A

Mani (216-276/7) and his ‘biography’: the Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis (CMC)


For a long time there was little information from original sources about the life and work of Mani, founder of the religion of Manichaeism. But in 1969 the Mani-Codex was discovered in Upper Egypt (somewhere between Assiut and Luxor). This Greek Codex (ca. 400 / beginning 5th century) belongs to the hagiographic and didactic texts about Mani compiled by his followers who based themselves on his authentic words. The Codex tells the story of Mani’s youth and spiritual development in the south of Babylonia where he grew up in the jewish-christian and gnostic-christian environment of the Elkasaites, followers of the prophet Elkasai. In 228 Mani received the first revelation of his Syzygos (the accompanying heavenly Twin). Around 240 he broke with the Elkasaites and began his missionary travels. Through the Codex we gain an insight into the rise and successful organization of the Manichaean world religion and church, which survived for more than 1000 years. The Codex also offers information about Mani’s religious teachings and contains fragments of his Living (or Great) Gospel and his Letter to Edessa. Mani presented himself as the ‘apostle of Jesus Christ’, even as the saviour who poured the heavenly manna on his people. During his lifetime, Mani’s first missionaries were active in Persia, Palestine, Syria and Egypt. In the 4th- century Manichaean Coptic papyri, Mani was identified with the Paraclete-Holy Ghost and he was regarded as the new Jesus.

1 Albert Henrichs, Ludwig Koenen, ‘Ein griechischer Mani-Codex’, 1970, and ed. Der Kölner Mani-Kodex (P. Colon. Inv. Nr. 4780), 1975-1982


When it was discovered in the late 1960s, the minuscule Mani Codex, once an excellent piece of manuscript art, was a rather unsightly lump of parchment. After its discovery in Egypt, the Codex finally came to light through antiquarian dealers but it took some time before the University of Cologne decided to purchase it in 1969. Henrichs and Koenen, scholars affiliated with the university, published the first edition of the Cologne Mani Codex in four instalments in the Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. In their preliminary account this publication of the Codex was presented to the world for the first time. A diplomatic edition followed in 1985 and a critical edition in 1988. One of the most important sources for the life and work of Mani thus became available for research.

2 Ibn al-Nadim: Gustav Flügel, Mani, seine Lehren und seine Schriften. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Manichäismus. Aus dem Fihrist, Leipzig 1862


The tenth-century Islamic writer Ibn Ja’kub al-Nadim (an-Nadim) wrote a general reference work about the cultural history of Arabia. Before the discovery of the Mani Codex this work was one of the most important sources for Mani and Manichaeism. An-Nadim offered information about Mani, his family, his background and his work. Of Mani’s Book of Secrets, a work which is no longer extant, he gave a list of contents. The chapter headings combined with information from other sources give an impression of the themes Mani wrote about, among them for instance the Daisanites, followers of Bardaisan, Mani’s gnostic precursor. An-Nadim also mentioned the missionary letters of Mani and his imams (teachers). The Fihrist (completed in Bagdad, 988) is an important historical source, not only for what we know about Manichaeism but also for the Arabic Hermetic writings of the 8th and 9th centuries. Apart from Flügel’s edition (of a selection from the Fihrist of information specifically about Mani and Manichaeism), a full edition of the work, edited by Bayard Dodge, is also in the library.

3a Elkasai: Wilhelm Brandt, Elchasai, ein Religionsstifter und sein Werk. Beiträge zur jüdischen, christlichen und allgemeinen Religionsgeschichte in späthellenistischer Zeit, Amsterdam 1971 (repr. 1912)


The prophet Elkasai and the jewish-christian sect of the Elkasaites played a significant part in the early life of Mani and subsequently also in the Mani Codex, an important source also for the organization, rites and theology of this sect. These second-century baptists from Mesopotamia knew about a revelation as described in The Book of Elkasai, a book with religious rules and regulations. With regard to Mani and Manichaeism, Wilhelm Brandt based himself primarily on Epiphanius (see nr. 9) and the Fihrist as published by Flügel (see nr. 2). Brandt obviously did not have at his disposal the many later finds that shed more light on the relation between Elkasai and Mani. Previous to Brandt, the Englishman George Mead described the meaning of Elkasai in an early christian and gnostic context in Did Jesus live 100 B.C.?, 1903 (ch. 18). Mani left the movement of the Elkasaites at the age of 24.

