Manichaeism

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Image:Manicheans.jpg Manichaeism was one of the major ancient religions. Though its organized form is mostly extinct today, a revival has been attempted under the name of Neo-Manichaeism. However, most of the writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost. Some scholars and anti-Catholic polemicists argue that its influence subtly continues in Western Christian thought via Saint Augustine of Hippo, who converted to Christianity from Manichaeism and whose writing continues to be enormously influential among Catholic and Protestant theologians.

Contents

Origins

The religion was founded by Mani, who reportedly was born in western Persia and lived approximately 210–276 CE. The name Mani is mainly a title and term of respect rather than a personal name. This title was assumed by the founder himself and so completely replaced his personal name that the precise form of the latter is not known. Mani's holy book was called Arzhang and was beautified with paintings. This gave him the title "The Painter".

Mani was likely influenced by Mandaeanism and began preaching at an early age. According to biographical accounts preserved by Ibn an-Nadim and al-Biruni, Mani received a revelation as a youth from a spirit, whom he would later call his Twin, his Syzygos, his Double, his Protective Angel or 'Divine' Self. This 'spirit' allegedly taught him 'divine' truths which developed into the Manichaean religion. (This Syzygos resembles greatly the ibril of Mohammed). His 'divine' Twin or true Self brought Mani to Self-realization and as such he becomes a 'gnosticus', someone with divine knowledge and a liberating insight into things. He claimed to be the 'Paraclete of the Truth', as promised in the New Testament: the Last Prophet and Seal of the Prophets that finalized a succession of men guided by God and included figures such as Zoroaster, Hermes, Plato, Buddha, and Jesus. In 2005, the lecturer Francois Favre said of Mani:

He taught the Christians the profound, esoteric aspect of Universal Christianity, revealed the true meaning of the message of Zoroaster to the Persian Magi's and explained the liberating Path to the Buddhist. The religion whom he founded revealed the mysteries of "divine man" and enlightened millions of souls for more than a thousand years.

While Manichaeism was spreading, the large existing religious groups such as Christianity and Zoroastrianism were competing for greater political and social power. Although having fewer adherents than either group, Manichaeism won the support of many high-ranking political figures. With the aid of the Persian Empire, Mani initiated missionary excursions. After failing to win the favor of the next generation, and having 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 fixed at 276–277 CE.

In Egypt a miniscule codex was found and became known via antique dealers in Cairo. It was purchased by the University of Cologne in 1969, and two of its scientists Henrichs and Koenen produced the first edition of this ancient manuscript known since as the Cologne Mani-Codex, which they published in four articles in the Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. The content of the small papyrus manuscript contained a Greek text describing the life of Mani. From this recent discovery, we know much more about the man who founded one of the most influential world religions of the past.

Theology

The most striking principle of Manichee theology is its dualism. Mani postulated two natures that existed from the beginning: light and darkness. The realm of light lived in peace, while the realm of darkness was in constant fight with itself. The universe is the temporary result of an attack of the realm of darkness on the realm of light, and was created by the Living Spirit, an emanation of the light realm, out of the mixture of light and darkness.

The Manichees made every effort to include all known religious traditions in their faith. As a result, they preserved many apocryphal Christian works, such as the Acts of Thomas, that otherwise would have been lost. Mani was eager to describe himself as a "disciple of Jesus Christ", but the Early Christian Church rejected him as a heretic. Mani declared himself, and was also referred to, as the Paraclete: a Biblical title, meaning "comforter" or "helper", which the Catholic tradition understood as referring to God in the person of the Holy Spirit. The title was also later applied to Muhammad.

