RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Maui, Manicheans
between gods and demons was not without effect.
(3) The " Book of Chapters " is concerned with directions for the " elect," a sort of catechism, and was probably the book with which Augustine dealt in his celebrated Contra epistolam Manichcei quam vocant Fundamenti (Eng. transl. in NPNF, 1 ser., iv. 129-150). The Manichean Felix asserted that it contained " the beginning, middle and end," i.e., the entire teaching concerning the history of the gods to the end of men. It was written in epistolary form in imitation of Paul's method, and was designed by the author to be the fundamental book of instruction. It began with a description of the original relations of light and darkness before the commingling, and proceeded with a fantastic development of the pleroma of light, etc.
(4) The title of the fourth work was probably Shapurakan (" for Shapur "). According to Biruni, Mani wrote this book for Shapur I., son of Ardashir, in order to win him to the faith. The Fihrist sums it up in three chapters dealing with the death of the adherent, of the apostate, and of the sinner. This book was probably not known in the western world. (5) The " Book of Making Alive " was probably that known to Epiphanius, Photius, and Augustine as Thesaurus. It was of considerable size, since Augustine cites a seventh book. (6) The Pragmateia was possibly the original title of another work which is otherwise unknown. The seventh of Mani's main works, written in Persian, was his Engeliun (Evangelion, " Gospel "). Biruni says of it that it was of a character entirely different from the Christian Gospels, that the Manicheans regarded it as the only correct one and called it the " Gospel of the Seventy," and that it was arranged in the order of the twenty-two letters of the old Aramaic alphabet. It was written during the author's exile in Turkestan, and the initial capitals were, in Persian fashion, worked in ornamental designs, from which among the Persians Mani was known as " the painter," a characterization not known to the Arabs or in the West. Possibly the reference in this title has something to do with the pictorial character of Mani's representations of heaven and hell. Biruni ascribes to Mani also a " Book of Books." The first, third, fifth, and last of the works named above were ascribed to Scythianus (§ 2 above); part of Mani's work may have originated with his father and been enlarged by himself. Not to be overlooked in this survey is the Canticum amatorium, a liturgical hymn to the eternal father of light often mentioned by Augustine. Of the lesser Manichean writings those issued by Mani and those by later writers can not be distinguished. Some are directed to cities or regions; thus three are to India, six to Kashgar (Chitral), seven to Armenia, ten to Ctesiphon, etc. Others are directed to persons who are otherwise unknown. The subjects dealt with are very varied and range from the theories of the system to the conduct of life. Greco-Roman sources recognize a like number of lesser writings, but the titles given do not afford data for identification with those mentioned in the Fihrist. A collection of these minor documents was made later and was known as " the Book of Epistles." The Acta
Archelai and Epiphanius have preserved genuine fragments of one writing, other fragments are collected in Fabricius-Harles, Bibliotheca Graca, vii. 311 sqq. In these fragments dependence can not be placed upon the forms of the names of the persons addressed.
In spite of the severe persecution which Bahram I. instituted against the Manicheans, the system spread rapidly in all directions. The Manicheans fled into Turkestan, and thence they were scattered in other directions under further persecutions. After reaching the West, they adopted many ideas from the Christians, as has been suggested in
the preceding account. With growing
14. History numbers differences regarding special
of the points arose, and so came sects. In ac-
Religion. cordance with the founder's direction,
the entire church was under a chief called Imam, who was obligated to reside in Babylonia. The first successor of Mani was named Sis or Sisinius, to whom some of the lesser writings are attributed. One cause of division among Manicheans was a dispute respecting the residence of the Imam; a party known as the Dinawarier, " religious," split off and settled along the Oxus, but later became reconciled with those who remained in Babylonia. A later division, in the early part of the eighth century, produced the Miklasites, named from Miklas, successor of a Persian ascetic named Zadhurmuz, and their leading principle was laxity in observing the rules of separation from non-Manicheans. The number of Manicheans became very great in the northern part of the Per~ sian highlands, the refuge of all sects. New persecutions arose in the eighth century under Shapur II. and Chosroes I. The religion had already spread eastward, and though probably the founder did not reach India, in the first persecution after his death his followers reached Malabar, which became a new center for the diffusion of the faith. By about 930 a.d. a strong Turkish tribe on the border of China had embraced the religion, inscriptional traces of which fact are known (Marquart, in Wiener Zeitschrift fur Kunde des Morgenlandes, xii., 1898, 157-200) . By about 980 the number of Manicheans in Bagdad was small, though in the villages they were more numerous. In spreading westward the religion first reached Syria and Palestine, where Titus of Bostra opposed it; then it spread into Egypt and through Roman North Africa, where its success was great. Proconsular Africa was one of the chief Manichean regions, and an edict of Diocletian is known directing the prosecution of the " sect derived from the hostile Persian kingdom." They were again assailed in edicts after the year 377, but in Augustine's time their church was in flourishing condition in North Africa, having a good organization, numerous communities, and zealous leaders. Indeed, this branch is of especial interest because of Augustine's nine years' connection with it as an adherent and his later polemics against it. On account of these facts, fuller information has come down than would otherwise have been the case, especially in regard to the teachers who then were prominent. Among these were Felix and Faustus of Mileve, who settled in
Mani, Manicheans Manning'