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New Light on Manichaeism 



Nag Hammadi and 
Manichaean Studies 



Editors 
Stephen Emmel & Johannes van Oort 



Editorial Board 

H. W. Attridge - R. Cameron - A. D. DeConick 

W.-P. Funk - I. Gardner - G. W. Hedrick 

S. N. G. Lieu - P. Nagel - B. A. Pearson 

S. G. Richter —J. M. Robinson — K. Rudolph 

M. Scopello - W. Sundermann - G. Wurst 



VOLUME 64 



New Light on Manichaeism 

Papers from the Sixth International 
Congress on Manichaeism 

Organized by 

The International Association of 

Manichaean Studies 



Edited by 
Jason David BeDuhn 



* J * 



■? 

'681' 



BRILL 



LEIDEN • BOSTON 

2009 



This book is printed on acid-free paper. 

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 

International Conference on Manichaeism (6th : 2005 : Flagstaff, Ariz.) 

New light on Manichaeism : papers from the sixth International Congress on Manichaeism ; 

organized by the International Association of Manichaean Studies / edited by Jason David 

BeDuhn. 

p. cm. — (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean studies) 
Includes index. 
ISBN 978-90-04-17285-2 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Manichaeism— Congresses. 

I. BeDuhn, Jason. II. Title. III. Series. 

BT1410.158 2005 
299'. 932— dc22 

2008050516 



ISSN 0929-2470 

ISBN 978 90 04 17285 2 

Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands 
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, 
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, 
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Fees are subject to change. 

PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS 



Dedicated to 

Werner Sundermann 

wzyst srtw' 



CONTENTS 



List of Plates ix 

Preface xi 

A Religion of Deeds: Scepticism in the Doctrinally Liberal 

Manichaeism ofFaustus and Aueustine 1 



'm 



Jason David BeDuhn 



The Conversation of John the Orthodox with a Manichaean: 
An Analysis of Its Sources and Its Significance for 

Manichaean Studies 29 

Byard Bennett 

The Mani Logion: "The purification that was spoken about is 

that which comes through gnosis" (CMC 84, 9-12) 45 

Luigi Cirillo 



Manichaeism Among the Uygurs: The Uygur Khan of the 
Bokug Clan . 
Larry Clark 



Bokug Clan 61 



Manichaean Time-Management: Laymen between Religious 

and Secular Duties 73 

Iris Colditz 

Characteristics of Manichaeism in Roman Africa 101 

J. Kevin Coyle 

Mani's Account of Other Religions According to the Coptic 

Synaxeis Codex 115 

Wolf- Peter Funk 



How We Know the Exact Year the Archegos Left Baghdad ... 129 
Cyril Glasse 



Vlll CONTENTS 

An Experiment in Digital Reconstruction with a 
Manichaean Book Painting: The Work of the Religion 

Scene (MIK III 4974 recto) 145 

Zsuzsanna Gulag si 

The Manichaean Church between Earth and Paradise 169 

Claudia Leurini 

Medieval Manichaean and Nestorian Remains in the Zayton 

(Quanzhou) of Marco Polo 181 

Samuel N. C. Lieu 

Sukhavati and the Light-world: Pure Land Elements in the 

Chinese Manichaean Eulogy of the Light-world 201 

Gunner Mikkelsen 

ymyn "hynd: The Beginning of Mani's Psalm Wuzurgan 

Afriwan in Parthian and Middle Persian 213 

Enrico Morano 

A Sogdian Version of Mani's Letter of the Seal 225 

Christiane Reck 

Snatches of the Middle Iranian "Tale of the Five Brothers" ... 241 
Christiane Reck 

A Manichaean Collection of Letters and a List of Mani's 

Letters in Middle Persian 259 

Werner Sundermann 

Plates 

Index 279 



LIST OF PLATES 



The plates can be found following page 278. 

PL 1 & Figs. 1—1 belong to the article 'An Experiment in Digital Reconstruction 
with a Manichaean Book Painting: The Work of the Religion Scene (MIK 
III 4974 recto)' by Z Guldcsi: 

PI. 1. The Work of the Religion Scene (MIK III 4794 recto, detail) before and 
after Digital Reconstruction (actual size: 6.6 cm x 6.1 cm). 

Figs, la— d. Reconstruction Outline of a Turfan Manichaean Illuminated 
Codex Folio, MIK III 4974 (after Gulacsi 2005, Fig. 5/8). 

Fig. 2. The Bema Scene. Full-page book painting on MIK III 4949 verso, 
shown from picture-viewing direction. Reconstruction Line Drawing 
of a Turfan Manichaean Bookpainting (after Ebert 1994, Fig. 3). 

Fig. 3. The Work of the Religion Scene. Intracolumnar book-painting on 
MIK III 4974 verso, shown from picture-viewing direction (after 
Gulacsi 2001a, Fig. 36.1). Division of Image into Sections to be 
Reconstructed. 

Figs. 4a— c. Reconstruction of Section 1 (Footed Bowl with Figs). 

Figs. 5a— c. Reconstruction of Section 2 (Laymen Holding Books). 

Figs. 6a-c. Reconstruction of Section 3a (Heads of Male Elects). 

Figs. 7a— c. Reconstruction of Section 3b (Body of Male Elects). 

Figs. 8a-c. Reconstruction of Section 4 (Gesturing Left Hand of 
Elect). 

Figs. 9a— c. Reconstruction of Section 5 (Vessels of Light). 

Figs. 10a-c. Reconstruction of Section 6 (Hand of God). 

Pis. 1 & 2 belong to the article 'Medieval Manichaean and Nestorian Remains 
in the Zflyton (Quanzhou) of Marco Polo' by S. N. C. Lieu: 

PI. 1. The Manichaean shrine (cao'an) at Huabiao Hill in 2003. (Pho- 
tograph taken by Ms. Michelle Wilson, official photographer, Mac- 
quarie University). 

PI. 2. The statue of Mani the Buddha of Light inside the shrine. 
(Photograph taken by Ms. Michelle Wilson, official photographer, 
Macquarie University). 



LIST OF PLATES 



Pis. 1-4 belong to the article ' ymyn "hynd: The Beginning ofMani's Psalm 
Wuzurean Afriwan in Parthian and Middle Persian' by E. Morano: 



i t)' 



PI. 1. M608/R & M895/R (Photo: Fotostelle der Staatsbibliothek zu 
Berlin, PreuBischer Kulturbesitz). 

PI. 2. Ch/So20501/V/ + Ch/U6546/V/ (Photo: Fotostelle der Sta- 
atsbibliothek zu Berlin, PreuBischer Kulturbesitz). 

PI. 3. M379b/R/(right) (Photo: Fotostelle der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, 
PreuBischer Kulturbesitz). 

PI. 4. M379b/V/(left) (Photo: Fotostelle der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, 
PreuBischer Kulturbesitz). 

Pis. 1—4 belong to the article 'A Sogdian Version ofMani's Letter of the Seal' 
by C. Reck: 

PI. 1. 1st bifolio (Photo: Berlin State Library). 

PI. 2. 2nd bifolio (Photo: Berlin State Library). 

PI. 3. 3rd bifolio (Photo: Berlin State Library). 

PI. 4. M 1313-M 1312 (Photo: Berlin State Library). 

Pis. 1—2 belong to the article 'Snatches of the Middle Iranian "Tale of the Five 
Brothers" ' by C. Reck: 

PI. 1. So 18058 + So 18197r (Photo: Berlin State Library). 
PI. 2. So 18058 + So 18197v (Photo: Berlin State Library). 

Pis. 1-9 belong to the article A Manichaean Collection of Letters and a List of 
Mani's Letters in Middle Persian' by W. Sundermann: 

PI. 1. So 15502/v/. 

PI. 2. M 5770 + M 5771 - M 5772 + M 6604/p.l/. 

PI. 3. M 5770 + M 5771 - M 5772 + M 6604/p.2/. 

PI. 4. M 501p - M 882c + M 1402 + M 9152/p.l/. 

PI. 5. M 501p - M 882c + M 1402 + M 9152/p.2/. 

PI. 6. M 6935/p.l/. 

PI. 7. M 6935/p.2/. 

PI. 8. M 6944/p.l/. 

PI. 9. M 6944/p.2/. 



PREFACE 



The contributions contained in this volume represent research presented 
at the Sixth International Congress on Manichaean Studies, held under 
the auspices of the International Association of Manichaean Studies, 
and under the presidency of Prof. Dr. Johannes van Oort. The IAMS 
has organized a number of conferences and symposia over the last 
two decades, including five previous international congresses in Lund, 
Bonn, Rende-Amantea, Berlin, and Naples. At the latter meeting, held 
in 2001, the Executive Board of the association brought forward a 
recommendation that the next international congress be held in North 
America in 2005. The recommendation was enthusiastically endorsed 
by the membership of the association and I, just elected as the first 
North American member of the Executive Board, was given the port- 
folio of congress convener, an assignment I imagine was in mind when 
I was nominated for election. 

For those of us laboring in Manichaean studies in North America, 
this development was received as an acknowledgment of our place 
in the larger field, in which European scholars have unquestionably 
played the predominant role. The roll call of honor of those who have 
preceded us in this area of research includes only one major American 
figure: Abraham Valentine Williams Jackson. Otherwise, Manichaean 
studies in North America is very much an endeavor of the current 
generation. So it was with Jackson's own hand-annotated copy of 
F. C. Baur's Das manichdische Religionssystem close at hand on my shelf 
that I assumed responsibility for organizing the Sixth International 
Conference of Manichaean Studies in Flagstaff, Arizona, on the campus 
of Northern Arizona University. 

My flight back from Naples with this charge was marred by the 
events of September 11th, 2001, which diverted the plane back to 
Europe for several days. Some of the lesser consequences of that trag- 
edy still burdened travel to the United States in 2005, along with the 
inevitable expense of travel much further for European scholars than 
that to which they had been accustomed by the closer venues of prior 
meetings. The result was a somewhat smaller gathering in Flagstaff 
compared to previous congresses; but this only fostered the more inti- 
mate environment of a symposium, enjoyed not only in the relaxed and 



PREFACE 



lengthy exchanges that followed each paper, but also in the handful of 
excursions that punctuated the proceedings. 

It should be mentioned that the founding president of the IAMS, Prof. 
Dr. Kurt Rudolph, was among those in attendance at the meeting. It 
was Prof. Rudolph, visiting Harvard University in the mid- 1 980s when 
I was pursuing a master's degree there, who more than anyone else 
drew me into and encouraged me in the area of Manichaean studies, 
as I have already indicated in dedicating my first book to him and to 
his colleague at Harvard, Richard Frye, Aga Khan Professor of Iranian 
Studies, Emeritus. It was in pursuit of the Iranian side of this subject 
in which Prof. Frye gave me my start that I entered into a world of 
scholarship of which one man was the master, and the rest of us mere 
pupils. I am speaking, of course, of Prof. Dr. Werner Sundermann, who 
brings to his own superlative erudition a profound humility and untir- 
ing nurturance of younger researchers. It has been my great privilege 
over the last decade and a half to experience first-hand the pleasure of 
his insight, his patience, and his friendship, extended without hesita- 
tion to me when I must have presented to many the appearance of a 
brash upstart. It is my conviction that his constant endeavor to bridge 
philological analysis and historical study of religion shows the necessary 
way forward for the caravan of Manichaean studies. As philologists, we 
have not always been attuned to the peculiarities of the religious use 
of language where words are subordinated to the practices in which 
they are employed; and, as historians of religion, we have not always 
permitted texts to defy our expectations or prior assumptions of what 
a religion stands for or takes as important. But we are learning, as I 
think the contributions to this volume show. 

Sitting around a table one afternoon amid the red rocks of Sedona, 
Prof. Sundermann asked me what I would call this volume, noting 
the common theme running through the titles of my previous editorial 
efforts for the Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies series (those 
prior projects co-edited with Prof. Paul Mirecki): Emerging from Darkness 
and The Light and the Darkness. On the spot, an almost too-easy answer 
came to me: New Light on Manichaeism. I thought it an appropriate title 
for a collection of the very latest discoveries and insights into this vital 
and growing field of research, which was what I was hearing at the 
congress sessions, and which is what you hold in your hands. I am 
grateful to Brill Publishers for their willingness to include this volume 
in the NHMS series, and wish to particularly thank Prof. Dr. Johannes 



PREFACE Xlll 

van Oort, series editor of NHMS as well as IAMS President, for his 
meticulous oversight of the project. 

A variety of circumstances prevented the proceedings of the congress 
from being fully represented in this volume. I wish to thank all those 
who participated, in whatever form, in the undertaking. Everyone 
pitched in with the mundane tasks that accompany such a meeting, 
making my work as organizer easier, and more of an excuse for spend- 
ing time with my colleagues beyond the limits of scholarly exchange. 
Most especially I wish to thank my beloved wife, Zsuzsanna Gulacsi, 
for her quiet partnership in this endeavor. 

Jason BeDuhn 

Flagstaff 



A RELIGION OF DEEDS: 
SCEPTICISM IN THE DOCTRINALLY LIBERAL 
MANICHAEISM OF FAUSTUS AND AUGUSTINE 

Jason David BeDuhn 

Flagstaff 



The story from Augustine's Confessions is well known. The young Augus- 
tine, enthralled by Manichaeism but having difficulty with some of its 
apparent contradictions with the science of the time, is told to await 
Faustus, who will solve everything for him. When Faustus finally does 
arrive, Augustine finds that he does not measure up to expectations. 
Despite a sharp mind, a ready rhetorical wit, and an affable nature, he 
simply is not intellectually equipped to mentor Augustine in the techni- 
cal questions that plagued him. Ironically, it is Faustus who turns to 
Augustine for mentoring in literature. Finally disabused by this experi- 
ence from his trust in Manichaeism, Augustine starts down the path 
that will bring him to Catholicism, with Faustus playing an unwitting 
role in helping to bring about his ultimate salvation (Conf. 5.7.13). 

This tidy little tale from book 5 of the Confessions marks a key turning 
point in the plot, and is an important part of what makes the Confes- 
sions a literary classic. But the story is also misleading in a number of 
respects. As is often the case in such situations, the original author is 
only partly to blame. On top of Augustine's own deliberate reworking 
of events for dramatic and ideological effect have been layered readings 
which are less fair to Faustus and Manichaeism than even Augustine 
was, readings which further accentuate the brilliance of the Catholic 
saint at the expense of what are regarded as the empty boasts and 
promises of heretics with really nothing to offer. What is missing from 
these readings is context: the context of Faustus's Manichaeism and 
his attitude towards Augustine's concerns, the context of Augustine's 
own expectations and inclinations, the context of what Faustus actu- 
ally contributed to Augustine in ways Augustine could not always 
recognize or acknowledge, given his position as an embattled Catholic 
bishop. Fortunately, we have at hand the material needed to supply this 
context, both from Augustine's other writings and from Faustus's pen. 



I JASON DAVID BEDUHN 

Re-reading Faustus within this necessary context significantly changes 
how we think of his role in North African Manichaeism and in perma- 
nently shaping the mind of his most famous pupil, Augustine. 



The Manichaean Appeal to Reason 

In the marketplace of competing faiths, and rival interpretations and 
applications of Christianity, 1 North African Manichaeans presented 
themselves as men (and women) of reason, known to Augustine for 
their motto of "Truth, and truth alone!" (Conf. 3.6.10). He tells us 
that, "They urged no one to believe until the truth was fully discussed 
and proved" (Util. cred. 1.2), and that they taught a general scepticism 
of accepting ideas on authority. No one should be forced to assent to 
teaching merely because someone in authority says so. Such an attitude 
greatly appealed to the young Augustine, fresh from reading Cicero's 
Hortensius with its call to the free life of the mind — a call echoed in 
Cicero's sceptical manifesto, Academica. Francois Decret has shown 
how the Manichaeans' rationalist program contextualizes Augustine's 
description of his own qualified commitment to Manichaeism. Augus- 
tine says that he withheld total assent to its teachings while he awaited 
full disclosure of the system. He had taken up Manichaeism because it 
taught by an open-minded, progressive instruction, rather than com- 
mand faith as an all-or-nothing, once-and-for-all commitment prior to 
having the system explained {Beat. vit. 1.4). 2 

If the Manichaean claim to reason had been a completely mislead- 
ing front, Augustine would scarcely have remained with them for more 
than nine years. It seems that quite early in the Manichaean mission in 
the Roman Empire its rhetoric was informed by the sceptical-dogmatic 
debate in Hellenistic philosophy. Manichaean texts from the region 
always employ the term dogmata pejoratively, to refer to the false views 
of other sects and schools. The Manichaeans in this way positioned 
themselves as the proponents of reason in the face of dogmatic author- 
ity, taking up the language, if not the actual positions, of scepticism 
as it was propounded in the literature of the Pyrrhonic and Academic 



1 On Manichaeism as a member of the family of late antique Christianities, see 
Johannes van Oort, "Manichaismus," Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Band V 
(Tubingen, 2002), 732-741. 

2 F. Decret, Aspects du manicheisme dans t'Afrique romaine (Paris, 1970), 33. 



SCEPTICISM IN THE MANICHAEISM OF FAUSTUS AND AUGUSTINE 5 

schools. The latter schools set themselves apart from all other philoso- 
phies where opinions (the original meaning of dogmata) are asserted. Of 
course, Manichaeism is by no means a sceptical system, asserting as it 
does absolute truths, and making direct appeal to the authority of Mani 
and Jesus. Rather, it employed sceptical techniques as a tactic in polem- 
ics, while in establishing the foundations of its own system it used other 
forms of reason alongside of arguments from authority. So we need to 
understand exactly what shape the Manichaean appeal to reason took 
as Augustine encountered and — for a time — appreciated it. 

From texts as far afield as China, we know that Manichaeism every- 
where instructed its missionaries to begin with an argument for dual- 
ism. Without a foundation in the two principles of good and evil, there 
could be no conviction in the other Manichaean teachings, and conse- 
quently no rootedness for the practice of the religion. 3 As materialists, 
the Manichaeans gravitated towards inductive methods of argument 
and reasoning. One reasons to the existence of the two principles from 
observations about oppositions within the material world and ourselves. 
For example, the Manichaean Fortunatus argues that, "Because it is 
a fact that we do sin against our wills . . . for this reason, we seek out a 
knowledge of the reason of things" (C. Fort. 20), leading to a dualistic 
conclusion. 4 

Augustine's later attacks on Manichaean materialism involve an 
assault on such an inductive method of reasoning, which, because it 
works from the observed world up to first principles, is imprisoned 
within materialistic conceptions of reality and inevitably casts the first 
principles it finds in the material mold. He was able to dust off anti- 
materialist criticisms formerly employed against Stoicism, and use 
them to good effect against the similarly-oriented Manichaean world 
view. A critique of inductivism is also involved in his contention that 
Manichaean dualism is a projection onto the cosmos of mere personal 
preference, since the process of proving dualism starts with the reactions 
of the individual to human experience (C. Faust. 32.20). 



3 See Compendium, section 6 (£. Chavannes and Paul Pelliot, "Un traite manicheen 
retrouve en Chine (Deuxieme partie), " Journal Asiatique 1913, 114. 

4 To the degree that we are able to reconstruct it, it appears that Augustine's first 
composition, the De pulchro et apto, follows such an inductive line of inquiry: observa- 
tion, abstraction, contemplation; see Kam-lun Edwin Lee, Augustine, Manichaeism, and 
the Good, Patristic Studies 2 (New York, 1999), 24-25. 



4 JASON DAVID BEDUHN 

Manichaeans themselves recognized the limits of reason. Reason can 
provide the necessary dualistic foundation for belief, they believed, but 
it cannot supply all the revealed details of the faith. Faustus explains 
that some types of knowledge are not discoverable by reason per se. For 
example, "arguments and necessary consequences are not applicable to 
those matters where the question is of the account to be given of Jesus," 
that is, historical rather than metaphysical truth. Reason cannot tell us 
what Jesus could or could not have said or done. Reason only applies to 
such matters in so far as one is assessing the validity of sources — whether 
they are in a good position to know whereof they speak — not what 
they contain. "The answer must be obtained from his own statements, 
or from the statements of his apostles regarding him" (C. Faust. 28.1). 
So the Manichaeans "promise the knowledge of indubitable things," 
which amounts to proven certainty of the core principle of dualism, 
and on the basis of that rational foundation of certainty expect "faith 
in doubtful things" within the fully elaborated Manichaean system 
(C. epist. fund. 14.17). In other words, "You say... that you believe in 
what Manichaeus has not proved, because he has so clearly proved the 
existence of two natures, good and evil, in this world" (C. Faust. 32.20). 
Mani has been established as a reliable authority by his correctness 
about those things accessible to reason and proof. For matters beyond 
such means of proof, one has little choice but to adhere to some such 
authority whose reliability has been established in those areas where 
proofs by observation and experience are possible. 

The term scepticism, therefore, may only be used with qualification 
in connection with Manichaeism generally, or even North African 
Manichaeism specifically. While employing sceptical rhetoric and even 
occasional argument against the dogmata of their opponents, Manichae- 
ans were by no means strict adherents of any sceptical philosophy. Scep- 
ticism was for them not a general epistemological position, despite deep 
reservations about the reliability of the senses. Rather, it was primarily 
a tool to be used against other religions that relied upon authority to 
hold positions that, from the Manichaean point of view, contradicted 
direct observations about the nature of the world. 



Faustus 's Pragmatic Program 

With the historical material on Faustus we have access to a real indi- 
vidual, and we are able to talk for once not about Manichaeans in the 
abstract, but about a particular Manichaean with specificity. He was in 



SCEPTICISM IN THE MANICHAEISM OF FAUSTUS AND AUGUSTINE D 

many respects the embodiment of the rational values that characterized 
the self-presentation of North African Manichaeism. 5 Faustus rejects 
the idea of "believing without the use of judgment and reason," and 
lays claim to "rational blessedness" over the "blind blessedness" of the 
Catholics (C. Faust. 16.8). Claims made in the Bible "must be tested 
to find out whether they are true, sound, and genuine" by the "use of 
reason, which is the prerogative of human nature" (C. Faust. 18.3). 

On the one hand, this test of truth is based in the certain inductive 
truth of dualism. Faustus declares that the authenticity of the record 
of Christ's teaching in the gospels is confirmed by its conformity to 
dualist truth arrived at by reason (C. Faust. 32.7). Manichaeism is set 
apart from all other religions by its recognition of the dualist nature of 
reality, he argues, so objective confirmation of that latter reality identi- 
fies Manichaeism as the only religion rooted in truth. On the other 
hand, the test of truth is for Faustus a practical one, involving assessing 
whether a concept serves to build up an authentically Christian — and 
that means Manichaean — way of life. 

In his Capitula, Faustus sets forth the thesis that religion is defined 
primarily by practice, rather than belief. Commitment to a particular 
religion entails enactment of its precepts and living the life its teachings 
dictate — nothing more and nothing less. To believe is to do. Anything 
else is hypocrisy. The Catholics are hypocrites, he asserts, for laying 
claim to the Old Testament while not even trying to live according to 
its precepts. The Old Testament makes its promises to those who act 
in accordance with its commands (C. Faust. 4.1). By the same principle, 
Faustus lays claim to the legacy of Christ not by believing certain things 
but by acting according to his precepts. 

Do I believe the gospel? You ask me if I believe it, though my obedience 
to its commands shows that I do. I should rather ask you if you believe 
it, since you give no proof of your belief. I have left my father, mother, 
wife, and children, and all else that the gospel requires; and do you 
ask if I believe the gospel? Perhaps you do not know what is called the 
gospel. The gospel is nothing else than the preaching and the precept of 
Christ. I have parted with all gold and silver, and have left off carrying 
money in my purse; content with daily food; without anxiety for tomor- 
row; and without solicitude about how I shall be fed, or wherewithal I 
shall be clothed: and do you ask if I believe the gospel? You see in me 
the blessings of the gospel; and do you ask if I believe the gospel? You 



5 Decret, Aspects, 67. 



b JASON DAVID BEDUHN 

see me poor, meek, a peacemaker, pure in heart, mourning, hungering, 
thirsting, bearing persecutions and enmity for righteousness' sake; and 
do you doubt my belief in the gospel? (C. Faust. 5.1) 

The moral disciplines of the beatitudes constitute the gospel for Faus- 
tus. 6 He is able to demonstrate that Jesus clearly expresses the same 
practice-centered commitment. When asked by John the Baptist if he 
was the Christ, he "properly and justly did not deign to reply that he 
was; but reminded him of the works of which he had already heard." 
Faustus goes on to quote a catena of passages in which Christ praises 
and promises heavenly reward to those who do, act, fulfill, and under- 
take (C. Faust. 5.3). 

Therefore, "belief in the gospel consists solely in obedience to the 
commands of God" (C. Faust. 5.2). Faustus criticizes the Catholic 
emphasis on belief over practice, and particularly belief in certain dog- 
mas, such as the Incarnation, that he regards as entirely unrelated to 
explaining and justifying the way of life Christ teaches (C. Faust. 5.2). 
For the sake of argument, Faustus is willing to admit that the exact 
character of the Incarnation is an open question, and might very well 
turn out to be as the Catholics say it is, but this scarcely justifies focus- 
ing on such a point of belief to the exclusion of actually following the 
commandments of Christ, over which there is no doubt whatsoever. 
Even if belief and practice are complementary parts of religion, those 
who stress practice take the more difficult part than those who merely 
believe while neglecting practice. He criticizes the Catholics for their 
belief that "confessing that Christ was born has more power to save the 
soul than the other parts" of the Christian religious system (C. Faust. 
5.2). Implicit in Faustus's emphasis is the idea that details of doctrine 
are not as important as a system of practice rooted in a plausible general 
account of the nature of things. 

Faustus's attitude fits within a pattern general to Manichaeism. Doc- 
trine is adaptable, practice conservatively maintained. 7 Was Faustus 
acting consciously on his awareness of a specific policy among the Man- 
ichaeans to prioritize practice over doctrine? Where did he learn to take 
this approach to his religion? We know that Faustus expressly declares 
himself a follower of Adda, the pioneer missionary of Manichaeism in 
the Roman west (C. Faust. 1.2). The few fragmentary Manichaean texts 



6 C. Faust. 5.1: Vides in me Christi beatitudines illas, quae euangelium faciunt. 

7 See J. BeDuhn, The Manichaean Body: In Discipline and Ritual (Baltimore, 2000). 



SCEPTICISM IN THE MANICHAEISM OF FAUSTUS AND AUGUSTINE 7 

we have on Adda emphasize his study of the philosophical and religious 
systems of the west, and his work to refute "all dogmas." 8 Adda was 
almost certainly the one who formulated Manichaean terminology in 
the western milieu, including the adoption of sceptical rhetoric. Criti- 
cizing the Bible and challenging Christian dogma would put Faustus 
in continuity with this tradition of Adda, just as African Manichaeism 
was generally. 

But what may be simply a tendency of the Manichaean tradition 
before him becomes for Faustus a self-conscious program. While noting 
the reason-based proof of dualism, he gives most attention to a second 
basis for trust in Mani, namely, the proof from moral outcome. In Con- 
fessions 5.5.9, Augustine recollects that the mode of life lived by Mani 
himself and established by his teachings was put forward as a reason 
to believe in those teachings that Augustine found compelling, despite 
doubts raised by his comparison of them to astronomical literature. 
He was inclined to trust Mani's word, "by reason of the credit given 
to his holiness." Where reason cannot supply a certain answer, the 
moral argument steps in. 9 Preaching to a Christian audience, Faustus 
put this argument in the form of a pragmatic proof of consistency 
between Mani and Christ in their respective precepts of action. Christ 
taught us to lead a certain life; Manichaeans followed that way of life. 
If their implementation of practice was right, the argument went, then 
it followed that their interpretation of doctrine was right. Faustus says, 
for instance, that whether the Manichaeans or the Catholics are right 
about the exact nature of Christ's incarnation, it is the Manichaeans 
who live the Christian life, and that life is unaffected by any shortfall 
on doctrinal points unrelated to practice. So Faustus is even willing 
to question Manichaean dogma, to admit that he cannot be sure of 
some parts of it (e.g., astronomy, incarnation) by reason alone. For 
him, these are matters of indifference, adiaphora besides the essentials 
of Manichaean practice, whose evident morality is proof enough that 
it rests on a sound basis in truth. 

When we return to Augustine's autobiographical narrative in light of 
the context of Faustus' particular attitudes as expressed in his Capitula, 
we find reason to question the traditional reading of Augustine's 



8 See the fragmentary accounts of Adda's activities collected in Werner Sundermann, 
Mitteliranische manichaische Texte kirchengeschichtlichen Inhalts, Berliner Turfantexte 1 1 (Berlin, 
1981), lines 170-187 (text 2.5), 346-358 (text 3.1), 450-480 (text 3.3). 

9 Decret, Aspects, 35-36. 



8 JASON DAVID BEDUHN 

representation of his Manichaean mentor. Augustine found himself, after 
nearly a decade as a Manichaean, struggling with scientific challenges 
to Manichaean cosmology regarding the movements of the stars and 
planets. Augustine tells us not just that Faustus lacked the background 
to address these issues, he adds and emphasizes that Faustus was not 
interested in even trying to address them. He showed no interest at 
all in trying to resolve these questions. They simply were not essential 
to either the basic dualistic premise or the precepts of Manichaeism. 
For Augustine, on the other hand, if any detail of Mani's teaching 
was in error, the whole construct must be called into question. Augus- 
tine hungered for Truth, not a code of ethics or a ritual system. He 
demanded a body of knowledge absolutely certain in its every detail, 
and for that reason capable of being invested with total confidence. 
Faustus, expressing a more sceptical bent, was unconcerned to verify 
every pronouncement of Mani or Adda on the authenticity of a verse 
of scripture, the exact nature of Christ's embodiment, or the causative 
forces of celestial motion. What mattered for him was the overall ethos 
of the religion, its compelling character as a value system, and its plau- 
sibility as a means of salvation. 



Faustus's Adoption of Academic Scepticism 

Faustus went well beyond the general appeal to reason found in Man- 
ichaeism. He adopted the reality of scepticism, not just its rhetoric. He 
reveals to us a public character rooted not just in reason, but in the 
specific outlook of scepticism, questioning all tradition and authority, 
and claiming liberty of conscience free of all dogma. 10 He makes little 
effort in his public tracts to expound Manichaean doctrine beyond its 
dualist foundation and the practical consequences of that foundation 
in the formation of a moral human being. Details of Mani's exposition 
appear less important than its basic thrust, and Faustus even expresses 
an implicit criticism of many of his Manichaean forebears: only Adda 
has a claim to be a respected thinker by Faustus's standards (C. Faust. 
1.2). While we might imagine that the nature of apologetic and polemi- 
cal exchange has shaped how Faustus presents himself in his Capitula, 
Augustine attests a Faustus working in substantially the same terms in 



Decret, Aspects, 69. 



