Manichaeism

 

Introduction

 Manichaeism

Christianity's main rival in the field of ethics was the teaching of Manes, which has been variously described as a modification of the old Babylonian religion, a hybrid Zoroastrianism, various Gnostic speculations, and a Christian heresy. [1]

Manichaeism was the main religion founded by the Iranian prophet Mani in central Persia. She taught an elaborate dualistic cosmology describing the struggle between the good, spiritual world of light and the evil, material world of darkness. In fact, it was not a heresy, but a new philosophical religion. However, she had a strong influence on many Christians, so she was also taken seriously.[2] His faith was based on local Mesopotamian religious movements and Gnosticism.

 

Life of Mani

 Mani also known as Manes or Manichaeus was an Iranian born in 216 AD in Babylon. His mother was a Persian, his father a member of the Elkesiates, a Baptist group that mixed Christian and Persian teachings. Mani was brought up in a group but eventually refused the washing they had to do. At the age of twelve he received the first of many visions, this one telling him that he was the seal of the prophets who were called to gather all the religions of the earth into one. Mani recognized himself within the progression of Zoroaster, Buddha and Jesus. Soon after his visions, Mani began preaching and gathering followers in new congregations. He became a great ascetic who already attracted several disciples at the age of twenty-five. He began his studies at Ctesiphon about 242 AD and won the favor of Shapur I. He did thirty years of missionary work and achieved a great reputation especially in India and China. However, the religious leaders were not so pleased with his activities and a few years after his return he was imprisoned by Bihram I and died in prison in 276.

Teachings and Writings

 Mani went to Ctesiphon, where he was initially joined by two Khasaites who believed he was the reincarnation of the True Prophet, and his sect slowly began to grow. His system was both a philosophy and a religion, providing "true gnosis" with respect to the constitution of the natural world as a necessary step to the elimination of moral evil. His teachings attempted to combine several religions, notably Christianity, Gnosticism, and Zoroastrianism. Mani identified himself in the succession of Zoroaster, Buddha and Jesus and himself, Mani, who was the greatest and the last to help save the trapped particles of light. With them he declared that the present world is a world of conflict between the principles of light and darkness. He taught that Good (Light) and Evil (Darkness) are eternal principles that contradict each other. Man, a particle of Light, was entangled in the dark material universe. One must get rid of the meat contamination. Various prophets appeared from time to time to assist in this process of liberation. That is why this revelation, this prophecy in this last age, came through him, Mani, the messenger of the God of truth to Babylonia. The succession was maintained by Adam, Noah, Buddha, Zoroaster, Jesus, and last and most important of all Manes himself, the Paraclete. Exactly what Mánes meant by assuming the name Paraclete is not clear; he may have taken it without any very definite idea of ​​its meaning from some Christian sect like the Montanists.

            The complex system of doctrine was contained in seven canonical texts, written in Aramaic by Mani, and in a Middle Persian summary of Manichean teachings, also written by Mani, for Shapur I, called the sabuhragan. Manichaean writers elaborated and promulgated Mani's thought over the following centuries in books written in languages ​​from all areas between Western Europe and China. The Cologne Codex of Mani is in Greek, Augustine of the Hippopotamus restated Manichean doctrine in Latin before his conversion to Catholicism, and Uyghur and Chinese Manichean manuscripts were discovered in 1905 by Aurel Stein at the Temple of the Thousand Buddhas in Tun-huang.[3]

Cults

Manichaeism's own cult consisted in rigid asceticism. The faithful were organized into two levels: the elect and the hearers, which in some measures was expected of all classes, while the elect were expected to a higher standard than the mere hearers. The elect were those who sought to attain the fullness of salvation through the knowledge of Mani's teachings. They do not eat meat, they do not drink alcohol. Their number included twelve apostles, assisted by various teachers, ministers, deacons and administrators. No one was allowed to kill animals because that would destroy part of the light, but the Hearers were allowed to eat the meat when others killed them. The upper class might not even pluck fruit or gather vegetables, but had to subsist on food supplied by their common brethren. The Chosen also could not own property or marry, as this would create a new prison for the light. Members seem to have come together for prayers and hymns, but there were no temples, altars, or images. The most strictly forbidden things were idolatry and magic. The sect seems to have become carefully organized with headquarters in Babylon and a tiered hierarchy. There were even reflections of Christian sacraments in signacula oris, manuum, sinus. First, the sealing of the mouth involves avoiding evil speech, drinking alcohol, and eating meat. Second, the seal of the hand prohibits the Chosen from any activity that might injure material objects containing particles of light. And thirdly, a breast seal aimed mainly at avoiding sexual desires. Above the whole structure was a single leader who led the universal church.

