Manichaeism

The religion was named after its founder, Mani. He was born in 216 near Seleukia-Ktesiphon, close to modern-day Baghdad. Like his parents, Mani was a member of a Jewish-Christian Anabaptist community (i.e. communities that recognized Jesus as the Messiah but rejected the abandonment of Jewish teachings and, for example, dietary laws by the developing Christianity). Mani received a revelation from his “heavenly twin” at the age of 12 and 24. He saw himself as a follower of the prophets Zoroaster, Jesus, Paul and Elkesai as well as the Old Testament prophets. He spent most of his life on missions and building up a church organization. He set off on missionary journeys that are said to have taken him as far as India, among other places. He also managed to proselytize in the circle of the Persian King Shapur I and thus gain his favour and permission to carry out missions in the Sassanid Empire. Mani also created a comprehensive written work and illustrations to explain and pass on his teachings. After the death of Shapur I and his successor Hormizd I, conditions changed for Mani and his church. The new king Bahram I was strongly influenced by the Zoroastrian priests, who considered Mani’s teachings to be a threat. Mani was imprisoned in 274 or 277 after an audience and died in prison, his body mutilated and put on public display. The subsequent persecution of Manichaeism and its followers led to the formation of a diaspora in north-eastern Iran, from where the religion spread to Central Asia and on to China.

Manichaeism is a syncretic religion, i.e. a mixture of different religious traditions. It contained elements of Judaism and Christianity, Gnosticism, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism. Like Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism is based on the separation of the world into a good and evil principle. The creation of the material world is the result of an attack by the world of darkness against the world of light. In the course of this conflict, the material world was created to contain the demons of darkness; in return, the demons created the human race as a prison for the light.

The goal of world and human history is the liberation of the light from its imprisonment, to which people can contribute by leading a good life. This view led to strict behavioral norms that rejected everything physical, as it was detrimental to the light. This included, for example, strict asceticism, abstaining from eating meat and alcohol and from working. Instead, the focus was on listening to and proclaiming the true teachings. As these duties stood in the way of a practical lifestyle, the congregation was divided into “chosen ones” and “listeners”. Less strict rules applied to the listeners, but they had to support the chosen ones with alms.

Similar to Buddhism, Manichaeism assumed a transmigration of souls, the outcome of which was determined by good and bad deeds. The highest reward was the liberation of the soul from the world and reunion with the light, while the highest punishment for sinners was final death.

Although Manichaeism almost always remained a minority religion that was often persecuted, it was nevertheless very successful as a missionary and was able to spread across the entire Eurasian and parts of the African continent. Mani himself traveled to India and large parts of the Persian Empire and sent his followers on missions, including to India and the Roman Empire. Even the church teacher Augustine was a follower of Manichaeism for nine years and testifies to its presence in Rome and North Africa. rnrnMani also sent a missionary legation under the leadership of a certain Ammo to the east, towards Central Asia. From here, the religion spread along the Silk Road to China. China is also the place where the history of Manichaeism merged with the history of the Uyghurs. Here, more precisely in the city of Loyang, in 762 or 763, the ruler of the Uyghur empire Bögü Khan is said to have converted to Manichaeism and invited Manichaean scholars to his capital Ordu-Balik/Karabalgasun. This event was also recorded on the trilingual inscription of Karabalgasun. Subsequently, not only the ruler professed this new religion, but also the great men of the empire on his orders. The conversion of the Uyghur Khan is the only case in the history of Manichaeism in which it became the official religion of a state. It is possible that the adaptation of this religion by the Uyghurs was a conscious effort to distinguish themselves from Buddhist-dominated China. Even after the collapse of the Uyghur steppe empire in 840, the Uyghurs remained faithful to Manichaeism. They left their ancestral lands in what is now Mongolia and settled in the Turfan Basin in what is now the “Uyghur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang”. Manichaeism remained the state religion here, but was gradually supplanted by Buddhism in the 10th century. The promotion of Manichaeism as the state religion by the Uyghur rulers and nobles led to a flourishing of literature and art. In the 20th century, numerous manuscript fragments and wall paintings were found in the Turfan Oasis in particular, which are still among the most important sources on Manichaeism today. Another important source is the so-called Cologne Mani Codex, a miniature booklet measuring only about 4.5 × 3.8 cm and thus the smallest known ancient codex, which was only discovered in Egypt in 1969. Before these discoveries, the religion was mainly known through the polemics of other religions against Manichaeism.

Manichaeism was persecuted and fought against worldwide by other, predominant religions. It disappeared from the Western and Eastern Roman Empire between the 6th and 9th centuries, from the Middle East in the 11th century and from Central Asia in the 12th or 13th century. There was probably a Manichaean community in southern China until the 16th century before Mani’s teachings disappeared completely and were only rediscovered in the 20th century.