SCEPTICISM IN THE MANICHAEISM OF FAUSTUS AND AUGUSTINE y 

private: disinterested in engaging in discussion of the details of Man- 
ichaean cosmogony and cosmology even with a relatively veteran and 
knowledgeable auditor such as Augustine. Faustus appears to have 
raised the stakes of the Manichaean appeal to reason by combining 
the Manichaean emphasis on practice over belief with a more consis- 
tent application of sceptical principles. Knowing this puts Augustine's 
account of his experiences with Faustus in a wholly new light. 

We are in a position to identify the source of Faustus's connection to 
the sceptical tradition. Augustine tells us that Faustus was familiar with 
the works of Cicero (Conf. 5.6.1 1), and such familiarity shows in Faustus's 
own manner of argument. Academic scepticism pervades Cicero's 
work, and it may even have been through Faustus that Augustine was 
exposed to the specific Ciceronian text on which he depends for the 
exposition of Academic scepticism in his own Contra or De Academicos, n 
namely, Cicero's Academica. Others before me have suggested that in 
making his first non-Manichaean composition a critique of Academic 
scepticism, Augustine must have in some obscure way been addressing 
his Manichaean past. 12 But no consensus has been reached on precisely 
how the two traditions intersect. I propose that Faustus himself is the 
key, the missing link between Manichaeism and scepticism that is hinted 
at throughout Augustine's works. Manichaeism is not a sceptical tradi- 
tion, but Faustus is a sceptical individual, and as an individual had a 
powerful influence on Augustine against which he later reacted. 

The Ciceronian scepticism to which Faustus had been exposed was 
of a particular kind, dependent on the Platonic New Academy of Car- 
neades, Clitomachus, and Philo of Larissa. Of all the varieties of sceptical 
thought in Hellenistic philosophy, only that of the New Academy fol- 
lowed by Cicero was compatible with Faustus's Manichaean emphasis 
on practice. The scepticism of Carneades and Philo of Larissa was 
formulated with reasonably justified action in mind. 13 Indeed, it was 
claimed that the Academic is the only sort of philosopher that does not 
rest in otiose contemplation of dogmatic truth already obtained, but 



11 On Augustine's own uncertainties as to whether his own work was more properly 
de or contra, see Retr. 1.1; Ep. 1 . 

12 I return to these prior discussions below. 

13 Carneades had introduced the idea that action is still justified for the sceptic in 
that he or she is able to determine what is plausible (pithanon, probabile), that is what 
seems to be true (veri simile, apparently a coinage of Cicero). Even though a person 
cannot be sure that it is true, it is sufficiently plausible or truth-like to act upon. 



1 JASON DAVID BEDUHN 

constantly strives for truth. 14 The Academic sage stands in possession of 
"discovered probabilities" that form a body of knowledge on which one 
may act (Alypius in C. Acad. 3.3.5; cf. 2.12.27). The sage acts according 
to what is plausibly so; he does not deny reality but rather certainty 
about reality (Acad. pr. 2.32. 104-105). 15 The Academic sceptic does 
not deny the existence of true reality, but only objects to the claimed 
human capacity to infallibly recognize it (Acad. pr. 2.34. 111). 16 

Just as Faustus subordinates doctrine to practice, so Cicero empha- 
sized that Academic scepticism was practice-centered, that all assessment 
of what may be true was geared towards directing conduct. 17 Cicero, 
following in particular Philo, justifies the ability to assess and progress 
in reasoning inductively by appeal to an innate grasp of things, an 
inner sense of right and wrong that underlies human common sense 
(Tusc. disp. 3.1.2; De finibus 5. 21. 59). 18 Faustus asserts the same sort of 
innate sense as the foundation of reasoning: "In reading the Gospels, 
the clear intention of our heart perceives the errors, and, to avoid all 



14 Cicero, Acad. pr. 2.3.7—8: "For even though many difficulties hinder every branch 
of knowledge, and both the subjects themselves and our faculties of judgment involve 
such a lack of certainty that the most ancient and learned thinkers had good reason 
for distrusting their ability to discover what they desired, nevertheless they did not 

give up, nor yet will we abandon in exhaustion our zeal for research [W]e hold 

many doctrines as probable, which we can easily act upon but can scarcely advance 
as certain." 

15 The key is the ability to proceed with action without meeting a refutation of what 
is deemed plausibly true (Acad. pr. 2.33-34.107-109). 

16 This seems to reflect the development of Philo of Larissa, Cicero's teacher, who 
unlike Carneades did not reject ontological truth and reality, but only our ability to 
directly perceive it. Philo thus keeps the "plausible" from being meaningless, in that 
it does indeed refer to a reality, however masked by the limitations of our knowing 
(whereas Carneades would not concede even this). Philo affirms an objectively existing 
truth which is not subjectively reachable. On the occlusion of the senses, see Acad. pr. 
2.23.73, 2.25.79-81. 

1 ' Cicero, Acad. pr. 2.1 0.32: The Academics "hold that something is plausible [proba- 
bile] and in a way 'truth-like' [veri simile], and that they employ this as a guide [regula] 
both in the conduct of life and in investigation and discussion"; Acad. pr. 2.31 .99: "The 
wise man will therefore employ whatever is apparently plausible if nothing happens 
that is contrary to that plausibility, and his whole plan of life will be governed in this 
fashion." Compare Augustine, C. Acad. 2.7.19-2.8.20. 

18 Cicero suggests that Philo of Larissa believed in an innate instinct to truth, a 
truth impressum in animo atque in mente (Acad. pr. 2.1 1.34). Cicero says that we have the 
"innate seed" of the virtues (Tusc. disp. 3.1.2) as well as "embryonic notions of the lofti- 
est ideas" (De finibus 5.21.59). This justifies trust in our own instincts and in common 
sense. Cicero held that belief in God and in the immortality of the soul were likewise 
inherent in all humankind. On this subject, see Harold Tarrant, "Agreement and the 
Self-Evident in Philo of Larissa," Dionysius 5 (1981): 89-97. 



SCEPTICISM IN THE MANICHAEISM OF FAUSTUS AND AUGUSTINE 1 1 

injustice, we accept whatever is useful ... while we reject the rest" 
(C Faust. 32.2). This innateness is grounded for both Cicero and Faustus 
in a common notion of the soul's divine nature. 19 

Faustus makes use of the three principles of Carneades for determin- 
ing the probable on which to act, as reported by Sextus Empiricus, 
Adv. math. 7.166, and by Cicero, Acad. pr. 2.11.33: (1) the pithanon (per- 
suasive), (2) the non-contradicted, (3) the tested. In his acceptance of 
Mani's core teaching of dualism, he adopts that which is persuasive. 
When he declares both the validity of that dualism and the authenticity 
of the record of Christ's teaching based on their mutual agreement, 
he applies the principle of the non-contradicted (C. Faust. 32.7), as he 
does when he argues that we know the correct interpretation of Jesus' 
sayings when such an interpretation agrees with what Jesus actually 
did in practice (C. Faust. 17.2). In confirming the truth of Mani's ideas 
by their ability to produce or sustain ethical conduct, and the falsity 
of the Jewish Law by the conduct of those who followed it according 
to the testimony of their own scripture, he makes use of the principle 
of practical testing (C. Faust. 12.1). 

Moreover, the Academy offered the only break with the Stoic model 
of action that made room for the Manichaean complication of human 
agency. The almost universally accepted Stoic model maintained that 
human action amounts to an automatic reaction to a perception. Mental 
assent to a "presentation" of the senses triggers an immediate motive 
to act. Sinful conduct can result, therefore, only from misperception 
of that which is "presented" (see Acad. pr. 2.1 1.33). The Academics, on 
the other hand, sought to open up a space between presentations and 
the reactions they trigger, to perform "an almost Herculean labor in 
ridding our minds of that fierce wild beast, the act of assent" {Acad. pr. 
2.11.34) in order to conform conduct to the mind's willful self-deter- 
mination. This nascent concept of the will had been all but forgotten 
until revived by the Manichaeans and introduced through figures such 
as Faustus and Fortunatus to Aueustine. 



19 "Whatever it is that is conscious, that is wise, that lives, that is active must be 
heavenly and divine and for that reason eternal. And indeed God himself, who is 
comprehended by us, can be comprehended in no other way save as a mind unfettered 
and free, severed from all perishable matter, conscious of all and moving all and self- 
endowed with perpetual motion. Of such sort and of the same nature is the human 
mind" (Tusc. disp. 1.27.66). 



1 2 JASON DAVID BEDUHN 

Faustus's apparent concession to Augustine that Mani could be wrong 
about certain cosmological details (Conf. 5.7.12), and his similar demur- 
ral regarding Mani's position on the Incarnation (C. Faust. 5.2-3) 
demonstrates his adherence to the uniquely Academic position that 
the sage (e.g., Mani) can occasionally take erroneous positions due 
to the epistemological limitations of human existence (Cicero, Acad, 
pr. 2.11.36; 2.18.59). Faustus declined to defend Mani's views against 
Augustine's astronomical data, and dismissed questions so remote from 
the pragmatics of the religion as unimportant. In doing so, he appears 
to follow closely the specific argument of Cicero in Academica where, 
by comparing and contrasting the various rival cosmologies of the day, 
he concludes that it is impossible to affirm one over another (Acad. pr. 
2.36.116ft). Cicero says that the sage is not forced to answer all the 
riddles of the universe (Acad. pr. 2.38.119-120). Faustus seems to have 
taken this liberty to heart, particularly in dealing with an auditor such 
as Augustine, whose obsession with cosmology distracted him from 
a zealous commitment to Manichaean morality and ritual practices. 
He likely saw his justification in the distinction Cicero made between 
practical and theoretical questions: 

For if a question be put to him about duty or about a number of other 
matters in which practice has made him an expert, he would not reply 
in the same way as he would if questioned as to whether the number 
of the stars is even or odd, and say that he did not know; 20 for in things 
uncertain there is nothing probable, but in things where there is prob- 
ability the wise man will not be at a loss either what to do or what to 
answer. (Acad. pr. 2.34.110) 

Accordingly, Faustus told Augustine frankly that he did not know the 
answers to his questions about the cosmos; and Augustine makes it 
clear that this was a matter of policy with Faustus, "consistent in this 
approach to all the more difficult and subtle questions" as he puts it 
with noticeable chagrin (Conf. 5.7.12). 

Despite Augustine's own polemical overlay, I would argue that we 
can detect a reminiscence of Faustus's response to Augustine in Confes- 
sions 5.5.8. There Augustine appears to speak in a manner completely 
at odds with both his own overpowering interests in the period he is 



20 Non enim, quern ad modum si quaesitum ex eo sit stellarum numerus par an impar 
sit, item si de officio multisque aliis de rebus in quibus versatus exercitatusque sit, 
nescire se dicat. 



SCEPTICISM IN THE MANICHAEISM OF FAUSTUS AND AUGUSTINE 1 3 

discussing and his persistent views on the harmony of the liberal arts 
and sciences with theology 21 that went so far as identifying astronomy 
as an integral part of philosophy just short of contemplative vision. He 
relates a systematic critique of considering astronomy or any other sci- 
ence as the proper purview of a religious authority, and of regarding 
as at all essential such matters that "are not necessary to the learning 
of goodness and piety." While Augustine would occasionally echo this 
distinction between the pragmatic cultivation of piety and the pursuit 
of knowledge in his subsequent works, it would never again be so pro 
grammatically stated as it is here in the context of recalling Faustus's 
dismissal of his own pursuit of scientific knowledge. 

Faustus's lack of concern with a significant set of Manichaean teach- 
ings resulted in an approach to the religion that can only be called a 
kind of doctrinal liberalism. His attitude towards Augustine made it 
inconsequential whether the latter believed the details of Mani's teach- 
ings on cosmology, and indeed makes it unlikely that he held any com- 
mitted belief in those teachings himself. Bear in mind that this liberal 
attitude found expression in the most private conferences between the 
Manichaean bishop and individual auditors such as Augustine. By pri- 
oritizing the proof of tested outcome, Faustus stood ready to affirm any 
doctrine that produced the desired effect in the character and conduct 
of the individual. His commitment to Manichaeism stemmed entirely 
from his observation that it worked. The more remote a particular 
doctrine was from direct engagement with the moral and ritual ethos 
of the faith, the less essential it was as a matter of commitment. 22 Ulti- 
mately, any number of alternative views could coexist within a single 
community united around its value system. 

Augustine had expected Faustus to reveal or explain everything, to 
open up the concealed truths of Manichaeism. Instead, Faustus had 
taken with Augustine the stance of the Academic, demurring from 
asserting that things were either this or that on points that greatly 
concerned Augustine but Faustus regarded as adiaphora. He sought to 
impress upon Augustine the need to act on the plausible, to practice 
Manichaeism because its entire system held plausibility or likeness to 
truth due to its consistency with the basic dualistic premise arrived at by 



21 See Virgilio Pacioni, "Liberal Arts," Augustine through the Ages: An Encyclopedia, Allan 
Fitzgerald, ed. (Grand Rapids, 1999), 492-494. 

22 Cf. Acad. pr. 2.3.8: Academics "are bound by no compulsion to support all the 
dogmas laid down for us almost as edicts by certain masters." 



14 JASON DAVID BEDUHN 

inductive reasoning from experience, as well as by its ability to success- 
fully motivate spiritually liberating conduct. Immediate engagement in 
practice was coordinated in Faustus's program with the gradual acquisi- 
tion of understanding of Manichaean tenets, as the reformed and puri- 
fied mind grew better able to discern truth from falsehood. In a sense, 
then, one practiced the religion prior to faith in it. A likely reminiscence 
of this program is to be found in Augustine's Util. cred. 1.2: "they said 
we were terrorized by superstition and that we were commanded to 
have faith before rational understanding, but that they urged no one 
to believe until the truth was fully discussed and proved." Here again, 
Cicero seems to provide the immediate background, responding to a 
similar demand to trust in authority as the Manichaeans challenged: 

For as to their assertion that the teacher whom they judge to have been a 
wise man commands their absolute trust, I would agree to this if to make 
that judgement could actually have lain within the power of unlearned 
novices (for to decide who is a wise man seems to be a task that specially 
requires a wise man to undertake it); but granting that it lay within 
their power, it was only possible for them after hearing all the facts and 
ascertaining the views of all the other schools as well, whereas they gave 
their verdict after a single hearing of the case, and enrolled themselves 
under the authority of a single master. (Acad. pr. 2.3.9) 

Faustus no doubt discovered in Cicero a congruence with views the 
former already held in common with other Manichaeans, and in the 
process of mining him for resources came increasingly to adopt Cicero's 
position more fully, while always remaining true to Manichaeism as a 
system of religious practice. 



Augustine's Flirtation with Faustus's Scepticism 

This connection of Faustus and Cicero is quite intriguing. Augustine, 
of course, was deeply enamored of Cicero, and it was in embracing 
the latter's call to move beyond rhetoric to philosophy as a way of life 
(Hortensius) that Augustine came to Manichaeism. Cicero was a key 
point of shared background between Augustine and Faustus. We do not 
know if Cicero was among the readings the two undertook together in 
382-383 CE, but it is a safe bet. It is just possible that the Academica itself 
formed part of this reading, but at least it is apparent that Faustus had 
this text in his background as the subtext of his own position. Augustine 
appears to draw on Academica 1.14.16 and 2.23.74 in praising Faustus's 



SCEPTICISM IN THE MANICHAEISM OF FAUSTUS AND AUGUSTINE 1 5 

modesty and awareness of his own limitations in language evocative of 
the familiar declaration of Socrates that his wisdom lay in knowing that 
he did not know {Conf 5.7.12). What centuries of later readers have 
taken as a polite reference to Faustus's intellectual limitations turns out 
to be a fairly explicit declaration of his philosophical commitments. 23 
They are commitments that Augustine continues to see as virtuous long 
after he has turned his back on Manichaeism itself. 

But this did not happen at once. Despite his best efforts in the Con- 
fessions and elsewhere to suggest that Faustus's refusal to deal with his 
concerns marked a breaking point for him with Manichaeism, we know 
from a century of careful research that he continued to be a practicing 
Manichaean for as much as three more years. He studied with Faustus, 24 
relocated to the Manichaean community in Rome, and himself declares 
that when leaving for Milan had no idea he was saying goodbye forever 
to the Manichaeans there. If anything, Augustine hints at a more active 
participation in the Manichaean community during his Rome sojourn. 
And yet he also claims that his first years in Italy were lived as a sceptic. 
Augustine expressly identifies his "sceptical" period with his time as a 
Manichaean in Rome {Conf. 5.10.19). 2 ' The contradiction is only appar- 
ent. Both allegiances were true. Augustine continued to be a practicing 
Manichaean, while at the same time emulating Faustus's scepticism. 
He considered himself free, as Faustus was, to reserve assent to all that 
Manichaeism taught. Such liberty of conscience while acting on com- 
mitment to a religious practice is precisely the attitude cultivated by 
Faustus in his own self-presentation. But once Augustine's reservations of 
belief had become not a perceived shortcoming but an affirmed way of 
life, Manichaeism no longer held any preferred position for him. From 



23 The emphasis of the praise of Socrates in the New Academy fell precisely on 
the active cultivation of virtue while maintaining sceptical reservations about doctrine: 
"Socrates . . . believed this to have been the reason why Apollo declared him to be the 
wisest of all men, because all wisdom consists solely in not thinking that you know what 
you do not know. He used to say this regularly, and remained firm in this opinion, yet 
nevertheless the whole of his discourses were spent in praising virtue and in exhorting 
mankind to the zealous pursuit of virtue" (Acad. post. 1.4.16). 

24 As stressed by James O'Donnell, Confessions (Oxford, 1992), vol. 2, 303. 

25 In Beat. vit. 1.4 he attempts to separate them as distinct periods: "When I left 
those men once I had investigated them, the Academicians above all held my rudder 
for a long time..." The best one can say about this representation of his actions is 
that Augustine is being true to his own values, since his thinking was already in the 
hands of scepticism even while his practice as a Manichaean continued without any 
deep significance for him. 



1 6 JASON DAVID BEDUHN 

the rhetorical scepticism of general Manichaean polemic, through the 
applied scepticism of Faustus's approach to the faith, Augustine found 
himself coming to the threshold of a universal scepticism that for him 
was paralyzing. This is what he tells us in the Contra Academicos itself, 26 
in his Epistle 1 written at the time, 27 and in other works written over 
the years referring to this period. 28 

Augustine reminds the Manichaean Honoratus of this pitfall of 
Manichaean use of scepticism, that they were better at refuting the 
opinions of others than in articulating and defending their own {Util. 
cred. 1.2). 29 Once trained in sceptical techniques of refutation, nothing 
prevented Augustine from turning them on Manichaeism itself. 30 The 
notion, however, that a turn to scepticism marked for Augustine a 
turn away from Manichaeism is ill-informed. Scepticism did not refute 
Manichaeism for Augustine; it simply relegated it to the same realm 
of doubt shared by all other systems of truth. He expressly reports in 
Confessions 5.14.25 that he could not refute Manichaeism, by sceptical 



2I> He complains that, "up to now I have arrived at no certainty, but have been 
impeded in my search by the arguments and disputes of the Academics. Somehow 
or other they persuaded me of the probability . . . that man cannot find the truth" 
(C. Acad. 2.9.23). 

2/ In this, Augustine's oldest surviving letter, he discusses the Contra Academicos with 
one Hermogenianus. He says that in working through the dialogue he had "broken a 
most hateful bond whereby I was held back from philosophy's breast by a despair for 
truth" (Ep. 1.3). In the context of a seemingly interminable modern debate, it should 
be noted that he speaks of C. Acad, in this letter as his own composition, not as a 
record of an actual discussion. 

28 In Util. cred. 8.20, scepticism is described as a lure and temptation considered 
alongside of other possible intellectual positions in his period of indecision; the same 
period is reviewed in the Conf. as one of doubt while he continued to participate in 
Manichaeism, though troubled by not being able to accept all that it taught. Similarly, 
in Erich. 7.20, written in the 420s, he talks of writing the C. Acad, "at the beginning 
of my conversion to prevent the contrary arguments of those who were voicing their 
objections at the very threshold, as it were, from being an obstacle to us. Unquestion- 
ably there was need to remove the despair of finding truth." In his Retr. 1.1, he says 
that he wrote the work before being baptized in order "by the most cogent reasoning I 
could muster to rid my mind of the arguments of the Academics. . . . These arguments 
were troubling me." Augustine affirms the basic sceptical critique of sensory-based 
apprehensions of reality in C. Acad., while at the same time proposing to move beyond 
that level of reality through direct access to intelligible truth by postulating that such 
was the epistemological intention of Academic scepticism all along. 

29 Cf. Cicero, Acad. post. 1.4.16: "The method of discussion pursued by Socrates in 
almost all his dialogues ... is to affirm nothing himself, but to refute others . . ." 

30 This is how John Mourant ("Augustine and the Academics," Recherches Augustiniennes 
4 [1966]: 67-96) sees the connection of Augustine's composition of C. Acad, to his exit 
from Manichaeism: scepticism is a tool of Manichaeism that dead ends in self-refuta- 
tion, to which a new alternative is required. 



SCEPTICISM IN THE MANICHAEISM OF FAUSTUS AND AUGUSTINE 1 7 

or any other lines of argument available to him prior to his conversion: 
"At this point I directed all my mind's efforts to whether I could by 

some decisive proofs somehow convict the Manichaeans of falsity 

Yet I wasn't able to." 31 Augustine's turn to scepticism, far from being 
an act of opposition to Manichaeism, arose out of his experience as a 
Manichaean, and was indicative of an effort on his part to follow the 
example of his mentor Faustus. 

Faustus's liberal attitude towards points of Manichaean teaching only 
served to reinforce the doubts Augustine already had. Because Augustine 
was a very different sort of person than Faustus, he could not succeed 
in emulating either his mentor's liberal attitude towards doctrine or 
his prioritization of practice. Knowing truth was too important for 
Augustine, pious activity too insignificant for him. In undertaking a 
practical commitment while holding mental reservations about an 
intellectual commitment, Augustine attempted a mode of life to which 
he apparently was unsuited, and room was opened in his thinking to 
ideas that offered a certainty Manichaeism — at least as represented by 
Faustus — failed to provide. We can make sense, then, of Augustine's 
insistence that he was a Manichaean a mere nine years, and his exclu- 
sion from that period of everything that he did as a Manichaean after 
meeting Faustus, by understanding him as a man who valued theory 
over practice, belief over deed, truth over virtue. Augustine could only 
consider himself a Manichaean so long as its proposed truths held some 
conviction for him. The additional time he spent behaving outwardly 
as a Manichaean meant nothing to him without a corresponding belief 
held with utter confidence. He could not be persuaded by Faustus that 
action is everything, that a Manichaean or a follower of Christ is one 
in deed, not thought. 

Thought, the Manichaeans contended, is unstable, invaded by doubt 
and temptation. The Manichaean cultivates virtues and dispositions 
rather than intellectual propositions. The latter provide rationales, but 
the Manichaean ethos is sustained by affect. For Faustus, the reasoned 
truth of dualism takes one as far as necessary to validate the way of life 
revealed by Christ as the needed response to evil. The very idea that 
one's own thoughts could not be trusted, that truth could not be gazed 



31 In C. Acad. Licentius is made to echo Augustine's own situation — as well as the 
proper attitude of an Academic — when he says of the Academic position: "I do not 
know if it is true; however, it is probable. Nor do I see anything else that I might fol- 
low" (C. Acad. 2.7.16). 



1 8 JASON DAVID BEDUHN 

upon in its naked beauty, terrified Augustine, and opened before him 
the gaping abyss of nihilism. From all that he tells us — deliberately and 
by accident — of himself, Augustine was the sort of person who required 
a rock solid foundation of reality and truth to even breathe. 

While Augustine cannot be said to have ceased to be a Manichaean 
when he adopted scepticism, the latter did eventually provide his exit 
from membership in the Manichaean community. Scepticism mediates 
Augustine's transition from a pro forma Manichaeism to an equally pro 
forma Nicene Christianity that he adopted with no greater conviction 
than his abandoned Manichaeism had held for him. 

Considering it more and more and reflecting on it, however, I concluded 
that most philosophers understood much more plausible things about the 
material world and about every nature to which the senses of the flesh 
reach. Accordingly, doubting everything and wavering about everything 
in the fashion of the Academicians, as they are held to do, I resolved that 
the Manichaeans should be abandoned, thinking at that time of doubt 
that I shouldn't remain in this sect since I was already putting some 
philosophers above it. Yet I completely refused to commit the healing 
of my weak soul to these philosophers, since they were without Christ's 
saving name. I therefore decided for the time being to be a catechumen 
in the Catholic church I was entrusted to by my parents, until some 
certainty would shine forth by which I might direct my course" {Corf. 
5.14.25, cf. Util. cred. 8.20). 

When and how, then, did Augustine finally embrace a more certain 
commitment to Nicene Christianity that displaced scepticism from its 
dominant place in his thinking? We supposedly have a dramatic con- 
version scene in the Garden in Milan. This ostensibly culminates in a 
decision to embrace the Catholic Church in its institutional authority 
offering a system of belief and practice — a move that necessarily requires 
a break with a fully sceptical outlook. According to the standard render- 
ing of the story, Augustine retires to Cassiciacum in the aftermath of 
this "conversion" to prepare himself for baptism. Closer examination 
shows this depiction to be in serious error. He reports no such intention 
prior to his Cassiciacum retreat, and enrolls his name for Easter baptism 
only after returning to Milan. He reports in the Contra Academicos that 
even at the beginning of his retirement "here in the country" at Cas- 
siciacum he still found the Academic position rhetorically persuasive 
(C. Acad. 3.15.34). This statement should be compared with what he says 
in his Epistle 1 , where he explains that he wrote the Contra Academicos 
to free himself from a way of thinking that had a hold of him up to 
that time. With clear remarks such as these, any "conversion" that 



SCEPTICISM IN THE MANICHAEISM OF FAUSTUS AND AUGUSTINE 1 9 

may have occurred in the Milanese garden cannot have been a full 
commitment to a new system, but at best an experience of attraction 
to a system, and most likely merely a decision to give full attention to 
considering options of commitment and assent. It is only in weighing 
and working through the validity of a dogmatic form of Platonism that 
appeared to be compatible with the obligations of faith in the Catholic 
Church that Augustine brought himself to the level of commitment we 
usually mean by the term "conversion." 32 



Faustus's Scepticism and Augustine's Contra Academicos 

Scepticism and Manichaeism alike limit reality to the material and 
sensory, and both raise doubts about human capacity to distinguish 
the true from the false in this reality, pointing to the corruption and 
distortion of the senses. Augustine agreed with Faustus that scepticism 
raised proper doubts about knowing via the senses and the material 
world. But he found sceptical critiques harmless against the intel- 
ligible reality of the Platonists. The intelligible is not known through 
the senses or the material, but through revelation or recollection. Our 
certainty in the intelligible is innate, as in the case of mathematics, and 
does not depend on any experience (see Conf. 6.5.7). Augustine had 
come to believe through Cicero that the Academic sceptics were fully 
apprized of this character of their position, and that the only mistake 
came from trying to apply Academic scepticism without taking the 
intelligible into account as the alternative to the discredited realm of 
the senses. Academic scepticism does not apply to all knowledge, but 
only materially-derived knowledge. By opting for this construal of the 
sceptical tradition, Augustine freed himself to embrace the positive 
dogmas of Platonism. 

So it was that, at the beginning of his intellectual sabbatical in the 
autumn of 386, Augustine set out to resolve his epistemological problems 
in the work now known as Contra Academicos, but conceived not so much 
as a refutation as a reconstrual of Academic scepticism. Returning to 
Faustus's own sources — in particular the Academica of Cicero — Augus- 
tine sought to challenge those aspects of the sceptical tradition that 



32 For a detailed examination of this process, see my Augustine's Manichaean Venture: 
Conversion and Apostasy in the Late Fourth Century (Philadelphia, 2009). 



20 JASON DAVID BEDUHN 

threatened to paralyze him in indecision and inaction. In doing so, he 
completely discredits the Academic affirmation of action, and charges 
that scepticism inevitably leads to moral paralysis. Picking up Faustus's 
own favorite proof from testing in action, he imagines a case involv- 
ing two travelers, one of whom trusts no advice, and wanders without 
direction, and another who listens to advice, though without sufficient 
reason to trust it, and finds his way to his destination because of his 
trust. Even if philosophically we object that he had no good reason to 
heed the advice of a stranger, we cannot gainsay the good outcome 
that proved it right (C. Acad. 3.15.34). This argument simply takes up 
Faustus's pragmatic program; all that Augustine adds to that program 
is what he regards as a necessary reconstrual of the attitude required to 
actually test a particular perception or idea: one must commit oneself 
enough to actually try out a proposition, and in his opinion withholding 
assent as scepticism requires precludes such an act of "faith." 

In Contra Academicos, as David Mosher has pointed out, Augustine 
attacks scepticism not on the validity of its epistemology, but on the 
consequences of that epistemology for practice (C. Acad. 3. 15-16). 33 
Augustine thinks there is something wrong — something of a non 
sequiter — in the sceptical claim to act without assent. While agreeing 
with the sceptical contention that the human capacity to know things 
is deeply compromised, Augustine notes that we are forced to act even 
while being unsure of what we think we know that guides that action. 
Academics contend that such action must proceed while withholding 
assent from the probable as fact or truth. Yet to be able to act at all, 
Augustine maintains, one necessarily gives a kind of tentative assent to 
the reality of that to which the action is responding. To claim otherwise 
amounts to a vain attempt to avoid responsibility for one's actions. 
Moral responsibility means being committed to the bases of one's deci- 
sions to act. Therefore one must assent to what lies behind actions in 
order to act, however provisional or incomplete one's knowledge or 
one's assurance of the truth of these bases of action. 

This argument, interestingly enough, is taken directly from Cicero's 
opponent in Academica (Acad. pr. 2.12). In other words, Augustine has 
accepted the critique of Antiochus of Ascalon of the Academic idea of 
action without assent. Mosher sums up Augustine's application of this 
argument as follows: 



" David Mosher, "The Argument of St. Augustine's Contra Academicos" Augustinian 
Studies 12 (1981): 89-113, at 103. 



SCEPTICISM IN THE MANICHAEISM OF FAUSTUS AND AUGUSTINE 2 1 

If it is morally reprehensible to withhold assent to the probable in the 
interest of escaping blame for error and sin, then it is morally obligatory 
to give assent if one is to accept responsibility for one's actions. Hence 
wisdom can be achieved only if one has the moral courage first to believe 
what one is trying to understand. If the skeptics are not willing to take 
this step even in the case of the 'probabilities' . . . then they will never be 
in a position, morally or otherwise, to advance from there to the truths 
which bring genuine virtue and happiness. 34 

Augustine avoids rehearsing the Academic response to this argument 
offered by Cicero. His reading of his source is partial, in both senses 
of that word. In fact, his focus on moral responsibility has very little 
to do with Academic concerns as they were enunciated in his sources. 
Rather, he seems to be redirecting the critique along the lines of one 
of his most often repeated charges about the Manichaeans, namely, 
that their dualist ideology permitted them to be absolved of responsi- 
bility for immoral conduct, provided that the act occurred without the 
person's mental assent, i.e., against the person's will. In other words, 
he conflates Academic and Manichaean positions in his conception 
of the position he wishes to overcome. Augustine's use of the impulse 
to crime as an example of the plausibly true is contrived and prob- 
lematic in the context of Academic scepticism, which asserts only an 
ability to act on the probable, not a necessity to do so. His language 
reveals that the Manichaeans stand behind the curtain, as it were, for 
which the Academics are a convenient front. Augustine objects that 
all sorts of crimes can be excused with the words, "I did not assent, 
and therefore I did not err. How could I not have done what seemed 
probable?" — just as he attributed his own moral failings while a Man- 
ichaean to excusing his sins as acts caused by evil to which he did not 
assent with his soul. 

