Manichaeism, by Wikipedia

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MANICHAEISM
by Wikipedia

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February 17, 2015

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 Empire.[3][4]

Manichaeism taught an elaborate dualistic 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 from 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 the Church of the East – see Ming Dynasty. While most of Mani's original writings have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived.

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

Life of Mani


Manichaean priests, writing at their desks. Manuscript from Gaochang(Khocho), Tarim Basin, China.

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

Mani composed seven writings, six of which were written in Syriac Aramaic. The seventh, the Shabuhragan,[13] 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.[14] 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 the Uyghur 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.

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.

Influences

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 Elcesaite sect he was born into.[15] 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 at Qumran (such as the book of Enoch literature), and by the Syriac dualist-gnostic writer Bardaisan (who lived a generation before Mani). 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 the apostle 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. His divine 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.

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]

Academics also 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 academic, Guy G. Stroumsa.[19][20]


10th century Manichaean Electae in Gaochang (Khocho), China.

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).

Mani was also influenced by writings of the Assyrian gnostic Bardaisan (154–222), who like Mani, wrote in Syriac, and presented a dualistic interpretation of the world in terms of light and darkness, in combination with elements from Christianity.

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]

Later history


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.

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 (see Diocletian 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 a Christian 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 Confessions criticizing 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 demiurgewere 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 ruler Khagan 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 and Yuan 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

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-Nadim knew only 5 Manichaeans in Baghdad, the headquarters of the religion.[40]

Later movements accused of "Neo-Manichaeism"

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 the Cathar churches of Western Europe. Other groups sometimes referred to as "neo-Manichaean" were the Paulician movement, 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

Some sites are preserved in Xinjiang and Fujian in China.[45][46] The Cao'an temple is the only fully intact Manichaean building,[16]:256–257 though it later became associated with Buddhism.[47] Several small groups claim to continue to practice this faith.[48][49][50][51]

Teachings and beliefs

General

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.[52]

Cosmogony


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[13]). 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[53] (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 the Demon 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 the Father 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 the Radiant 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

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 as Zurvan, a Zoroastrian supreme being.

The World of Light

• 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"):[54]



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

The first creation

• 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)
o Ether (Middle Persian: frâwahr, Parthian: ardâw)
o Wind (Middle Persian and Parthian: wâd)
o Light (Middle Persian and Parthian: rôšn)
o Water (Middle Persian and Parthian: âb)
o Fire (Middle Persian and Parthian: âdur)
o His sixth Son, the Answer-God (Syriac: ܥܢܝܐ ania; Middle Persian: xroshtag; 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

• 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)
o The Keeper of the Splendour (Syriac: ܨܦܬ ܙܝܘܐ tzefat ziwa; Latin: Splenditenens; Chinese: 催明). Holds up the ten heavens from above.
o The King of Glory (Syriac: ܡܠܟ ܫܘܒܚܐ melekh shubkha; Latin: Rex Gloriosus; Chinese: 地藏 Dì Zàng "Earth Treasury", a Chinese Bodhisattva).
o 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.
o 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 Shi Tian Wang "Ten-heaven King"). 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 (compare Buddhist division of ten spiritual realms) and guards the entrance to the world of light.
o Atlas (Syriac: ܣܒܠܐ sabala; Latin: Atlas; Chinese: 持世主). Supports the eight worlds from below.
o His sixth Son, the Call-God (Syriac: ܩܪܝܐ karia; Middle Persian: padvaxtag; 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

• 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
o Reason
o Mind
o Intelligence
o Thought
o Understanding
• The Just Justice
• The Last God

The World of Darkness

• 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 the Book 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.

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Part 2 of 2

Organization and religious practices

Organization of the Manichaean Church

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).[55]

