23 Facts About Manichaeism

Manichaeism is a former major religion founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian prophet Mani, in the Sasanian Empire.

Manichaeism teaches an elaborate dualistic cosmology describing the struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness.

Manichaeism was quickly successful and spread far through the Aramaic-speaking regions.

Manichaeism has survived longer in the east than it did in the west.

An adherent of Manichaeism is called a Manichaean or Manichean, or Manichee, especially in older sources.

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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.

Manichaeism claimed to be the Paraclete of the Truth, as promised by Jesus in the New Testament.

Jesus in Manichaeism possessed three separate identities: Jesus the Luminous, Jesus the Messiah and Jesus patibilis .

Kushan monk Lokaksema began translating Pure Land Buddhist texts into Chinese in the century prior to Mani arriving there, and 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.

Manichaeism reached Rome through the apostle Psattiq by 280, who was in Egypt in 244 and 251.

Uyghur khagan Boku Tekin converted to the religion in 763 after a three-day discussion with its preachers, the Babylonian headquarters sent high rank clerics to Uyghur, and Manichaeism remained the state religion for about a century before the collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate in 840.

An apologia for Manichaeism ascribed to ibn al-Muqaffa' defended its phantasmagorical cosmogony and attacked the fideism of Islam and other monotheistic religions.

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.

Manichaeism appointed a "master of the heretics", an official whose task was to pursue and investigate suspected dualists, who were then examined by the Caliph.

Regardless of its accuracy, the charge of Manichaeism was leveled at them by contemporary orthodox opponents, who often tried to make contemporary heresies conform to those combatted by the church fathers.

Manichaeism presented an elaborate description of the conflict between the spiritual world of light and the material world of darkness.

Manichaeism is often presented as a Persian religion, mostly due to the vast number of Middle Persian, Parthian, and Sogdian texts discovered by German researchers near Turpan in what is Xinjiang, China, during the early 1900s.

Original, but now lost, six sacred books of Manichaeism were composed in Syriac Aramaic, and translated into other languages to help spread the religion.

The founder of Manichaeism had employed Syriac 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.

In later centuries, as Manichaeism passed through eastern Persian-speaking lands and arrived at the Uyghur Khaganate, and eventually the Uyghur kingdom of Turpan, Middle Persian and Parthian prayers and the Parthian hymn-cycles were added to the Manichaean writings.

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 ones.

Manichaeism settled in Egypt, where he became acquainted with "the wisdom of the Egyptians", and invented the religious system that was afterwards known as Manichaeism.

Manichaeism 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.