THE MANICHAEANS
DEFINITION OF MANICHAEAN
1: A BELIEVER IN A SYNCRETISTIC [1: THE COMBINATION OF DIFFERENT FORMS OF BELIEF OR PRACTICE
2: THE FUSION OF TWO OR MORE ORIGINALLY DIFFERENT INFLECTIONAL FORMS] RELIGIOUS DUALISM (SYMMETRY) ORIGINATING IN PERSIA IN THE THIRD CENTURY A.D. AND TEACHING THE RELEASE OF THE SPIRIT FROM MATTER THROUGH ASCETICISM.
MANICHAEISM WAS A MAJOR RELIGION FOUNDED IN THE 3RD CENTURY AD BY THE PARTHIAN PROPHET MANI (AD 216–274) IN THE SASANIAN EMPIRE.
MANICHAEISM TAUGHT AN ELABORATE [COSMOLOGY - A BRANCH OF METAPHYSICS THAT DEALS WITH THE NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE], DESCRIBING THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN A GOOD, SPIRITUAL WORLD OF LIGHT, AND AN EVIL, MATERIAL WORLD OF DARKNESS. ITS BELIEFS WERE BASED ON LOCAL MESOPOTAMIAN RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND GNOSTICISM. IT REVERED MANI AS THE FINAL PROPHET AFTER ZOROASTER, GAUTAMA BUDDHA, AND JESUS. THROUGH AN ONGOING PROCESS IN HUMAN HISTORY, LIGHT IS GRADUALLY REMOVED FROM THE WORLD OF MATTER AND RETURNED TO THE WORLD OF LIGHT, WHENCE IT CAME.
MANICHAEISM WAS QUICKLY SUCCESSFUL AND SPREAD FAR THROUGH THE ARAMAIC-SPEAKING REGIONS. 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. IT WAS BRIEFLY THE MAIN RIVAL TO CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN THE COMPETITION TO REPLACE CLASSICAL PAGANISM. BEGINNING WITH THE PAGAN EMPEROR DIOCLETIAN, MANICHAEISM WAS PERSECUTED BY THE ROMAN STATE AND WAS EVENTUALLY STAMPED OUT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
MANICHAEISM SURVIVED LONGER IN THE EAST THAN IN THE WEST. IT APPEARS TO HAVE FINALLY FADED AFTER THE 14TH CENTURY IN SOUTH CHINA, OCCURRING WITH THE DECLINE OF THE CHURCH OF THE EAST IN MING CHINA. WHILE MOST MANICHAEISM'S ORIGINAL WRITINGS HAVE BEEN LOST, NUMEROUS TRANSLATIONS AND FRAGMENTARY TEXTS HAVE SURVIVED. THERE IS A GROWING BODY OF EVIDENCE THAT SOME FORM OF MANICHAEISM MAY PERSIST IN SOME AREAS OF CHINA. HOWEVER, THESE REPORTS ARE OFTEN CONTRADICTORY AND MORE RESEARCH IS NEEDED BEFORE DEFINITIVELY STATING THAT MANICHAEISM IS SURVIVING TO THE MODERN DAY.
AN ADHERENT OF MANICHAEISM WAS CALLED A MANICHAEAN OR MANICHEAN, OR MANICHEE, ESPECIALLY IN OLDER SOURCES.
HISTORY
LIFE OF MANI (PROPHET)
MANI WAS AN IRANIAN, BORN IN 216 IN OR NEAR SELEUCIA-CTESIPHON (NOW AL-MADA'IN) IN THE PARTHIAN EMPIRE. ACCORDING TO THE COLOGNE MANI-CODEX [THE COLOGNE MANI-CODEX IS A MINUTE PARCHMENT CODEX, DATED ON PALEOGRAPHICAL EVIDENCE TO THE FIFTH CENTURY CE, FOUND NEAR ASYUT (THE ANCIENT LYCOPOLIS), EGYPT; IT CONTAINS A GREEK TEXT DESCRIBING THE LIFE OF MANI, THE FOUNDER OF THE RELIGION MANICHAEISM.], MANI'S PARENTS WERE MEMBERS OF THE JEWISH CHRISTIAN GNOSTIC SECT KNOWN AS THE ELCESAITES.
MANI COMPOSED SEVEN WORKS, SIX WRITTEN IN THE SYRIAC LANGUAGE, A LATE VARIETY OF ARAMAIC. THE SEVENTH, THE SHABUHRAGAN, WAS WRITTEN BY MANI IN MIDDLE PERSIAN AND PRESENTED BY HIM TO THE SASANIAN EMPEROR, SHAPUR I. ALTHOUGH THERE IS NO PROOF SHAPUR I WAS A MANICHAEAN, HE TOLERATED THE SPREAD OF MANICHAEISM AND REFRAINED FROM PERSECUTING IT WITHIN HIS EMPIRE'S BOUNDARIES.