• The Leader, (Syriac: ܟܗܢܐ; Parthian: yamag; Chinese: 閻默) Mani's designated successor, seated at the head of the Church in Ctesiphon (Babylonia). Two notable leaders were Mār Sīsin (or Sisinnios), the first successor of Mani, and Abū Hilāl al-Dayhūri, an 8th-century leader.
• 12 Apostles (Latin: magistri; Syriac: ܫܠܝܚܐ; Middle Persian: možag; Chinese: 慕闍). Three of Mani's original apostles were Mār Pattī (Pattikios; Mani's father), Mār Zaku and Mār Ammo.
• 72 Bishops (Latin: episcopi; Syriac: ܐܦܣܩܘܦܐ; Middle Persian: aspasag, aftadan; Chinese: 薩波塞, 拂多誕; see also: Seventy Disciples). One of Mani's original disciples which was specifically referred to as a bishop was Mār Addā.
• 360 Presbyters (Latin: presbyteri; Syriac: ܩܫܝܫܐ; Middle Persian: mahistan; Chinese: 默奚悉德)
• The general body of the Elect (Latin: electi; Syriac: ܡܫܡܫܢܐ; Middle Persian: ardawan, dēnāwar; Chinese: 阿羅緩, 電那勿)
• The Hearers (Latin: auditores; Syriac: ܫܡܘܥܐ; Middle Persian: niyoshagan; Chinese: 耨沙喭)

The Bema Fest

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.[56]

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.[57]

Primary sources


Statue of prophet Mani as the "Buddha of Light" in Cao'an Temple in Jinjiang, Fujian, "a Manichean temple in Buddhist disguise",[58] which is considered "the only extant Manichean temple in China"[59]

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.[13] 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 near Turpan, 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.[60]

Originally written in Syriac

• The Evangelion (Syriac: ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ; Greek, Coptic: Ευαγγελιον, meaning roughly "good news"). Also known as the Gospel 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

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

Other books

• 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

• 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.[61]
• 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


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 (回鹘帝国), and eventually the Uyghur kingdom of Turpan (destroyed around 1335), Middle Persian and Parthian prayers (āfrīwan or āfurišn) and the Parthian hymn-cycles (the Huwīdagmān and Angad Rōšnan created by Mar Ammo) were added to the Manichaean writings.[62] A translation of a collection 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"[63]). In addition to containing hymns attributed to Mani, it contains prayers attributed to Mani's earliest disciples, including Mār Zaku, Mār Ammo and Mār Sīsin. Another Chinese work is a complete translation of the "Sermon of the Light Nous", presented as a discussion between Mani and his disciple Adda.[64]

Critical and polemic sources

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.[65] 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

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.[66]

Acta Archelai

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.'[67]

View of Judaism in the Acta Archelai

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."[68]

Central Asian and Iranian primary sources

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.[69] 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

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.[70] Some of these Coptic Manichaean writings were lost during the war.

Chinese primary sources

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, all found at the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas among the Dunhuang manuscripts, and all written before the 9th century, are today kept in London, Paris, and Beijing. Some of the scholars involved with their initial discovery and publication were Édouard Chavannes, Paul Pelliot, and Aurel 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),[71] and China, the Japanese publication remains the standard reference for the Chinese texts.

Greek life of Mani, Cologne codex

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 papyrus manuscript 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

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.[72] 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).

For the anti-Semite, what makes the Jew is the presence in him of "Jewishness," a Jewish principle analogous to phlogiston or the soporific virtue of opium. We must not be deceived: explanations on the basis of heredity and race came later; they are the slender scientific coating of this primitive conviction. Long before Mendel and Gobineau there was a horror of the Jew, and those who felt it could not explain it except by saying, like Montaigne of his friendship for La Boétie: "Because he is he, because I am I." Without the presence of this metaphysical essence, the activities ascribed to the Jew would be entirely incomprehensible. Indeed, how could we conceive of the obstinate folly of a rich Jewish merchant who, we are told, makes every effort to ruin his country, whereas if he were reasonable, he would desire the prosperity of the country in which he does business? How could we otherwise understand the evil internationalism of men whom their families, their affections, their habits, their interests, the nature and source of their fortunes should attach to the destiny of a particular country?

Facile talkers speak of a Jewish will to dominate the world. Here again, if we did not have the key, the manifestations of this will would certainly be unintelligible to us. We are told in almost the same breath that behind the Jew lurks international capitalism and the imperialism of the trusts and the munitions makers, and that he is the front man for piratical Bolshevism with a knife between its teeth. There is no embarrassment or hesitation about imputing responsibility for communism to Jewish bankers, whom it would horrify, or responsibility for capitalist imperialism to the wretched Jews who crowd the rue des Rosiers. But everything is made clear if we renounce any expectation from the Jew of a course of conduct that is reasonable and in conformity with his interests, if, instead, we discern in him a metaphysical principle that drives him to do evil under all circumstances, even though he thereby destroy himself. This principle, one may suspect, is magical. On the one hand, it is an essence, a substantial form, and the Jew, whatever he does, cannot modify it, any more than fire can keep itself from burning. On the other hand, it is necessary in order to be able to hate the Jew -- for one does not hate natural phenomena like earthquakes and plagues of locusts -- that it also have the virtue of freedom. Only the freedom in question is carefully limited: The Jew is free to do evil, not good; he has only as much free will as is necessary for him to take full responsibility for the crimes of which he is the author; he does not have enough to be able to achieve a reformation. Strange liberty, which instead of preceding and constituting the essence, remains subordinate to it, is only an irrational quality of it, and yet remains liberty.