3b Bardaisan: H.J.W. Drijvers, ed. The book of the laws of countries. Dialogue on fate of Bardaisan of Edessa, Assen 1965


The Syrian gnostic-christian poet and philosopher Bardaisan (Bar Daysan; Latin Bardesanus) (ca. 154-222) is also regarded as one of Mani’s precursors. Today the British Library in London holds the only extant manuscript copy known of the Syriac Dialogue on fate. This work was written by Phillipus, a student of Bardaisan, and contains gnostic elements in its cosmology, eschatology and astrology. The work originates from christian Edessa, a city with cross-cultural influences from Greek philosophy, jewish, christian, Iranian and pagan ideas. It was especially Bardaisan’s cosmology that influenced Mani. Later Bardaisan was condemned as a heretic by the Syrian Orthodox Church. The translator of this edition, professor of Semitic languages H.J.W. Drijvers (d. 2002), also wrote a study about Bardaisan and his followers (Bardaisan of Edessa, Assen 1966).

B

Manichaean source texts found in the twentieth century


Important Manichaean source texts were discovered from the beginning of the twentieth century. Soon after, scholars began the work of description in philological and codicological studies. Publication of these sources is by far not complete but more and more texts are being made available in scholarly editions. Manichaean literature and art was found in Turfan and Dunhuang in China. Among them were texts in various languages such as Chinese, Middle-Iranian, and Turkish. Coptic texts were found in Medinet Madi in Egypt in the 1920s and 1930s. Unfortunately, much of the material was lost in the bombing of Berlin in the Second World War. Towards the end of the 20th century Manichaean materials were discovered in Kellis in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt (Coptic, Greek and Syriac texts). All these finds have contributed significantly to a better understanding of Manichaeism and the reconstruction of its ‘canon’ of holy writings.

4a Albert von le Coq, Die Buddhistische Spätantike in Mittelasien, vol. 2: Die Manichäischen Miniaturen, 1923 (repr. Graz 1973)


The four German expeditions to China (1903-1913) of Albert von le Coq and Albert Grünwedel of the Berliner Museum für Völkerkunde resulted in what thus far appear to be the most important archeological finds for the study of Manichaeism. The orientalist and language expert Von le Coq (1860-1930) brought the discoveries to Berlin and published the results of his expeditions to Turfan (East Turkestan) in 1923. At the time a kind of archaeological gold-rush developed as more and more expeditions were organized in order to find remnants of Buddhist culture along the Silk Road in Central Asia. The English traveller Sir Aurel Stein (1862-1943) discovered Manichaean and Buddhist texts in the caves of Dunhuang in 1902-07 and the Frenchman Paul Pelliot (d. 1945) visited the same caves (1908, 1912), taking his finds home to France. It appears from Von le Coq’s account that much material was lost again through irresponsible treasure hunters. As China came to regard the expeditions not as attempts to save their cultural heritage but rather as so many instances of cultural robbery (the methods of the early archeologists were not always very subtle), the Chinese government from 1925 made it increasingly difficult for expeditions to take treasures out of the country.

4b Ernst Waldschmidt and Wolfgang Lentz, Die Stellung Jesu im Manichäismus, 1926; Majella Franzmann, Jesus in the Manichaean writings, New York 2003


From the end of the sixth through the thirteenth centuries Manichaeism spread to Central Asia and China. The central place of the figure of Jesus Christ in this religion appeared clearly also from the original Manichaean texts found in Central Asia, though these eastern sources (9-14th centuries) also showed local Buddhist influences. This early study by Ernst Waldschmidt and Wolfgang Lentz already emphasized the centrality of the figure of Christ in the religion of Manichaeism. Majella Franzmann’s Jesus in the Manichaean writings, is one of the more recent studies on Manichaean Christology. Franzmann surveys the earlier work in the field and for the first time uses the now available western and eastern source texts. She distinguishes six different aspects of one and the same Manichaean figure of Jesus (among them ‘Jesus the Splendor’ and ‘Jesus patibilis’). The origin of Manichaeism appears to lie in Jewish Christianity; next to the later Iranian influences, the (historical as well as the mythological) figure of Jesus was always given a central place in Manichaean religion.

