RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Mani, Manicheans
the hearers kneeling as they offered their services. On account of these services to the adepts, the hearers were often called " protectors " and " warriors for religion," the latter expression having a connection with Mithraism, in which miles, " soldier," was a grade of the clergy. The number of the adepts could never have been great.
Manicheism had, as a rule, seven fast-days in each month upon which monthly and yearly fasts were celebrated. Concerning the details the sources differ greatly. Augustine and Leo the Great report that the Manicheans of the West in the fifth century fasted, as a rule, on Sunday and Monday, the adepts on both days, the hearers
9. Fasts, only on Sunday, and with this the Feasts, and Fihrist agrees. These fasts were in
Prayer, honor of the sun and moon, or rather of the spirits whose seat was placed in those bodies. The two days after new moon constituted a monthly fast. Another fast was when the sun was in Sagittarius at the end of the third quarter of the year and the moon was full, approximately Nov. 22-23. A fast took place also on dates corresponding nearly to Dec. 21-22. A partial fast of a month, food being taken only after sunset, coincides with the Mohammedan Ramadan, and was possibly borrowed by Mohammed from the Manicheans. Doubtless Babylonian fasts lie at the basis of this whole series. The great special feast was that in memory of the execution of Mani, and was called Bema and celebrated in March, when a pulpit, elaborate in its adornment, with five steps, was set up, but was not occupied. Possibly this was instituted by the founder in imitation of Christ's institution of the Lord's Supper. In general, Manicheans observed the festivals of the country in which they lived, so as to obliterate as far as possible discernible differences between themselves and the rest of the population. Worship among the Manicheans knew no sacrifice, but prayer was held of supreme importance. Four seasons of prayer daily were prescribed, at midday, in the afternoon before sunset, in the evening after sunset, and at night three hours after sunset. For prayer the Manichean prepared himself by washing with flowing water, standing erect; he then turned to the sun, if it were day, to the moon if it were night and the moon were visible, otherwise to the north, prostrated himself, and so directed his petitions. It was not, however, to the sun and moon in themselves that the Manicheans addressed their prayers, but in these bodies they saw the chief visible representations 'of the world of light, while the north was the seat of the king of light. At each season of prayer twelve prostrations occurred and twelve prayers were uttered. The general tenor of these prayers was that of praise of the various powers or instruments of light which had a place in the hierarchy of the system. They bore a very close relation to the Mandsean formula, and to Babylonian hymns. The attributes ascribed to the beings worshiped were often derived, even borrowed, from those ascribed to Marduk, Shamash, and Sin in the Babylonian system.
The confession of every member contained in brief four articles which each must know, though
only the adepts appreciated their full significance. These were faith in God, in his light, in his might,
and in his wisdom, which are named 10. The " the four excellences." These have Church, a Christian sound, but in fact God is
the king of the paradise of light, his light is the sun and the moon, his might is the five angels, and his wisdom is the religion, that is, the Manichean church. The five grades of the Manichean church are symbolized by the five steps of the Bema; the highest grade is composed of teachers, " sons of mildness "; the second of servers, " sons of knowledge "; the third of presbyters, " sons of understanding "; the fourth of the true (adepts), " sons of secrecy "; and the fifth of the adherents (hearers), " sons of discernment." Thus, the church visible consists of the last two classes; a select number of the adepts furnish the clergy, and the community is made up of the rest of the adepts and the hearers or adherents. Augustine gives practically the same arrangement, but applies to the grades the Christian terms master, bishop, presbyter, elect, and auditors or hearers. The epithets applied to these five grades (given above in quotation marks) all have significance in the terminology of the system. Thus the lowest class are called sons of discernment because they have discerned in Mani's teaching the most perfect religion. The three upper grades correspond closely to the three grades of the Mandaan clergy. Augustine's statement that there were twelve teachers and seventy-two bishops is a further indication of Mani's borrowing from the Christian system, for this arrangement is not to be derived from Babylonia. Both Augustine and the Fihrist mention a head of the church who corresponded to the Risk amma of the Mandaans or to the pope of the Roman Church. Holy offices, like the sacraments of the Christian Church, arose among the Manicheans, but were employed only among the adepts; to this is due the lack of information concerning them. The Church Fathers speak of a Manichean baptism and service of communion. In a time like the fourth century, when the sacraments of the Christian Church were part of a secret discipline, it is not strange that on the one side the Manicheans kept their rites secret, nor, on the other, that the foes of the Manicheans charged them with travesties of Christian rites. The baptism of the Manicheans should doubtless be brought into connection with the employment of water in naturereligions, and the Eucharist may also be so referred, as in the case of theMandaeans (q.v., § 7). In the Eleusinian mysteries, in Parseeism, and in Mithraism there was a kind of Eucharist. The Manicheans of the Middle Ages had instead of baptism a laying-on of hands by which hearers were advanced to the grade of adept. The churches were like those of the Mandseans, small and unadorned. Bloody sacrifice had no part in the system.
When one of the adepts dies and his soul leaves his body, the original man sends a light-god in the form of a wise guide, i.e., Jesus, and with him three other light-deities and a light-maiden, who carry five articles which symbolize relationship to the kingdom of light — a water vessel, a cloak, a head-
Mani, Manicheane