There is only one creature, to my knowledge, who is thus totally free and yet chained to evil; that is the Spirit of Evil himself, Satan. Thus the Jew is assimilable to the spirit of evil. His will, unlike the Kantian will, is one which wills itself purely, gratuitously, and universally to be evil. It is the will to evil. Through him Evil arrives on the earth. All that is bad in society (crises, wars, famines, upheavals, and revolts) is directly or indirectly imputable to him. The anti-Semite is afraid of discovering that the world is ill-contrived, for then it would be necessary for him to invent and modify, with the result that man would be found to be the master of his own destinies, burdened with an agonizing and infinite responsibility. Thus he localizes all the evil of the universe in the Jew. If nations war with each other, the conflict does not arise from the fact that the idea of nationality, in its present form, implies imperialism and the clash of interests. No, it is because the Jew is there, behind the governments, breathing discord. If there is a class struggle, it is not because the economic organization leaves something to be desired. It is because Jewish demagogues, hook-nosed agitators, have seduced the workers.

Anti-Semitism is thus seen to be at bottom a form of Manichaeism. It explains the course of the world by the struggle of the principle of Good with the principle of Evil. Between these two principles no reconciliation is conceivable; one of them must triumph and the other be annihilated. Look at Celine: his vision of the universe is catastrophic. The Jew is everywhere, the earth is lost, it is up to the Aryan not to compromise, never to make peace. Yet he must be on his guard: if he breathes, he has already lost his purity, for the very air that penetrates his bronchial tubes is contaminated. Does that not read like a diatribe by a Manichaean? If Celine supported the socialist theses of the Nazis, it was because he was paid to do so. At the bottom of his heart he did not believe in them. For him there is no solution except collective suicide, non-reproduction, death. Others — Maurras or the P.P.F. [4] — are less discouraging. They envisage a long and often doubtful struggle, with the final triumph of Good. It is Ormazd against Ahriman. The reader understands that the anti-Semite does not have recourse to Manichaeism as a secondary principle of explanation. It is the original choice he makes of Manichaeism which explains and conditions anti-Semitism.

--Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate, by Jean-Paul Sartre

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".