ACCORDING TO ONE TRADITION, MANI INVENTED THE UNIQUE VERSION OF THE SYRIAC SCRIPT KNOWN AS THE MANICHAEAN ALPHABET, WHICH WAS USED IN ALL OF THE MANICHAEAN WORKS WRITTEN WITHIN THE SASANIAN EMPIRE, WHETHER THEY WERE IN SYRIAC OR MIDDLE PERSIAN, AND ALSO FOR MOST OF THE WORKS WRITTEN WITHIN THE UYGHUR KHAGANATE. 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: JEWISH BABYLONIAN ARAMAIC (THE LANGUAGE OF THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD), MANDAEAN (THE LANGUAGE OF MANDAEISM), AND SYRIAC, WHICH WAS THE LANGUAGE OF MANI, AS WELL AS OF THE SYRIAC CHRISTIANS.
WHILE MANICHAEISM WAS SPREADING, EXISTING RELIGIONS SUCH AS ZOROASTRIANISM WERE STILL PREVALENT, AND CHRISTIANITY GAINED SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE. ALTHOUGH HAVING FEWER ADHERENTS, MANICHAEISM WON THE SUPPORT OF MANY HIGH-RANKING POLITICAL FIGURES. WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE SASANIAN EMPIRE, MANI BEGAN MISSIONARY EXPEDITIONS. AFTER FAILING TO WIN THE FAVOR 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 276–277.
INFLUENCES
MANY BELIEVED THAT THE TEACHINGS OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA, ZOROASTER, AND JESUS WERE INCOMPLETE AND THAT HIS REVELATIONS WERE FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD, CALLING HIS TEACHINGS THE "RELIGION OF LIGHT." MANICHAEAN WRITINGS INDICATE THAT MANI RECEIVED REVELATIONS WHEN HE WAS 12 AND AGAIN WHEN HE WAS 24, AND OVER THIS PERIOD, HE GREW DISSATISFIED WITH THE ELCESAITE SECT HE WAS BORN INTO.
MANI BEGAN PREACHING AT AN EARLY AGE AND WAS POSSIBLY INFLUENCED BY CONTEMPORARY BABYLONIAN-ARAMAIC MOVEMENTS SUCH AS MANDAEISM, 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.
ACCORDING TO BIOGRAPHIES PRESERVED BY IBN AL-NADIM AND THE PERSIAN POLYMATH AL-BIRUNI, HE RECEIVED A REVELATION AS A YOUTH FROM A SPIRIT, WHOM HE WOULD LATER CALL HIS TWIN, FROM WHICH IS ALSO DERIVED THE NAME OF THOMAS THE APOSTLE, THE "TWIN," HIS SYZYGOS (KOINE GREEK: "SPOUSE, PARTNER," IN THE COLOGNE MANI-CODEX), HIS DOUBLE, HIS PROTECTIVE ANGEL OR DIVINE SELF. HIS DIVINE TWIN OR TRUE SELF BROUGHT MANI TO SELF-REALIZATION. HE CLAIMED TO BE THE PARACLETE ( PARACLETE MEANS 'ADVOCATE' OR 'HELPER.' IN CHRISTIANITY, THE TERM PARACLETE MOST COMMONLY REFERS TO THE HOLY SPIRIT.) OF THE TRUTH, AS PROMISED BY JESUS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. IT TAUGHT HIM TRUTHS THAT HE DEVELOPED INTO A RELIGION.
