482 MANIOHJBISM Greek polytheism transfigured and developed into Pan- . theism through Oriental influences and philosophical specu lations ; Catholicism was the monotheistic universal re ligion, based upon the Old Testament and the Gospel, but built up with the resources of Hellenic speculation and ethics; Manichseism was the dualistic and universal religion, founded on Chaldaism, but charged with Christian, Parsic, and perhaps Buddhistic ideas. In Manichseism the Hel lenic element was wanting, in Catholicism the Chaldceo- Persian. These three universal religions were developed in the course of two centuries (c. 50-250 A.D.), Catholicism being the earliest and Manichseism the latest creation. To both of these, however, Neo-Platonism was from the outset inferior, because it did not possess a founder, and conse quently did not develop elemental force, but retained the character of an artificial creation. Attempts were made to invent a founder for it, but these, of course, entirely failed. Catholicism, again, appears as superior to Mani- chaeism, even if we do not look at the contents of the two religions, because it honoured its founder, not only as a bearer of revelation, but as Redeemer in His own person, and as the Son of God. The struggle of Catholicism with Neo-Platonism had been already decided by about the middle of the 4th century, though the latter maintained itself in the Greek empire for nearly two centuries longer. In its contest with Manichaeism, the Catholic Church was from the outset certain of victory, being at the time the privileged church of the empire. But this rival could not be annihilated ; it maintained itself both in the East and in the West, though in various forms and modifications, until far on in the Middle Ages. Mani s Mani (Mav?;?, Manes, Mavix<uo?, Manichaeus 1 ) is said, in the Acta Archelai, to have originally been called " Cubricus " (according to Kessler, a corruption of " Shura- ik"). Nothing reliable about his life was ever known in the Grasco-Roman empire ; for the account in the Acta, Archelai is quite incredible, and shaped by the objects of its author. If criticism may succeed in showing the sources from which this account has flowed, in ascertaining the tendencies which have been at work in it, and thus in extracting some solid matter, it can only do so by starting from the Oriental, the Mohammedan, tradition, which is comparatively worthy of credence. It is therefore to the latter alone that we must apply for information. Accord ing to it, Mani was a high-born Persian of Ecbatana. The year of his birth is uncertain, but Kessler accepts as reliable the statement made by Biruni, that Mani was born in the year 527 of the astronomers of Babylon {215-216 A.D.). He received a careful education at Ctesiphon from his father Fiitak (rEareKio?). As the father connected himself at a later period with the confession of the Moghtasilah, or " Baptists," in southern Babylonia, the son also was brought up in the religious doctrines and exercises of this sect. These Baptists (see the Fihrist) were apparently connected with the Elkesaites and the Hemerobaptists, and certainly with the Mandaeans. It is not improbable that this Babylonian sect had absorbed Christian elements. Thus the boy early became acquainted with very different forms of religion. If even a small part of the stories about his father is founded on fact, and there is no doubt that most of them are mere Manichaaan legends, it was he who first introduced Mani to that medley of religions out of which his system arose. Mani- chsean tradition relates that Mani received revelations while yet a boy, and assumed a critical attitude towards the religious instruction that was being imparted to him This is the more incredible since the same tradition informs 1 The name has not as yet been explained, nor is it even known whether it be of Persian or Semitic origin. is that the boy was as yet prohibited from making public ise of his new religious views. It was only when Mani lad reached the age of twenty-five or thirty years that he Degan to proclaim his new religion. This he did at the ourt of the Persian king, Sapor I., and according to the story, on the coronation-day of that monarch (241-42). A Persian tradition says that he had previously been a hristian presbyter ; but this is certainly incorrect. Mani did not remain long in Persia, but undertook long ourneys for the purpose of spreading his religion, and also sent forth disciples. According to the Acta Archelai, his missionary activity extended westwards into the territory of the Christian church ; but from Oriental sources it is ertain that Mani rather went into Transoxania, western China, and southwards as far as India. His labours there as well as in Persia were not without result. Like Mohammed after him and the founder of the Elkesaites before him, he gave himself out for the last and highest prophet, who was to surpass all previous divine revelation, which only possessed a relative value, and to set up the perfect religion. In the closing years of the reign of Sapor I. (c. 270) Mani returned to the Persian capital, and gained adherents even at court. But the dominant priestly caste of the Magians, on whose support the king was dependent, were naturally hostile to him, and after some successes Mani was made a prisoner, and had then to flee. The successor of Sapor, Hormuz (272-273), appears to have been favourably disposed towards him, but Bahram I. abandoned him to the fanaticism of the Magians, and caused him to be crucified in the capital in the year 276-7. The corpse was flayed, and Mani s adherents were cruelly persecuted by the king. Mani himself composed a large number of works and Mani epistles, which were in great part still known to the Mohammedan historians, but are now lost. The later heads of the Manichaean churches also wrote religious treatises, so that the ancient Manichsean literature must have been very extensive. According to the Fihrist, Mani made use of the Persian and Syriac languages ; but, like the Oriental Marcionites before him, he invented an alphabet of his own, which the Fihrist has handed down to us. In this alphabet the sacred books of the Manichaeans were written even at a later period. The Fihrist reckons seven principal works of Mani, six being in the Syriac and one in the Persian language ; regarding some of these we also have information in Epiphanius, Augustine, Titus of Bostra, and Photius, as well as in the formula of abjuration (Cotelerius, PP. Apost. Opp., i. 543) and in the Acta Archelai. They are (1) The Book of Secrets (see Acta Archel.), containing discussions bearing on the Chris tian sects spread throughout the East, especially the Mar cionites and Bardesanites, and dealing also with their conception of the Old and New Testaments ; (2) The Book of the Giants (Demons 1) ; (3) The Book of Precepts for Hearers (probably identical with the Epistola Funda- menti of Augustine, and with the Book of Chapters of Epiphanius and the Acta Archelai ; this was the most widely spread and most popular Manichaean work, having been translated into Greek and Latin ; it contained a short summary of all the doctrines of fundamental authority) ; (4) The Book Shdhpiirakdn (Fliigel was unable to ex plain this name ; according to Kessler it signifies " epistle to King Sapor " ; the treatise . was of an eschatological character) ; (5) The Book of Quickening (Kessler identifies this work with the " Thesaurus [vitae] " of the A eta Archelai, Epiphanius, Photius, and Augustine, and if this be correct, it also must have been in use among the Latin Manichaeans) ; (6) The Book Trpay^areia (of unknown con tents) ; (7) a book in the Persian language, the title of
which is not given in our present text of the Fihrist, but