_______________

References

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3. "Manichaeism". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
4. "Manichaeism". New Advent Encyclopedia. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
5. Widengren, Geo Mesopotamian elements in Manichaeism (King and Saviour II): Studies in Manichaean, Mandaean, and Syrian-gnostic religion, Lundequistska bokhandeln, 1946.
6. 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.
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8. Jason David BeDuhn The Manichaean Body: In Discipline and Ritual Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2000 republished 2002 p.IX
9. Such as the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers First Series, ed. Philip Schaff, writing of Augustine
10. 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."
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14. Welburn (1998), pp. 67–68
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23. See Henning, A Sogdian Fragment of the Manichaean Cosmogony, BSOAS, 1948
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25. Richard Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road, Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd edition, 2010, p. 71 ISBN 978-0-230-62125-1
26. 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. Catholic Online (1976-04-04). "Catholic Online". Catholic.org. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
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29. Runciman, Steven, The Medieval Manichee: a study of the Christian dualist heresy. Cambridge University Press, 1947.
30. La Vaissière, Etienne de, "Mani en Chine au VIe siècle." Journal Asiatique, 293–1, 2005, p. 357–378.
31. 从信仰摩尼教看漠北回纥
32. 关于回鹘摩尼教史的几个问题[dead link]
33. "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. TM276 Uygurca_Alttuerkisch_Qedimi Uygurche/TT 2.pdf Türkische Turfan-Texte. ~
35. Ibrahim, Mahmood (1994). "Religious inquisition as social policy: the persecution of the 'Zanadiqa' in the early Abbasid Caliphate". Arab Studies Quarterly.
36. Irfan Shahîd, Byzantium and the Arabs in the fourth century, 1984, p. 425.
37. "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. "T54n2126 大宋僧史略| CBETA 漢文大藏經". Tripitaka.cbeta.org. 2008-08-30. Retrieved 2014-02-14.
39. Ennin's Diary: The Record of a Pilgrimage to China in Search of the Law
40. "Manichaean Chronology Order of Nazorean Essenes". Essenes.net. 2002-07-22. Retrieved 2014-02-14.
41. 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. "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Paulicians". Newadvent.org. 1911-02-01. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
43. 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. "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Albigenses". Newadvent.org. 1907-03-01. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
45. 明教在温州的最后遗存 – 温州社会研究所[dead link]
46. "崇寿宫记". Cxsz.cixi.gov.cn. 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2014-02-14.
47. "Manichaean and (Nestorian) Christian Remains in Zayton (Quanzhou, South China) ARC DP0557098". Mq.edu.au. Retrieved 2014-08-27.
48. "Central Manichaean Temple". Manichaean.org. 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2014-08-27.
49. "Manichaeism, Esoteric Buddhism and Oriental Theosophy" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-02-14.
50. (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.
51. "Neo-Manichaeanism: Questions and Answers". Oocities.org. Retrieved 2014-08-27.
52. Bevan, A. A. (1930). "Manichaeism". Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Volume VIII Ed. James Hastings. London
53. 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.
54. Chart from: E. Waldschmidt and W. Lenz, Die Stellung Jesu im Manichäismus, Berlin, 1926, p 42.
55. 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.
56. Skjærvø, Prods Oktor, An Introduction to Manicheism, 2006.
57. Ort, L. J. R., Mani: a religio-historical description of his personality, 1967, p. 254.
58. MANICHEISM i. GENERAL SURVEY at Encyclopædia Iranica
59. CHINESE TURKESTAN: vii. Manicheism in Chinese Turkestan and China at Encyclopædia Iranica
60. W. B. Henning, Sogdica, 1940, p.11.
61. "Let none read the gospel according to Thomas, for it is the work, not of one of the twelve apostles, but of one of Mani's three wicked disciples."—Cyril of Jerusalem, Cathechesis V (4th century)
62. See, for example, Boyce, Mary The Manichaean hymn-cycles in Parthian (London Oriental Series, Vol. 3). London: Oxford University Press, 1954.
63. Lieu, Samuel N. C., Manichaeism in Central Asia and China, 1998, p. 50.
64. "The Traité is, despite its title (Moni jiao cao jing, lit. “fragmentary [Mathews, no. 6689] Manichean scripture”), a long text in an excellent state of preservation, with only a few lines missing at the beginning. It was first fully published with a facsimile by Edouard Chavannes (q.v.) and Paul Pelliot in 1911 and is frequently known as Traité Pelliot. Their transcription (including typographical errors) was reproduced in the Chinese translation of the Buddhist Tripiṭaka (Taishō, no. 2141 B, LIV, pp. 1281a16-1286a29); that text was in turn reproduced with critical notes by Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer (1987b, pp. T. 81-86). A more accurate transcription was published by Chen Yuan in 1923 (pp. 531-44), and a new collation based on a reexamination of the original photographs of the manuscript has now been published by Lin Wu-shu (1987, pp. 217-29), with the photographs.", from "CHINESE TURKESTAN vii. Manicheism in Chinese Turkestan and China", by Samuel Lieu, 2011.
65. de Beausobre, Isaac, Histoire critique de Manichée et du Manichéisme, 1734–1739, Amsterdam.
66. Eusebius. The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus, Bishop of Caesarea, Translated from the originals by Christian Frederick Cruse.1939. Ch. XXXI.
67. Bevan, A. A. (1930). "Manichaeism". Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Volume VIII Ed. James Hastings. London
68. "Classical Texts: Acta Archelai of Mani" (PDF). Fas.harvard.edu. p. 76.
69. Waldschmidt, E., and Lentz, W., Manichäische Dogmatik aus chinesischen und iranischen Texten (SPAW 1933, No. 13)
70. Hans Jakob Polotsky and Karl Schmidt, Ein Mani-Fund in Ägypten, Original-Schriften des Mani und seiner Schüler. Berlin: Akademie der Wissenschaften 1933.
71. Schmidt-Glintzer, Helwig, Chinesische Manichaeica, Wiesbaden, 1987
72. Oxford Dictionaries: Manichaean, Manichaeism

Books and articles

• 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.