HISTORIANS OF MANICHAEISM'S VIEWS ON JESUS ARE DESCRIBED BY:
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. HE 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. (2) JESUS THE MESSIAH WAS A HISTORICAL BEING WHO WAS THE PROPHET OF THE JEWS AND THE FORERUNNER OF MANI. HOWEVER, THE MANICHAEANS BELIEVED HE WAS WHOLLY DIVINE AND NEVER EXPERIENCED HUMAN BIRTH, AS THE PHYSICAL REALITIES SURROUNDING HIS CONCEPTION AND BIRTH'S NOTIONS FILLED THE MANICHAEANS WITH HORROR. HOWEVER, THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH WAS ALSO REGARDED AS OBSCENE. SINCE JESUS THE MESSIAH WAS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, WHERE WAS THIS LIGHT, THEY REASONED, WHEN JESUS WAS IN THE WOMB OF THE VIRGIN? JESUS THE MESSIAH, THEY BELIEVED, WAS INDEED BORN ONLY 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 LEADING TO SALVATION BUT WERE AN EXEMPLUM [AN EXAMPLE OR MODEL, ESPECIALLY A MORALIZING OR ILLUSTRATIVE STORY. (ALLEGORY, MORAL STORY, MORAL TALE, FABLE, LESSON, HAGGADAH, APOLOGUE] OF THE SUFFERING AND EVENTUAL DELIVERANCE OF THE HUMAN SOUL AND A PREFIGURATION OF MANI'S MARTYRDOM. (3) THE PAIN SUFFERED BY THE IMPRISONED LIGHT-PARTICLES IN THE WHOLE OF THE VISIBLE UNIVERSE, ON THE OTHER HAND, WAS HONEST AND IMMANENT [EXISTING OR OPERATING WITHIN; INHERENT: "THE PROTECTION OF LIBERTIES IS IMMANENT IN CONSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS"]. 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) WAS THE LIFE AND SALVATION OF MAN. THIS MYSTICAL CRUCIFIXION WAS PRESENT IN EVERY TREE, HERB, FRUIT, VEGETABLE, AND EVEN STONES AND THE SOIL. THE CAPTIVE SOUL'S CONSTANT AND UNIVERSAL SUFFERING IS EXQUISITELY EXPRESSED IN ONE OF THE COPTIC MANICHAEAN PSALMS.
AUGUSTINE ALSO NOTED THAT MANI DECLARED HIMSELF AN "APOSTLE OF JESUS CHRIST." MANICHAEAN TRADITION HAS CLAIMED THAT MANI WAS THE REINCARNATION OF DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS FIGURES SUCH AS BUDDHA, KRISHNA, ZOROASTER, AND JESUS. [SELF-PUBLISHED SOURCE?]
ACADEMICS ALSO NOTE THAT MUCH OF MANICHAEISM'S KNOWN COMES FROM LATER 10TH- AND 11TH-CENTURY MUSLIM HISTORIANS LIKE AL-BIRUNI AND ESPECIALLY IBN AL-NADIM (AND HIS FIHRIST), WHO "ASCRIBED TO MANI THE CLAIM TO BE THE SEAL OF THE PROPHETS." HOWEVER, GIVEN THE ISLAMIC MILIEU OF ARABIA AND PERSIA AT THE TIME, IT STANDS TO REASON THAT MANICHAEANS WOULD REGULARLY ASSERT IN THEIR EVANGELISM THAT MANI, NOT MUHAMMAD, WAS THE "SEAL OF THE PROPHETS." IN REALITY, FOR MANI, THE METAPHORICAL EXPRESSION "SEAL OF PROPHETS" IS NOT A REFERENCE TO HIS FINALITY IN A LONG SUCCESSION OF PROPHETS, AS IT IS IN ISLAM, BUT RATHER TO HIS FOLLOWERS, WHO TESTIFY OR ATTEST TO HIS MESSAGE, AS A SEAL DOES.
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 USE THE IRANIAN MYTHOLOGICAL TRADITION. THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THE IRANIAN NAMES OF SAM, NARIMAN, 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.
BY COMPARING THE COSMOLOGY IN THE BOOK OF ENOCH LITERATURE AND THE BOOK OF GIANTS, ALONGSIDE THE DESCRIPTION OF THE MANICHAEAN MYTH, SCHOLARS HAVE OBSERVED THAT THE MANICHAEAN COSMOLOGY CAN BE DESCRIBED AS BEING BASED, IN PART, ON THE DESCRIPTION OF THE COSMOLOGY DEVELOPED IN DETAIL IN THE BOOK OF ENOCH LITERATURE. THIS LITERATURE DESCRIBES THE BEING THAT THE PROPHETS SAW IN THEIR ASCENT TO HEAVEN AS A KING WHO SITS ON A THRONE AT THE HIGHEST OF THE HEAVENS. IN THE MANICHAEAN DESCRIPTION, THIS BEING, THE "GREAT KING OF HONOR," BECOMES A DEITY WHO GUARDS THE ENTRANCE TO THE WORLD OF LIGHT, PLACED AT THE SEVENTH OF TEN HEAVENS. IN THE ARAMAIC BOOK OF ENOCH, IN THE QUMRAN WRITINGS IN GENERAL, AND THE ORIGINAL SYRIAC SECTION OF MANICHAEAN SCRIPTURES QUOTED BY THEODORE BAR KONAI, HE IS CALLED "MALKA RABA DE-IKARA" (THE GREAT KING OF HONOR).