Using the example of a youth who commits adultery, Augustine 
remarks, "I am completely at a loss to know how that young man 
sinned, if" as the Academic position would have it, "one who does 
what seems probable to him does not sin. The only possible answer 
I find is that they may say that to err and to sin are two entirely dif- 
ferent things, and that, by their principles, they had in mind that we 
should not err, while they considered sinning itself to be of no great 
consequence" (C. Acad. 3.16.35). While at one level serving as a kind 



Mosher, "The Argument," 101. 



22 JASON DAVID BEDUHN 

of ironic joke at the expense of people who count rashness of belief 
as the most serious moral fault, Augustine's remark appears to reflect 
a uniquely Manichaean scenario that differentiates what the mind or 
soul knows and wills from what the person actually does under the 
influence of evil. To consent with the mind to evil is the error for 
which Manichaeism demands repentance. The evil impulse itself and 
the accident, as it were, of acting on it, are of less moral consequence. 
Augustine has found a very clever way to equate the sceptical concern 
with assent to error with the distinctly Manichaean moral emphasis on 
the mind's assent to sin over the mere fact of sinful action. 

For Augustine, practicing the sceptical disavowal of assent makes both 
moral responsibility impossible and religious commitment meaningless. 
One cannot be held accountable for following and practicing a faith to 
which one gives only provisional assent as plausible (C. Acad. 3.16.36). 
Such a qualified commitment cannot yield the personal transformation 
on which spiritual progress depends. In making his argument against the 
Academic sceptics, therefore, Augustine seeks to undercut the attitude 
of Faustus. Faustus, like the sceptics, acts on ideas as if they were true, 
even if he acknowledges that some parts of the Manichaean system are 
abstruse and impossible for him to verify scientifically. Augustine himself 
had lived by this sort of half-commitment to Manichaeism for nearly 
a decade before he met Faustus. Faustus merely provided him with a 
fresh perspective on this doubt that gave it philosophical respectability 
via the Academy. Now Augustine has arrived at the conclusion that 
to act on the basis of knowledge one regards as only probable, with 
mental reservation, is nothing more than a moral ploy, an attempt to 
escape responsibility for one's actions in following the probable. 

In this way, Augustine links his own inability to make progress in 
Manichaeism so long as he had mental reservations about it with his 
own tendency to excuse his conduct by means of the Manichaean 
explanation that we are not directly connected to our wrongful conduct. 
These two problems of the Manichaean Augustine were compounded 
rather than resolved by Faustus's proposition that it is perfectly alright to 
practice Manichaeism without assenting to everything it teaches. Faus- 
tus seemed to affirm Augustine's problematic state as perfectly normal, 
while it agonized Augustine himself. It did not work for him, and in the 
Contra Academicos he undertakes to refute it. Augustine's anti-sceptical 
arguments, therefore, are aimed not against generic Manichaeism, but 
against the Manichaeism of Faustus and of Augustine himself. It is Faus- 
tus as an individual, rather than as a representative of a generic western 



SCEPTICISM IN THE MANICHAEISM OF FAUSTUS AND AUGUSTINE 23 

Manichaeism, that marks the sceptical turn Augustine feels he must 
confront. In doing so, he uses Faustus against Faustus, the pragmatist 
against the sceptic. At all costs, one must act; and if scepticism poses 
an obstacle to action, then it must be sacrificed in favor of faith. 

Throughout his earliest writings, Augustine constantly quotes the line 
from the Latin of Isaiah, "One must believe in order to understand." 
Reason requires a starting-point given by authority. This theme runs 
strongly from Contra Academicos to De magistro. Frederick Van Fleteren 
has proposed that it derives not directly from some still undetermined 
source, but by an inversion of the Manichaean promotion of reason 
as the basis of religious conviction. 

The evidence gathered from the Confessions and the Cassiciacum dialogues 
indicates that the dialectic between authority and reason dates back as 
far as Augustine's Manichaean days. The teaching of the Cassiciacum 
dialogues is a reversal of his Manichaean experience: now Augustine asks 
for the acceptance of authority before an attempt at rational understand- 
ing. Thus, the terms seem to be Manichaean, but the notion a Christian 
one based upon Augustine's notion of conversion to Christianity as an 
acceptance of faith. 35 

Augustine actually affirms sceptical epistemology insofar as it applies 
to its own proper materialist domain. Only the intervention of divine 
authority breaks into this realm of obscurity from outside. Divine rev- 
elation breaks into and resolves the limits of knowledge. This deus ex 
machina resolves what human reason is incapable of solving for itself. 
Assuming even with such sceptics as Philo of Larissa and Cicero that 
there is such a thing as truth, despite the lack of reliable human means 
to ascertain it with certainty, Augustine sees an essential role for faith 
in an authority capable of giving us a truth-project, a plausible claim 
of truth to investigate and pursue. 

Augustine concedes that reason is superior to authority, "higher" in 
his ascending hierarchy of reality (Ord. 2.9.26); but it must be ascended 
to from the fallen condition of humans, which requires moral training 
and a faith commitment that directs reason in its ascent (Ord. 2.8.25). 
He acknowledges at this time that a few may be able to ascend by 
means of reason alone, but seems to place himself among those for 
whom this has not proven possible. In one sense, then, Augustine had 



35 Frederick Van Fleteren, "Authority and Reason, Faith and Understanding in the 
Thought of St. Augustine," AS 4 (1973) 33-71, at 56. 



24 JASON DAVID BEDUHN 

come around to the moral lesson Faustus had tried to impart to him. 
At the time of his disappointment with the Manichaean leader and his 
failure in attempting to follow his program, Augustine could "make no 
progress" in Manichaeism because he saw progress in terms of unfolding 
certain truth rather than unfolding ability of practice that signals that 
one is on the right track. 36 In his earliest post-Manichaean writings he 
still grapples with the chicken-or-egg dilemma of practice vs. doctrine 
and when exactly one can expect to have made sufficient progress in 
virtue to be able to trust one's assessment of truth. 

Francois Decret has argued that what Augustine misunderstood 
about Manichaeism was that the unfolding truth it offered was a gnosis, 
not a science. 37 If Decret is right, then Faustus and his Manichaean 
associates understood Academic scepticism in exactly the same sense as 
Augustine believed Carneades and his successors had — using scepticism 
only to reject all sensory-based knowledge and force the mind to resort 
to the inner truth of the intelligible. Had Augustine been too impatient 
with the Manichaeans to follow through to this revelation of their true 
program? Manichaean texts make clear that this gnosis is understood to 
unfold through practice, through cultivation of virtues that deepen one's 
character and make one more attuned to divine truth. In a sense, then 
Augustine's own theory of moral discipline as mentally purifying, which 
he works out in Cassiciacum, is a belated recognition of how Faustus's 
pragmatic program was supposed to work — a recognition made possible 
by separating this program from its sceptical frame. In Cassiciacum, 
Augustine concludes that practice purifies the mind from the body to 
enable a more perfect knowing. Those who are incapable of grasping 
truth unadorned must be led by "precepts and deeds" — a clear invoca- 
tion of Faustus's prioritization of practice (C. Acad. 3.19.42). 



Faustus's Pragmatic Doctrinal Liberalism and the Confessions 

More than a decade after his reassessment of Academic scepticism in its 
relation to faith and practice in the Contra Academicos, Augustine found 
his way back to both Faustus and the Manichaean leader's criteria of 
truth in his Confessions. In book 5 of the latter work, he casts Faustus 



"' Francois Decret, L'Afrique manicheenne (IV— V slides) . Etude historique et doctrinale 
(Paris, 1978), 256-257. 
57 Decret, L'Afrique, 262fE 



SCEPTICISM IN THE MANICHAEISM OF FAUSTUS AND AUGUSTINE 25 

in the role of unwitting tool of God, presenting Augustine with exactly 
the right challenge at exactly the right time to set him on his course 
towards conversion to Catholicism. He paints a remarkable portrait 
of Faustus as a man endowed with the key virtues celebrated in the 
Confessions: piety, modesty, approachability, and most of all the con- 
fessional attitude of admitting his own deficiencies. He is a man who 
has achieved a sanctity of life, without ambition to progress towards 
higher truths. By Augustine's standards of the time, Faustus should 
rate criticism as one of the less gifted people incapable of advancing 
to philosophy. Yet in the Confessions Augustine does not draw this con- 
clusion. He rather faults Mani for pursuing and claiming knowledge 
of higher things beyond the limits of what is required for piety. In 
this comparison, Faustus emerges the better man; and indeed he is 
depicted as better than Augustine himself, not dissipating his gifts on 
idle cosmological inquiries. Augustine does his best to strip Faustus 
of his explicitly sceptical program, and to characterize his intellectual 
choices as outcomes of a humble self-awareness of ignorance, turning 
Faustus into a model of a confessional soul. The portrait is no doubt 
meant to be ironic and tragic, given Faustus's error, yet its signals of 
respect are unmistakable. 

Augustine proceeds in the Confessions to present the story of his 
own conversion in terms significantly different than those found in his 
writings stemming from the time of the conversion itself. In the works 
dating to 386-387, Catholic moral discipline is embraced as the nec- 
essary means for purifying the mind of its engagement with the body, 
so that a proper perception of intelligible truth may follow. Augustine 
embraces this moral program as an act of faith that Catholic dogmas 
derive from a divine authority and therefore must be true, even if 
Augustine is not yet intellectually fit to understand how they are true. 
They provide the premises that will guide his use of reason in pursuit 
of truth once his mind has been properly disciplined away from the 
lures of the body and the senses. Augustine turns all of this on its head 
in the Confessions. There he portrays himself gradually accumulating 
truths that tell against Manichaeism on his road towards the Catholic 
faith. It is as a culmination of a reasoning process that produces those 
truths, rather than as a precondition of being able to reason towards 
any truth, that he adopts the Catholic moral system. What is behind 
this reversal of the story? 

It would seem that Augustine reconstructs the story of his conver- 
sion in the Confessions in order to make a case that Catholicism fulfills 



26 JASON DAVID BEDUHN 

Faustus's criterion of tested moral outcome. Augustine characterizes 
himself as a morally incompetent man, incapable of freeing himself 
from the body and achieving the ascetic life promoted by Manichaeism. 
The Manichaean religion fails to motivate him to reach his ascetic 
aspirations; only by embracing the Catholic faith does he find the 
inner strength of commitment to forego wife and wealth and fame. 
Therefore, by Faustus's own measure of truth, Catholicism rather 
than Manichaeism proves itself. If the Catholic faith produces moral 
adherents, then its doctrines must be true. 

In a move that Augustine no doubt intended to make his point clear, 
but which has served instead to cloud his intention from subsequent 
readers, he turns in the last books of the Confessions to an assessment 
of alternative cosmogonies, biblical and non-biblical. At one level, he 
simply defends the biblical account of creation against its Manichaean 
critics, as a kind of further confirmation of the truth of the Catholic faith. 
Yet he goes much further than this by surveying the many alternative 
interpretations within the Christian community of the biblical account. In 
the end, he admits that it is impossible to insist upon any one of these 
interpretations as certainly true and, in a truly remarkable set of pas- 
sages, declares that ultimately which one is true does not matter. 

What does it matter to me that various interpretations of those words 
are preferred, so long as they [i.e., the words of scripture] are true? I 
repeat, what does it matter to me if what I think the author thought is 
different from what someone else thinks he thought? . . . Since, then, so 
rich a variety of highly plausible interpretations can be culled from those 
words, consider how foolish it is rashly to assert that Moses intended 
one particular meaning rather than any of the others. {Conf. 12.18.27, 
12.25.35; cf. 12.4.4, 12.20.29) 

One is put in mind of Cicero's presentation of the many reasonable 
but mutually incompatible cosmologies of his day in the Academica. 
Cicero sought in this way to demonstrate that the sage would do better 
than to put his faith in any dogmatic position, and should act instead 
in accordance with those plausible truths supported by the Academic 
criteria. Similarly, Augustine makes a powerful case at the end of the 
Confessions that truth — even biblical truth — is merely a tool for mak- 
ing morally reformed souls capable of ascent to God {Conf. 13.18.23). 
In other words, Augustine repackages Faustus's pragmatically-driven 
doctrinal liberalism as the ultimate thesis of his Confessions. 

In all the many volumes Augustine produced over the subsequent 
thirty years, however, he never again put forward such a position of 



SCEPTICISM IN THE MANICHAEISM OF FAUSTUS AND AUGUSTINE 27 

doctrinal liberalism. This fact forces us to consider the possibility that 
he did not really mean what he said in the Confessions, or at least did 
not mean it to be his standard position on the expectations of Catholic 
faith. Instead, Augustine's unusual liberalism in the Confessions may 
have been part of a strategic appeal to the Manichaeans that seems 
to be a large part of his purpose in writing the work. It possesses a 
pervasive Manichaean sub-text, shaped by Augustine's peculiar and 
problematic position as a former Manichaean who had become the 
principal intellectual voice of the African Catholic church. His position 
of hindsight seems to have permitted him to penetrate and appreciate 
Faustus's pragmatic program as never before, and to have enabled 
him to turn it towards his own apologetic and proselytizing purpose. 
If my hypothesis proves correct, 38 then Augustine's most popular and 
appealing work owes much of its scheme to his deliberate emulation of 
the model Faustus had offered of the approaches and attitudes it takes 
to be an effectively religious human being. 



Conclusion 

Whatever one's assessment of the exact extent of Augustine's later debt 
to Faustus, the unique outlook of the Manichaean bishop has become, 
I think, that much clearer by delineating how his adopted scepticism, 
when applied to certain pre-existing tendencies in the Manichaean tradi- 
tion, yielded a liberal attitude towards doctrine coordinated with a view 
of religion as constituted primarily of deeds organized within a system 
of practice. Seeing religion in these terms placed Faustus comfortably 
within the common understanding of the place of religion in the ancient 
world, and marks him among those resisting the shift towards stress 
on belief in dogmas especially characteristic of the Western intellectual 
tradition. The modern study of religion, arising largely from within a 
cultural context shaped by Augustine's own emphasis on doctrine, has 
tended until recently to see practice as handmaiden to belief. Even if 
Faustus in his withheld certainty over doctrinal questions represents a 
somewhat extreme case among his fellow Manichaeans, he points to 
a general tendency in the latter religion as a whole. His challenge to 



38 For the full argument of this hypothesis, see my Augustine's Manichaean Dilemma: 
Making a Catholic Self in Late 4th Century North Africa (forthcoming). 



28 JASON DAVID BEDUHN 

Augustine reminds us of the need to allow the variety of religions we 
study to de-center the form(s) of Christianity that have come to dominate 
the West from their controlling position in defining the very categories 
and perspectives by which we claim to understand both non-Christian 
religions, and even those ancient varieties of Christianity that defined 
themselves in other terms. 39 



39 Johannes van Oort draws attention to indications that the Manichaean myth, 
on which modern scholarship has lavished such attention, was a subject of second- 
ary interest to practicing Manichaeans, who were more focused on "the microcosmic 
significance of the macrocosmic drama" (Johannes van Oort, "Manichaismus," Die 
Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Band V [Tubingen, 2002], 732—741). 



THE CONVERSATION OF JOHN 

THE ORTHODOX WITH A MANICHAEAN: 

AN ANALYSIS OF ITS SOURCES AND ITS 

SIGNIFICANCE FOR MANICHAEAN STUDIES 

Byard Bennett 
Grand Rapids 



Of the various Greek anti-Manichaean works which are extant from 
the early Byzantine period, The Conversation of John the Orthodox with a 
Manichaean is not only the best preserved, but also demonstrates the most 
comprehensive understanding of Manichaean belief and practice. Since 
very little critical research has been done upon this text, I will limit my 
remarks in this paper to briefly examining what little is known about 
the authorship and dating of this work and then will suggest that the 
ultimate source of the author's knowledge of Manichaean belief and 
practice may have been a summary of the Manichaean cosmogony 
that was also used by Titus of Bostra and Theodoret of Cyrrhus but 
is no longer extant. 1 



The Known Manuscripts and Mai's Editio Princeps 

The Conversation is extant in four manuscripts dating from the tenth to 
the thirteenth centuries: 2 

(a) S = Sinaiticus gr. 513 (383), membr., s. X, ft 143 v — 147 

(b) P = Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, gr. 1111, s. XI, ff 220-225 

(c) B = Athos, Vatopedinus 236 [olim 620], membr., s. XI-XIV, ft 148 v - 
151 v 

(d) V = Vaticanusgr. 1838, membr., s. XIII, S. 267 v -272 



1 I have previously discussed the nature of this source document and its use by Greek 
Christian anti-Manichaean writers in my "Iuxta unum latus erat terra tenebrarum: 
The Division of Primordial Space in Anti-Manichaean Writers' Descriptions of the 
Manichaean Cosmogony" The Light and the Darkness: Studies in Manichaeism and Its World, 
Paul Mirecki and Jason BeDuhn, eds. (Leiden, 2001), 68-78. 

2 A. Mai, Nova Patrum Bibliotheca, v. 4.2 (Rome, 1847), 104-110. 



30 BYARD BENNETT 

The first edition of the text was prepared in 1847 by Cardinal Angelo 
Mai, who based his edition on a single manuscript (V). Mai's edition is 
unsatisfactory in several respects. First, the manuscript he used is not 
only the latest of the four manuscripts but it is also exceedingly difficult 
to read. The manuscript is written in a rather untidy hand, makes exten- 
sive use of compendia (i.e. stylized abbreviations for words or the end- 
ings of words) and has suffered significant water damage (which makes 
the manuscript virtually impossible to read at some points). A further 
problem is the numerous errors made by Mai in transcribing and edit- 
ing the text. The Latin translation prepared by Mai to accompany the 
Greek text offered little help to scholars; while woodenly literal in some 
places, in other places it is rather periphrastic and in some particularly 
difficult passages even seems to float somewhat free of the Greek text. 
These problems, plus the absence of a modern language translation, 
meant that there was very little discussion of the Conversation in scholarly 
literature of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 



The Question of Authorship 



John of Damascus? 



Mai's edition of the text was reprinted in 1 860 byJ.-P. Migne in the Patrologia 
Graeca? Since Mai had assumed that 'John the Orthodox" (mentioned in the 
title of the work in V, S and P) was to be identified with John of Damas- 
cus, Migne reprinted the text as an addendum to the works of John of 
Damascus, without offering any comment upon this attribution. 4 

Assuming Mai's attribution of the Conversation to John of Damascus to 
be correct, Martin Jugie argued that the Conversation should be regarded 
as the initial sketch from which John subsequently developed his longer 
work against the Manichaeans (the Dialogus contra Manichaeos; PG 94, 



5 J.-P. Migne, Sancti Patris Nostri Joannis Damasceni . . . Opera Omnia, v. 3 (Paris, 1860) — 
PG 96, 1320-1336. 

1 Cf. Mai, 104 n. 1: Intelligo Iohannem Damascenum. Attamen hie noster dialogus 
plane diversus est ab eo qui extat contra Manichaeos sub illius nomine in Opp. T. I. 
p. 429 seq. The question of whether the work should be ascribed to John of Damascus 
is left undecided by Joseph Langen (Johannes von Damaskus. Eine patristische Monographic 
[Gotha, 1879], 264), H. Beck (Vorsehung und Vorherbestimmung in der theologischen Literatur 
der Byzantiner, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 114 [Rome, 1937], 16), and H.-G. Beck 
(Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinischen Reich, 2 ed. [Munich, 1959], 478). 



CONVERSATION OF JOHN THE ORTHODOX WITH A MANIGHAEAN 3 1 

1505-1 584). 5 This view was rejected by Konstantinos Dyobouniotes, 
who argued against the attribution of the Conversation to John of Damas- 
cus, noting certain differences between the views expressed in the Con- 
versation and those found in the authentic works of John of Damascus. 6 
The attribution of the Conversation to John of Damascus was similarly 
rejected by J. M. Hoeck. 7 

John the Grammarian of Caesarea? 

More recently, Marcel Richard has argued that John the Orthodox 
should be identified not with John of Damascus, but rather with the 
early sixth century neo-Chalcedonian writer John the Grammarian of 
Caesarea. Richard therefore invited Michel Aubineau to prepare a new 
edition of the Conversation and included this within his edition of the 
works of John of Caesarea. 8 Richard's attribution of the Conversation to 



5 M. Jugie, 'Jean Damascene (Saint), Ecrits," Dictionnaire de theologie catholique, A. Vacant, 
E. Mangenot, and E. Ammann, eds. (Paris, 1924), Vol. 8, col. 700: "Contre les manicheens, 
il nous reste de Jean deux dialogues. Le premier, tres court, est sans doute une premiere 
ebauche du second, qui est beaucoup plus developpe . . . [le premier] ne contient rien 
qui ne se retrouve dans le second..." For a convincing refutation of Jugie 's theory, 
see Beck, Vorsehung, 17. Jugie's theory may be dependent upon the earlier judgment 
by Otto Bardenhewer (Patrologie, 3 ed. [Freiburg im Breisgau, 1910], 506) that both 
dialogues were authentic works of John of Damascus and had essentially the same 
content, though the Conversation was shorter ("Wesentlich gleichen Inhalts, aber viel 
kleiner an Umfang"). Bardenhewer's judgment was similarly reproduced in Dionys 
Stiefenhofer, Des heiligen Johannes von Damaskus Genaue Darkgung des orthodoxen Glaubens 
(Munich, 1923), LXIII. 

6 K. Dyobouniotes, 'Icodvvr|(; 6 Aa|xao"Kr|v6<; (Athens, 1903), 51-52. 1. Rochow ("Zum 
Fortleben des Manichaismus im Byzantinischen Reich nach Justinian I," Byzantinoslavica 
40 [1979]: 19) takes a somewhat similar position, but is willing to assign the Conversa- 
tion to the first half of the eighth century in spite of the uncertainty of its attribution 
to John of Damascus. 

' J. M. Hoeck, "Stand und Aufgaben der Damaskenos-Forschung," Orientalia Christiana 
Periodica 17 (1951): 23 n. 4: "Da er weder in der Vatikan. Handschrift, aus der A. Mai ihn 
zuerst herausgegeben hat (Vat. gr. 1838), noch in den beiden anderen mir bekannt 
gewordenen (Sinait. gr. 383 [Gardthausen] n. 10 und Paris, gr. 1111 f. 220 r — 225) aus- 
drucklich dem Johannes Damaskenos zugeschrieben wird, sondern nur einem Johannes 
Orthodoxos, besteht eigentlich kein genugender Anlass ihn mit Mai dem Johannes 
Damaskenos zuzuweisen." 

8 Marcel Richard, Iohannis Caesariensis Presbyteri et Grammatici Opera Quae Supersunt, Corpus 
Christianorum Series Graeca 1 (Turnhout, 1977). Aubineau was initially assisted by H.-C. 
Puech in preparing a critical edition of the text; see the latter's "La discussion de 
Jean l'Orthodoxe avec un manicheen: etablissement du texte et commentaire en vue 
d'une edition," Annuaire de I'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. V Section-Sciences religieuses 
1964-1965, 104-105. 



32 BYARD BENNETT 

John of Caesarea, however, does not seem to have convinced Aubineau 
or many of the reviewers of Richard's work. 9 

Wolfgang Wassilios Klein has recently tried to develop further argu- 
ments in support of Richard's attribution of the Conversation to John of 
Caesarea. 10 Although Klein's arguments are sufficiently complex that 
I cannot discuss them here, I believe that his arguments are ultimately 
unsuccessful, since they depend upon assumptions that are undefended 
and may not be valid. 11 



Maximus the Confessor? 

The fifteenth-century Byzantine theologian Gennadios Scholarios refers 
to a work purporting to report a conversation between an orthodox 
Christian and a Manichaean and appears to attribute the work in ques- 
tion to Maximus the Confessor. It might therefore be asked whether 
Maximus is the author of the anti-Manichaean work under consider- 
ation in this essay. Gennadios' reference to this work occurs in a chain 
of quotations from patristic authors, which Gennadios advances in 
support of his position on the procession of the Holy Spirit: 



9 Cf. Aubineau's remarks (in Richard, 116) regarding Richard's attribution of the 
work to John of Caesarea: "Le plaidoyer de M. Richard (pp. XLV— LTV), extremement 
habile puisque meme les disparites entre les textes sont invoquees comme des signes 
de complementarite dans l'oeuvre d'un meme auteur, ce plaidoyer n'est pas depourvu 
de vraisemblance. Nous preferons toutefois lui en laisser la responsabilite." Among 
the reviewers of Richard's book who advise caution or express skepticism concerning 
Richard's attribution of the Conversation and other anti-Manichaean works to John 
of Caesarea, see J. Darrouzes in Revue des etudes byzantines 36 (1978): 276; M. Simonetti 
in Rivista di storia e letteratura religiosa 14:3 (1978): 438; and A. de Halleux in Museon 
90:3—4 (1977): 461-462. In a longer and more systematic review, Halleux has raised 
some important questions about the historical foundations of Richard's reconstruction 
of the life and works of John of Caesarea; see Halleux, "Le 'synode neochalcedonien' 
d'Alexandrette (ca. 515) et l'Apologie pour Chalcedoine de Jean le Grammarien: A 
propos d'une edition recente," Revue d'histoire ecclesiastique 72 (1977): 593-600. 

"' Wolfgang Wassilios Klein, "Der Autor der Joannis Orthodoxi Disputatio cum 
Manichaeo," Oriens Christianus 74 (1990): 234—244; idem, Die Argumentation in den griechisch- 
christlichen Antimanichaica (Wiesbaden, 1991), 27-28. 

1 ' In particular, I doubt that the two anti-Manichaean homilies transmitted with the 
Conversation in cod. Vatopedinus 236 can be attributed to the author of the Conversa- 
tion without further evidence and argument. I have also elsewhere cast doubt upon the 
historicity of the debate described in the Disputation of Paul the Persian with Photinus 
the Manichaean (PG 88, 529—552); see my "Paul the Persian" in the supplement to 
the Encyclopaedia Iranica (forthcoming). 



CONVERSATION OF JOHN THE ORTHODOX WITH A MANIGHAEAN 33 

6 cruxcx; ev tf\ 'Op9o86^o\) Kai Mavtxaiot) 8iaXe^ei: "To 8e nvei3|aa £K 
xr\q vnoaxaaeaq eK7iopev)etai ton noap6<;." 12 

The same [sc. Maximus the Confessor] in the conversation of an Ortho- 
dox and a Manichaean: "The Spirit proceeds from the hypostasis of the 
Father." 

The quotation given here does not come from the anti-Manichaean 
work under consideration in this essay but rather from one of the 
ps.-Athanasian Dialogues on the Holy Trinity. u Gennadios or his source 
evidently misread the abbreviation used in the dialogue to identify 
the heretical opponent MAK. as MAN., "Manichaean," rather than 
MAK., "Macedonian." 14 



A Preliminary Conclusion Regarding the Date of the Text: 
The Ninth Century as a Terminus Ante Quern 

Although the author of the Conversation cannot presently be identified 
with a known historical individual, the assumption in the secondary 
literature that the Conversation dates from the sixth to the eighth century 
is certainly reasonable. There is no evidence in the text to suggest that 
the Conversation was written after the rise to prominence of the Pauli- 
cian movement in the ninth century or that it was written specifically 
to address the Paulicians, the Bogomils or any later dualist movement. 
Neither the leaders nor any of the beliefs and practices peculiar to 
the Paulician movement (such as the rejection of the Eucharist and 
image worship) are mentioned in the text; instead the author of the 
Conversation attributes to his opponents certain practices (such as the 
veneration of the sun) that were peculiar to the Manichaeans and not 



12 Gennadios Scholarios, Tractatus de processu Spiritus Sancti II, part 4 (M. Jugie, 
L. Petit, and X. A. Siderides, Oeuures completes de Georges (Gennadios) Scholarios, Vol. 2 [Paris, 
1929], 445, line 1); III (Vol. 3 [1930], 490, line 25). 

13 Aubineau (in Richard, 113) identifies the source as PG 28, 1208D (De sancta 
trinitate dial. Ill), although the summary heading for ps.-Didymus' De trinitate II.6.17 
(PG 39, 444B 1 2 — 1 3), a work known to be dependent upon the ps.-Athanasian Dialogues, 
also provides a close verbal parallel. 

11 It should also be noted that Gennadios elsewhere attributes this theological opinion 
to Gregory of Nyssa rather than Maximus; see Responsio ad syllogismos Marci Ephesi 
de processu Spiritus Sancti, response 8a (Jugie, Petit, and Siderides, Vol. 3, 503, line 
30), and compare response 8b (504, line 33). 



34 BYARD BENNETT 

found among the Paulicians and other later dualist movements. 15 In 
conclusion, although a more definite terminus a quo for the production 
of the Conversation cannot presently be established, it is reasonable to 
assume that the dialogue was written at some time prior to the ninth 
century. 



The Source of the Author's Knowledge of Manichaeism 

When the information given in the Conversation concerning the Man- 
ichaean cosmogony is analyzed and compared with other Greek Chris- 
tian anti-Manichaean works, the closest verbal parallels are with Book 
I of Titus of Bostra's Contra Manichaeos (written between 363 and 377)."' 
There are also some secondary parallels with the notice on Mani in 
Theodoret of Cyrrhus' Haereticarumfabularum compendium (written in 452 
or 453). 17 In what follows I will examine five features of the Manichaean 
cosmogony which are discussed in the Conversation; in each case, I will 
then compare selected passages from Titus of Bostra and Theodoret 
which present similar information, showing that all three of these works 
are ultimately dependent upon a common source. 18 

The Description of the Two First Principles in Their Original State 

Conversation 58: 19 

"But since you say that there are two first principles, God and 
Matter, and God is good but Matter is evil, and you dare to dis- 
tinguish a place that is separate and peculiar to each nature . . ." 



13 See Beck (Vorsehung, 15—16), rejecting an earlier suggestion by Langen (149) that the 
dialogue form might be connected with the refutation of the Paulician movement. 

16 On the dating of Titus' Contra Manichaeos, see 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), 126-127. 

" Regarding the date of Theodoret's Haereticarum fabularum compendium, see 
Glenn Melvin Cope, "An Analysis of the Heresiological Method of Theodoret of 
Cyrus in the Haereticarum fabularum compendium," Ph.D. diss., Catholic University 
of America, 1990, 53. 