5 Carl Schmidt and Hans Jakob Polotsky, Ein Mani-Fund in Ägypten. Originalschriften des Mani und seiner Schüler, Berlin 1933


At first Carl Schmidt experienced great difficulty convincing others that he had found original texts by Mani and his followers. With the help of a patron, Schmidt acquired for Berlin a great part of the gnostic and Manichaean sources (ca. 350 C.E.) from Medinet Madi in Egypt. Subsequently the German city would become a centre for the study of Manichaeism. Another part of the Medinet Madi find was acquired by Sir Alfred Chester Beatty and eventually came to the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin (see nr. 6). Schmidt gives an account of the acquisition in this Sitzungsbericht of the Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Among the materials was a codex containing what must have been a Manichaean church history. The CMC possibly formed part of this larger work, which, unfortunately, was largely destroyed in the Second World War. Schmidt’s colleague, Hans Jakob Polotsky, published the Manichaean Homilies for the first time in 1934.

6 Sir Alfred Chester Beatty: Charles Allberry, ed. A Manichaean Psalm-Book. Part II, Stuttgart 1938


A number of texts that have come down to us were not considered part of the canon of Manichaean religion but were given a special place in the Manichaean church: the Mani Codex, the Psalm-book, the Homilies, the Kephalaia (see nr. 7). Initially, these texts were not given much attention because they were regarded as belonging to a christianised eastern religion, in contrast to the idea prevailing today of the essentially Christian and gnostic character of Manichaeism. The Psalm-book (middle of the fourth century) was found at Medinet Madi in the Fayum in Egypt (1930). The collector Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875-1968) purchased it among other texts and his collection came to the Chester Beatty Library founded by him in 1953 and housed in Dublin Castle in 2000. Charles Allberry edited part II of the Psalm-book for the first time and his translation managed to render the lyrical character of the psalms and songs. Recently, parts of this book have appeared in new translations; a publication of (the more damaged) Part I of the Psalm-book is currently being prepared by Siegfried Richter of the University of Münster.

7 Mani: Iain Gardner, The Kephalaia of the teacher. The edited Coptic Manichaean texts with commentary, Leiden 1995


The Kephalaia (doctrines) of Mani (end of the third century) were discovered in Medinet Madi in Egypt and the original codices were deposited in Berlin and in Dublin. The character of these voluminous codices is determined by the descriptions of the different aspects of Mani’s mythological-religious system. From 1935 parts of the Kephalaia were published by Hans-Jakob Polotsky and the editorial work was continued by Alexander Böhlig in 1966. Most recent is this first English edition by Iain Gardner. Today’s leading scholars of Mani and Manichaeism have united in the International Association of Manichaean Studies, striving to study and publish the Manichaean source texts (e.g. in the series Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum). Texts found in Kellis in the Dakhleh oasis are also being prepared for publication.

C

Testimonia


The history and development of Manichaeism can also be gleaned from the anti-Manichaean texts from various cultural historical and religious traditions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism). Much of what we know about Manichaeism in the West comes from critical testimonies. Examples are the Greek philosopher Alexander of Lykopolis (ca. 300), Hegemonius (Acta Archelai, ca. 340), the church father Ephraem the Syrian (ca. 306-373), the church father Augustine (354-430), at first a Manichaean and then an anti-Manichaean, and Titus of Bostra (ca. 363-373). The old and influential heresy hunter Epiphanius wrote his Panarion (Medicine cabinet against all heresies) ca. 377. From ca. 440 the bishop of Rome St. Leo I Magnus (d. 461) wrote letters and sermons against the Manichaeans in Rome (they had fled from North-Africa) and the gnostic Priscillians in Spain (whom he regarded as Manichaeans). All these witnesses give an impression of the rise and the persecution of Manichaeism in the West. In the Middle Ages the term Manichaean became synonymous with heretical. Some scholars and commentators argued a connection between the Manichaeans and the medieval Cathars and Albigenses, whose dualistic teachings showed similarities with classical Manichaeism.