MANI WAS ALSO INFLUENCED BY THE 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.
BUDDHIST INFLUENCES WERE SIGNIFICANT IN THE FORMATION OF MANI'S RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS BECAME A MANICHAEAN BELIEF, AND THE QUADRIPARTITE (FOUR-PART] 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.
THE KUSHAN MONK LOKAK?EMA BEGAN TRANSLATING PURE LAND BUDDHIST TEXTS INTO CHINESE IN THE CENTURY PRIOR TO MANI ARRIVING THERE. THE CHINESE TEXTS OF MANICHAEISM ARE FULL OF UNIQUELY BUDDHIST TERMS TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM THESE CHINESE PURE LAND SCRIPTURES, INCLUDING THE TERM "PURE LAND" ITSELF. HOWEVER, THE CENTRAL OBJECT OF VENERATION IN PURE LAND BUDDHISM, AMITABHA, THE BUDDHA OF INFINITE LIGHT, DOES NOT APPEAR IN CHINESE MANICHAEISM AND SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN REPLACED BY ANOTHER DEITY.
SPREAD
A MAP OF THE SPREAD OF MANICHAEISM (300–500).
MANICHAEISM SPREAD WITH EXTRAORDINARY SPEED THROUGH BOTH THE EAST AND WEST. IT REACHED ROME THROUGH THE APOSTLE PSATTIQ BY 280, WHO WAS ALSO IN EGYPT IN 244 AND 251. IT WAS FLOURISHING IN THE FAIYUM IN 290.
MANICHAEAN MONASTERIES EXISTED IN ROME IN 312 DURING THE TIME OF POPE MILTIADES.
IN 291, PERSECUTION AROSE IN THE SASANIAN EMPIRE WITH THE MURDER OF THE APOSTLE SISIN BY EMPEROR BAHRAM II AND THE SLAUGHTER OF MANY MANICHAEANS. THEN, IN 302, THE FIRST OFFICIAL REACTION AND LEGISLATION AGAINST MANICHAEISM FROM THE ROMAN STATE TO MANICHAEISM WAS ISSUED UNDER DIOCLETIAN. IN AN OFFICIAL EDICT CALLED THE DE MALEFICIIS ET MANICHAEIS COMPILED IN THE COLLATIO LEGUM MOSAICARUM ET ROMANARUM AND ADDRESSED TO THE PROCONSUL OF AFRICA, DIOCLETIAN WROTE
WE HAVE HEARD THAT THE MANICHAENS [...] HAVE SET UP NEW AND HITHERTO UNHEARD-OF SECTS IN OPPOSITION TO THE OLDER CREEDS SO THAT THEY MIGHT CAST OUT THE DOCTRINES VOUCHSAFED TO US IN THE PAST BY THE DIVINE FAVOUR FOR THE BENEFIT OF THEIR OWN DEPRAVED DOCTRINE. THEY HAVE SPRUNG FORTH VERY RECENTLY LIKE NEW AND UNEXPECTED MONSTROSITIES AMONG THE RACE OF THE PERSIANS – A NATION STILL HOSTILE TO US – AND HAVE MADE THEIR WAY INTO OUR EMPIRE, WHERE THEY ARE COMMITTING MANY OUTRAGES, DISTURBING THE TRANQUILITY OF OUR PEOPLE AND EVEN INFLICTING GRAVE DAMAGE TO THE CIVIC COMMUNITIES. WE HAVE CAUSE TO FEAR THAT WITH THE PASSAGE OF TIME THEY WILL ENDEAVOUR, AS USUALLY HAPPENS, TO INFECT THE MODEST AND TRANQUIL OF AN INNOCENT NATURE WITH THE DAMNABLE CUSTOMS AND PERVERSE LAWS OF THE PERSIANS AS WITH THE POISON OF A MALIGNANT (SERPENT) ... WE ORDER THAT THE AUTHORS AND LEADERS OF THESE SECTS BE SUBJECTED TO SEVERE PUNISHMENT, AND, TOGETHER WITH THEIR ABOMINABLE WRITINGS, BURNT IN THE FLAMES. WE DIRECT THEIR FOLLOWERS, IF THEY CONTINUE RECALCITRANT, SHALL SUFFER CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, AND THEIR GOODS BE FORFEITED TO THE IMPERIAL TREASURY. AND IF THOSE WHO HAVE GONE OVER TO THAT HITHERTO UNHEARD-OF, SCANDALOUS AND WHOLLY INFAMOUS CREED, OR TO THAT OF THE PERSIANS, ARE PERSONS WHO HOLD PUBLIC OFFICE, OR ARE OF ANY RANK OR OF SUPERIOR SOCIAL STATUS, YOU WILL SEE TO IT THAT THEIR ESTATES ARE CONFISCATED AND THE OFFENDERS SENT TO THE (QUARRY) AT PHAENO OR THE MINES AT PROCONNESUS. AND IN ORDER THAT THIS PLAGUE OF INIQUITY SHALL BE COMPLETELY EXTIRPATED FROM THIS OUR MOST HAPPY AGE, LET YOUR DEVOTION HASTEN TO CARRY OUT OUR ORDERS AND COMMANDS.