18 Titus' Contra Manichaeos will be cited according to the page and line numbers 
in P. A. de Lagarde, Titi Bostreni quae ex opere contra Manichaeos edito in codice Hamburgensi 
servata sunt graece (Berlin, 1859; repr. Osnabriick, 1967). 

19 Richard, 125, lines 245-247. 



CONVERSATION OF JOHN THE ORTHODOX WITH A MANICHAEAN 35 

'AAA,' e7iei8r| Sv>o apxac, etvai oaxe, 9e6v Kai vA,r|v, Kai x6v |iev 9e6v 
dya96v, xt|v Se x>Xy\v rcovripdv, Kai eKaaxr| (p-uoei Ke%copionevov Kai 
iSid^ovxa xoeov doopi^ew xoA,|a,axe. . . 

• Compare Titus of Bostra 1.5— 7: 20 

"...two contrary first principles of existing things ... Accord- 
ingly, that madman (i.e. Mani) himself, writing things hard to 
bear, in any case begins, 'There was God and Matter, Light 
and Darkness, good and evil, in all things utterly contrary, so 
that the one has nothing in common with the other, both being 
unoriginate and living.' Then either one will indeed divide these 
from one another or, since they are friendly with one another, it 
will be evident that they are indeed in no way contraries. But it 
is clear that he [the writer = Mani] too says that these are apart 
from one another." 

. . . Sv>o evavxiat; dpxdq xcov ovxcov . . . Tpdocov xoivuv eKewoq avxbc, 
6 xaA,£7xcoxaxa navelc; apxexai navxaxov- f]v 9e6<; Kai vXy\, ocoq 
Kai OKoxoq, dya96v Kai KaKov, ev xoiq 7xaow aKpcoq evavxia cbq 
Kaxd rrr|Sev e7UKoivcoveiv 9dxepov 9axepq>, dyevnxd xe Kai ^covxa 
dn9co. Oukow r\ %a>piaei ye xavxa an' aXXr\X«>v r\ avv aXXr\Xoic, 
ovxa oiA,a Kai ovSancoc; evavxia ©avnaexai. 'AAA,d SfjAov oxi 
%coplc; an' dA,A,r|A,cov Kai avxbc, xatna eivai oriaiv. 

° Compare Theodoret 377B 2-5, 9-10: 

"He [sc. Mani] said there are two unoriginate and eternal [beings] , 
God and Matter and called God Light and Matter Darkness, 
and Light is good but Darkness is evil... He said God stands 
aloof from Matter . . ." 

(Knot; 8vo dyevvr|xoi)(; Kai diSioix; eoriaev eivai, 9eov Kai vA,r|v, 
Kai 7xpoor|y6pe\)oe xov |iev 9e6v ocoq, xf|V Se vXy\v OKoxot;- Kai xo 
|xev (pcoq dya96v, xo Se axoxoq KaKov . . . 'A(peaxr|Kevai xfjq vXy\c, 
eo^ae xov 9eov . . . 



Lagarde, 4, lines 13, 14-21. 



36 BYARD BENNETT 

Commentary: 

• Here 

° the two first principles are introduced; 

° they are defined as "God and Matter" and as being good and 

evil respectively; 
° their separation from one another is emphasized. 

• Titus offers slightly better verbal parallels than Theodoret: 

° Titus uses the term "first principles" (dp/cxi), whereas Theodoret 

does not. 
° The notion of separation is expressed in the Conversation by 

K£%cQpia|aivov and in Titus by %copi<; plus the genitive, whereas 

Theodoret uses c«p£axr|K£vcxi. 

• The material common to the three writers is said by Titus to come from a 
Manichaean work, from which he quotes. 

The Primordial Division of Space into Four Quarters, with Evil Inhabiting the 
Southern Realm 

Conversation 9: 21 

"I know, having heard many times from the Manichaeans, that Matter 
and God are separated in their own places and that the southern 
part belongs to Matter but the northern and eastern and western 

parts are allotted to the good God." 

AvripfjaOcxi xr|v \tXr\v Kcxi x6v 9eov iSioic; xotcok; oiSoc, noXkavnc, dicr|KOK>q 
rccxpa xcov Mocvixodcov, icai &>q to |xev voxiov xfj x>Xr\, x6 Se popeiov kocI 
avocxoAaicov icai Simicov 7ipooveuexai xcp dyaBcp 9ek>. 

• Compare Titus of Bostra I. II: 22 

"Again, by assigning the southern part to evil, they describe it as 
if it were a dream of creation. For where was the South before 
there was a south? And one region of the creation would not be 
more dishonorable than another. For what is on the left hand for 
the one looking toward the west is again found to be on the right 
hand for the one looking toward the east." 



21 Richard, 118, lines 35-38. 

22 Lagarde, p. 6, lines 3—8. 



CONVERSATION OF JOHN THE ORTHODOX WITH A MANICHAEAN 3 7 

AtjBic; to |aeorm(3piv6v nepoq xf\ kcxkio; SiSovxec; ac, ovap xr\q 
Srpun)py{occ; Siaypdooviai. Tlov yap fiv neariuppia 7xp6 nearnjBpvac;; 
Axinoxepoq 8e xonoc, aXXoc, aAAoi) xr\q Sr|ruoi)py{a<; o\)k av yevoko. 
To yap £\)covi>nov opcovxi npbc, Svioiv Se^iov a\)9ic; evpioKexai npbc, 
avaxoXaq ISovxi. 

° Compare Theodoret 377B1 1-13: 
"... and God occupied the northern and the eastern and the 
western parts, but Matter occupied the southern ones." 

. . . Kai oxeTv xov |iev 9eov xa xe apicxcpa |iepr| Kal xa ecoa Kal 
xa eo7xepia, xr|v Se vXr\v xa voxia. 

Commentary: 

• Here 

° primordial space is divided into four quarters; 

° the southern portion belongs to Matter/Evil; 

° the other quarters are allotted to God/the Good. 

• Since the terminology used to indicate the cardinal directions in 
Greek fluctuates, it is hard to say whether Titus or Theodoret 
offers the closest verbal parallels. 

• It is remarkable, however, that all three anti-Manichaean writers 
are aware of this doctrine, which Augustine indicates was known 
only to a few of the Manichaean Elect. 23 

• It is interesting to note that Titus does not clearly attribute the 
northern, eastern and western quarters to the good God, so Titus 
cannot be the sufficient source for what the writer of the Conversation knew 
about the Manichaean cosmogony. 

• Again both the Conversation and Titus claim to have received their knowledge 
of this doctrine from a Manichaean source (in Titus' case, apparently the 
Manichaean book from which he quotes throughout Book I). 



" a Augustine Contra epistulam fundamenti 25 ( J. Zycha, Sancti Aureli Augustini . . . Opera, 
CSEL 25 [Vienna, 1891], 224, lines 23-27). 



38 BYARD BENNETT 

The Origin of Corruption within the Terrestrial Realm — This Corruption Seen 
as Evil and Linked to the Disorderly Motion of Matter 

Conversation 28: 24 

Manichaean: "Where then do evils come from?" 

MAN. Il69ev ow xa kcxkcx; 

Conversation 20: 25 

Manichaean: "Where then do sicknesses and deaths and evils such as 
these come from?" 

MAN. n69ev ow voooi kcxI 9dvcxxoi kcxi xoiorikcx Koucd; 

Conversation 2: 2fa 

Manichaean: ". . . since Matter was moving in a disorderly- 
manner . . ." 

MAN ccc(xktco<; KWot>|i£vr|<; xf\q \>Xf\q , , , 

• Compare Titus of Bostra I.16; 27 I.17; 28 I.18; 29 1.20: 30 

"Nevertheless, whenever those originating from the mad one (i.e., 
Mani) hear such words, they raise a question, 'Where then,' they 
say, 'do evils come from?' 'And where,' they say, 'does the 
disorder seen in things come from?' . . . For there once was a time, 
he says, when Matter was disorderly. . .For, he says, 'Matter 
once was disorderly' . . . But they [sc. the warring beings native 
to the realm of Matter], he says, were disorderly..." 

"Oxcxv |ievxoi xoiovxcov dKovcooi A-oycov oi ek xov (icxvevxoq 
6pnco|j.evoi, a7xopo'6vx£(; IloOev ovv ((pad) xa kockcx; rioBev Se 
(Aiycuaw) f) ev xoiq npayixaaiv em>oavonevr| dxa^ia; . . . 7 Hv yap 
7xoxe (tpriovv) oxe f) x>Xy\ fixaKxei. .. 'HxaKxei yap, (prioiv, f) \>Xy\ 
7xoxe ... '0 8e, fixaKxow, (ptioi . . . 



Richard, 121, line 140. 
Richard, 120, line 103. 
Richard, 117, lines 9-10. 
Lagarde, 9, lines 1—4. 
Lagarde, 9, line 13. 
Lagarde, 10, line 31. 
Lagarde, 12, line 14. 



CONVERSATION OF JOHN THE ORTHODOX WITH A MANICHAEAN 39 

• Compare also Titus of Bostra I. 29, 31 where the same argument 
seems to be in view. 

° No parallel in Theodoret 

Commentary: 

• Here 

° the Manichaean interlocutor(s) argue that corruption and physi- 
cal evils arise from Matter's disorderly motion. 

• The verbal parallels between the Conversation and Titus are close, 
but not to the point that direct dependence would necessarily be 
required. 

• There is no parallel passage in Theodoret, so Theodoret cannot be the sufficient 
source for what the writer of the Conversation knew about Manic haeism. 

• Titus again treats this question as coming from a Manichaean source and as 
supported by a quotation from a Manichaean writer. 

• The argument described appears to have an apologetic character, showing 
the appeal of Manichaean thought to those who wish to further 
understand the nature and origin of the evils one observes in the 
world. 

The Assault of the Darkness on the Realm of Light 

Conversation 58: 32 

". . . Matter, having beheld the light of God, came to love it and rushed 
toward the light." 

. . . 0ecopr|oaoa f] \>Xy\ xb (pax; xov Oeo'B eiq epcoxa r|A,9e, koci copur|oe 
npbc, xb (pro;. 

• Compare Titus of Bostra 1.2 1: 33 

""Therefore,' the book in their hands says in the same passage, 
'when, being at discord with one another, they had come to the 
top and even unto the borders and seen the light, a sight most 
beautiful and comely, then, inspired by the motion in them, 



Lagarde, 19, lines 10-15. 

Richard, 125, lines 248-249. 

Lagarde, 12, lines 22-26, 37-38; 13, line 2. 



40 BYARD BENNETT 

they took counsel against the light' . . . And if they desired . . . the 
light . . . (since indeed the author who describes the doctrines of the 
mad one [i.e., Mani] says, 'desiring')..." 

"Oxe toivuv (a\)xfj Aii;ei (pr|o{v f] rcocp' axnoiq (3i(3A,oq) npbq 
dA,A,r|A,ov>c; axacnd^ovxe; e7te7x6A,aaav Kai [izxpi xrov |ie9op{rov, 
Kai xo (pax; eiSov, 0ea|ad xi KaAAiaxov Kai e\)7xpe7xeaxaxov, 
xoxe vnb xfjq ev avxdiq Kivr|aeroq evBoiiairovxe; Kaxd xov (proxoq 
epoi)A,ev>aavxo . . . el Se e7te9v>ur|aav . . . xov (proxo; . . . ((be, ye 6 xd xov 
liavevxo; ai)yypd(prov (pr|aiv "e7xi9v>uo'i>vxe;") . . . 

• Compare also Titus of Bostra I. 23: 34 

"But the invention of [i.e. the myth invented by] the barbarian [sc. 
Mani] is full of destruction; for he says not only, 'Matter saw,' but 
also 'It [sc. Matter] resolved to set upon it [sc. the Light].'" 

'AAAd 7xA,fjpec; 6A,e9pov> [xov] pappdpoi) xo nXaa^ia- cpr|oi ydp ov 
liovov EiSev f] vXi\, dA,Ad Kai 'E7xipfjvai epovXevexo . . . 

• Compare also Titus of Bostra 1. 17: 35 

"And when, having ascended further, it [sc. Matter] saw both the 
land and the light of the Good, it [sc. Matter] endeavored to set 
upon what was not its own." 

'tie, Se ejci 7tA,eov dvax9eiaa eiSe xf|V ynv xe Kai xo (pro; xov dyaGov, 
empfjvai xoT; |if| iSiotq e7ti%eipei. 

° Compare Theodoret 377B15-C9: 

"Being engaged in war, with some pursuing and others being 
pursued, they came to the boundaries of the Light, then, having 
beheld the Light, they delighted in it and marveled and wished 
with all their force to advance against it, and seize it, and mix 
it with their own darkness. Accordingly, as the incoherent and 
nonsensical and foolish myth said, Matter with the demons and 
the phantoms and the fire and the water rushed against the 
Light which had appeared." 

Tov Se noXziiov cruaxdvxo;, Kai xrov |iev SiroKovxrov, xrov Se 
SiroKouivrov, ue%pi xrov oprov xov (proxo; amov; d(piKeo9ai, eixa 
xo (pro; Beaaaiaivoi);, fiaBfjvai xe etc 'avxro, Kai 9ai)udaai, Kai 



35 



Lagarde, 14, lines 24-26. 
Lagarde, 9, lines 16—17. 



CONVERSATION OF JOHN THE ORTHODOX WITH A MANICHAEAN 41 

|3oi)A,r|9fjvcxi TCCXGcroSei koct' amov axpaxzvaai, Kal apnaaca, 
Kal Kepdaai xcp (pcoxl to i'Siov aKoxoq. "Qpuriaev o\)V, &>q 6 
dcroaxaxoq, Kal oArivaooc;, Kal dvor|xoq eoriae m_{)9o<;, f) \>Xy\ 
|iexd xcov Saiiaovcov, Kal xcov eiScbXcov, Kal xov nvpbq, Kal xox> 
vSaxoq, Kaxd xov cpavevxoq ocoxoq. 

Commentary: 

• Here 

° seeing the light, Matter desires it and proceeds against it. 

• Due to a fluctuation in terminology, it is hard to say whether Titus 
or Theodoret offers the closest verbal parallels. 

• The common material is that which is included in Titus' quotation from his 
Manichaean source. The use of a common source might also explain 
why the word oSpuriae appears in both the Conversation and Theo- 
doret (who refers explicitly here to an account of the Manichaean 
myth). 

The Light's Initial Defense and the Seizure of Light by Matter 

Conversation 58: 36 

"Having seen Matter prepared for war, the good God, having cut off a 
part of his own substance, threw it to Matter and the latter, seizing 
it, begot all the bodies . . ." 

"Hv iScbv 6 dya96c; 9e6<; npbc, 7t6A,euov 7xapaoKe\)a^o|ievr|v xr\q oiKeiac; 
ovaiac, uepoq drcoxenrov eve(3aA,e xav>xr|, f) Se A.apo'Baa eyevvnoe rcdvxa 
xd acoLiaxa . . . 

Conversation 2: 3/ 

Manichaean: "...having taken a certain portion of his own 

power, sent it to Matter, wishing to entice it [sc. Matter] with a 
bait. But Matter, having seized it, swallowed it. And so from the 
blending of both, composite things have come into existence." 



Richard, 125, lines 249-252. 
Richard, 117, lines 10-12. 



42 BYARD BENNETT 

MAN Juxprov uoipcxv xivcx xr\q kavxov 8vva\iz«>c, xf\ \>Xr\ 7xpoG£7teu\|/£, 

8eA,edoai a\)xf|V pcuXouevoc; • f] 8e A.ocpo'Bacx kcxx£7U£. Kod oikcoc; ek xr\q 
Kpdaecoc; aucpoxepcov xa ow9exa yeyovev. 

Conversation 3: 38 

". . . God . . ., having taken a part of him, he threw it to Matter ... it 
loved the good and swallowed up the Light from it." 

... 6 0e6<; . . . iizpoq avxcu Jiaprov xfj \>Xr\ 7tpooeppi\|/ev . . . epao9eioa xov 
6cyoc9o'6 Kal xo e^ amov (pcoq Kaxanwvaa. 

Conversation 6: 39 

Manichaean: ". . . the good God sent forth a certain divine power 
to hold in check the disorder of Matter." 

MAN 6 ayaQbq Qzbq Swcxulv xwcx Oelocv 7xpoe(3dA,exo rcpoq xo zniaxziv 

xr\q \>Xy\q xf|V ocxa^lav. 

• Compare Titus of Bostra I. 17: 40 

"The good sent a certain power, which he [sc. the writer] 
also calls his glory, to guard the boundaries, clearly, and to be the 
proper bait to teach moderation to Matter against its will. Which 
indeed also came to pass. For Matter, having beheld the power 
that was sent, longed for it as one in love and by a further impulse 
having seized it, swallowed it and was bound in precisely the 
same way as a wild animal. For they [sc. the Manicheans] also 
make use of this example, since it [sc. Matter] was lulled by the 
enchantment of the power that was sent. Consequently, he says, in 
this way there came to be a mixing and blending of the power 
of the good that was swallowed and of the Matter that swallowed 
it, and thus from both this universe was created..." 

'0 Se ayoc96q Swcxuw anoaxzkXzi xwd, f) koc1 6vo|xa xo [=xf|V?] 
So^av cxtjxk) e7ux{9r|ai, yvXa^ovaav |a,ev SfjOev xovq opoi>q, xo 8' 
6cA,r|9e<; 8eA,eap eoouevnv eic; axovawv xfj \>Xr\ acmppoviauciv • o 



Richard, 117, lines 15-18. 
Richard, 118, lines 29-31. 
Lagarde, 9, lines 17—27. 



CONVERSATION OF JOHN THE ORTHODOX WITH A MANICHAEAN 43 

8r| kcx! yeyovev. Qeaaauevn ydp f) vXi] xt|v anoaxaXziaav Swauiv, 
7tpooeK{ooT|oe |iev cbq epao9eToa, opufj 8e nXziovi Xafkroaa xavxt\v 
Kaxzniz Kal eSe9r| xporcov xwd c6o7tep Bripiov. Ke%pT|vxai yap Kai 
xcpSe xcp tmoSelyuaxi, cbq 81' £7xq>Sfj(; xf\q a7ioaxaA,£{o"r|c; Si)vd|i£K><; 
£Koiula9r|. Teyove xoivov (J-i^iq Kal Kpaaiq xomov (or|o{) xov xporcov 
xr\q xe Kaxa7xo9e{or|(; Swdjiecoq xov dyaOov Kal xr\q Kaxa7uot>oT|(; 
vXt\q, Kal oikax; zt, diaxpoTv £Sr|ruoi)pyn9r| x68e xo Ttav... 

° Compare Theodoret 377C13-D2: 

"Having taken a certain portion of the Light, he sent it to 

Matter, just as a bait and a fishhook. And the latter, having 
pressed close and spread over it, swallowed what was sent and 
it was bound and became entangled, just as in a snare." 

MoTpdv xiva xov (pcoxoq Jiaprov, oiov xi SeA,eap Kai dyKioxpov 
xfj vXr\ 7xpoae7X£|a\|/£- 7ipoaK£iuivr| Se ekeivti, Kal vnzp avxb 
oxpco9eioa, Kaxe7ue xo jxem>9ev, Kal 7xpooe8e9r|, Kal Ka9a7iep 
xwl 7cepie7xdpr| 7xdyr|. 

Commentary: 

• Here 

° the Good sends a part/portion of himself (i.e. his own substance) 

to Matter, 
° using this as a bait to trap Matter and hold in check its disorder; 
° the Matter seized the Light and swallowed it; 
° from the subsequent blending of the two principles, composite 

things came into existence, forming this present world. 

• The verbal parallels are remarkable here and include unusual details (the 
Light sent forth as bait [8eA,eap] for Matter; Matter swallowed 
[Kaxe7ue] the Light). 

• There are verbal parallels in both Titus and Theodoret; note that Theo- 
doret, whose parallels are normally weaker, here agrees with the 
Conversation in using the verb 7xpooe7xeu\|/e which Titus does not. 

• Titus again asserts that this material is drawn from the Manichaean source 
document. 



44 BYARD BENNETT 

Conclusion 

In conclusion then, significant parallels exist between the account of 
the Manichaean cosmogony given in the Conversation and the accounts 
provided by Titus of Bostra and Theodoret. Insofar as Titus treats 
most of the relevant details as being found in the summary of Man- 
ichaean teaching from which he quotes, it is likely that this summary 
document was the ultimate source of the common information that 
Titus, Theodoret and the writer of the Conversation had regarding the 
Manichaean cosmogony. It is not possible at present, however, to know 
with certainty how this information was subsequently mediated to the 
author of the Conversation, since although parallels with the Conversation 
can be found in both Titus and Theodoret, neither could be regarded 
as the sufficient source for all that the writer of the Conversation knew 
about the Manichaean cosmogony. This leaves open the possibility that 
the writer of the Conversation may have had access to the same sum- 
mary document from which Titus quotes, and this possibility should 
be further investigated in future research. 



THE MANI LOGION: "THE PURIFICATION THAT 

WAS SPOKEN ABOUT IS THAT WHICH COMES 

THROUGH GNOSIS" (CMC 84, 9-12) 

LuiGI ClRILLO 

Napoli 



In the context of the Baraies abstract of the beginning of Mani's religious 
innovation, Mani criticizes the doctrines [toils logous) and baptismal rites 
(fez mysterid) of the Elchasaite Baptists [CMC 79, 14-93, 23). The central 
theme of the baptismal movement was man's interior purification that 
could only come about through baptismal rites. In fact, the Baptists 
did not know of any other way of redemption apart from that which 
was realized through baptism. 1 The logion quoted by Baraies 2 has a 
theological value, which has to do with the doctrine of redemption 
[apolytrosis), expressed in technical language through the word katharotes 
(purification). This text brings out the fundamental difference in matters 
of soteriology between Elchasaite Baptists and the gnostic tradition. Its 
content is due basically to Mani himself even if the expression (that 
is, the wording of the logion) inevitably depends on the author of the 
extract, Baraies, and on possible alterations through the translation 
from Aramaic into Greek. 3 

According to Elchasaite Baptists, who were Jewish-Christian, the 
efficacy of baptismal rites depended upon the "precepts of the Savior" 



1 For a complete examination of the subject, see K. Rudolph, Die Mandder I— II (Got- 
tingen, 1960—1961); idem, Antike Baptisten, Sitzungsberichte der Sachsischen Akademie 
der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Philologisch-historische Klasse, Band 121, Heft 4. Cf. 
also W. Brandt, Die jiidischen Baptismen oder dm religiose Waschen und Baden im Judentum mit 
Einschluss des Judenchristentums, Beihefte zur ZNTW, Bd. 18 (Giessen, 1910); Jiidische Rein- 
heitslehre und ihre Beschreibung in den Evangelien, Beihefte zur ZNTW, Bd. 1 9 (Giessen, 1910); 
Elchasai, ein Religionsstifter und sein Werk (repr. Amsterdam, 197 1); J. Thomas, Le mouvement 
baptiste en Palestine et en Syrie (150 avant J.C.SOO apres J.C.J (Gembloux, 1935). 

2 Baraies came from the same cultural environment in which Mani was brought up; 
see M. Tardieu, '"Sur la naissance de son corps.' Chronologie et geographie dans le 
Codex manicheen de Cologne," Annuaire du College de France 43 (1993—94): 787—90. 

3 With regard to the biography of Mani in which the abstract from Baraies is cited, 
cf. R. Merkelbach, "Wann wurde die Mani-Biographie abgefasst, und welche waren 
ihre Quellen?" Studia Manichaica. II. Internationaler Kongress zum Manichaismus, G. Wiessner 
and H.-J. Klimkeit, eds. (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrasowitz, 1992), 159-166. 



46 LUIGI GIRILLO 

of the New Testament tradition. Mani criticizes precisely this belief 
on the basis of the following principle: "this body" is by its nature 
impure, the innate impurity of the body renders baptismal rites com- 
pletely useless, hence it is absolutely absurd to believe that they come 
from a precept of the Savior (who would not order the performing of 
worthless rites). 

Mani's criticism starts from the worthlessness of purification (baptism) 
of food. Baptists, in fact, purified everything they ate. 4 It makes no sense 
to introduce purified food into an impure body; the worthlessness of 
food is evident from the fact that the digestion of purified and non- 
purified food produces the same shameful result. As for the baptism of 
the body, it is, in its own right, worthless, as can be deduced by the fact 
that it has to be done every day. Mani's Baptists were Hemerobaptists. 
If baptism were efficacious, it would have been enough to purify the 
body once and forever; but that does not happen, in fact — Mani said 
to the Baptists — every day you feel disgusted by your body and every 
day your purification is not efficacious {CMC 83, 1-13). Hence, the 
purification of the body is independent of the precepts of the Savior; 
and baptismal rites are not part of "Christian" tradition. Purification 
can only concern man's soul: a principle in common with the Neo- 
Platonist tradition. 5 



The position of the Baptists on body impurity 

According to Mani, the congenital impurity of the body derives from 
the demonic origin of mankind, which forms the basis of the myth 
which Mani himself displayed in the work Pragmateia, demonstrated 
through the coupling of the two demons, Ashaqlun and Nebroel. 6 
According to the Gnostic tradition, man was not God's creation (the 
supreme God), but a creation of the angels (beings inferior to God). 
Early testimonies are traced back to Simon the Magician's disciples, 



1 Cf. B. Dodge, The Fihrist of al-Nadim (New York-London, 1970), vol. 2, 811: The 
Mughtasila. 

5 It is attested to at the end of the second century of our era; Iamblichus (250-330 
CE) speaks of it in his treatise, On the soul. For the general context, see A. J. Festugiere, 
La Revelation d'Hermes Trismegiste, III, Les doctrines de I'dme (Paris, 1953). 

6 Theodore bar Khoni has made a summary of this work using a Syrian model as 
his source, see F. Cumont, Recherches sur le Manicheisme, I: La cosmologie manicheenne d'apres 
Theodore bar Khoni (Bruxelles, 1908), 42-44. 



THE MANI LOGION: "THE PURIFICATION ..." 47 

Menander and Saturninus, probably belonging to the first half of the 
2nd century's Antiochene environment, according to Irenaeus's testi- 
mony, Adversus haereses 1,24,1. Saturninus, like Menander, set forth one 
Father unknown to all, who made Angels, Archangels, Powers and 
Potentates. The world, again, and all things therein, were made by 
seven angels. Man, too, was the workmanship of angels. They made 
a man "in the image, after the likeness" {kat'eikona kai kath'homoiosin, cf. 
Gen 1.26) of a luminous image originating from the supreme God who 
had appeared and immediately returned to the sky. But the man made 
by the angels could not stand up, and bustled about like a worm. The 
power from above, moved to pity, since the man was made after his 
likeness, emitted a spark of life, which lifted man, made him articulated 
and made him live. 7 With respect to this theme, quotations in Gnostic 
literature are numerous. 

Baptists, instead, believed impurity of the body to be explained by 
different arguments, of which, though, there is no direct testimony. They 
were probably doctrines similar to the ones in the Pseudo-Clementines, 
where, because of his birth from impurity (cf. ek mysaros stagonos, Horn. 
111,20,1), man is greatly inferior to the first man, Adam, directly created 
by God, possessing the spirit of Christ and being immortal. In other 
words, the impurity of the body comes from its conception. Now, it is 
from this idea of man's birth that Peter's baptismal catechesis, in Horn. 
XI, 26, and parallel Rec. VI, 9 cf. IX, 7, 5-6, derives; in it Peter states 
that, to gain salvation, man has to be freed from his first birth which is 
a result of carnal desire, and be born again for God through the living 
water (which has the aim of changing the first birth). Peter bases his 
doctrine on John 3.5 (spiritual rebirth comes from water and spirit). 
Immediately afterwards Peter exhorts, with a terminology typical of the 
Baptists, to seek refuge in water, because only water can extinguish the 
ardor of fire. Whoever doesn't go towards water carries the "spirit of 
rage" that impedes one from turning to the living water of salvation 
(Horn. XI, 2 6,4). This exhortation surely contains a reference to the 
logion quoted in the sacred book of Elchasaites, see Elenchos IX, 15,4-6, 
in the context of the strange baptismal rite against rabies injected by 
a rabid dog which has in itself the "spirit of destruction." "Spirit of 



' Cf. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book I, The Ante-Micene Fathers, vol. I (Eerdmans reprint, 
1975), 348£; Irenee de Lyon, Contre les Heresies, livre I, Sources Chretiennes 264 (Paris: 
Du Cerf, 1979), 320-323. 



48 LUIGI GIRILLO 

rage" and "ardor of fire" are expressions which are synonymous with 
concupiscence. Whence, a link is clear between the central idea of 
Peter's pseudo-Clementine catechesis on baptism, and the Elchasaite 
environment. Pseudo-Clementine baptismal doctrine, quoted in the 
parallel texts of the Homilies and Recognitions, can be traced back to a 
common source, the Basic Script, written probably around the middle 
of the 3rd century CE in Syria. Peter's pseudo-Clementine baptismal 
catechesis is important because it presents the Jewish-Christian point 
of view on the problem of the origin of evil. 

The source of this question of capital importance was the Enoch 
Apocalypse, according to which the source of evil lies in the sin of the 
Fallen Angels, the Watchers, which was a sin of epithymia, see / Enoch 
XV,4, a sin which contaminated nature and that caused the birth of 
monstrous beings, the Giants (cf. VII, 2 and IX, 9). The Greek version 
of I Enoch X,9 calls the Giants sons of porneia. According to the Book 
of Watchers (chap. VIII), the Angels taught secret things (art, science, 
astronomy) to man, therefore there was great infamy and a lot of for- 
nication. Then God ordered the Fallen Angels to be tied to the abysses 
of the earth; after that the Giants disappeared too (cf. chap. XIV, 6), but 
their souls remained in the world as the spirits of evil (cf. chap. XV, 
8-9 and XVI, 1). Enoch's doctrines had a considerable diffusion. The 
books attributed to Enoch are five in number; they form the Enochian 
Pentateuch of Ethiopic tradition. 8 These books probably circulated sepa- 
rately in ancient times. The first book, of the Watchers, and the second 
book, of the Giants (which later was replaced by the Book of Parables) are 
the two books which interest our discussion. The Book of the Watchers 
and the Book of Giants are dated back to very ancient times. 9 

The Book of the Watchers and the Book of the Giants were read and 
copied in the Qumran community, as J. T. Milik demonstrated. 10 The 



8 See M. A. Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch: A New Edition in the Light of the Aramaic 
Dead Sea Fragments, I— II (Oxford, 1978). 

9 Cf. the academic discussion: according to P. Sacchi, "Libro di Enoc," Apocrifi 
dellAntico Testamento (Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese [UTET], 1981), 440f, and 
idem, LApocalittica giudaica e la sua storia (Brescia: Paideia Editrice, 1990), 67, the Book of 
Enoch may date to the fifth century BCE, and the Book of Giants is dated as approxi- 
mately from between the 4th and the 3rd century BCE. According to John C. Reeves, 
Heralds of That Good Realm (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 39, the Book of Watchers (I Enoch 6—36), 
may date to the 3rd or even 4th century BCE. 