8 Augustinus, Confessiones, Strassbourg, before 1470


Perhaps the most famous Manichaean as well as anti-Manichaean is Augustine (354-430) who grew up in Hippo Regius (now Annaba, Algeria) and who from 373 was a Manichaean auditor for at least nine years (he was never an elect). In 386/387 he converted to Christianity and became an important founding father of western culture. Augustine wrote more than thirty works against the Manichaeans, among them Against Faustus (ca. 400) and towards the end of his life About the heresies, works with detailed information now confirmed by the Manichaean source texts. The better known Confessiones (Confessions) according to Prof. van Oort can be read as a ‘document in which gnostic-Manichaean and catholic-christian spirituality are engaged in a breathtaking dialogue’ (J. v. Oort, Augustinus’ Confessiones, p. 11)).

9 Epiphanius, Contra octoginta haereses opus eximium, panaria, Basel 1544


Epiphanius of Salamis (ca. 315-403) especially opposed the ideas of Origen and tried to get him condemned. His Panarion (or Adversus haereses), composed ca. 377, is an attack on all the ‘heresies’ known at the time. The work is especially of interest because it contains information that can no longer be found in other historical sources. Epiphanius wrote about the jewish-christian baptismal sect of the Elkasaites (chapters 19, 53) among which Mani grew up (according to an-Nadim, and this was confirmed by the Mani Codex), and about the Manichaeans in chapter 66. In addition to the Greek edition the BPH also owns a copy of the Latin edition published in Paris in 1564.

10 Gottfried Arnold, Unparteyische Kirchen- und Ketzer-Historie, Frankfurt 1699-1700


During the Middle Ages Manichaeism was identified with heresy and nearly every heretic was deemed a Manichaean regardless of his/her religious conviction. The German pietist Gottfried Arnold (1666-1714) accused the church in his Unparteyische Kirchen- und Ketzer-Historie. He defended the medieval heretics but did not see a connection with the heretics of his own age or with the second-century historical Manichaeans described by him in part I. About the Manichaeans’ ontological dualism, the recognition of the principles of good and evil, Arnold quotes the Manichaean Bishop Faustus against Augustine (p. 125). Scholars still look for and/or comment on the historical connections or similarities between medieval Catharism and the Manichaeism of Antiquity. Most recently John van Schaik published a study about the subject (Unde malum – vanwaar het kwaad? Dualisme bij Manicheeërs en katharen. Een vergelijkend onderzoek, 2005).

11 Titus of Bostra: Nils Arne Pedersen, Demonstrative proof in defence of God. A study of Titus of Bostra's Contra Manichaeos - The work's sources, aims and relation to its contemporary theology, Leiden 2004


Titus, the catholic bishop of Bostra (d. ca. 378), the capital of the Roman province of Arabia, wrote four books against Manichaeism between ca. 363 and 377. We do not know much about Titus’ life but we do know he was engaged in a polemical battle with Emperor Julian the Apostate. Contra Manichaeos is a theodicy, a work about the justification of God in relation to the evil in the world, a work written also in a period of ideological and religious conflicts between pagans, Manichaeans and christians. In the first two parts Titus tried to convince the pagans to turn against the Manichaeans and in the last two parts he addressed the catholics to explain to them what he thought was the correct interpretation of the Bible and especially of the Book of Genesis. It looks like Titus of Bostra wished to join together these two very different audiences, the pagans and the catholics, in a shared resistance against the Manichaeans whom he characterized as irrational and barbaric. Titus of Bostra’s work is important for an understanding of the independent christian-gnostic identity of the Manichaeans.

