a study of the Christian dualist heresy. Cambridge University Press, 1947.
30. Jump up^ La Vaissière, Etienne de, "Mani en Chine au VIe siècle." Journal Asiatique, 293–1, 2005, p. 357–378.
31. Jump up^ 从信仰摩尼教看漠北回纥
32. Jump up^ 关于回鹘摩尼教史的几个问题^{[dead link]}
33. Jump up^ "九姓回鹘爱登里罗汨没蜜施合毗伽可汗圣文神武碑". Bbs.sjtu.edu.cn. Retrieved 2014-02-14.
34. Jump up^ TM276 Uygurca_Alttuerkisch_Qedimi Uygurche/TT 2.pdf Türkische Turfan-Texte. ~
35. Jump up^ Ibrahim, Mahmood (1994). "Religious inquisition as social policy: the persecution of the 'Zanadiqa' in the early Abbasid Caliphate". Arab Studies Quarterly.
36. Jump up^ Irfan Shahîd, Byzantium and the Arabs in the fourth century, 1984, p. 425.
37. Jump up^ "通典- 卷四十职官二十二_国学经典 – 第一范文网". Diyifanwen.com. Retrieved 2014-02-14.
38. Jump up^ "T54n2126 大宋僧史略| CBETA 漢文大藏經". Tripitaka.cbeta.org. 2008-08-30. Retrieved 2014-02-14.
39. Jump up^ Ennin's Diary: The Record of a Pilgrimage to China in Search of the Law
40. Jump up^ "Manichaean Chronology Order of Nazorean Essenes". Essenes.net. 2002-07-22. Retrieved 2014-02-14.
41. Jump up^ Stroumsa, Gedaliahu G., Anti-Cathar Polemics and the Liber de duobus principiis, in B. Lewis and F. Niewöhner, eds., Religionsgespräche im Mittelalter (Wolfenbütteler Mittelalter-Studien, 4; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1992), 169–183, p. 170
42. Jump up^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Paulicians". Newadvent.org. 1911-02-01. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
43. Jump up^ Dondaine, Antoine. O.P. Un traite neo-manicheen du XIIIe siecle: Le Liber de duobus principiis, suivi d'un fragment de rituel Cathare (Rome: Institutum Historicum Fratrum Praedicatorum, 1939)
44. Jump up^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Albigenses". Newadvent.org. 1907-03-01. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
45. Jump up^ 明教在温州的最后遗存 – 温州社会研究所^{[dead link]}
46. Jump up^ "崇寿宫记". Cxsz.cixi.gov.cn. 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2014-02-14.
47. Jump up^ "Manichaeism, Esoteric Buddhism and Oriental Theosophy" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-02-14.
48. Jump up^ (2011-06-14 21:01:40) (2011-06-14). "天书降世 弥勒古佛说风轮真经全卷_龙华会聚原人_新浪博客". Blog.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 2014-02-14.
49. Jump up^ Bevan, A. A. (1930). "Manichaeism". Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Volume VIII Ed. James Hastings. London
50. Jump up^ A completely sourced description (built around bar-Khoni's account, with additional sources), is found in: Jonas, Hans The Gnostic Religion, 1958, Ch. 9: Creation, World History, Salvation According to Mani.
51. Jump up^ Chart from: E. Waldschmidt and W. Lenz, Die Stellung Jesu im Manichäismus, Berlin, 1926, p 42.
52. Jump up^ G. Haloun and W. B. Henning, “The Compendium of the Doctrines and Styles of the Teaching of Mani, the Buddha of Light,” Asia Major, 1952, pp. 184–212, p. 195.
53. Jump up^ Skjærvø, Prods Oktor, An Introduction to Manicheism, 2006.
54. Jump up^ Ort, L. J. R., Mani: a religio-historical description of his personality, 1967, p. 254.
55. Jump up^ MANICHEISM i. GENERAL SURVEY at Encyclopædia Iranica
56. Jump up^ CHINESE TURKESTAN: vii. Manicheism in Chinese Turkestan and China at Encyclopædia Iranica
57. Jump up^ W. B. Henning, Sogdica, 1940, p.11.
58. Jump up^ "Let none read the gospel according to Thomas, for it is the work, not of one of the twelve apostles, but of one ofMani's three wicked disciples."—Cyril of Jerusalem,Cathechesis V (4th century)
59. Jump up^ See, for example, Boyce, Mary The Manichaean hymn-cycles in Parthian (London Oriental Series, Vol. 3). London: Oxford University Press, 1954.
60. Jump up^ Lieu, Samuel N. C., Manichaeism in Central Asia and China, 1998, p. 50.
61. Jump up^ de Beausobre, Isaac, Histoire critique de Manichée et du Manichéisme, 1734–1739, Amsterdam.
62. Jump up^ Eusebius. The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus, Bishop of Caesarea, Translated from the originals by Christian Frederick Cruse.1939. Ch. XXXI.
63. Jump up^ Bevan, A. A. (1930). "Manichaeism". Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Volume VIII Ed. James Hastings. London
64. Jump up^ "Classical Texts: Acta Archelai of Mani" (PDF). Fas.harvard.edu. p. 76.
65. Jump up^ Waldschmidt, E., and Lentz, W., Manichäische Dogmatik aus chinesischen und iranischen Texten(SPAW 1933, No. 13)
66. Jump up^ Hans Jakob Polotsky and Karl Schmidt, Ein Mani-Fund in Ägypten, Original-Schriften des Mani und seiner Schüler. Berlin: Akademie der Wissenschaften 1933.
67. Jump up^ Schmidt-Glintzer, Helwig, Chinesische Manichaeica, Wiesbaden, 1987
68. Jump up^ Oxford Dictionaries: Manichaean, Manichaeism