10 See J. T. Milik, The Books of Enoch. Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4 (Oxford, 1976), 
298ff, 304, and 141; idem, "Turfan et Qumran. Livre des geants juif et manicheen," 
Tradition und Glaube. Dasfruhe Christentum in seiner Umwelt. Festgabe fur K. G. Kuhn zum 65. 
Geburtstag, G. Jeremias, H. W. Kuhn, H. Stegemann, eds. (Cottingen, 1971), 117-27. 



THE MANI LOGION: "THE PURIFICATION ..." 49 

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs developed the moral doctrine of Enoch, 
based on epithymia and porneia. For example, Reuben V,6, stresses that 
the Watchers sinned because of their epithymia {en epithymia auton). n In 
rabbinical tradition, the evil instinct [yezer ha-ra) was identified with 
epithymia which, in the gnostic tradition, was called antimimon pneuma. 12 
In the Christian tradition, Enoch's book was considered holy scripture, 
at least until the time of Tertullian, 13 who speaks frequently about the 
sin of the Fallen Angels. Mani knew Enochian literature; in fact, it was 
from the Jewish book of Giants that Mani took the material for his 
own "Book of Giants." 14 

Peter's pseudo-Clementine catechesis on baptism, based on John 
3.3-8 (which for its basic theme is connected with the Enoch tradition) 
may explain the position of Mani's Baptists when they stated that their 
"purification" came from "the Savior's precepts." Mani, though, who 
since his formation among the Baptists was probably deeply influenced 
by Gnostic thinking, concluded the absolute impossibility of purifying 
the body, because of its origin from an impure creation, and hence the 
uselessness of baptismal rites. Hence, the reciprocal accusations: by the 
Baptists towards Mani that he did not respect their traditional rules and 
wanted to go to the "Hellenes" {pagans, see CMC 80, 16); and by Mani 
towards the Baptists because from his point of view they practiced a 
non-authentic purification. 



The position of Mani on body impurity 

Against the Baptists' tradition, which was considered not to be de- 
rived from the Savior's precepts, Mani said which purification is 
authentic and what it involves: essentially, purification is outlined in 



11 R. H. Charles, The Greek Versions of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (repr. 
Hildesheim, 1966), 1 If. 

12 Reference can be made to A. Bohlig, "Zum Antimimon Pneuma in den koptisch- 
gnostischen Texten," Mysterion und Wahrheit. Gesammelte Beitrdge zur spatantiken Religionsge- 
schichte (Leiden: Brill, 1968), 162-173. 

13 Cf. Apologeticum, 22,3; De virginibus velandis, 7,3; De cultu feminarum, 1,2,1; 1,3,1-3; 
11,10,3; De idololatria, 4,2-3, etc. 

14 See W. B. Henning, "The Book of the Giants," Selected Papers, I, Acta Iranica 14, 
M. Boyce and I. Gershevitch, eds. (Leiden: Brill, 1977), 341-49. On the subject, cf. 
J. C. Reeves, "Jewish Pseudepigrapha in Manichaean Literature: the Influence of the 
Enochic Library," Tracing the Threads. Studies in the Vitality of Jewish Pseudepigrapha, J. C. 
Reeves, ed. (Atlanta: SBL, 1994), 173-203. 



50 LUIGI CIRILLO 

the Scriptures, 15 and it is that which comes from gnosis. Basically, gnosis 
is the knowledge of oneself, which necessarily implies the consciousness 
of the existential condition, which is due to the mixture of two oppo- 
site primordial Natures (Substances/Roots) and its consequences — a 
knowledge that leads one to carry out what is necessary to accomplish 
in one's own life, namely, the separation of Light from Darkness, of 
Death from Life, of Living Waters from Turbid, and to realize that 
each one (specified in opposite pairs) is different from the other. That 
is to say, the separation is to go back to the primordial Time, to the 
time before our time, when the mixture began. 

Professor Koenen dedicated an excellent study to this text (CMC 
84, 9-85, 4) to which reference has been made, concerning the integra- 
tion of the damaged parts. 16 With regards the separation of the two 
Natures, see Augustine, Contra Fortunatum 14, "and Mani, Epistula Fun- 
damenti 12,15. 18 Mani concluded by saying that "separation" has to go 
together with the observation of the Savior's precepts, so that He can 
redeem our souls from death and perdition. Now, this dispute between 
Mani and the Baptists on true purification was not isolated, and it dis- 
closes to us an important historical milieu concerning the Gnostic and 
Manichaean opposition to the Jewish-Christian Baptist movement in 



15 Because the question was purification according to the Savior's precepts, the 
expression peri ties elechthe refers to the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament tradition. 
For the meaning of the expression see W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich, A Greek-English 
Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 4th ed. (Chicago, 1958), 
s. v. lego, 1.7, 468f. 

16 See L. Koenen, "From Baptism to the Gnosis of Manichaeism," The Rediscovery 
of Gnosticism. Proceedings of the International Conference on Gnosticism at Yale, New Haven, Con- 
necticut, March 28S1, 1978, B. Layton, ed. (Leiden, 1981), Vol. II, 734-756. See also 
L. Koenen and C. Romer, Der Kolner Mani-Kodex. Uber das Werden seines Leibes. Kritische 
Edition, ARWAW Papyrologica Coloniensia 14 (Opladen, 1988), 58. 

" Caeterum rebus ipsis paret, quia nihil simile tenebrae et lux, nihil simile Veritas 
et mendacium, nihil simile mors et vita, nihil simile anima et corpus et caetera istis 
similia, quae et nominibus et speciebus distant ab invicem . . . Hinc vero constat et 
ratione rerum, quod duae sunt substantiae in hoc mundo, quae speciebus et nominibus 
distant (F. Decret and J. van Oort, Sancti Augustini, Acta contra Fortunatum Manichaeum, 
CFM, Series Latina (Turnhout: Brepoils 2004, 22). 

18 Unde si tibi videtur, inquit, ausculta prius quae fuerint ante constitutionem mundi, 
et quo pacto praelium sit agitatum, ut possis luminis seiungere naturam ac tenebrarum 
(Opere di SantAgostino, Polemica con iManichei, XIII/2 [Roma: CittaNuova Editrice, 1997], 
324). Cf. also A. Henrichs and L. Koenen, "Ein griechischer Mani-Codex," ^PE 5.1 
(1970): 137 n. 101. 



THE MANI LOGION: "THE PURIFICATION ..." 51 

the 2nd and 3rd centuries. This statement comes from the new inter- 
pretation of the Oxyrhynchus Fragment 840 in the context of ancient 
Christian controversies over the validity of baptismal water. 19 

Authentic purification is an interior, spiritual purification, attested to in the 
Scriptures 

Given this principle as clear, it is difficult to tell to which Scriptures 
Mani referred; but because of the Baptist context they have to be 
the Scriptures of the New Testament tradition, according to the 
interpretation of A. Henrichs and L. Koenen, in their comment to 
the Mani-Codex. 20 It remains an open question whether Mani's New 
Testament canon included any apocryphal gospel. The first group of 
texts concerns the difference between baptism as administrated by John 
the Baptist and the baptism given by Jesus (Mk 1.8 and parallel texts, 
Mt 3.1 If, Lk 3.16; cf Jn 1.33): John Baptist (who can be considered 
the model of baptismal practices in the Jewish tradition) baptized with 
water, while Jesus baptized in the Holy Spirit. Consequently it could 
be deduced that the baptism given by Jesus was independent from the 
rite of water. 21 Another context is that in which Jesus condemned the 
practices of the Pharisees, who were concerned with external rather 
than internal purification (Mt 23.25f. and Lk 1 1.38f). Logion 89 of the 
Gospel of Thomas refers to this meaning of Jesus' words: "Why do you 
wash the outside of the cup? Do you not realize that he who made the 
inside is the same one who made the outside?" 22 

In this context, concerning the interior purification, Marcion's ver- 
sion of the text of Luke 1 1.2 has to be mentioned. 23 When the disciples 
ask, "Lord, teach us to pray as John did with his disciples," Jesus adds 
to the requests: "That your Spirit might come to us and purify us." 24 
John 1.33 returns to Mark's tradition: John was sent to baptize in water; 



19 See F. Bovon, "Fragment Oxyrhynchus 840, Fragment of a lost Gospel, Witness 
of an Early Christian Controversy over Purity," JBL 119 (2000): 705-728. 

20 In ZPE 32 (1978): 143f., nn. 205-206. 

21 In the parallel texts of Matthew and Luke, it is said that Jesus will baptize with 
holy Spirit and fire. 

22 fames M. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library in English (San Francisco, 
1996), 186. 

23 The Gospel of Luke was the only gospel accepted by Marcion in his Canon. 

24 See Adolf von Harnack, Marcion: Das Evangelium vomfremden Gott (Leipzig, 1921), 
188* f. 



52 LUIGI GIRILLO 

Jesus, on the contrary, baptizes in the Holy Spirit. According to John 
4.2, Jesus himself didn't baptize; his disciples did. 

To confirm the interpretation of purification made directly by the 
Holy Spirit, the experience of Peter in Caesarea can be quoted, too, 
according to Acts 10.44: the Holy Spirit descended onto the pagans 
before they received the baptism of water. Peter, in fact, understood 
that the pagans had been purified by the Holy Spirit, and nothing was 
left for him to do but ratify the work of the Spirit. One could also quote 
Acts 1 1.9: Peter's self-defense against the Jewish-Christians of Jerusalem 
("you can not call unclean what God purified"), 11.15 ("Spirit came to 
the pagans as He had come on us"), 11.16 (the opposition between the 
baptism of John hydati and Christian baptism en pneumati hagio). 

Some logia from the Gospel of Thomas 2 ^ have to be added to the 
canonical tradition. According to logion 3, Jesus criticized any material 
conception of God's Kingdom and after saying that "the kingdom is 
inside you, and it is outside of you" (see the Greek text of the Oxyrhyn- 
chus papyrus 654), added, by way of conclusion or explanation: "When 
you come to know yourselves, then you become known, and you will 
realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you 
will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are 
that poverty." 26 According to logion 89, which refers to the criticism of 
Jewish rites of purification in the synoptic gospels (see above), Jesus 
said that it is as necessary to wash the inside of the cup as to wash the 
outside, because he who made the inside, also made the outside. 27 The 
Kingdom of God is achieved only if the distinction between inside and 
outside is overcome. 

The Gospel of Philip (NHC 11,3) is a translation of a Greek text that 
was probably written in the second half of the third century CE. The 
statements on page 69 of the manuscript describe the mysteries of the 
bridal chamber. The highest moment of the Gnostic initiation was 
the sacrament of the bridal chamber, attested for the Valentinian school 
of Marcosians (see Irenaeus, Adversus haereses 1,21,3): Baptism is "the 
holy building," Redemption (apolytrosis) is the "holy of the holy" (in the 
Jerusalem temple). "The holy of the holies" is the bridal chamber. 28 



25 The original text in Greek, dating probably from the middle of the 2nd century, 
according to the most common thesis (see the fragments of this gospel in Oxyrhynchus 
Papyri 1, 654 and 655), was used in Egypt and translated into Coptic (NHC 11,2). 

2I ' Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library, 126. 

27 Cf. H.-Ch. Puech, Sulk tracce della Gnosi (Milano, 1985), 565ff, 396. 

28 Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library, 151. 



THE MANI LOGION: "THE PURIFICATION ..." 53 

In the Gospel of Truth (NHC 1,3), a work of the Valentinian school, 29 
in sections 24-25, it is stated that only through Gnosis can man be 
purified of the multiplicity of the worldly things and achieve unity: 

When the Father is known, from that moment on the deficiency will no 
longer exist. As in the case of the ignorance of a person, when he comes to 
have knowledge, his ignorance vanishes of itself, as the darkness vanishes 
when light appears, so also the deficiency vanishes in the perfection. . . . 
It is within Unity that each one will attain himself, within knowledge he will 
purify himself from multiplicity into Unity, consuming matter within himself 
like fire, and darkness by light, death by life. 

Hence, through Gnosis every man may achieve interior purification. 30 



The consequent rejection of any kind of baptismal rite 

A text that comes close to the thoughts of Mani can be found in 
the final section of the Apocalypse of Adam (NHC V, 5), 84,4-85,31. The 
editing of the text can probably be said to have occurred during the 
2nd century CE. In some respects, the writing contains a polemical 
attack on baptism, 31 which can probably be placed within the context 
of the history of the Jewish Baptist groups. The text does not contain 
any evidence of having been influenced by the Christian tradition. It 
is a Sethian writing which does not have any affinity with the Sethian 
Book V of the Elenchos (about which we will speak later), or with heresy 
39 of the Panarion, against the Sethians. Adam speaks of the loss of the 
saving knowledge, both on his part and that of Eve, of the transmission 
of this knowledge to Seth and his descendants, as well as the preservation 
of this knowledge until the third coming of the Savior, the "Illumina- 
tor" (Phoster). The editor of the final section argues strongly against the 
doctrine of purification through baptism in water and concludes (cf. 
85,22fE) that the only baptism is the "hidden knowledge" that Adam 
passed on to Seth and to his elected race. 32 



29 It is not to be excluded that the work attested in the NHC corresponds to the 
work quoted by Irenaeus, Adversus haereses 111,1 1,9, whose composition would date back 
to around the middle of the 2nd century. 

30 See H.Jonas, in Gnomon 32 (1960): 327-335, and A. Henrichs, "Mani and the 
Babylonian Baptists: A Historical Confrontation," in HSCP 1973, 57, n. 130. See also 
J. Menard, "La 'Connaissance' dans l'Evangile de Verite," Revue de Sciences Religieuses 
41 (1967): 1-28. 

31 A. Bohlig and P. Labib, Koptisch-gnostische Apokalypsen aus Codex V von Nag Hammadi 
(Halle-Wittenberg, 1963), 93-95. 

32 Gnosis is passed down among those who are born through the everlasting "words" 



54 LUIGI GIRILLO 

The Testimony of Truth (NHC IX,3) criticizes the baptismal practices of 
the Church, which rests on the invalid belief in the efficacy of baptism 
in water, expressed by the term sphragis (69, 7-25). The "seal" can- 
not be gained through a rite that only deals with man's exterior such 
as baptism through water, but only through gnosis which expresses a 
complete renouncing of the world in its material form. "The baptism 
of truth is something else; it is by renunciation of (the) world that it 
is found." The renouncing expressed through the process of baptism 
through water is a false guarantee of salvation because it is expressed 
in words only. In addition to this, baptism through water does not 
correspond to the will of the Savior who did not baptize any of his 
disciples. The condemnation of baptism as practiced by the Church is 
also based on the negative significance of water from the earth, water 
full of negative value, in so much as it is the symbol of carnal lust (31, 
1—3). This can be seen as a radical rejection of baptism through water. 
The type of baptism seen in the Testimony of Truth is that of renouncing 
the world in its totality (= apotake tou kosmou). 

In the Paraphrase ofShem (NHC VII, 1) the rejection of baptism through 
water is motivated by the fact that the water of the world is a power 
of darkness, an evil power. "For the water is an insignificant body. 
And men are not released, since they are bound in the water, just as 
from the beginning the light of the Spirit was bound." It is completely 
false to think that sins can be redeemed through baptism in impure 
water. 33 Probably this polemic was directed against a Jewish baptismal 
sect, and quite likely it was directed towards the Elchasaites and their 



The meaning of "living water" and "water springing up for eternal life" 
(Jn 4.10, 14) 

The living water as God's gift is the revelation which Jesus brings, the 
true water which man needs. Living water symbolizes the superior 
world (heavenly water) and is opposed to earthly water, the water of the 
inferior world. This way of speaking about living water comes from the 



of the Enlighteners who come from the sacred seed, the mysterious personage of "Yes- 
seus, Mazareus, (Yesse)dekeus, the living water." 

55 Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library, 37, 14—25. 

34 See references cited by K. Koschorke, Die Polemik der Gnostiker gegen das kirchliche 
Christentum, Nag Hammadi Studies 12 (Leiden: Brill, 1978), 146. 



THE MANI LOGION: "THE PURIFICATION ..." 55 

sphere of Gnostic dualism (cf. supra, Mani logion: Living Water/Turbid 
Water). The high significance of "living water" is evident from the 
logion agraphon 119 from the collection of Resch, in which the expression 
becomes a Christological tide: Jesus says "I am the living water." 35 

The figurative use of "living water" referring to the revelation or 
the revealed knowledge of the divine mysteries is principally found in the 
Odes of Solomon of the Syriac milieu, VI, 1 1—13; XI,4— 7; and XXX. The 
passage from Ode VI is attested to in Pistis Sophia 65. 36 The importance 
of the Odes' contents lies in the fact that they are connected to that 
particular context of sapiential Judaism, 3 ' in which living water sym- 
bolizes revealed knowledge. Two texts of Qumran, Hymn VIII and 
1QS III,13-IV,26, 38 can be considered to be particular expressions of 
this environment. As concerns Hymn VIII, living water is the font of 
esoteric knowledge of the divine mysteries, which gives life to the mem- 
bers of the community. In the Rule of the community, on the other 
hand, in the text which refers to the action of the "Two Spirits" (1QS 
III,13-IV,26), the author establishes a fundamental difference between 
the daily holy bathing of the community, and the purification of impiety, 
which will come at the end of time, and will take place through the 
"Holy Spirit" which God will pour on man like holy water. Only then, 
the author concludes, "will the righteous understand the knowledge of 
the Most High, and the wisdom of the children of heaven will teach 
them perfect behavior" (see 1QS IV, 20-22). 

Thereafter, living water becomes the focal point of Gnostic exegesis 
of the Gospel of John, as can be seen in the commentary of Heracleon, 
quoted by Origen in his own Commentary on the Gospel of John:' 9 Accord- 
ing to Heracleon, the living water in John, chapter 4, is the gift from 
God to the Samaritan woman which allowed her to gain the knowledge 
of God and her own consubstantiality with Him. The gift of living 
water was therefore an initiation into Gnosis. The woman knew her 



35 A. Resch, Agrapha (repr. Darmstadt, 1974), 164. In the final section of the Apocalypse 
of Adam, "Living Water" is the name of one of the illuminators who came from the 
holy seed of Seth and passed down the "hidden knowledge" of Adam. 

36 For the Odes of Solomon, see M. J. Pierre, in Rents apocryphes chretiens, Gallimard, 
Bibliotheque de la Pleiade (Paris, 1997) Vol. I, 673ff 

37 See Proverbs of Solomon, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach. 

38 For the two texts, cf. La Bible. Ecrits intertestamentaires, Gallimard, Bibliotheque de 
la Pleiade (Paris, 1987), 16ff and 264ff 

39 See Origene, Commentaire sur Saint Jean, tome III (Livre XIII), Sources Chretiennes 
222, XIII,63; 67; 92; 120. Cf. also, E. Corsini, Origene, Commento al Vangelo di Giovanni 
(Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese [UTET], 1968), 74-83. 



56 LUIGI GIRILLO 

state, which was the consequence and expression of the fall of man 
into the world of matter, represented by the rapport she had had with 
her many husbands. As a consequence of the fall the woman had lost 
the knowledge of her origin and nature, and was in a condition of 
ignorance of the superior good. The gift of living water allowed the 
Samaritan to know in a way which was consistent with her nature. At 
this point, Jesus invited the Samaritan woman to call her husband, 
who, according to Heracleon, means the celestial Twin, her alter-ego, 
her divine counterpart in the syzygy. The rejoining with the Twin is 
the salvation of man. 40 

The living water springs up for eternal life in three Gnostic Baptist 
sects quoted in the Elenchos, book V: V,6— 1 1 (the Naassenes), 19-22 (the 
Sethians), and 23-27 (the followers of Justin, the author of the Book of 
Baruch)} 1 The living water is the "heavenly" water, the archetypal water 
of the creation (cf. Gen 1.6), which has the power to give immortality, 
rebirth. Those sects practiced a particular baptismal rite which derived 
from Jewish purification rites of a sectarian origin. 

The Naassenes took their name from the Hebrew word naas (snake), 
they called themselves 'Gnostics' and constituted a large number of sects 
which adopted the same form of heresy {Elenchos V,6,3— 4; Wendland, 
78). The snake from which they took their name was water, the first 
principle, according to Thales, without which no living being can exist. 
Water, though, had a spiritual significance, on the basis of which it 
came to mean a principle of divine nature, a strength immanent to the 
world, which "walks" (odeuontd) through all things. This water, stated 
the Naassene text quoted above, was the water that is above the firma- 
ment, the water which the Savior talks about in John 4.10; it is from 
this water that all beings draw their "substance" (or nature). 42 But it is 
we, the 'Gnostics' — continues the same source (V,9,21~22; Wendland, 
102,1 Iff.) — who from the living waters of the Euphrates, which flows 



40 See also the vision of the celestial Twin in the Mani Codex 22,1—25,1. 

11 The expressions of Jn 4.10 and 14 ("living water," "water springing up for the 
eternal life") are quoted in Elenchos V,9,18 (Wendland, 101, 23-24); V, 19,21 (Wendland, 
120, 24-25); V,27,2 (Wendland, 133, 7); see R. Bultmann, The Gospel of John, A Com- 
mentary (Philadelphia, 1971), 184 (and the accompanying notes). 

42 Wendland, 101f., i.e., that of primordial man, Adamas, who doesn't have a known 
form but who gives all beings their specific form (see Y7,18— 19; Wendland, 82f). See 
also the doctrines of the Elchasaite Sampsaeans in Epiphanius, Panarion, haer. LIII, 1,7: 
the water was venerated, and considered as if it was a Divinity; it was said that through 
these waters came life. 



THE MANI LOGION: "THE PURIFICATION ..." 57 

in the middle of Babylon, take what really is ours (to oikeion), going 
through that true door which is Jesus (cf. Jn. 10,9). That rite gave 
to the Gnostics what belonged to them, namely the divine nature. It 
seems that the baptismal rite was followed by unction with the chrism, 
which is not the one used by the great church. Only we (the Gnostics) 
are Christian, because we were united by this particular chrism and 
separated from the "evil/ demon" of carnal lust (cf. V,9, 22; Wendland, 
102) and from the "mixture" (that is the world, cf. V,7,39; Wendland, 
88, 19). Perhaps these groups of Naasenes, who were found in Babylon 
and who practiced their baptismal rites in the Euphrates, may have 
been Baptists from Mani's environment. 

Sethian baptism was a rite that took as a model the Logos and what 
the Logos did after accomplishing the redemption of the world, which 
is described in very singular terms. To liberate the spirit (nous), pris- 
oner of matter, Logos took the form of a slave, being born like a man 
according to Philippians 2.7. According to the Sethian author quoted in 
the text, the Logos took the shape of a snake — the shape which should 
have allowed Logos to enter the inferior world of darkness. That is 
why Logos entered a virgin's womb, and, after having overcome the 
pain that reigned in the world of darkness, washed himself and drank 
the cup of living water, the springing up water that must be drunk by 
whoever wishes to divest himself of the shape of a slave and assume 
celestial clothing. Like Logos, then, who to free himself from the con- 
dition of a slave washed himself and drank a cup of living water, man 
has to wash himself and drink the living water in order to free himself 
from the human condition and the conditioning imposed by the body. 
It is not clear, though, if the washing and drinking have a symbolic or 
real significance. In any case, the living water that allowed Logos, and 
allows the Gnostics, to divest themselves of the condition of slave, in 
this context, is the gnosis. 

The baptism of the followers of Justin, the author of the Book ofBaruch, 
also had a paradigmatic value. This was represented by the initiation 
of Elohim, the creator of the world, into the "mystery" of the Supreme 
God. In the system of this sect there was also a third principle, which 
was, by nature, feminine, and was called Eden or Israel. Elohim loved 
Eden and through her begot twelve angels, who created man and placed 
in him the spirit (pneumd) of Elohim and the soul (psyche) of Eden (see 
Elenchos V,26,10). After having created the world, Elohim ascended to 
the higher world, where he took his place beside the Supreme God. 
Elohim left Eden on Earth. The myth told of two things: firstly, of the 



58 LUIGI GIRILLO 

work of the angel Baruch sent to Earth by Elohim to free the spirit 
which had been imprisoned in mankind, and, secondly, of the initiation 
of Elohim by God. This was the model of initiation which had to be 
followed by members of the sect. They had to swear not to leave the 
Supreme God to return to the world of Earth. Then they had to bathe 
in "living water" and drink from a cup of this water, in the same way 
as Elohim had done. This was opposed to those men, who are psychikoi 
and hylikoi, who bathe in the water that comes from the Earth, that is, 
the water which derives from evil creation (V,27,l). Hence, the two 
inferior classes wash themselves in material water, whereas Gnostics 
wash themselves in the living water: the gnosis. 



Conclusion 

We return, now, to the second point in the definition of purification 
according to the Mani logion, namely: the purification is achieved 
through gnosis and includes the observance of the precepts of the Savior. 
Manichaean gnosis, then, is inseparable from morality. Both gnosis and 
the observance of the precepts of the Savior are required to gain the 
redemption of the soul: "You should keep the precepts of the Savior 
in order that he may redeem your soul from ruin and destruction." 
There should be no doubt, in light of the whole of our context, that 
the precepts of the Savior are those of the Encratite tradition, which 
are referred to in the diverse testimonies mentioned above (see the 
complete renunciation of the world in the Testimony of Truth 69, 22— 24). 
On the other hand, the Baptists of Mani's community themselves were 
Encratite (cf. CMC 102,14: "those who have read on the purity, on the 
mortification of flesh"). Precepts of this order are the specific matter of 
some logia Iesu, quoted in the Gospel of Thomas: logion 22 ("Jesus said to 
them: 'When you make the two one . . . and when you make the male 
and the female one and the same, so that the male will not be male 
nor the female, female...'"); logion 27 ("Jesus said: 'If you do not fast 
as regards the world, you will not find the kingdom...'"); logion 37 
("Jesus said: When you disrobe without being ashamed and take up 
your garments and place them under your feet like little children and 
tread on them, then [will you see] the son of the living one, and you 
will not be afraid.'"). 43 See also the moral precepts in the Acts of Thomas 



13 Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library, 129f. 



THE MANI LOGION: "THE PURIFICATION ..." 59 

and in the older Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, in which the preach- 
ing of enkrateia aims at the restoration of the original condition, 44 and 
only in this way is gnosis the saving knowledge. 



44 See Han J. W. Drijvers, "The Acts of Thomas," New Testament Apocrypha, Revised 
Edition, W. Schneemelcher, ed. (English translation by R. McL Wilson) (Philadelphia, 
2003), 327-29. 



MANICHAEISM AMONG THE UYGURS: 
THE UYGUR KHAN OF THE BOKUG CLAN 

Larry Clark 
Bloomington 



With a few exceptions, the rulers of the Uygurs had been Manichaeans 
since the middle of the 8th century when Sogdian Manichaeans con- 
verted Biigii Khan (759-770) who, after his accession in 759 proclaimed 
it to be the official religion of the Uygur Steppe Empire. Already by 
755, the Uygurs began to incorporate the Tienshan-Tarim region into 
their realm, so that they had direct access to the sources of eastern 
Manichaeism in the northern Tarim cities and the church, in turn, 
could enjoy more intimate contact with its Uygur patrons. 1 

The extent to which Biigii Khan sponsored the church's proselytiza- 
tion efforts in those initial years of 755 and later depends very much 
on how one interprets the following passage in U Ola, I verso, lines 
01-07, which is an Uygur text written in Uygur script (US): 2 

{a}m{ti} tdrjrikdn uygur bokug xan kocogaru kdlipdn konyilka tic mahistag olurmak 
iiciin mozakka keydti 

{Now}, the Devout One, the Uygur Khan of the Bokug (clan), came to 
Kocho and arranged with the Teacher for the setding of three Presbyters 
(in the steppe) in the Sheep year. 

This and the other remaining fragments of text U 1 contain material 
belonging to a history of the Uygurs from the Manichaean perspective. 
In the passage quoted above, there is a clear reference to an Uygur 
ruler who went to the city of Kocho in the Turfan basin to arrange for 
three Manichaean Presbyters to establish a mission in the steppe. The 



1 I dealt with the conversion of this ruler extensively in my article "The Conver- 
sion of Biigii Khan to Manichaeism," Studia Manichaica. IV Internationakr Kongrefi zum 
Manichaismus, Berlin, 14.-18. Juli 1997, R. E. Emmerick, W. Sundermann, P. Zieme, 
eds. (Berlin, 2000), 83-123. The present paper takes up the problem of U 01 which 
I broached but did not treat on 114—115 of that article. 

2 A. von Le Coq, "Ein manichaisches Buch-Fragment aus Chotscho," Festschrift 
Vilhelm Thomsen zur Vollendung des siebsigsten Lebensjahres an 25. Januar 1912 (Leipzig, 
1912), 145-154. 



62 LARRY CLARK 

inference that the mission is to be carried out in the steppe is based on 
the assumption that there would be no reason to state that an Uygur 
ruler from the Western Uygur Empire after 840 would travel to Kocho 
to arrange for such a mission. Nonetheless, two important questions 
remain in the interpretation of this passage. First, who was the uygur 
bokug xan? Second, which Sheep year is mentioned in the passage? 

It is tempting to assume that uygur pwqwy xan of this passage refers 
to the Uygur ruler Biigii Khan who first was drawn to Manichaeism 
around 755 and who established it as a state religion in 759 or so. How- 
ever, the spelling pwqwy has bothered all commentators and has given 
rise to alternative interpretations of the identity of this figure. 3 There 
are two unrelated issues in contention: (1) Could the spelling pwqwy 
ever be shown to be an aberrant writing of pwykw = biigii., and thus a 
means of identifying the two as the same person? (2) Could the person 
called pwqwy xan in this text ever be shown to be the same person as 
the familiar pwykw xan — biigii xan of other texts, regardless of the clear 
difference in the two names? With respect to the first issue, it is dubi- 
ous that any amount of linguistic legerdermain can equate pwqwy and 
pwykw, not only because the first is a back-vowel word and ends in — y 
in US, but because the first potentially could be interpreted either as 
bokug, 'withdrawn; secluded,' or — although unlikely, as we shall see — as 
boguk, 'crop (of a bird); gnarl (of a tree); swelling,' and therefore is dif- 
ferent in form and meaning from biigii, 'sage, wizard.' Before turning 
to issue (2), it is important to understand what the word written pwqwy 
actually might refer to. 