D

Manichaeism and Gnosis along the Silk Road


Manichaean religion spread from Iraq to the West and along the Silk Road to the far East. It adapted itself to each environment, included divine figures and founders of religions such as Buddha and Zoroaster as prophets and was very successful because of this. From the eighth through the eleventh centuries it was the state religion in Turkestan (Central Asia), a period which began with the conversion of the Uigur ruler Bügü Khan (762/3). One of the Turfan book-illustrations with the central motif of the offering of the right hand (one of the five rites of the Manichaean church) is also interpreted as depicting Bügü Khan’s historical conversion to Manichaeism (see nr. 13). In the eighth century Manichaeism was introduced at the imperial courts in China. In 768-771 Emporor Daizong Li Yu allowed the Manichaeans to found monasteries and decorate their temples. In the ninth century Manichaean priests visited the imperial court of Xianzong Li Chun. At the time the Manichaeans were often regarded as Christians. Nevertheless, the growing religion also met with resistance and criticism, also in the East. That so little literature of Mani and his followers is extant was (especially before the later discoveries of original Manichaean materials) ascribed to willful destruction of these writings by Christians, Muslims and Buddhists who, it was thought, felt threatened by the increasing influence of Manichaeism.

12 Isaac de Beausobre, Histoire critique de Manichée et du Manichéisme, Amsterdam 1734-1739


The French Huguenot Isaac de Beausobre (1659-1738) was the modern pioneer of the study of Manichaeism. The ‘father of Manichaean studies’ in his perceptive research for instance already emphasized the importance of the Gospel of Thomas and the jewish Henoch literature for the Manichaeans long before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library. De Beausobre was right also to criticize the polemical character of the works of the church fathers. His work was to be authoritative for nearly two centuries and was continued by Ferdinand Christian Bauer and his Das Manichäische Religionssystem nach den Quellen neu untersucht und entwikelt (1831). De Beausobre’ s history saw to it that Manichaeism was no longer regarded as a heresy but came to be accepted as an independent world religion. More epoch-making research on Mani and Manichaeism had yet to be undertaken in the early twentieth century.

13 Zsuszanna Gulácsi, Manichaean art in Berlin Collections, Turnhout 2001


Original Manichaean manuscripts were found from 1902 in a series of locations: Turfan, Dunhuang (China), Tébessa (Algeria), Medinet Madi and Kellis (now Ismant el-Gharab) (Egypt). Turfan, in an oasis in East Turkestan (now Sinkiang (Xinjiang), was significant especially as its monasteries must have held beautiful specimens of Manichaean book-art. Here Manichaeism also mixed with Buddhism. Manichaean art expressed in book-illustrations and miniatures, textile banners and mural paintings was unearthed after centuries. The study of its iconography reveals more about Manichaean religious experience and culture. This art can now be admired in the Museum für Indische Kunst in Berlin. The illustration from Zsuszanna Gulácsi’s book shows the Manichaean ritual of the offering of the right hand.

14 Jan van Rijckenborgh, ‘De leer van Mani’ in Rozekruis-serie 11-3, 1938


As a founder of a religion and an apostle of the light, Mani placed himself at the end of a long tradition of biblical prophets and of Buddha, Zoroaster, Hermes Trismegistus, Jesus and Paul. The various appearances of Christ as ‘Jesus the Splendor’ or the bringer of the light can also be recognized from gnostic mythology. Thus the foundation and development of the world religion and the world church of Manichaeism took place against the background of the Hermetic Gnosis. Jan van Rijckenborgh in an early work on Mani’s teachings gave a brief description of one of the most important sources of inspiration for the Fellowship of Rosicrucians (het Genootschap van de Rozekruisers). Before the Second World War (from 1936 until its suppression) his movement also referred to itself as the ‘Order of the Manichaeans’. Van Rijckenborgh wrote that ‘the teachings of Mani agreed completely with … the aims and essence of Christianity as proclaimed by the Rosicrucians throughout the centuries’ (‘de Leer van Mani [is] geheel in overeenstemming […] met doel en wezen van het christendom, zoals dat door de eeuwen heen door de Rozekruisers is verkondigd’).

Theodor Harmsen