RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Mani, Manicheana
Mani to leave the kingdom, and he is said to have lived abroad forty years, extending his travels to Khorassan, Bokhara, China, and India. The statement that Mani had as disciples Thomas, Addas, and Hermas, two of whom he sent to Syria and Egypt, is unhistorical. Bar Hebraeus asserts that Mani chose twelve disciples. The early Manichean tradition knows only of a personal propaganda of Mani to the north and east of the Persian realm, in which he declared himself to be the last of a series of divinely sent ambassadors of the true God who had commissioned Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus. This conception is the same as appears in the Clementine literature, the " great prophet " of Elkesaite thought. Still, how little Mani intended to accept Jesus as a forerunner appears in the later Persian report that Mani's system made Jesus a devil. After long wandering, in which possibly Manichean communities were established in Turkestan and India, Mani returned to Persia, where his followers had increased. He attempted to win over the brother of Shapur, though political circumstances must have predisposed the king to reject overtures on account of dangers to the dynasty from the Persian priesthood ; the teacher, however, appears personally to have impressed Shapur favorably. Freedom to practise their religion is said to have been granted his followers, though it appears that this favor was subsequently withdrawn, since Mani had twice to flee the realm. Concerning the remainder of Mani's life little that is reliable has come down. His following increased at various points in the empire; and he is said to have enjoyed the favor of Hormisdas I., the successor of Shapur I., and to have received a city in Khuzistan as his residence. On the accession of Bahram I. he was crucified and flayed, and his skin was stuffed with straw and nailed to the gate which long bore his name. A severe persecution of his followers began immediately after the death of the master. Of Mani's personal characteristics little is known, but the Fihrist says that he had a physical defect, a malformed leg. He had fine philosophical and linguistic endowments, profound religious knowledge, and a decided aptitude for literary work. His moral precepts make his character worthy of all honor.
As the basis for the study of the system of Mani the Acta Archelai and the reports of Augustine are no more employed, but rather the Kitab al-Fihrist and the reports of Theodore bar Choni, which depend upon early Manichean writings. The fundamental part in this system is the theory of the origin of the world, which is rooted in Persian dualism. The world began in a mixing of two opposing elements, light and darkness, one essentially good, the other essentially evil. The original light was self-existent, and was called " the first
4. Mani- (or original) excellence," i.e., the chean source of the derived " excellences " Cosmogony, or eons, also " the king of the paradise of lights." This entirely spiritual existence consisted of five elements, eternal existences, which composed the body and soul of the divine being; the five corporeal elements were mildness, knowledge, understanding, secrecy, and dis-
cernment; the five spiritual elements were love, faith, fidelity, generosity, and wisdom. The kingdom of light, coeternal with the king, included an ether of light and an earth of light; the ether was composed of the same material elements as the body of the king of light, while the earth had as its elements breath, wind, light, water, and fire. This earth of light was under the government of a special light-deity, who was surrounded by twelve excellences of like nature. It was a transcendental correlative of the present earth. From above and at the sides this light world was unbounded, but beneath it met the realm of darkness, which was without limits from below and at the sides. This darkness was also a personal being, who filled his world in a manner like that of the light-god, though he is never called " god " by Mani. The representation of darkness resembles that of the early Babylonian Tiamat, the personified chaos. Darkness was also constituted of five elements, cloud, burning, burning wind, air, and darkness, and the regions were divided as were those of light, while the description follows in part the exposition of the Manda;an lower regions (see Mand^eans, § 5). The first step toward the commingling of the two elements and the forming of earth came about through the formation of Satan in the realm of darkness, who came into being out of the eternal elements of darkness. He is pictured with the head of a lion, the body of a dragon, the wings of a bird, the tail of a fish, and with four feet. He moved about in the darkness and discovered a gleam of light which appeared to him of the nature of a challenge and he moved to attack it. The king of light put forward the " original man " (primus homo) to meet the assault. Different accounts follow of the way the combat proceeded and of the combatants actually engaged; but the fight ended in victory over man, who was bound and surrounded by the elements of darkness. The king of light entered the conflict with other deities of light, rescued the original man, and put to flight the powers of darkness. Among the helping eons were " the friend of lights," " the spirit of life," and " gladness." Victory seems to have been gained in part by the mystic power of knowledge of the secret name of darkness, though the accounts vary in different authorities.
Meanwhile the elements of the world of light combined, pair by pair, to produce the world of sense. To this commingling of elements diverse in nature is due the varying effects of matter upon substances and upon man, the elements of light producing effects corresponding to 5. Commin- their character, beneficent and pleas-
gling of ant, the elements of darkness causing Light and destructive and maleficent results. Darkness. Thus, fire has a twofold agency, it preserves and warms or it consumes and destroys. In the progress of creation the spirit of life through his three sons slew the three powers taken prisoner by man, killed and flayed them, and from their skins was made the vault of heaven. The regions of the universe were divided off, angels were appointed to support the heavens, others the earths. According to one account, there were ten heavens and eight earths. The cosmology was
Mani, Manicheans