Following Mani's travels to the Kushan Empire (several religious paintings in Bamiyan are attributed to him) at the beginning of his proselytizing career, various Buddhist influences seem to have permeated 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" (Richard Foltz, "Religions of the Silk Road")

Expansion

Image:ManichaeismSpread.jpg Manichaeism spread with extraordinary rapidity throughout both the east and west. It reached Rome through the apostle Psattiq by 280 CE, who was also in Egypt in 244 and 251. The faith was flourishing in the Fayum area of Egypt in 290. Manichaean monasteries existed in Rome in 312 during the time of the Christian Pope Miltiades. By 354, Hilary of Poitiers wrote that the Manichaean faith was a significant force in southern France.

The Manichaean faith was also widely persecuted. In 291, persecution arose in the Persian empire with the murder of the apostle Sisin by Bahram II, and the slaughtering of many Manichaeans. In 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 numerous martyrs in Egypt and North Africa. In 381 Christians requested Theodosius I to strip Manichaeans of their civil rights. He issued a decree of death for Manichaean monks in 382.

The faith 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, where (c. 1000 CE) the bulk of the population professed its tenets and where it died out towards the 13th century. The religion was adopted by the Uighur ruler Bugug Khan (759–780), and it remained state religion for about 500 years before the invasion of the Mongols. In the east it spread along trade routes as far as Chang'an, the capital of the Tang dynasty in China. In the 9th century, it is reported that the Muslim Caliph Ma'mun tolerated a community of Manichee.

Manichaeism and orthodox Christianity

Image:Tiffany Window of St Augustine - Lightner Museum.JPG

When Christians first encountered Manichaeism, it seemed to them to be a Pauline heresy, as it had originated in a heavily Gnostic area of Persia (Cross). Initially, Augustine of Hippo had been a Manichean. According to his Confessions of St. Augustine, after eight or nine years abiding to the Manichaean faith, he became orthodox and a potent adversary of Manichaeism.

How much long-term influence the Manichees actually had on Christianity is still being debated. It has been suggested that the Bogomils, Paulicians, and the Cathars were deeply influenced by Manichaeism. However, the Bogomils and Cathars, in particular, left no records of their ritual or doctrine, and the charge of Manichaeism was levelled at them by contemporary orthodox opponents. The Paulicians, Bogomils, and Cathars were certainly dualists and felt that the world was the work of a demiurge of Satanic origin (Cross), but whether this was due to influence from Manichaeism or Gnosticism is impossible to determine. In the case of the Cathars, it seems they adopted the Manichee principles of church organization, but none of its cosmology. Priscillian and his followers apparently tried to absorb what they thought was the valuable part of Manichaeaism into Christianity.

References

  • The Medieval Manichee: A Study of the Christian Dualist Heresy by Steven Runciman ISBN 0521289262
  • Religions of the Silk Road by Richard C. Foltz, St Martin's Griffin, New York, ISBN 0312233388
  • The Manichaean Body: In Discipline and Ritual by Jason David BeDuhn, ISBN 0801871077
  • Mani, the Angel and the Column of Glory by Andrew Welburn, ISBN 0863152740
  • Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire by Iain Gardner and Samuel N. C. Lieu, ISBN 0521568226
  • Mani (216–276/7) and his 'biography': the Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis (CMC):
  • Albert Heinrichs, Ludwig Koenen, "Ein griechischer Mani-Kodex', 1970 (ed.) Der Kölner Mani-Codex ( P. Colon. Inv. nr. 4780), 1975–1982.
  • Sir Alfred Chester Beatty: Charles Allberry (ed.) A Manichean Psalm-Book, Part II, Stuttgart 1938.
  • Isaac de Beausobre, Histoire critique de Manichée et du Mani-chéisme, Amsterdam 1734–1739.
  • F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. London: Oxford UP, 1974.
  • Zsuszanna Gulácsi, Manichaen art in Berlin Collections, Turnhout 2001. (Original Manichean manuscripts found since 1902 in China, Egypt, Turkestan, China to be seen in the Museum of Indan Art in Berlin).
  • Francois Favre, Mani, the Gift of Light, 5 May 2005, 'Renova' symposium, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

External links

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