BY 354, HILARY OF POITIERS WROTE THAT MANICHAEISM WAS A SIGNIFICANT FORCE IN ROMAN GAUL. IN 381, CHRISTIANS REQUESTED THEODOSIUS I TO STRIP MANICHAEANS OF THEIR CIVIL RIGHTS. STARTING IN 382, THE EMPEROR ISSUED A SERIES OF EDICTS TO SUPPRESS MANICHAEISM AND PUNISH ITS FOLLOWERS.
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.
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.
PERSECUTION AND EXTINCTION
MANICHAEISM WAS REPRESSED BY THE SASANIAN EMPIRE. 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 296, THE ROMAN EMPEROR DIOCLETIAN DECREED ALL THE MANICHAEAN LEADERS TO BE BURNT ALIVE ALONG WITH THE MANICHAEAN SCRIPTURES AND MANY MANICHAEANS IN EUROPE AND NORTH AFRICA WERE KILLED. IT WASN'T UNTIL 372 WITH VALENTINIAN I AND VALENS THAT MANICHAEISM WAS LEGISLATED AGAINST AGAIN.
THEODOSIUS I ISSUED A DECREE OF DEATH FOR ALL MANICHAEAN MONKS IN 382 AD. THE RELIGION WAS VIGOROUSLY ATTACKED AND PERSECUTED BY BOTH THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND THE ROMAN STATE, AND THE RELIGION ALMOST DISAPPEARED FROM WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY AND FROM THE EASTERN PORTION OF THE EMPIRE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY.
THE MANICHAEAN TEMPLES WERE ATTACKED BY CHINESE PEOPLE WHO BURNED THE IMAGES AND IDOLS OF THESE TEMPLES. MANICHAEAN PRIESTS WERE ORDERED TO WEAR HANFU INSTEAD OF THEIR TRADITIONAL CLOTHING, WHICH WAS VIEWED AS UN-CHINESE. IN 843, EMPEROR WUZONG OF TANG GAVE THE ORDER TO KILL ALL MANICHAEAN CLERICS AS PART OF HIS GREAT ANTI-BUDDHIST PERSECUTION, AND OVER HALF DIED. THEY WERE MADE TO LOOK LIKE BUDDHISTS BY THE AUTHORITIES, THEIR HEADS WERE SHAVED, THEY WERE MADE TO DRESS LIKE BUDDHIST MONKS AND THEN KILLED.
ALTHOUGH THE RELIGION WAS MOSTLY FORBIDDEN AND ITS FOLLOWERS PERSECUTED THEREAFTER IN CHINA, IT SURVIVED TILL THE 14TH CENTURY IN CHINA. UNDER THE SONG DYNASTY, ITS FOLLOWERS WERE DEROGATORILY REFERRED TO WITH THE CHENGYU (PINYIN: CHI CÀI SÌ MÓ) "VEGETARIAN DEMON-WORSHIPPERS".
MANICHEANS ALSO SUFFERED PERSECUTION FOR SOME TIME UNDER THE ABBASID CALIPHATE OF BAGHDAD. IN 780, THE THIRD ABBASID CALIPH, AL-MAHDI, STARTED A CAMPAIGN OF INQUISITION AGAINST THOSE WHO WERE "DUALIST HERETICS" OR "MANICHAEANS" CALLED THE ZINDIQ. HE APPOINTED A "MASTER OF THE HERETICS" (ARABIC: AHIB AL-ZANADIQA), AN OFFICIAL WHOSE TASK WAS TO PURSUE AND INVESTIGATE SUSPECTED DUALISTS, WHO WERE THEN EXAMINED BY THE CALIPH. THOSE FOUND GUILTY WHO REFUSED TO ABJURE THEIR BELIEFS WERE EXECUTED.
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 THAT 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 THAT 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 THAT 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.