Spread and Persecution

 This religion spread westward as far as North Africa and Gual. It survived the longest in Asia, reached China and resisted both Christianity and Islam until the late Middle Ages. Mani himself was a most effective missionary of the faith. The main target of Mani's missionary efforts was the Persian Empire. Mani is allowed to preach the good news all over the country. But the Sasanian revival of Zoroastrianism soon turned the state against the new prophet.

The missionary impulse in Mani's experience with the Heavenly Twin was behind his propagation of his sect. Mani lived to be sixty years old before being martyred in 276 in the prison of Vahrama I at Bet Laphat/Gundasshapurin Khuzistan. At that time he himself traveled extensively to convert and sent missionaries in all directions. Adda and another Patik (not Mani's father) were sent to Roman territory where they held debates with religious leaders, wrote books, converted and generally promoted Manichaeism. Adda, known in the West by the extended name of Adimantus, wrote a book on Manichaeism, called Modius (= 'The Bushel'), and it was important enough for Augustine of Hippo, nearly two centuries later, to think it worth while to write a book against him.[4]

 Almost immediately, the king ordered the persecution of Mani's followers to begin. Countless numbers were slain throughout Persia. Many flee north to Sogdiana along the Silk Road that led all the way to China. Others took refuge in Persia, while others went west towards the Roman Empire. The Romans were as brutal as the Persians in their efforts to stamp out Manichean teachings. Persecution of Mani's followers in the west continued long after it was unleashed against Christianity.

 Manicheans and Christians suffered side by side, but they also traveled side by side on the same missionary journeys of the ancient world. Centuries later, in Central Asia, the two movements converged so much that today it is sometimes difficult to separate their text. It would not have been obvious to an outside observer in the third century which was destined to grow and which was destined to decline.[5]

Declination

 The mere fact that Manichaeism appeared in Rome as a Persian sect was enough to secure for him a hearty hatred there. It was condemned in 296 by Diocletian, who ordered his books burned. Yet it made progress even among the Christians, especially among the Egyptian monks; and during the fourth century it spread throughout the Empire. It is difficult to understand why, by its rejection of the true incarnation, it attracted Christians, but that many fell away from it is evident from the repressive measures taken by the Christian emperors. It lasted through the Dark Ages and became a terror for medieval Europe. In the East it probably disappeared during the Mongol invasion of the thirteenth century, but in the West the fear of it was still strong enough to discredit the Knights Templar in the fourteenth century. Its effects persist to this day in the fear of declaring all truly natural life as good. Christianity, however, has always triumphed over him by asserting that evil, however powerful, is subject to the ruling providence of the one good God who is the supreme ruler of the universe.[6]

 

Conclusion

 The Manichaeans saw themselves as a new religion, members of the universal church whose founder was Mani. Salvation came for them by following Mani's teachings. They understood that salvation is through Christ, who descended into the lower realms to teach them the way to the higher levels of truth. Therefore, the Gnostics remained in the wider Christian family, although some Catholic writers condemned them. However, in their own way, the Manichaeans also expressed their continuing missionary task of engaging philosophy and culture.

 

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Bibliography

Hrangkhuma, F.  An Introduction to Church History. Bangalore: Theological book Trust, 2016.

Irvin, Dale T. Scott W. Sunquist. History of the World Christian Movement, Vol-I. Maryknoll:  Orbis Books, 2001.

McKechnie Pual. The First CHRISTIAN CENTURIES Perspectives on the Early Church. Secunderabad: OM Books, 2004.  

Wand, J.W.C. A History of the Early Church to A. D 500. New Fetter Lane: Methuen & Co Ltd., 1965.

 

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[1] J.W.C. Wand, A History of the Early Church to A.D.500 (New Fetter Lane: Methuen & Co Ltd., 1965), 140.  Hereafter referred to as Wand, A History of the Early Church to A.D.500,,,.

[2] F. Hrangkhuma, An Introduction to Church History (Bangalore: Theological Book Trust, 2016), 70.   

[3] Paul McKechnie, The First CHRISTIAN CENTURIES Perspectives on the Early church,( Secunderabad: OM Books,2004), 179. Hereafter referred to as Paul McKechnie, The First CHRISTIAN CENTURIES,,,.

[4] Paul McKechnie, The First CHRISTIAN CENTURIES,,,,.179.

[5] Dale T. Irvin & Scott W. Sunquist, History of the World Christian Movement, vol-I ( Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2001), 128.

[6]Wand, A History of the Early Church to A.D.500, 142.