Books and articles[edit]

• Hugo Ibscher (1938). Allberry Charles R. C., ed. Manichaean Manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Collection: Vol II, part II: A Manichaean Psalm Book. Stuttgart: W. Kohlammer.
• Beatty, Alfred Chester (1938). Charles Allberry, ed. A Manichean Psalm-Book, Part II. Stuttgart.
• Beausobre, de, Isaac (1734–1739). Histoire critique de Manichée et du Manichéisme. Amsterdam: Garland Pub.ISBN 0-8240-3552-6.
• BeDuhn, Jason David (2002). The Manichaean Body: In Discipline and Ritual. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-7107-7.
• Cross, F. L.; E. A. Livingstone (1974). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. London: Oxford UP: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-211545-6.
• Favre, Francois (2005-05-05). "Mani, the Gift of Light". Renova symposium. Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
• Foltz, Richard (2010). Religions of the Silk Road. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-62125-1.
• Foltz, Richard (2004). Spirituality in the Land of the Noble: How Iran Shaped the World's Religions. Oxford: Oneworld publications. ISBN 1-85168-336-4.
• Gardner, Iain; Samuel N. C. Lieu (2004). Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 0-521-56822-6.
• Giversen, Soren (1988). The Manichaean Coptic Papyri in The Chester Beatty Library Vol. III: Psalm Book part I.(Facsimile ed.). Geneva: Patrick Crammer. (Cahiers D'Orientalism XVI) 1988a
• Giversen, Soren (1988). The Manichaean Coptic Papyri in The Chester Beatty Library Vol. IV: Psalm Book part II.(Facsimile ed.). Geneva: Patrick Crammer. (Cahiers D'Orientalism XVI) 1988b
• Gulácsi, Zsuszanna (2001). Manichaean art in Berlin Collections. Turnhout. (Original Manichaean manuscripts found since 1902 in China, Egypt, Turkestan to be seen in the Museum of Indian Art in Berlin.)
• Heinrichs, Albert; Ludwig Koenen, Ein griechischer Mani-Kodex, 1970 (ed.) Der Kölner Mani-Codex ( P. Colon. Inv. nr. 4780), 1975–1982.
• La Vaissière, Etienne de, "Mani en Chine au VIe siècle", Journal Asiatique, 293–1, 2005, p. 357–378.
• Legge, Francis (1964) [1914]. Forerunners and Rivals of Christianity, From 330 B.C. to 330 A.D. (reprinted in two volumes bound as one). New York: University Books. LC Catalog 64-24125.
• Lieu, Samuel (1992). Manichaeism in the later Roman Empire and medieval China. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr. ISBN 0-7190-1088-8.
• Mani (216–276/7) and his 'biography': the Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis (CMC):
• Melchert, Norman (2002). The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy. McGraw Hill. ISBN 0-19-517510-7.
• Runciman, Steven (1982) [1947]. The Medieval Manichee: a study of the Christian dualist heresy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28926-2.
• Welburn, Andrew (1998). Mani, the Angel and the Column of Glory. Edinburgh: Floris. ISBN 0-86315-274-0.
• Widengren, Geo (1965). Mani and Manichaeism. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson.
• Wurst, Gregor (July 2001). "Die Bema-Psalmen". Journal of Near Eastern Studies 60 (3): 203–204.doi:10.1086/468925.

• Welburn, Andrew (1998). Mani the Angel and the Column of Glory. Floris Books. ISBN 0-86315-274-0.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Manichaeism.

Outside articles[edit]

• Catholic Encyclopedia – Manichæism public domain, published 1917.
• International Association of Manichaean Studies
• Manichaean and Christian Remains in Zayton (Quanzhou, South China)
• Religions of Iran: Manichaeism by I.J.S. Taraporewala
• 专题研究--摩尼教研究
• 《光明皇帝》明尊教背景书(1)

Manichaean sources in English translation[edit]

• A summary of the Manichaean creation myth
• Manichaean Writings
• Manicheism. Complete bibliography and selection of Manichaean source texts in PDF format:
  • A thorough bibliography and outline of Manichaean Studies
  • A number of key Manichaean texts in English translation
• The Book of the Giants by W.B. Henning, 1943
• The Manichaean Chinese Hymnscroll

Secondary Manichaean sources in English translation[edit]

• St. Augustine Against the Fundamental Epistle of Manichaeus
• Acta Archelai

Manichaean sources in their original languages[edit]

• Photos of the Entire Koeln Mani-Kodex (Greek).
• The Syriac Manichaean work quoted by Theodor bar Khonai
• Photos of the Original Middle Persian Manichaean Writings/Fragments Discovered at Turpan (The index of this German site can be searched for additional Manichaean material, including photos of the original Chinese Manichaean writings)
• "Sermon of the Soul", in Parthian and Sogdian
• Middle Persian and Parthian Texts
• D. N. MacKenzie, “Mani’s Šābuhragān,” pt. 1 (text and translation), BSOAS 42/3, 1979, pp. 500–34,[1] pt. 2 (glossary and plates), BSOAS 43/2, 1980, pp. 288–310 [2].
• Chinese Manichaean Scriptures: 摩尼教殘經一 ("Incomplete Sutra one of Manichaeism")& 摩尼光佛教法儀略("The Mani Bright Buddha teaching plan") & 下部贊("The Lower Part Praises")