At first glance, one might attempt to identify the word spelled pwqwy 
in this spot as the noun boguk, 'crop of a bird, craw; swelling, goiter; 
bud of a flower,' that is derived from bog-, 'to choke; to restrict,' as 
a subject noun meaning 'what chokes' or 'what restricts' the air in a 
throat or the growth of something. The form boguk originally might have 
been bogak with -a-, as attested in Ottoman, Chagatay, Kazak bogak, 
Kirgiz bokok, Teleut, Altay, Kirgiz pogok, L,ebed pok, ETurki pukak, Shor 



3 While Le Coq and others thought that pwqwy xan, despite the linguistic difficulty, 
was a reference to Biigii Khan, Abe contended that pwqwy xan was an epithet for 
Tanrita iiliig bulmis alp kutlug ulug bilga xagan (r. 795-808), who was called "Huai- 
hsin"; for a summary of Abe's views on the Uygurs, see "Where was the Capital of 
the West Uighurs," Silver Jubilee Volume of the Zjnbun-Kagaku-Kenkyusyo Kyoto University 
(Kyoto, 1954), 435—450. An excellent survey of this question may be found in Y. Kasai, 
"Ein Kolophon um die Legende von Bokug Kagan," Studies on the Inner Asian Languages 
19(2004): 9-17. 



MANICHAEISM AMONG THE UYGURS 63 

pugak, and Azeri buxag.* It is found in an US medical text as pwqwq 
or pwqwy and in a clipped form in a Brahmi Script medical text as 
puq = buk, 'crop.' 5 Despite the spelling with -u- in Brahmi Script and 
the occurrence of some modern variants with -u-, the word must be 
derived from bog-, itself the root of other derivations with -o-, 6 so that 
the vowel is -o- in the root. 

Some scholars have interpreted the word boguk ~ bogak, 'crop; swell- 
ing, goiter; bud of a flower,' also as 'knot, protuberance, gnarl,' the 
latter meaning a hardened swelling on a tree. Their reason for doing 
so is the perceived affiliation of a word meaning 'gnarl, swelling' with 
the myth of the eponymous founder of the Uygurs, as told in several 
Chinese sources and in the Persian history of Juvaini. 7 According to this 
myth, between the Selenge and Tugla rivers there was a tree on which 
a 'gnarl' ('swelling' in Juvaini) appeared and grew larger and larger. 
Inside this swelling were five children, the fifth and best of whom was 
named Boguk Khan (as represented in Chinese sources) or Boku/Buku 
Tegin (as represented in Juvaini). One understands why the 'gnarl' or 
'swelling' of this tree could be understood as a reflection of the word 
boguk, 'crop, swelling, goiter,' and thereby taken to be the origin of the 
name Boguk Khan, the best of the five children inside the 'gnarl' or 
'swelling.' At the same time, one understands that once an equation 
between the word boguk 'crop' and the 'gnarl' or 'swelling' of the myth 
is accepted as a factum, then the word boguk becomes established among 
scholars as the form of the name they cite as Boguk Khan. However, 
we should remember that this is a myth, one recounted some three to 
five centuries after the events narrated in U 1 , and that false or "folk" 
etymologies are a common occurrence in myths and in scholastic exer- 
cises. Moreover, we should be suspicious of any attempt to derive the 
name scholars cite as Boguk Khan from a feature of the myth rather 



1 W. RadloflJ Versuch eines Worterbuches der Tilrk-Diakcte (Sanktpeterburg, 1911), Vol. IV, 
1264, 1265, 1361, 1362, 1646, 1650; M. Rasanen, Versuch eines etymologischen Worterbuchs 
der Tiirksprachen (Helsinki, 1969), 79; S. Cagatay Divanii Lugat'te "Bukuk", Turk Dili 
1: 253, 1972, 55. 

5 G. R. Rachmati, Z ur Heilkunde der Uiguren II, SPAW 1932 (Berlin), 424; A. von 
Gabain, Tilrkische Turfan-Texte VIII: Texte in Brdhmischrift, ADAW 1952, Nr. 7 (Berlin, 
1954), 57, 60 n. 2. 

6 For example, the verb bog- also is the root of bogus, 'throat, crop,' which is 
spelled bho gzi, 'crop,' in the same text, that is, with -o- instead of -w-; see von 
Gabain, Tilrkische Turfan-Texte VIII, 57. 

' The various versions of this myth have been conveniently summarized by Kasai, 
"Ein Kolophon," 9. 



64 LARRY CLARK 

than to understand that this feature of the myth is an attempt to explain 
the name scholars cite as Boguk Khan. In fact, the name spelled pwqwy 
xan in U 01 also could be interpreted as Bokug Khan. 

The word boguk or bokug (or even bokuk) and the legend itself also 
appear in three Uygur sources, two of which may be from the early 
11th century and the third of which from the 14th century, and thus 
contemporary to the versions in Chinese and in Juvaini. To begin with 
the latest source, the word occurs in line 11.29 of a Chinese-Uygur 
inscription dated 1334 in the phrase bokuk tozltig pundarik cacak ong tegin 
bdgi which Hamilton had translated "Ong Tigin Bagi, la fleur de lotus 
de la souche de Boquq," seeing here a reference "au celebre Boquq 
Qayan." 8 Zieme proposed that bokuk is not a name in this passage, 
but is used to characterize the lotus flower; thus, "the lotus flower 
originating as a bud." 9 

The second occurrence of bokug is found in a colophon to a Buddhist 
text edited by Kasai: U 971, vl4— 15 ud[ J ugusnurj udfujmbar lenfhuajsi 
bokug tbznur) pundarik cdcdki tar/rikan takin hz tatjrim. Kasai translated this 
phrase as "T(a)rjrikan Takm Kiz T(a)nrim, die (wie) die Udumbara- 
Blume, die Bokug- Ursprung habende Pundanka-Jilume des . . . Stammes 
ist." 10 The damaged name of the clan or tribe (ugus) possibly could be 
restored as udfanj which appeared as Wou-tan in the Chinese parallel to 
the Uygur passage in the 1334 inscription. Hamilton thought that this 
word was Mongol uda(n), 'willow tree,' a meaning that he extended to 
'gnarl of the willow tree.' 11 Without presuming to understand the Chi- 
nese transcription of a name, I nonetheless am confident that Mongol 
uda(n) cannot be brought into the discussion of the phrase in U 971, 
let alone of the origin myth of the Uygurs. However, in this text, the 
grammar is transparent and the phrase may be understood literally as 
"the lotus flower of the bokug-ongm" not as "the lotus flower of the 
bud-root (origin)" which makes little sense. 



8 Geng Shimin and J. Hamilton, "L'inscription ouigoure de la stele commemorative 
des Iduq Qut de Qpco," Turcica 13 (1981): 27, 35. 

9 See P. Zieme, "Uygur Yazisiyla Yazilmis. Uygur Yazitlarina Dair Bazi Dujunceler," 
Turk Dili Arajtirmalan Tilhgi Belletin 1982—83, 234; here, Zieme read tag instead of ong, 
bag instead of bdgi). 

10 See Kasai, "Ein Kolophon," 3-4. 

11 Geng-Hamilton, "L'inscription," 35; cf Mongolian-English Dictionary, E D. Lessing, 
ed. (Berkeley, 1960), 860: uda, 'willow-tree.' 



MANICHAEISM AMONG THE UYGURS 65 

The third attestation of bokug in Uygur sources also is found in a 
colophon to the Buddhist text SI D/ 1 7 (unavailable to me) which Kasai 
published as follows: 12 

kam l(a)n cuin atl(i)g bark ang icinta i-da toriip otigdn yerintd b(d)lgurup besdgiin 
orgiin iizd bddiimis yer-dd t(a)rjri-ta qyag-l(i)g ulug kiicliig t(a)rjri-l[ar] -ta alkas-l(i)g 
idok bokug ugus-ta torii[y]iiy(a)rlikamis bodi tozliig b(o)dis(a)v(a)t uguslfug] 

hat er geruht . . . von dem groGen machtigen Gottern gepriesenen heiligen 
Bokug-Stamm. . .in dem . . . Hainwald namens Kaml(a)ncuin auf einem 
Baum entstand, im Otigan-Land erschien und zu fiinft auf dem Thron 
groG wurde, zu entstehen; er ist vom Bodhi-Wesen, er ist vom Bodhisat- 
tva-Geschlecht 

Here, Kasai's interpretation o£ pys 'kwn as besagun, 'zu fiinft,' runs coun- 
ter to the very clear or sufficiently clear spellings of pyz'kwn yazi in 
U64+Mainz435b, r09, pyz'kwn in PC 2988, 01-02, and pyz'kwn orgin 
(~ orgiin) in U251a, r04. 13 Kasai justifies this interpretation by referring to 
the Uygur myth of five boys born in a tree. 14 However, the occurrence 
of pys 'kwn cannot be separated from the three occurrences of pyz'kwn, so 
that either pys 'kwn stands for pyz'kwn (and therefore cannot be besagun) 
or pyz'kwn stands for pys 'kwn and, by another leap, pys 'kwn stands for 
besagun, a possibility that cannot be dismissed but one accompanied 
by many problems. 13 Neither Hamilton's attempt to turn Wou-tan 
into Mongol uda(n), 'willow tree,' and the latter into 'gnarl of a willow 
tree,' nor Kasai's attempt to turn the name bizagiin into besagun, 'the 
group of five,' in order to connect more closely these occurrences of 
bokug to the legend of Bokug Khan, can be considered convincing at 
the present time. 

Rather, the close connection between the word bokug and the Uygur 
origin legend may be established in another way. First of all, the fact that 



12 Kasai, "Ein Kolophon," 15. 

13 For U64+Mainz435b, see A. von Le Coq, Tilrkische Manichaica aus Chotscho III, 
JVebst einem christlichen Bruchstiick aus Bulayiq, APAW 1922, Nr. 2, 40 Nr. 24 (U64); 
P. Zieme, Manichdisch-turkische Texte, Berliner Turfantexte 5 (Berlin, 1975), 59—60 n. 604 
(Mainz 435); J. Wilkens, "Ein manichaisch-tiirkischer Hymnus auf den Licht-Nous," 
Ural-Altaische Jahrbucher, Neue Folge 16 (1999-2000), 217-231. For PC 2988, see 

J. Hamilton, Manuscrits ouigours du IX'- X' siecle de Touen-houang, I-II (Paris, 1986), 83-92. 
For U251a, see P. Zieme, Manichasch-turkische Texte, 63—65 Nr. 29. 

11 Kasai, "Ein Kolophon," 15 n. 45. 

15 For example, pyz kwn appears before yazi, 'plain,' and twice before orgiin ~ orgin, 
'throne,' in these texts, so that it must be the name of a locale or something similar, 
rather than a collective numeral. 



66 LARRY CLARK 

SI D/17 refers to an unnamed ruler who was born in a tree and was 
from the bokug-dan requires a new perspective on SI D/ 1 7, as well as on 
the legend itself. This reference cannot be to an actual ruler who both 
was born in a tree and was from the bokug-dan, but must be a reference 
to the original myth itself according to which the eponymous founder 
of the Uygurs was born in a tree and also was from the bokug-dan. In 
other words, Bokug was the name of an ugus, 'family, clan, tribe,' not 
of a ruler from any period of Uygur history. The fact that the word 
bokug occurs before the word ugus, 'family, clan,' in SI D/17 ensures 
that bokug is the name of a clan and cannot be taken as the name of a 
ruler named Bokug/Boguk Khan in a (modern) myth. 

In this light, the name Bokug Khan in U 01 should be understood 
as "the Khan of the Bokug (clan)" instead of as "the Khan (named) 
Bokug." We should treat the name Boku Tegin in Juvaini according 
to the same understanding. 16 According to the Persian historian's ver- 
sion of the myth, Boku Tegin was the designation of the best of the 
five children born in the mound between two trees. 1 ' Thus, boku tegin 
has the same structure as bokug xan, and also as the phrases bokug ugus, 
'bokug-dan/ tribe' and bokug toz, 'bokug-root/ origin' noted above. As we 
shall see, the similarity between the word boku or bokug and the word 
bokug that meant 'crop; swelling' either is fortuitous or due to the twisted 
trail of a false etymology. 

In my view, the word bokug in the Uygur sources cited above and the 
word boku in Juvaini must be the same as the ethnonym of the second 
of the Nine Oguz tribes (the first was Uygur) cited in the Chinese T'ang 
Hui-yao as p'u-ku = Buku, according to Pulleyblank and Senga, or Boku, 
according to Hamilton, and also the same as the ethnonym baku cited 
in the Stael-Holstein scroll in Khotanese Saka. 18 As Senga has empha- 



"' Henceforth, I use only Boku and Boku(g) and Bokug, but of course the vowel 
could be -u- instead of -o- in each of these forms. 

17 J. A. Boyle (trans.), The History of the World-Conqueror by Ala-ad-Din 'Ata-Malik Juvaini, 
/(Cambridge, 1958), 55-56. 

18 See E. G. Pulleyblank, "Some Remarks on the Toguzoghuz Problem," Ural-Altaische 
Jahrbilcher 28 (1956): 39; T. Senga, "The Toquz Oghuz Problem and the Origin of 
the Khazars, " Journal of Asian History 24 (1990): 58; J. Hamilton, "Toquz-Oyuz et 
On-Uyyur," Journal asiatique 250 (1962): 27. Lacking expertise in Chinese, I do not 
know whether the Chinese scriptions stand for Boku or for Bokug. While Khotanese 
baku and Persian boku might indicate the form with open syllable, the occurrence 
of bokug in Uygur sources points to a closed syllable, whether or not that is due to 
a false etymology. Generally, Uygur / Oguz ethnonyms cannot be given any sort of 
realistic etymology, primarily because they were adopted from the ethnonyms of peoples 
assimilated by the Turkic-speakers of the Uygur / Oguz tribes. 



MANICHAEISM AMONG THE UYGURS 67 

sized, the ethnonyms in these sources also could be interpreted as the 
family names of the heads of the leading clans of these tribes. 19 It may 
be recalled that the major migration of Uygurs to the Tienshan region 
occurred in 866 under the leadership of an Uygur named P'ou-kou-tsiun 
who established the western empire of the Uygurs with his capital at 
Beshbalik. 20 Needless to say, the identity of Bokug Khan in U 01 and 
this founding leader cannot be the same, as Manichaeism already had 
been established more than a century before that migration. 

The relevance of P'ou-kou-tsiun to this question is that it shows once 
again that Boku or Boku(g) was the surname of the leader or possibly 
the ethnonym of the major tribe of the Nine Oguz which also were 
referred to as the Nine Surnames in Chinese. This leads one to suspect 
that the Uygur "tribe" was not itself a tribe, even though it was listed 
as such in the Chinese sources. Rather, because it was the first in the 
list of nine surnames of the Oguz (i.e. the Tokuz Oguz), the name 
Uygur may have stood for the set of ten clans (cited as On Uygur in 
sources) that made up the Boku(g) tribe which appeared second in the 
list. Several scholars have made a relevant argument in order to explain 
a reference to the Uygur Khagan and the "17 chieftains" of the Nine 
Oguz. According to both Pulleyblank and Czegledy, one must subtract 
Uygur from the list of Nine Oguz tribes, leaving eight tribes, and the 
Yaglakar clan from the list of Ten Uygur clans, leaving nine clans, to 
arrive at the figure of "17 chieftains." 21 A slightly different explanation 
is that the Boku(g) tribe of the Nine Oguz consisted of ten clans or the 
Ten Uygur. Subtraction of the set of those ten clans from the Nine 
Surnames of the Oguz leaves the Eight Oguz (a term that occurs in 
the Shine-usu inscription) and subtraction of either the Yaglakar or 
the Boku(g) clan from the Ten Uygur leaves nine other clans, or 8 + 
9—17. Such an interpretation explains the prominence of the Boku(g) 
clan in the myth about the foundation of the Uygurs, as well as in the 
history of the Western Uygur Empire. 22 



19 Senga, "The Toquz Oghuz Problem," 60. 

20 See the French abstract of T. Moriyasu , "Nouvel examen de la migration des 
Ouigours au milieu du IX C siecle" [in Japanese], The Toyo Gakuho: The Journal of the 
Research Department of the Toyo Bunko 59 (1977): 105-130. 

21 See Pulleyblank, "Some Remarks," 41, and K. Czegledy, "On the Numerical 
Composition of the Ancient Turkish Tribal Confederations," Acta Orientalia Hungaricae 
25 (1972): 278-279. 

22 I do not take into consideration the so-called "Tiirges coins," one of which bears 
the tide Kiil Bilga Bokug Uygur Khagan, on which see the recent article of Thierry, "Les 
monnaies de Boquq qaghan des Ouighours (795-808)," Turcica 30 (1998): 263-278. In 



68 LARRY CLARK 

On the basis of the considerations presented above, I propose that 
uygur pwqwy xan in U 01 should be interpreted as the "Uygur Khan of 
the Bokug (clan)" rather than the "Uygur Khan (named) Bokug." Since 
the identity of this Uygur ruler is not carried by the phrase itself, and 
since no Uygur ruler ever bore just the name Bokug (without xan, ugus 
or to£), identification of this ruler can only be accomplished by that 
kind of argument commonly known as persuasion. In fact, following in 
the footsteps of Abe's ground-breaking study of Uygur history, scholars 
have dismissed even the possibility that the word boku(g) ever could 
have referred linguistically or historically to Biigii Khan (r. 759—779), 
and instead have almost uniformly attached it to the Uygur ruler with 
the title Tarjrita iiliig bulmis alp kutlug ulug bilga xagan (r. 795-808) 
who was called "Huai-hsin" in Chinese. 23 

Why? After all, it is certain that no source ever equated this "Huai- 
hsin" (or Biigii Khan or any other Uygur ruler) with a name or word like 
boku(g). Two arguments are advanced by proponents of this identifica- 
tion: (1) "Huai-hsin" engineered a transfer of power from the Yaglakar 
clan to the Adiz clan (whose identity has never been established in a 
satisfactory manner); and (2) he also restored Manichaeism to its official 
status as state religion after the anti-Manichaean period that began with 
Biigii Khan's murder in 779. As for the first of these, Chinese sources 
attest that "Huai-hsin" himself was a Yaglakar, and that only scions of 
the Yaglakar clan were sent to T'ang courts as hostages, which clearly 
implied their continuing royal status. 24 In fact, the "Adiz power move" 
may have been a subterfuge or only a temporary state of affairs, for 
it should not be forgotten that at some unknown date the Yaglakar 
clan regained official control and retained its charismatic power in the 
Tienshan in the 13th century. In any case, no connection has been 
established between the change of clans and Manichaeism among the 
Uygurs. Moreover, the ruler "Huai-hsin" evidently supported the Adiz, 
which means that the Adiz could not have been greatly if at all opposed 
to Manichaeism and that therefore the switch of clans was political in 
nature and held little or no relevance for the religion. It may be true 



fact, this attempt to date and identify the ruler as the "Huai-hsin" (r. 795—808) in Chinese 
sources is based on an assumption supported only by the opinions of various scholars, 
but not on any attested reference to "Huai-hsin" as Bokug Khan/Khagan. 

23 As already noted, the history of this question was treated by Kasai, "Ein Kolo- 
phon," 9-14, who also mentioned a few cases of identifying the Uygur ruler in question 
with one or another ruler after 808. 

24 Kasai, "Ein Kolophon," 1 1 . 



MANICHAEISM AMONG THE UYGURS 69 

that the official restoration of Manichaeism among steppe rulers could 
be ascribed to "Huai-hsin" following a brief period of official rejection, 
but we must consider the possibility that this fact is the sole argument 
for his imputed significance from the Manichaean perspective. 

Indeed, it is instructive to weigh the relative importance of the two 
rulers, Biigii Khan and "Huai-hsin," to the version of Uygur history that 
is presented from the Manichaean point-of-view in the text U 01. Who 
(together with his brother) brought the trade routes along the Tienshan 
under Uygur control for the first time, thereby promoting Uygur power, 
fame, and enrichment in the region? It was Biigii Khan, not "Huai- 
hsin." Who decisively defeated the anti-T'ang rebels and placed T'ang 
in a subordinate relationship with the Uygurs? It was Biigii Khan, not 
"Huai-hsin." Who established an exploitative protectorship over T'ang 
that lasted until 840 and brought immeasurable riches to the Uygurs? 
It was Biigii Khan, not "Huai-hsin." Who established Manichaeism as 
the state religion of the Uygurs? It was Biigii Khan, not "Huai-hsin," 
who only rehabilitated what Biigii Khan had founded. Who brought 
Manichaean clerics and missionaries to the steppe for the first time? It 
was Biigii Khan, not "Huai-hsin." Who supported the first translations 
of Manichaean texts into Uygur, thus making proselytization possible? 
It was Biigii Khan, not "Huai-hsin." Who was the subject of one of 
the most famous texts of the period (U 72-U 73, the "Reaffirmation" 
text), 25 one that demonstrated a personal knowledge of the man rather 
than of an abstract or mythological figure? It was Biigii Khan, not 
"Huai-hsin." I have invoked this "litany of injustice" accorded to the 
fame and acclaim of Biigii Khan primarily to emphasize that any sub- 
sequent ruler of the Uygur Steppe Empire pales in importance next to 
him from the Manichaean perspective. In my view, a more persuasive 
candidate than Biigii Khan cannot be found for the "the Uygur Khan 
of the Bokug (clan)" in U 01. 

If that identification can be accepted, then U 01 (much as com- 
parable portions of the Karabalgasun inscription) may be seen as a 
primary historical document that chronicles events in the steppe from 
the final years of the Second Turk Dynasty (692-744) to at least the 
establishment of the Uygur Steppe Empire (744-840) and its extension 
westward to the Tienshan in the 750s. This brings us to the second 



25 See W. Bang and A. von Gabain, Tilrkische Turfan-Texte, II. Manichaica, SPAW, Phil.- 
Hist. Klasse 1929 (Berlin, 1929), 411-422; L. Clark, "The Conversion," 101-104. 



70 LARRY CLARK 

piece of unexplained evidence in U 01, namely the reference to the 
Sheep year which, rigorously, could have been 755, 767, 779 and so 
on in a 12-year cycle. The interpretation of "the Uygur Khan of the 
Bokug (clan)" as a reference to Biigii Khan would support viewing that 
Sheep year as 755, and it happens that our evidence places the future 
Biigii Khan in the Tienshan area in 755. 26 

Even if we concede that Manichaean Presbyters could have been 
sent to the steppe as early as the years 755 or later, we lack the kind of 
documentation needed to gauge the extent of Manichaean conversion 
there or anywhere in the eastern region of Central Eurasia. Nonetheless, 
we can infer from sources that the church, elated by the power wielded 
by their new convert, anticipated much success in proselytizing among 
the peoples in the steppe subject to the Uygurs. The Karabalgasun 
inscription specifies that after Biigii Khan reconfirmed his acceptance 
of the religion in 763: 2/ 

The king of the religion (fa-wang), having been apprised that [the Uygurs] 
had accepted the true religion, strongly praised their respectful [. . .] (and) 
sent the Elect brothers and sisters to enter into the kingdom in order to 
spread and exalt [the religion] there. Then the throng of disciples of the 
Teacher (mojak) traversed the land in all directions from east to west, and 
came and went, preaching the religion. 

Manichaean clergy in Kocho set about preparing numerous works in 
the Turkic language of the Uygurs. 28 These included service-books and 
hymnals for ritual life, catechisms for individual study and probably a 
history of the Uygurs and their most famous son, Biigii Khan. Such 
texts were written in the Manichaean script of the church, but also in 
the Runic script that the Uygurs used in their historical inscriptions 
in the steppe, as well as in the slightly adapted Sogdian script used 
by Karluks and Yagmas already in the Tienshan area. The majority 
reflect the bilingualism of their Sogdian compositors, not only in the 
orthography and grammar of the Uygur language used in the texts, 
but also in the inclusion of Middle Persian and Parthian hymns and 
passages in these books. 



26 See Clark, "The Conversion," 106-115. 

2/ See E. Chavannes and P. Pelliot, "Un traite manicheen retrouve en Chine, traduit 
et annote," Journal asiatique 1913, 190-196. 

28 For the Turkic Manichaean corpus, see L. Clark, "The Turkic Manichaean Litera- 
ture," Emerging from Darkness: Studies in the Recovery of Manichaean Sources, Nag Hammadi 
and Manichaean Studies 43 (Leiden, 1997), 89-141. 



MANICHAEISM AMONG THE UYGURS 7 1 

However, there is no evidence or reason to believe that conversion 
ever advanced far beyond the Uygur ruler and segments of his family, 
clan, entourage, and administration during the steppe empire. On the 
contrary, opposition to the new religion could have been one of the 
factors in the palace coup that resulted in the execution of Biigii Khan 
and his Sogdian advisers in 779, since Manichaeans also suffered griev- 
ously in the purge. 29 Although Manichaeism was restored to an official 
status under the rulers Ay Tangrite Uliig Bulmis Alp Kutlug Ulug Bilga 
Khagan/Huai-hsin (795—808) and Ay Tangrite Kut Bulmis Alp Bilga 
Khagan/Pao-i (808-821), it surely served as one of the ideologies of the 
leadership and not as a belief system that integrated secular and religious 
life for the peoples of the realm. Its ideological role was manifested in 
the Turkic literature from Kocho, which presents numerous examples 
of the glorification of the Uygur rulers of the steppe. For example, in 
one text (TM 417 and TM 47 [M 919]), the composer clearly sought 
to divinize these rulers by comparing one ruler's death to the "sinking 
of the Sun God" and his enthronement to "the rising of the Moon 
God," so that enthronement itself was likened to a reincarnation of 
the supreme bodies of Light, resident in the Khan. 30 That these rulers 
accepted such symbols of their deification is evident from their titles 
which contained an element proclaiming that they had received their 
charisma or right to rule from the kun tdngri 'Sun God' or the ay tangri 
'Moon God' or both. 31 Church leaders in Kocho had everything to 
gain from their conscious divinization of the Uygur rulers in the far-off 
steppe. Deification may not have been the sincerest form of flattery, 
but it did help to ensure protection of missionary activities within the 
realm. However, apart from a few faint vestiges of their proselytizing 
efforts, Manichaeism disappeared from the upper steppe with the col- 
lapse of the Uygur Steppe Empire in 840. 



29 See C. MacKerras, The Uighur Empire According to the T'ang Dynastic Histories. A Study 
in Sino-Uighur Relations, 744-840 (Columbia, 1973), 88. 

30 E W. K. Miiller, Uigunca I, APAW 1908, Nr. 2 (Berlin, 1908), 57; A. von Le Coq, 
"Tiirkische Manichaica aus Chotscho III," 33-35 Nr. 15; Arat, "Der Herrschertitel 
Iduq-qut" Ural-Altaische Jahrbiicher 35 (1964): 150-157. 

31 Following the palace coup, the several Uygur rulers of the years 779—795 were 
not Manichaeans and did not carry the 'Moon and Sun Gods' element in their tides, 
with the very brief exception of Ay Tangrita Bolrms Kiilug Biigii Xagan/Chung-chen 
(789-790); cf. MacKerras, The Uighur Empire, 88-107, 152-153 n. 146. 



MANICHAEAN TIME-MANAGEMENT: LAYMEN BETWEEN 
RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR DUTIES 

Iris Colditz 
Berlin 



Manichaean Ethics and the Division of the Tasks in the Community 

The believer of any religion is obliged to perform a multitude of duties. 
Religious commandments regulate the ethical conditions of his life and 
call upon him to perform religious services. Nevertheless, the faithful 
one does not stand out of the society, since he has to fulfill also his 
social and family obligations according to his respective position. As a 
superior, he is responsible for his subordinates and has to ensure their 
maintenance; as an inferior, he has to act with respect and services 
towards his master. Moreover, of course, the believer is to earn his own 
living and that of his family members by following an occupation. All 
these duties occupy the believer's time, and sometimes this may bring 
him into a conflict as to which one of them shall take priority. For 
that reason, every religion develops its own instructions to enable its 
followers to meet all their commitments. 

Manichaean ethics demanded from the believers to keep the so- 
called "three seals": of the mouth, of the hands, and of the lap. They 
consisted in purity of thoughts and words, food instructions, avoid- 
ance of any activities that could harm the Living Soul, which is the 
divine Light fettered in every part of the material world, and chastity ' 
By this, many kinds of occupations people used to earn their living, 
especially within the fields of agriculture, warfare, hunting, and craft, 
were regarded as aggressive against the Light, whereas those within 



1 For the "three seals" and the Manichaean commandments in the sources see: 
Augustine, de moribus Mamchaeorum 20 (Rutzenhofer 2004, 1 72 — 1 73); Fihrist 333 (Fliigel 
1862, 64, 95; Dodge 1970, II 789); M801a/p.l3/6/ (Henning 1936a, 24, 1. 205); 
Xwdstwdmft XV C (Asmussen 1965, 179, 199); Chin. Hymnscroll 387-400 (Tsui Chi/ 
Henning 1943, 213-214; Schmidt-Glintzer 1987, 62); Keph. 192.3-193.22 (Polotsky/ 
Bohlig 1940); PsBk 115—116 (Allberry 1938). For a general overview on Manichaean 
ethics and commandments see Klimkeit 1989, 52-56; Tardieu 1981, 79-89; Bohlig 
1980, 40-44; Sims-Williams 1985b. 



74 IRIS GOLDITZ 

the fields of commerce, finance, administration and book production 
were considered as harmless. Standing in the Gnostic tradition, the 
Manichaean mission was directed at the urban educated classes, but it 
must have had also its numerous followers among the common people 
to enable the Manichaean religion an existence across the world and 
through the centuries. 2 

The Elect and their Continuous Religious Work 

However, not all members of the community could fulfill these ethical 
precepts. The Manichaean parishes had therefore a hierarchical struc- 
ture, and there existed a clear division of tasks between the two main 
groups of this community: the clerics (Elect) and the laymen (Hearers). 
Both of them had to observe several religious commandments which 
differed in intensity. The clerics followed five very restrictive regulations, 
handed down in several versions in Western and Eastern Manichaean 
sources. 3 They were forbidden to lie, to kill, to eat flesh and to drink 
alcohol, to have sexual intercourse and to accumulate personal pos- 
sessions. Thus purified they were able to fulfill their religious duties, 
which they did exclusively. Their whole day was devoted to prayers 
and hymns, until they gathered in the evening for the "Table of God," 
the cultic meal that served the redemption of the Light from material 
bondage. Several times of the year the Elect also performed fasts of 
varying duration and the confession of sins. "For this reason it is not 
permitted for them to do any work For this reason they are forbid- 
den to carry out an occupation." 4 

Many Manichaean sources describe how the clerics devoted them- 
selves continuously to liturgical and ritual practice, to teaching, mis- 
sion and pastoral duties and, of course, to the keeping of the religious 
commandments. 

To fulfill completely, oh God, your counsels and your commandments, I 
shall strive and wait (on you). I am ardent, by day and by night. (M39/v/ 
ii/8-11, Parthian) 5 



2 For a summary with further references see Colditz 2000, 36—37. 

3 Sims-WiUiams 1985b, 573-577. 

* Acta Archelm X.7 (Latin) and X.28.8 (Greek) (Vermes 2001, 55, 157). 
5 Andreas/Henning 1934, 885, 11. 70-73; Klimkeit 1993, 59. 



MANICHAEAN TIME-MANAGEMENT 75 

I pray day and night, lead my soul to the eternal paradise! (M77/r/14— 15, 
Parthian)' 1 

. . . this being the daily work (of the men) of the religion. (That light) that 
ascends daily from the whole body of the Elect to the light [chariots] 
(= the sun and the moon); and the gods in command of these chari- 
ots draw it up [and] constandy send it on to the world of paradise. 
(Ch5554+Ch/U69 1 4+So 1 5000(5)/ 119-123, Sogdian) 7 

We also find descriptions of the continuous religious work of the 
Manichaean clergy in Eastern Manichaean sources which are mostly 
translations from Iranian languages. In the Chinese Traite, the fifth of 
the "Twelve Precious Trees of the Twelve Kings of Light," character- 
ized by "zeal," expresses itself in the qualities of the Elect. 

. . .that the teachers and the bishops constandy produce an extraordinary 
merciful and warm consciousness, that they dwell peacefully and in har- 
mony. (Traite Pelliot 569.16-571.2, Chinese) 8 

Firstly, they shall not sleep, (in fear) they could be kept from the perform- 
ing of actions which lead to perfectness. Secondly, they constandy rejoice 
to read and to recite, and they encourage their hearts in not becoming 
lazy. If those who study with them give instructions, they are attentive and 
grateful to them, and as a result of the instructions their hearts will not 
cause any anger. Their constant efforts also encourage the others. Thirdly, 
they are always glad to explain the pure and righteous law. Forthly they 
recite the hymns according to the rites, and what they have recited they 
write down and repeat in their minds. In this way, there is no moment at 
any time which would be empty. Fifthly, they hold on to the command- 
ments and do not stumble. (Traite Pelliot 578.7—20, Chinese) 9 

Characteristic idiomatic expressions, like "constantly" (Chin, ch'ang), 
"daily" (So. ptmydy), "every day" (So. wyspw mj>5) or "day and night" 
(Pa. sab ud roz, pad roz ud pad sab) are often used in this context, which 
underline the continuity of religious service. It is interesting, that some 
of the Iranian idioms have already been in use for a very long time, 
since we find for example OP. xsapava raucapativa, "by night or by day" 



6 Andreas/Henning 1934, 887; Klimkeit 1993, 57. 

7 Sundermann 1985, 27, 11. 119-123; Klimkeit 1993, 181. 

8 Chavannes/PeUiot 1911, 569-570; Schmidt-Glintzer 1987, 94, as 84bl5-17. For 
parallels see: (Pa.) M1848/r/5-7/ (Sundermann 1992c, 52, 69, §45); (Copt.) Keph. 89.18- 
102.12 (Polotsky/Bohlig 1940); (Turk.) Klimkeit/Schmidt-Glintzer 1984, 90-91. 

9 Chavannes/PeUiot 1911, 578; Schmidt-Glintzer 1987, 96-97, as 85a2-9. 



76 IRIS GOLDITZ 

in the meaning of "continuously, always" in Darius' inscription at 
Behistun. 10 

Religious Obligations of the Hearers 

Far less is told in the texts in detail about the laymen. Like the Elect, 
the Manichaean Hearers ought to observe a number of religious 
rules. Their behavior as a Manichaean believer was laid down in ten 
commandments, which were less restrictive than those of the clerics. 
These rules contained the renunciation of idolatry, lying, greed, killing, 
fornication, theft, teaching of pretences and sorcery, of standing in two 
opinions (concerning the religion) and of slackness and negligence of 
work. ' ' 

The tasks of the Elect and the Hearers complemented each other. 
While the laymen were allowed to eat meat if they had not killed the 
animal by themselves, and to have sexual intercourse with their wives 
or husbands respectively but to prevent procreation and conception, the 
clerics lived an abstemious live. 12 The most important religious duty of 
the Manichaean Hearers consisted in the provision of the Elect with 
everything they needed for living. This enabled the latter to devote 
their whole time and attention to ceremonies of religious worship for 
the redemption of Light without any distraction by worldly obligations. 
The clerics for their part assured the laymen the salvation of their souls 
by doing all liturgical practice. Manichaean Hearers thus took their 
benefit from the work of the clerics. "By his life as serving auditor he 
is God's collaborator and contributes to God's and his own salvation. 
He possesses a living hope of being reborn as an Electus and after a 
life in abstinence to come to reside in the 'New Paradise'." 13 Therefore, 
the Hearers had to do "soul-service" by giving alms to the Elect of an 
amount of one tenth or one seventh of his property 14 which consisted 



10 DB 1.19-20, with parallels in Skt. ksapas . . . usras RV 6.52.15, 7.15.8 (Kent 
1953, 119), which shows common more ancient roots in the Indo-European poetry 
language. 

11 The only complete list is given in the Fihrist 333 (Flugel 1862, 64, 95—96; Dodge 
1970, II 789). Cf. Sims-Williams 1985b, 577-582 with further references. 

12 Augustine, de haeresibus c. 46 (MPL 42, 37—38) gives some interesting" details on 
the life of the Manichaean Hearers. So he reports on these precepts, as well as on the 
negative Manichaean position towards agriculture and cattle breeding. 

13 Asmussen 1965, 15. 
11 Tardieu 1981, 87. 



MANICHAEAN TIME-MANAGEMENT 7 7 

in the donation of food, clothing, lodging, and other services, such as 
building residences or courier and transport services. They could also 
do social work, i.e. to pay for the release of a slave or hostage or to 
give a relative to the church (as a servant). 15 It was regarded as a pious 
deed as well to donate money to the copying of the holy scriptures. 16 
The Manichaean laymen had also other canonical obligations. 
Among these were the four daily prayers, devoted to the four aspects 
of the Father of Greatness, God-Light-Power- Wisdom, and held before 
the sun following its course over the sky during the day and before the 
moon or the Pole Star during the night, or to the North direction on 
moonless nights. 17 Concerning the times of prayer of the Hearers, the 
sources do not agree in all details. The Fihrist lists them as: just after 
noon, mid-afternoon, just after sunset, and nightfall, which corresponds 
to the four public of the five daily prayers in Islam. Moreover, the 
enumerating of the prayers starts here with the noon-prayer as is usual 
for the Muslim liturgical day. "Thus, an-Nadim's account describes the 
practice of Manichaeans who had apparently adjusted their prayer- 
times to coincide exactly with the four public and visible prayers of the 
Muslims." 18 Al-Birum also begins with the noon-prayer, but he indicates 
differing times of prayer: noon, nightfall, dawn and sunrise. They coin- 
cide with four of the seven prayers of the Elect who held their additional 
prayers at mid-afternoon, half an hour after nightfall and at midnight. 
Therefore, al-Birum's report may reflect an older Manichaean tradi- 
tion, not affected yet by Muslim influence. The Manichaean liturgical 
day may have begun originally with nightfall. 19 From this information 
it becomes clear that the main time of the Hearer's religious activity 



15 Keph. 192.25-193.22 (Polotsky/Bohlig 1940), cf. also Sundermann 1977, 240-241. 
But Manichaean charity was restricted to one's own parish, as criticized by Augustine, 
Enarratio in psalmum 140, c. 12 (CCL 40, 2034-2035). 

16 Henning 1943, 59, 11. 230—233. For the so-called "donater's names" see Polotsky 
1934, 25.16-19; Sundermann 1981, 80 n. 5, 104 n. 4; Sundermann 1992a, 73-74; 
Colditz 1995, 49-52. 

17 On the Manichaean prayers we find more detailed accounts in Arabic sources: 
in Fihrist 333 (Fliigel 1862, 64-65, 96-97; Dodge 1970, II 790-791) and in al-Birum's 
'Ifradu l-maqdlifi 'mri g-gjlal, "Treatise on telling time by means of shadow" (= Rasd'ilu 
l-Bayrum 2, Hyderabad/Dekkan 1367/1948, 175), with differing information. For a 
comparison of both, and further considerations on the times of the Manichaean prayers, 
see de Blois 2000, 49—54, with an overview on the sources, ibid. 50. Some information 
we owe also to Augustine, discussed by van der Lof 1969. 

18 de Blois 2000, 51. 

19 de Blois 2000, 51 refers to al-Blrum (Qdnun I, 66—67), who tells that the course 
of the day started for the Manichaeans with nightfall. 



78 IRIS GOLDITZ 

was between sunset and sunrise, besides noontide. Every prayer started 
with a preparatory ablution, and consisted of several blessings to the 
apostle and to the gods. It was to be performed while prostrating oneself 
to the ground and rising again twelve times during every prayer. One 
can imagine that this occupied a certain part of the Hearer's time. 

Other obligations of the Manichaean laymen consisted in the regular 
fasts and the confession of sins. The Hearers fasted on fifty Sundays 
and five times a year for two days continuously, as well as once a year 
for 30 days with a break after sunset, including two double-days of 
fasting (Yimki- and Mani-fasts) at the beginning and the end. 20 This 
corresponds partly to the precepts for the Elect, who fasted additionally 
on fifty Mondays. Therefore, the laymen had to keep about 90 days 
of fasting a year, which entailed not only restraining from food and 
drink but also sexual abstinence and resting from worldly activities. The 
institution of the confession of sins was to inform the believer about 
his status regarding Gnosis and redemption. 21 The laymen confessed 
their sins of the preceding week every Monday before the clerics, and 
of the past year during the Bema-feast which was celebrated on the last 
four days of the "month of the law," a month of fasting, as the day of 
assembly, confession and remission of sins. This feast was to remind all 
Manichaeans of Mani's passion after 26 days of imprisonment. During 
that time, the Hearers could not follow their usual daily business, since 
they had to obey the "resting of the hands." Traveling, visiting, curing, 
writing, juridical proceedings or trading was not allowed on Monday 22 
It seems that the Hearers also fasted on the Bema-day but it is not clear 



211 Fihnst 333-334 (Fliigel 1862, 65, 97; Dodge 1970, II 791); Keph. 191.31-192.3 
(Polotsky/Bohlig 1940); Keph. 262.10-264.19 (Polotsky/Bohlig 1966); Xwastwamft XIV 
A (Asmussen 1965, 178, 198, 222); cf. also Henning 1945a; Sundermann 1975. For a 
discussion of the problems, see Reck 2004, 7—10; for a differentiation between Eastern 
and Western Manichaean traditions, see Wurst 1995. 

21 Asmussen 1965, 19. On Gnosis and following the commandments as preconditions 
for redemption see Polotsky 1935, 245. Joining the clergy, the Manichaean believer 
enjoyed general absolution (So. yiiwanweca) for all sins of his hitherto life. But from 
then onwards, heavy sins would lead him to banishment from absolution and from 
the Manichaean community, loosing every hope for redemption (Henning 1936a, 
12-13, 100). 

22 See the quotation from M5860. Reck (1997, 303; 2004, 127) supposes that this 
fragment reports on the Elect. The described activities may refer to obligations the 
clergy had to fulfill due to monastic economy. But trading reminds one also of a com- 
mon profession among the laity. "Payment" (pansmar) as an obligation of the Hearer 
is also mentioned in M49/I/ (see below). For the social background of Manichaean 
adherents and the target groups of Manichaean mission see Sundermann 1984b, 283, 
361 n. 2; Colditz 2000, 30-39. 



MANICHAEAN TIME-MANAGEMENT 79 

whether this day was counted within the month of fasting or as an extra 
day. Several Manichaean sources report on the Hearer's situation at the 
Bema-feast. 23 The whole day of the feast and the preceding night the 
Hearers spent together with the Elect in praying, singing hymns, and 
listening to admonitions and the reading of the scriptures. 

Read the strict commandment and the scripture, and teach wisdom, 
proper behavior, and precept on this day. On this day also do not go and 
come on the way, do not arrive nor depart, do not write the book and 
do not (heal) the body, [ ] legal case [ ] do not remember *expenses. 
(M5860/I/r/i/6-20, Parthian) 24 

Blessed are the Elect and the Catechumens, who keep festival on this day 
and fast and pray and give alms, that they may reign in the New Aeon. 
(PsBk 25.27-29, Coptic) 25 

He commanded the wise ones, who are the Elect(?), to preach unto the 
Catechumens [ ] for them this day in honor, they making festival(?) 
together, keeping watch in the night with the holy ones [ ] with their 
fruits in the presence of the [ ]. (PsBk 35.18-22, Coptic) 26 

We now therefore make festival fulfilling thy holy day, passing the night 
in vigil in thy joy, o glorious one. (PsBk 41.16—17, Coptic) 2 ' 

The Manichaeans had to fulfill these religious commandments and 
obligations for the sake of their souls. All believers, the clergy as well 
as the laity, saw themselves exposed to a permanent seduction by the 
powers of Darkness. Manichaeism took "sin terribly seriously" 28 and 
regarded it as an active power. Negligence of the religious command- 
ments could have drastic consequences for their status within the 
Manichaean community and especially for the future fate of the soul: 
hierarchical debasement, exclusion from absolution, excommunication 
and consequently the imprisonment of the Light particles of the soul in 



23 For the feast of the Bema see Henning 1936a, 9-16; Tardieu 1981, 90-93; 
Bohlig 1980, 42-43, 311 n. 127; Sundermann 1990, 136-137; Reck 2004, 27-35; 
Wurst 1995 and 1996. The sources differ in their statements concerning length and 
course of the feast. 

21 Reck 2004, 127, 11. 562-576; see also Reck 1997, 301; Sundermann 1984a, 
232. 

25 Allberry 1938, 25; Wurst 1996, 70-71, verse 15, fol. 25.27-28. 

26 Allberry 1938, 35. 

27 Allberry 1938, 41; Wurst 1996, 102-103, verse 3, fol. 41.16-17. Cf. also a So. 
fragment on liturgy: Sol3500/v/l-4, "kw[ ] 'xsp'[ ] "y'z my [5 ] p's oo "hang(?) 

] night [ ] beginning of the da[y ] wake/sing/fast(?)" (unpublished, cf. Reck 
2006, 85 no. 87). 

28 Asmussen 1965, 15. 



80 IRIS GOLDITZ 

the Bolos, the final prison of Matter. 29 The dark "thieves" permanently 
threatened the Soul of Light, which must be guarded like a "treasure." 
Therefore, it required a constant fight against those powers, and the 
believers needed to stay always aware of the divine nature of the Soul 
of Light. The Manichaeans ought to restrain themselves from bad 
thoughts, bad words and bad deeds, and especially from laziness in their 
religious duties. 30 A multitude of Manichaean texts (homilies, parables, 
hymns) are extant in which the believers are taught to keep the com- 
mandments, and in particular the Hearers to show diligence in giving 
alms to the Elect. Parables, for example, use the image of the man of 
low birth who reaches great honor through an extraordinary gift. 31 But 
also the rich one is called upon to contribute his share to it. 

The Hearer who gives alms (to the Elect) is like a man of low birth, who 
presents (his) daughter to the king. He reaches (a position of) great honor. 
(M101f/v/3-6, Middle Persian) 32 

Wonderful is the rich one who [does] good deeds because his is drunk 
by the treasure. (M6020/II/v/ii/16-18, Parthian) 33 

Non-fulfillment of the religious demands, whether willingly or unwill- 
ingly, was judged as a sin, notwithstanding whether it was committed 
due to laziness and negligence or to poverty or physical powerlessness. 
In every case, the Manichaean had to ask for forgiveness, as it is clear 
from the confession formulas, for which see below. 34 We know at least 
from the Central Asian Manichaean communities of the 8/9th century 
that each group of the laity the male and the female, had its headmas- 
ter or -mistress (MP. niyosdgbed, So.f. niyosak-patanc) who supervised the 
fulfillment of religious duties by his or her subordinates. 35 The Chinese 
version of the Karabalgassun inscription (821 CE), about the intro- 
duction of Manichaeism in the Uyghur kingdom, 36 reports that after 



29 Asmussen 1965; Henning 1936a, 12; Bohlig 1980, 43-44; cf. also Chin. Compen- 
dium c7— cl2 on the sinful Elect who is to be handled "like a dead person" (Haloun/ 
Henning 1953, 195-196; Schmidt-Glintzer 1987, 74). 

30 For examples see Reck 1992, 342-345. 

31 For the symbolism see Sundermann 1976, 182; Colditz 2000, 194-196. 

32 Henning 1943, 59, 63-64, A.f(188-191); M221 gives the story in more detail, cf. 
ibid. 64 n.l; Sundermann 1973, 103-104, text 36. 

33 Colditz 2000, 223, 388. 

31 Cf. also Tardieu 1981, 88-89. 

35 Ml/30, 127, 140 (Miiller 1913, 34); cf. Tardieu 1981, 75. 

36 The Sogdian and the Turkish versions do not include this passage. For the ins- 
cription see Hansen 1930; Radloff 1895, 291-298; Schlegel 1896, 18. 



MANICHAEAN TIME-MANAGEMENT 8 1 

a relapse of the converted king supervisors (Turk, tavratyuci) had been 
appointed who watched over the religious morals and especially over 
the alms-giving for the Elect. 37 Disobedience of the Hearers towards 
the Elect was also considered a sin, since the latter should be honored 
in the same way as one's "masters and rulers," and the laymen were 
afraid to neglect their commandments. 38 The religious authorities of the 
Manichaean church are often praised in the manner of a king and his 
courtiers, while the laymen can be compared with the subjects. 39 For all 
these reasons, the Manichaean Hearers lived in the expectation of hard 
penalties for their sins during the final judgment. Several Manichaean 
texts give an insight into the idea of punishment of the sinners, which 
appear to originate in Sasanian criminal law. The described penalty 
methods correspond to those applied to apostates by Sasanian authori- 
ties as well as to the demons in the Manichaean myth. 40 



The Secular Obligations: Taxes, Services, Livelihood 

So far, we have been considering the religious sphere. But on the other 
side, the Manichaean Hearers were also heavily obliged to the secular 
sphere. Paying less taxes or the non-fulfillment of services for the king 
and the nobility led to considerable consequences for the legal and 
social position of a Hearer, and negligence of his occupational duties 
worsened the material living conditions of himself and his family. The 
parable in MIOlf and M221 quoted above describes just this ideal of 
the subject loyal to the king, which has a Manichaean reinterpretation 
as the generous Hearer. The term "poor, powerless, of low birth" (MP. 
iskoh, Pa. iskoh) used here for the Hearer is even the same as for the 
class of rural population obliged to services and taxes. 41 But we may 
suppose that, because of the Manichaean ethic, most of the laymen 



37 Klimkeit 1989, 25-27; Bang and von Gabain 1930, 412. 

38 M8251/I/r/8— 13 (MP.) u-san pad padixsar darend ca'on ke xwes xwadaw<an> udxwaddy 
dareh ud tirsend framan ig awisan widaradan ud o en nihuftagihan ud wuzurgihan wihoridan i-sdn 
pad wisp zamdn azis asnawend (Andreas/Henning 1933, 309). 

39 Colditz 2000, 367-373. 

40 For this problem see Colditz 1998. 
11 Colditz 2000, 190-196, 204-208. 



82 IRIS GOLDITZ 

did not make their living as a farmer or cattle-breeder but as a trader, 
businessman or other sorts of urban professional. 42 

On taxes and other obligations in the time of early Manichaeism we 
owe our information to Jewish sources like the Babylonian Talmud, as 
well as to the Arabic historians. They describe the economic circum- 
stances in Babylonia in the first centuries CE. 43 Landowners had to pay 
land-tax (Aram, tasqa < Gr. racju;?, besides MP. harag, Arab, harag)** of 
about 1/6 to 1/3 of the earnings in cash or in kind at a fixed time. A 
certain part of this tax had to be paid to the king as the "king's share" 
(Aram, m'nata d'malka). In the case that the tax debtor did not or could 
not pay, the land was confiscated and sold, or the owner had to lease 
or mortgage it. In the final consequence farmers also migrated to the 
cities. 45 The leaseholder for his part had to pay rent of different kinds 
to the lessor. Another obligation consisted in the poll tax (Aram, karga; 
MP. gazid, gazidag, Arab, gizya). Additional burdens were made for the 
provision of material, equipment, and supply for state projects, the 
civil servants, or the armed forces. Commercial businessmen paid also 
customs duty on traffic of goods and persons. Delay or unwillingness 
of payment resulted in the seizure of their assets. 46 

Debt is also frequently dealt with in the extant Sasanian legal texts, 
especially in the Hazar dadestan* 1 and must have been the subject of 
many legal proceedings, since the Sasanian legal practice contained 
very complicated regulations for its repayment. If the debtor was not 
able to pay his charges he was considered as "unable, incapable" (MP. 
a-tuwdnig) and "insolvent" (an-dddn) and with that also as dependent 
[framdn-burddr). He had no or only limited legal competence, needing 



42 From Manichaean point of view, it seems more useful to be a money-lender than 
a farmer. Augustine, Enarratio in psalmum 140, c. 12 (CCL 40, 2034—2035). 

43 For the foUowing see Klima 1962, 33-38, 60 n. 79; Klima 1957, 28-30, 49-50. 
The terms for "taxes" may have undergone some changes through time. 

44 For MP. harag "(land-)tax," < Aram. Iflcik < Akkad. ilku, see Henning 1958, 
41; Henning 1935. It is not clear what kind of tax this term referred to in Sasanian 
time. Macuch (1993, 259, 269-270) explains it as " 'Pflichtleistung' fur die Obrigkeit 
(Steuer?)," and translates MP. harg ud bar "Pflichten und Lasten." In Islamic times Arab. 
harag was used for the land tax. 

45 The Arda Wirdz namag gives reference to the misery of the peasants as a result of 
excessive taxes (harg-iz i gar an), emerging from false land-survey. AWN 49.7—9 (Haug/ 
West 1872, 181; Ann 1342/1963, 52). 

46 For an overview of offences and appropriate penalties see Colditz 1998, 34—35. 

47 Part II: Macuch 1981; part I: Macuch 1993. For an overview on the sources of 
Sasanian legal literature see ibid, 2—7, for the many references to debts see Macuch 
1993, 768-769 (index). 



MANICHAEAN TIME-MANAGEMENT 83 

legal intercession (jddag-gowih) just like a woman, a minor, or a slave. 48 
Some sources equate the insolvent one with the "poor, powerless" (skoh).* 9 
Non-payment of obligations could be punished by mutilation (dros), 
which was the punishment for theft. 10 To pay his charges, the debtor 
could also commit himself or one of his relatives "with the body" 
(pad tan) for a fixed time to the service of the creditor who gained the 
revenues from his work.' 1 However, this servitude of obligation led to 
a restriction or even loss of personal freedom. A Manichaean parable 
gives an impression of this state. In this, the debtors (Pa. pdr—burddn, 
purdagdn) are permitted to leave a country only after having paid their 
debts (par). It distinguishes also between debtors with much and those 
with small debt.' 2 The Zoroastrian Denkard (Book VI) makes an interest- 
ing reference to indebtedness as the result of non-fulfillment of one's 
duties (MP. a-xwes-kdnh) - a hint at a possible negligence of tasks and 
services. 

. . .from not doing one's duty (there comes about) poverty; from poverty 
(there comes about) misery and insolvency for oneself and one's wife and 
slaves. (DkM 563.13-15, Middle Persian) 53 



The Conflict between Religious and Secular Duties: The Confession Formulas 

The MP. text M49/I/r/ gives an account of the social and economic 
obligations of potential adherents to Manichaeism. A man who entered 
the community as a Hearer should ruminate upon his soul, although he 
continued to be concerned with his worldly affairs, like family, property, 



18 PhlRwDd 62.12 (Williams 1990, I, 222-223, 271; II, 108, 261). Cf. Bartholomae 
1920, 53-54; Colditz 2000, 214-215. 

49 Frahang I Oim 1 (Reichelt 1900, 197; Reichelt 1901, 122; Haug/West 1872, 59; 
Sundermann 1976, 180). 

50 It consisted of mutilation or branding of the condemned, possibly also in paying a 
fine. Cf. Macuch 1993, 495-496. For this kind of punishing a debtor see Hazar dddistdn 
3.5-6 (Macuch 1993, 54-57, 66-67). 

51 Macuch 1993, 401-402, 575. 

52 (Pa.) M 333AV2-10: naxwist ho par [ce] [anjdar im sahr o wasdn purd[ag] tied, beh tozed, 
ud pas isma[h] o ku s[ud]an homed heb saw [id], bez hawin ke dzdd ahend, u-sa[n] andar ho sahr 
lis par ne ast, ab[dw] wistaf ud abe-tars pad ho pahrag beh azihed, u-san ho bazakkar cis kirdan 
nesahed (Colditz 1987, 289-292, text 1.3, 11. 78-86; cf. also Colditz 2000, 98-99). The 
epimythion of the parable is in M334a (Colditz 1987, 292-297, text 1.4). But the 
differentiation in the amount of debt is interpreted here in a religious way referring 
to the grade of Gnosis. 

53 Sanjana 1874-1928, XII, 66; Shaked 1979, 164-165; Sundermann 1976, 185. 



84 IRIS GOLDITZ 

taxes, military service, or the pleasures of meat and beverages. The 
reverse of the fragment contains instructions according to Manichaean 
ethics and mentions the warrior and the peasant. 

. . . thus it is fitting, that he (i.e. the potential Hearer), just as he gives himself 
up to hate and protects the country (i.e. as a soldier) and does agriculture 
and makes payments and eats flesh and drinks wine and has wife and child 
and acquires house and property and cries for the body and pays taxes 
in the country and robs and damages and proceeds with oppression and 
mercilessness — (it is fitting that he) in the same way should also ask for 
the wisdom and knowledge of the gods and think of the soul. And also 
the one [who] more truly the affairs [ ] and does and [ ] house and 
i ] truly [ ] . . . Like the warrior and worker 54 and also [ ] and the 
soul, but [ ] is. (M49/I/r/l-17, /v/13-16, Middle Persian) 55 

As it is already remarked above, a generous donation of alms was - 
besides prayers, fasting and the confession of sins - the most practicable 
way for the Manichaean Hearers to have an active influence on their 
redemption. But alms-giving appeared to be an additional charge for the 
laity. With too excessive alms they risked a neglect of their secular obliga- 
tions, which applied to the so called "Perfect Hearer" who distinguished 
himself by strict ethics and an extraordinary almsgiving. 56 Therefore, 
the Manichaean laymen stood in a permanent conflict between the 
religious and the secular sphere. This conflict is expressed clearly enough 
in the Manichaean confession formulas." The most important texts of 
this kind are the fragments of the Bet- und Beichtbuch in Middle Persian, 
Parthian and Sogdian, 58 and the Turkish Xwastwanift of which also 
Sogdian fragments are extant. 59 But while the former mainly concerns 
the Elect and contains only some fragments for Hearers, 60 the latter is 



54 Henning translates ardikkar ud warzigar merd "Wie jener streitbare und arbeitsame 
Mann..." But the recto side explicitly refers to agriculture and warfare. Therefore 
one can understand the phrase as a shortened version of ardikkar-merd ud warzigar-merd 
and compare with compounds like azad-mard and bandag-mard. Both professions are 
otherwise metaphorically used, for example in parables. 

55 Andreas/Henning 1933, 306-307; Sundermann 1981, 93-94; Asmussen 1965, 
27-28. 

56 For the "Perfect Hearer," see Keph. 228.5-234.23 (Polotsky/Bohlig 1940); Sunder- 
mann 1976, 182; Sundermann 1973, 87, 102-106, texts 36 and 37. 

57 For the origin of confession formulas in Old Mesopotamia!! times see Sundermann 
1997c, 259-260, with further literature. 

58 Henning 1936a. 

59 Henning 1940, 63-67; Asmussen 1965. 

60 The Pa. fragmentary liturgy for Hearers, M5779 (Henning 1936a, 45-46, text 
c; for corrections see Reck 2004, 30-31, with parallels of the text in Ml and M782) 



MANICHAEAN TIME-MANAGEMENT 85 

clearly directed to the laymen with many references to their worldly life. 
Besides, we have a number of confession prayers in several languages. 61 
The formulas first mention the respective commandments, followed 
by the request for forgiveness for having violated it out of negligence, 
laziness, miserliness, or wretchedness. At the end, the words "We now, 
my God, pray to be liberated from sin; forgive my sin," in Turkish or 
Parthian respectively, are frequently used. This expresses the great worry 
of the Hearers of having not fulfilled their religious duties completely 
and honestly as demanded because of distraction by worldly duties. 
The following references concern the Hearers. 62 

Concerning commandments: ... if we should wittingly (or) unwittingly, 
as we . . . troubled about cattle and property . . . have broken these Ten 
Commandments . . . (Xwastw. IX B, Turkish)'' 3 

Concerning prayers: If for frailty and lack of fear of God, or [because I 
thought it more important to] plant and sow [I neglected my prayers . . .] 
(Sol0700b+Sol0701b/r/4-8, Sogdian) 64 

Concerning alms: If we, either because of distress, or being miserly 
about giving alms, should not have been able to give the sevenfold 
alms to its full extent to religion, if we should have tied the light of the 
Fivefold God, which goes up to Heaven and is liberated, to house and 
property. . . (Xwastw. XI B, Turkish)" 1 

Concerning fasts: And if we, as we, in order to maintain house and prop- 
erty, worried about (were occupied by) catde and goods, or because our 
need and our distress supervened, . . . (or), as we were lazy and indolent 
(negligent), voluntarily (or) involuntarily should have broken the fast (or) 



and the So. liturgy for the body-and-soul-rite, Ml 14/1/ (Henning 1936a, 46-47). But 
these texts give mainly instructions on the course of the liturgies. 

61 The Chinese Hymnscroll 392-393, 410-414 (Tsui Chi/Henning 1943, 213-215; 
Schmidt-Glintzer 1987, 62—63, 66) gives only a general confession of offences against 
"the seven kinds of giving, the ten commandments, the three seals and the gate of 
the law." For a Chinese prayer of confession see Waldschmidt/Lentz 1926, 123, verse 
387. 

1,2 In the Bet- unci Beichtbuch the clerics for their part confess to having neglected their 
religious duties (prayers, hymns, confession of sins), to having not sufficiently thought 
about the purpose of their ritual evening meal and also to having broken the "three 
seals" by gardening, drinking alcohol, and possibly by sexual activities. 

63 Asmussen 1965, 197. 

64 Henning 1940, 66—67. Cf the parallel in Xwastwamft X B: "And if we, being 
negligent without having fear (of God), should not have praised (prayed) correctly and 
completely and, while praising (praying), not have kept our hearts and our thoughts 
directed towards God, . . . (or) if somewhere there should have been something which 
obstructed (or) impeded,..." (Asmussen 1965, 197). 

65 Asmussen 1965, 197. 



86 IRIS GOLDITZ 

further, while we were fasting, had not fasted correctly according to the 
religion and the doctrine . . . (Xwastw. XII B, Turkish)'' 1 ' 

Concerning confession of sins: And should we not, voluntarily (or) invol- 
untarily, as we were lazy and indolent (negligent), (or) as we mentioned 
business (or another) undertaking as a pretext, have gone to obtain for- 
giveness for (be liberated from) sin ... (Xwastw. XIII B, Turkish) 1 " 



Regulations for a Three-Part Division of the Course of the Day in Manichaeism 

and its Possible Origins 

It becomes obvious that a real balance was required between the 
demands of the religion and the social and family affairs of the worldly 
sphere. Do we have any statement within the extant Manichaean sources 
with regard to this problem? Did there exist any practical regulations 
regarding how the Manichaean laymen should organize the course of 
their day and divide their time between their religious and worldly tasks - 
a kind of Manichaean time-management? A first hint can be actually 
found in the Arabic Fihrist of an-Nadim, one of the most important 
sources on Manichaeism from Islamic times. 1 ' 8 

He (i.e. Mani) said: "He who would enter the religion must examine his 
soul. If he finds that he can subdue lust and covetousness, refrain from 
eating meats, drinking wine, as well as from marriage, and if he can 
also avoid causing injury to water, fire, trees, and earth, then let him 
enter the religion. But if he is unable to do all of these things, he shall 
not enter the religion. If, however, he loves the religion, but is unable to 
subdue greed and covetousness, let him seize upon guarding the religion 
and the Elect (i.e. to become Hearer), that there may be an offsetting 
of his unworthy actions, and times in which he devotes himself to work 
and righteousness, nighttime prayer, intercession, and pious humility 
(supplication). That will defend him during his transitory life and at his 
appointed time, so that his status will be the second status in the life to 
come." {Fihrist 332-333, Arabic) 69 

From this it becomes clear that the Hearer should reserve extra times 
(Arab, auqat) of his day for pious deeds aside from fulfilling his secular 



,ifi Asmussen 1965, 197-198. 
67 Asmussen 1965, 198. 

1,8 The passage reminds one of M49 (see above) — a possible quotation from one 
of Mani's scriptures? 

69 Fliigel 1862, 63, 95; Dodge 1970, II 788; Sims-Williams 1985b, 577. 



MANICHAEAN TIME-MANAGEMENT 87 

duties. However, the text does not indicate an exact period. The Cop- 
tic psalm 15 gives more concrete advice. Although this passage may 
primarily concern the Elect, 70 it is an allusion to existing regulations 
for a Manichaean time-management. According to this psalm, the 
believer (the Elect?) should divide the night into three parts, to sleep 
one third, watch one, and meditate one. Here only religious obligations 
are mentioned. 

O man in whose hands is the Richness, why wilt thou slumber in this sleep? 
Wherefore wilt thou not divide for thyself the night into three parts and 
sleep for one, and watch for one, and ruminate with the rumination of the 
Living for one? Wherefore wilt thou not rise(?) betimes that thou mayest 
glorify the great Lives, before the [ ]. (PsBk 222.5-10, Coptic) 71 

The most detailed statement about the division of the Hearer's day 
between his obligations is made in the Sogdian text Ml 35, a double 
sheet originally part of a miscellaneous manuscript. It also contains the 
parable of the pearl-borer with parallels in So 18300, which Henning 
edited in his Sogdian Tales. It is ascribed to Mani himself, but this does 
not need to be authentic. Because of its literary character it may be 
an epimythion of a parable. But it also resembles the Kephalaia of the 
Berlin type, although one cannot identify it with one of them. 72 Mani 
enjoins that the layman shall divide his day into three parts (So. mjidd 
pr Hi pp'p fixsy). The first part of the day is devoted to service for the 
government and the superiors, the second to earn one's living. Since the 
text is unfortunately fragmentary, the third part is missing. Neverthe- 
less, one can suppose that it was reserved for the religious tasks of the 
Hearer, especially for the provision of the Elect with alms. 73 

To divide the day into three parts. And again the Apostle, the Lord Mar 
Mani spoke thus: The wise and soul-loving person (= the Hearer) should 
divide the day into three parts. The first (part should be devoted) to the 
service of kings and lords so that they do not start quarrelling and schem- 
ing. The second to the pursuit of worldly affairs, to tilling and sowing, to 
allotments and inheritances, to buying and selling, so that the house be 



/0 Cf. PsBk 222.1—2: "a table was set in [the house for] souls that they might not 
wander" (Allberry 1938, 222), a description of the "Table of God" of the Elect. It 
remains unclear who is meant by the "Living" — the Elect or the particles of the Living 
Soul which find redemption during this meal? 

71 Allberry 1938, 222. 

' 2 So already Henning 1945b, 266. Cf. Sundermann 1992b. 

73 Henning 1945b, 470 n. 7. 



88 IRIS GOLDITZ 

maintained, that wife and children be not in distress, and that kinsmen, 
friends, and well-wishers can be well served. (Ml 35,39-63, Sogdian) 74 

Thus, we find a three-part division also of the day besides that of the 
night mentioned in Manichaean texts. This proves that there existed 
special regulations for a time-management, although it does not appear 
in the extant canonical scriptures. According to the Fihrist, Mani also 
wrote a book called "Ordinances of the Hearers/Ordinances of the 
Elect," otherwise mentioned as "The secret law which Mani brought 
and the ordinances which he ordained." 75 It does not seem to be 
identical with Mani's lost work Pragmateia, only known by its title 
and some vague indications about its content in Chinese and Arabic 
sources. This book appears to have been a treatise on cosmogonical 
and eschatological problems, recendy identified by Sundermann with 
the Ardhang, which was formerly supposed as being Mani's "Picture- 
Book. " 7b Following Augustine, the "Rule of Life" (vivendi reguld) with 
instructions on the "three seals" or the five rules for the Elect was 
part of Mani's Epistle (epistula fundamenti)." It may have also contained 
the regulations of the times and the manner of prayers and fasts, but 
probably no explanations for the practical management of the whole 
day, especially that of the laity. 

The question arises whether there are possible parallels in other 
religious texts that could have influenced a Manichaean division of 
the course of the day. It is very likely that the Manichaeans as a reli- 
gious minority tried to avoid any difficulties with the authorities of the 
regions where their mission took place. Possibly, they adopted already 
existing conventions of a religion of those regions. Besides Buddhism, 
Christianity and Gnostic teachings, Zoroastrianism also can be taken 
into account as a source of patterns the Manichaeans may have used 
to organize the course of the laity's day. It is not surprising that we can 
find, in fact, parallels in the Zoroastrian literature. The MP. wisdom- 
text Cidag handarz T poryotkesdn, "Selected advice of the teachers of the 
primeval religion," also named Pandndmag T ^ardust, "Book of advice 



u Henning 1945b, 469-470, text B, 11. 39-63. 

75 Fihrist 333, 336 (Fliigel 1862, 64, 72, 95, 103; Dodge 1970, II 788, 798). 

76 The Greek title itpaynoiTEia can be recognized (through Syriac transmission) 
in Arab, faraqmatiya of the Fihrist 336 (Fliigel 1862, 73, 103; Dodge 1970, II 798) 
and Chin, bojiamadiya in the Compendium (Haloun/Henning 1952, 195, 207). For the 
Pragmateia see Schmidt/Polotsky 1933, 38; Schaeder 1933, 347; Tardieu 1981, 55-57; 
Sundermann 2005, 381-383. 

" Augustine, de moribus Manichaeorum 20.74 (Rutzenhofer 2004, 240—241). 



MANIGHAEAN TIME-MANAGEMENT 89 

of Zardust," gives instructions in religious duties to be fulfilled by the 
male Zoroastrian, and lists marriage, reproduction, agriculture, cattle 
breeding, and of course an active practicing of the religion among 
them. The text recommends that the believer shall divide his day and 
his night into three parts (MP. se ek T roz ud se ek i sab), so that he may 
devote himself one third each of both to religion, one third to agri- 
culture, and one third to recovery 78 

Fifthly, (one is) to go to a theological seminar and to inquire of the wisdom 
of the pious during one-third of the day and one-third of the night; (one 
is) to do tillage and fertilization (of the land) one third of the day and 
one -third of the night; (one is) to eat, to rejoice and to repose one-third 
of the day and one third of the night. (CHPk 8, Middle Persian)' 9 

Apart from handarz texts with more popular character, there are others 
based on material that is very ancient and refers to orthodox tradition, 
since already the Avesta contained passages of gnomic features. 80 For the 
handarz passage quoted here we find a corresponding reference in the 
Videvdad, of which the MP. version is more extended than the Avestan 
and contains several commentaries. Both give a slightly differing division 
of day and night into two thirds for chanting and praying to increase 
wisdom (MP. pes-iz nemag roz ud pas-iz ud pes-iz nemag sab ud pas-iz; Av. 
x pauruuaiiaca naeme x asni x aparaiica "pauruuaiiaca naeme 'xsafni x aparaiiaca) and 
one third for resting (MP. pad mayan rozan ud saban; Av. maiSiiai asnqmca 
xsafnajnca auuarjhabdaeta paiti x asni paiti "xsafni). This results in a two-part 
division of tasks between religious education and repose, but in an 
effective three-part division of the course of day and night. 

And the first part of the day and the last, and the first part of the night 
and the last, (when his) wisdom (may) shine, — (that is, he may have made 
by heart), (and he may be) awakened by holiness, (that is, he may have 
learnt what is evident from it), he shall establish in union, (that is, utilize 
for the work and benefit of God), (the) illumined wisdom (that he may 
have made by heart, [with devotion {to God} with obeisance] to God), 
he shall sleep during the middle of the days and the nights, by day and 



/S There are also Zoroastrian texts, like Handarz T Adurbad l Maliraspanddn, "Advice 
of Adurbad, son of Mahraspand" (Jamasp-Asana 1897, 58—71; Tarapore 1933, 
S. 2 1 — 33), which propose another division of tasks and activities, for example between 
the various days of the month. 

79 Jamasp-Asana 1897, 41-50; Kanga 1960, 21. 

80 This is true for book VI and partly for book VII and IX of the Denkard which 
may have been translated from lost texts of the Avesta. Cf. Shaked 1979, XVII; de 
Menasce 1958, 38-39. 



90 IRIS GOLDITZ 

by night, ever from that till when they might recite those chants which 
the former herbeds recited (Adarbad son of Maraspand). (Vd. 4.45, 
Middle Persian) 81 

. . . during the first part of the day and the last, during the first part of 
the night and the last, that his mind may be increased in intelligence 
and wax strong in holiness. So shall he sit up, in devotion and prayers, 
that he may be increased in intelligence: he shall rest during the middle 
part of the day, during the middle part of the night, and thus shall he 
continue until he can say all the words which former AeSrapatis have 
said. (Vd.4.45 [123-1 27], Avestan) 82 

This means that the Zoroastrian should sleep only the third part of 
the day and the third part of the night. 83 For the remaining two-thirds 
of the day and of the night, the Videvdad intends exclusively religious 
activities. But it appears quite conceivable that the three-part division 
of the day in the handarz text has developed from a more popular inter- 
pretation of the Videvdad reference (especially of its Pahlavi version), 
because it helped the Zoroastrian believers to manage their tasks and 
to divide their time properly. The Pahlavi translation of the Videvdad 
was probably written down between the 4th and 6th c, other Pahlavi 
versions like that of the Tasna were compiled from older translations 
in the 8/9th c. 8+ 

The division of the course of the day in Zoroastrianism is based on 
ritual actions which had to be carried out at the proper times of the 
day. Y44.5 calls Ahura Mazda the creator of the three times of the day: 
dawn, noon, and nightfall (Av. usd anm.pidfid xsapdca). The "responsible 
person" (Av. cazdoyghuuant-) "seems to refer to the priest and the truthful 
lord of the house, who dutifully have to perform the daily rites." 85 So 
we can find an original three-part division of the day already in the 
GaOas with parallels in the Veda. 

This I ask Thee, tell me plainly, O Ahura: Which artist created both, 
light and darkness? Which artist assigned both, sleep and waking (to 
their proper time)? Who (is He) through whom dawn, noon, and night- 



81 Jamasp 1907, 130; Anklesaria 1949, 87-88. 

82 Jamasp 1907, 129; Darmesteter 1995, 46. 

83 This is supported by Y. 62.4—5: "Give me, O Fire, Ahura Mazda's son... an 
offspring sure of foot, that never sleeps on watch [not for a third part of the day, or 
night], and that rises quick from bed. . ." (Darmesteter 1895, 46 n. 1). 

84 Camera 2004, 235-236. 

85 Humbach 1991, II, 150, n. 3, 4, 6. 



MANICHAEAN TIME-MANAGEMENT 9 1 

fall (exist) which remind a responsible (person) of (his dutiful) purpose? 
(Y.44.5, Avestan) 86 

The number "three" is frequently used in the Zoroastrian ritual context. 
The text Nerangestan, which refers to priests, mentions for example the 
three time repetition of ritual formulas, the three time measurement of 
liquid sacrifices, and three strikes of a whip as a punishment. 87 Chapters 
1-4 of the Herbedestan discuss the problem of time-division between 
religious studies and taking care of possessions. 88 It is very important 
that a caretaker (MP. sdldr) of the property should be appointed who 
is responsible for it during the religious studies of the owner (Herb. 
1.4, 2.4). If the owner goes forth to follow his studies, the text fixes a 
distance of 30 frasang or three nights (Av. Orixsapamn) from the properly 
(Herb. 2.6, 4.4). In another place it is said that the priest may go so far 
to pursue his religious studies that he should be able to visit his posses- 
sions three times in a year (Av. yat his Oris yard aetahmdt *aipisuiti, Herb. 
4.2). These references confirm a division between religious and secular 
duties in Zoroastrianism based on a three-part division of time. 

But there are also diverging instructions for time-managment in 
Sasanian Iran. According to the Ayin I'-Ardasir, king Ardasir divided 
the day into four periods. 89 The first one at dawn should be devoted to 
prayers and ruminating, the second until noon should be used fulfilling 
obligations and following one's business (noontime was reserved for the 
first meal of the day and for reposing), the third until nightfall should 
be spent with family affairs, and the fourth after nightfall should be 
filled with eating, drinking, celebrating, enjoying oneself and relaxing. 
Although the Ayin deals with a four-part division, it clearly reflects 
the ancient Zoroastrian vertices of time-reckoning: dawn, noon, and 
nightfall. The text describes, of necessity, such occupations in detail 
which are typical for the king and the nobility and reflects their point 
of view. 

The Manichaeans had obviously a good knowledge of Zoroastrian 
teachings and worship as it becomes clear from several pieces of evi- 
dence in the Manichaean sources. 90 Mani's book Sabuhragan and other 



86 Humbach 1991, I, 158. 

87 See glossary of the Nerangestan (Kotwal/Kreyenbroek 2003, 288). 

88 Kotwal/Kreyenbroek 1992, 28-39; Humbach/Elfenbein 1990, 20-39. 

89 For the following see Grignaschi 1966, 103-128. 

90 Cf. the Pa. hymns to the Living Soul: M7, M496a, M1963 (Andreas/Henning 
1934, 869-875, text g; Klimkeit 1989, 79-82) and M95, M564, M1876, M1877 



92 IRIS GOLDITZ 

works of Manichaean Iranian literature show features of a terminologi- 
cal adaptation to Zoroastrianism. 91 Therefore, Mani and his followers 
must have known the main religious scriptures of Zoroastrianism, and 
the Sogdian text Ml 35 may depend on such more popular interpreta- 
tions of them as we find in the Cidag handarz i poryotkesan. Mani pos- 
sibly knew the Zoroastrian regulation of time-management based on 
a three-part division when he started his mission in Sasanian Iran, as 
did the Manichaeans who lived in neighborhood with the Zoroastrian 
Sogdian population in Transoxania until the invasion of Islam in the 
8th c. Henning remarks that Ml 35 is still in good Sogdian, therefore it 
must have been written when Sogdian was still an active language, and 
when the majority of the Manichaean Hearers were Sogdians. 92 This 
seems to fit especially the period of the Dtndwanya community beginning 
with its first archegos Sad-Ohrmezd (died 600 CE); 93 but Transoxania 
continued to be a center of Manichaean activities until the 10th c, 
with the seat of the Manichaean bishop in Samarkand. 94 If Ml 35 is 
not translated from an older MP. or Pa. text, and if the ascription of 
the precept in it to Mani is non-historical, it could be compared with 
other texts, for example (MP.) M2/I/ about a missionary journey of Mar 
Ammo into the Northwest of the Sasanian empire, in which the origin 
of the Dindwanya is dated back into the early period of Manichaeism. 95 
Ml 35 may have been written especially for Sogdian Hearers who lived 
in the Zoroastrian environment of Central Asia. Klimkeit assumes that 
the Turkish confession book Xwdstwdnifi and similar texts have been 
written down first in Sogdian. 911 This speaks for the great importance 
of the Manichaean laymanship in Sogdiana. 

A division of the day into three parts may have been still in use 
among the Manichaean laymen within the Uyghur Steppe Empire 
(762^840 CE), where the king with his family and the nobility 



(Andreas/Henning 1933, 318-321; Klimkeit 1989, 85-87). M95 contains a detailed 
description of the sacrifice rite. The Pa. Gyan wifras mentions the Av. Ahunauuaiti GaOas 
(Y. 28-34), see M838A79 = M419+M3824/r/3: 'whnwyt g'h (Sundermann 1997b, 60, 
76£, 114 n. 2, § 32). For a possible influence of Zoroastrianism on the Manichaean 
religion see Sundermann 1997a. 

91 Colditz 2005, and 2006. 

92 Henning 1945b, 465. 

95 On the Dinawariya-community, see Sundermann 1996, 418—419; Henning 1936b, 
17; Colditz 1992, 324-328. 
9 * Fihrist 336 (Flugel 1862, 77, 106; Dodge 1970, II, 802). 

95 Sundermann 1986, 271-273. 

96 Klimkeit 1989, 22. 



MANICHAEAN TIME-MANAGEMENT 93 

belonged to them, and even in the subsequent Uyghur kingdom of 
Qpco (850-1250 CE). Sogdian clerics had there the particular function 
of teachers at the court. 97 The official introduction of Manichaeism 
caused a re-evaluation of secular life and raised the status of laity. 98 
Generous almsgiving increased the possessions of the monasteries, 
which had estates, vineyards and servants at their disposal. The Turk- 
ish Xwastwanlft gives an impression of the obligations of the Hearers 
that arose from this. Otherwise, it does not mention a division of the 
course of the day after the pattern of Ml 35. It distinguishes instead 
between the spiritual and the secular power as between "inside" and 
"outside." 99 The Turkish Monastery Scroll mentions people of various 
professions serving the monastery, such as a miller, wood-cutters, cooks, 
and physicians. Serving improperly led to draconian punishment by 
strokes or imprisonment. 100 



Conclusion 

One cannot exclude the possibility that also conventions of other reli- 
gions may have influenced the division of the day for the Manichaean 
Hearers into three parts. 101 However, it is not the time and place here to 
discuss this problem sufficiently. The parallels between the Manichaean 
instructions and the Zoroastrian ones are nevertheless striking enough 
to conclude a connection between both sets of precepts. However, in 
modern Zoroastrianism we do not find a time-management based on 
a three-part division. 102 The course of the day is divided there into five 
parts of different length (gak), two of them belonging to the night and 
three to the day, and every part is connected with a special prayer: the 
first (Hawan < Av. hauuani-) from sunrise to noon, the second (Rafat- 
wen < Av. rapidpina-) from noon to mid-afternoon (aprox. 3 p.m.), the 



97 Asmussen 1965, 147-148. 

98 Klimkeit 1989, 28-29, 53; Klimkeit 1982, 27-30. 

99 Klimkeit 1989, 34. 

100 Klimkeit 1993, 352-353. Text of the scroll ed. Zieme 1975. 

101 Ch. Reck kindly draw my attention to a Sogdian homily which gives instructions 
on solitary life to handle conflicts emerging from it. This is due to some Syriac Christian 
authors ('Abdiso', Isaac, John the Solitary, Philoxenus) who describe the hermit's life 
in three consecutive periods, called "corporeal," "psychical," and "spiritual." For the 
Sogdian text and its Syriac patterns see Sims-Williams 1985a, 69—77. But this differs 
fundamentally from the instructions of M135. 

102 For the following see Stausberg 2005, III, 59-63, 579. 



94 IRIS GOLDITZ 

third (Uziran < Av. uzaiieirina-) from mid-afternoon to sunset, the forth 
(Aiwazritrem < Av. aipisrudrima-) from sunset to midnight and the fifth 
(Usahen < Av. usahina-) from midnight to dawn. This shows a modification 
of ritual prescriptions into a five-part division which is already proofed 
in the Younger Avesta, and may be originally an adaptation to the five 
Gadas. 103 The five Muslim prayers have possibly further influenced this 
practice (or, on the contrary, may even have been influenced by it). It 
is interesting that some of the religious texts from the early Islamic 
period still appear to support the emphasis on religious activities dur- 
ing the day 104 Considering his own doctrine as the perfect completion 
of all previous religions, Mani possibly directed his attention to the 
basic scriptures of the preceding apostles. For Zoroastrianism these 
were the Gadas which may have appeared to Mani as being closer to 
the "true" teachings of Zarathustra than the other Zoroastrian texts. 
Such a critical attitude can certainly be presupposed also among later 
Manichaeans. For that reason they adapted a three-part division of the 
day as a measure of time-management, since it is already attested in 
Y.44 and taken up again in the Videvdad and in the MP. handarz-kterature. 
Nevertheless, the Manichaean Hearers made the nighttime the focus 
of their religious obligations, in the center of which stood their vigils. 105 
That period required the greatest efforts in the fight against the dark 
powers for the redemption of the Light. 



103 Humbach 1991, I, 68, § 11.2.1. 

104 Denkard 449.18-19 (Amouzgar/Tafazzoli 2000, 60-61) mentions the three 
daily prayers at dawn, noon and sunset (MP. se bar andar roz pad hu-waxs ud nem-roz ud 
hu-fasmo-dad). Sdjist-ne-sayist 9.8 (Tavadia 1930, 118) forbids eating (as part of certain 
ritual activities?) during the night (MP. pad tdrigih xwarisn ne pddixsdy xwardan). Whoever 
does so, the demons and the Druz rob one third of his knowledge and glory (ce ka pad 
tdrigih xwarisn xwared, a-s dew ud druz xrad ud xwarrah se ek ew be appared). The text takes 
recourse to instructions of Ohrmazd to Zarathustra (but here two thirds of the "innate 
wisdom" get robbed). See Stausberg 2005, III, 60, 63. 

105 Cf. Augustine, de moribus Manichaeorum 70: Et hoc factum est ea node qua festae apud 
vos vigiliae celebrantur (Rutzenhofer 2004, 234—235). 



MANICHAEAN TIME-MANAGEMENT 95 

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MANICHAEAN TIME-MANAGEMENT 97 

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CHARACTERISTICS OF MANICHAEISM IN 
ROMAN AFRICA 

J. Kevin Coyle 
Ottawa 



In the summer of 2003 I made a presentation on characteristics of 
Christianity in Roman North Africa. 1 I was working from the prem- 
ise that this region put its own stamp on every religious expression it 
imported, an idea I apply here to the case of Manichaeism. By "Roman 
Africa" I mean the administrative expanse from roughly Tunisia's pres- 
ent border with Libya to the Atlantic, and from the southern shore of 
the Mediterranean to the Sahara. I have chosen not to follow the lead 
of Francois Decret or Richard Lim, who included Rome when con- 
sidering what might have been different about Manichaeism in Roman 
Africa. Even if, as Lim remarks, "the two historically formed a very tight 
Kulturwelt" 2 I think that the possibility of a "cultural tightness" would 
have to be nuanced in many ways. Still, the important article Lim pub- 
lished in 1989 argues a good case against "the prevalent notion among 
scholars that Manichaeism anywhere remains essentially the same, even 
where significant local variations are not denied." Lim adds that 

the process itself virtually guarantees that its results will be consonant 
with the beginning assumption. That is to say, a consistent and coherent 



1 J. K. Coyle, "Particularities of Christianity in Roman Africa," Studia Patristica 39: 
Papers presented at the Fourteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2003, 
F. Young, M. Edward, and P. Parvis, eds. (Leuven - Paris - Dudley, 2006), 13-26. 
This builds on my previous work: "The Self-Identity of North African Christians in 
Augustine's Time," Augustinus Afer. Saint Augustin: africanite et universalite. Actes du collogue 
international, Alger-Annaba, 1-7 avril 2001, Paradosis, 45/1, P.-Y. Fux, J.-M. Roessli, and 
O. Wermelinger, eds. (Fribourg, 2003), 61-73. 

2 R. Lim, "Unity and Diversity among Western Manichaeans: A Reconsideration 
of Mani's 'sancta ecclesia'," Revue des Etudes Augustiniennes 35 (1989): 232 n. 4. See 
E Decret, "Le manicheisme presentait-il en Afrique et a Rome des particularismes 
regionaux distinctifs?," Augustinianum 34 (1994): 5—40; repr. in idem, Essais sur I'Eglise 
manicheenne en Afrique du JVord et a Rome au temps de saint Augustin: Recueil d'etudes, Studia 
Ephemeridis Augustinianum 47 (Rome, 1995), 209-40. 



102 J. KEVIN GOYLE 

social entity called "Manichaeism", together with its attendant systems 
of ideas, emerges with comforting predictability 3 

I will try to avoid the comfort zone by moving in a different direction, 
from the identification of some differences peculiar to North African 
Manichaeism to the question of how deep their roots might have 
reached. This article, then, expands on the work of Decret, the undis- 
puted expert on Manichaeism in North Africa. 4 Decret rejected the 
notion of a completely autonomous brand of Manichaeism for North 
Africa, 5 while admitting that in certain respects it had its own style. 6 He 
took Lodewijk Grondijs to task for speaking of "sectes manicheennes, 
toutes differentes, dans lesquelles un nombre de points originaux se 
sont graduellement melanges aux mythes, croyances et systemes" of the 
societies wherein Manichaeism was implanted; 7 but he did concede that 
to some degree Manichaeism, wherever it was, would have reflected the 
ambient culture. 8 Even this cautious assertion of elements distinctive to 
Manichaeism in North Africa, and of the influence of local cultures 
in shaping those elements, 9 was too much for Michel Tardieu, who 
thought that the cultural element is often so nebulous as to defy easy 
identification. 10 But I think that Decret's stand has some merit, though 
not necessarily for the same reasons. 



5 Lim, "Unity," 231-32. 

1 See F. Decret, Aspects du manicheisme dans VAfrique romaine: Les controverses de Fortunatus, 
Faustus et Felix avec saint Augustin (Paris, 1970); idem, L'Afrique manicheenne (IV— V siecles): 
Etude historique et doctrinale, 2 vols. (Paris, 1978); along with a host of articles, some of 
which are indicated in the following notes. 

5 F. Decret, "Introduzione generale" SantAgostino, Polemica con i Manichei, Nuova 
Biblioteca Agostiniana 13/1 (Rome, 1997), xv: "il manicheismo che Agostino ha 
conosciuto in Africa non e un sistema deformata dal cristianesimo della Catholica che 
lo circonda, ma proprio quello che Mani stesso aveva predicata." 

6 F. Decret, "La doctrine centrale du spiritalis sahator dans les sources manicheennes 
africaines," Studia Manichaica: IV. Internationaler Kongrefi zum Manichdismus, 14.-18. Juli 
1997, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berichte und Abhan- 
dlungen, Sonderband 4, R. E. Emmerick, W. Sundermann, and P. Zieme, eds. (Berlin, 
2000), 138-39. 

7 H. L. Grondijs, "Analyse du manicheisme numidien au IV e siecle" Augustinus 
Magister: Congres international augustinien, Paris, 21-24 septembre 1954 (Paris, 1954), vol. 3, 
392; quoted by Decret, "Le manicheisme presentait-il," 6 (= Essais, 209). 

8 Decret, "Le manicheisme presentait-il," 7 (= Essais, 210): "une etude de la doctrine 
manicheenne, comme de tout autre systeme religieux, ne saurait negliger les mentalites 
et le patrimoine culturel des populations au sein desquelles cette doctrine s'est propagee 
et dont peu ou prou elle porte fempreinte." 

9 E.g., Decret, L'Afrique manicheenne I, 191-92, 205-10, 270-73, 300, and 305-12. 
10 M. Tardieu, "Vues nouvelles sur le manicheisme africain?," Revue des Etudes Augusti- 

niennes 25 (1979): 249—55, esp. 250—51. Decret's response is in "Encore le manicheisme," 
Revue des Etudes Augustiniennes 26 (1980): 306—12, esp. 308—09. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF MANICHAEISM IN ROMAN AFRICA 103 

Manichaeism in Africa 

Decret described Roman Africa as the region of the ancient world 
wherein "le manicheisme a sans doute developpe sa plus vaste action 
de propagande," where "la religion de Mani fit preuve apparamment 
de sa plus grande vitalite." 11 But if the Manichaeism of Africa was a 
lively movement, its strength and size are unclear. Geographically, we 
can only place it in Thagaste (modern Souk Ahras), Milevis (Mila), and 
Hippo Regius (Annaba) — all in Numidia (present-day eastern Algeria) 
- as well as in one location in Africa Proconsularis (Carthage) and 
two in Mauretania Caesariensis (Tipasa and Malliana). These possibly 
represent the full geographical extent of the Manichaean phenomenon 
in Roman Africa. 12 As for vitality, on a literary level that phenomenon 
has left us with but two direct (emic) primary sources: the fragmentary 
manuscript of Tebessa 13 and Faustus of Milevis' Capitula de Christiana fide 
et ueritate. H Other than these, Augustine of Hippo, on whom we depend 



11 F. Decret, "L'utilisation des epitres de Paul chez les manicheens d'Afrique," Le 
Epistole Paoline nei Manichee, i Donatisti e il prima Agostino, Sussidi Patristici 5, J. Ries et at, 
eds. (Rome, 1989), 41 (= Essais, 67). 

12 For the indications see S. N. C. Lieu, "Sources on the Diffusion of Manichaeism 
in the Roman Empire (From Diocletian to Justinian)," A Green Leaf: Papers in Honour oj 
Jes E Asmussen, Acta Iranica 28 = Series 2, XII (Leiden, 1988), 390-91; and Decret, 
LAfrique manicheenne I, 191—203 (notes in II, 136—49). 

13 Text in PLS 2, 1378—88. See P. Alfaric, "Un manuscrit manicheen," Revue d'His- 
toire et de Litterature Religieuses n.s. 6 (1920): 62—98; R. Merkelbach, "Der manchaische 
Codex von Tebessa," Manichaean Studies: Proceedings of the First International Conference on 
Manichaeism, August 5-9, 1987, Department of History of Religions, Lund University, Sweden, 
Lund Studies in African and Asian Religions 1, P. Bryder, ed. (Lund, 1988), 229-64; 
E Decret, "Aspects de l'Eglise Manicheenne — Remarques sur le manuscrit de Tebessa" 
Signum Pietatis: Festgahe fur Cornelius Petrus Mayer OSA zum 60. Geburtstag, Cassiciacum 
40, A. Zumkeller, ed. (Wurzburg, 1989), 123-51; J. BeDuhn and G. Harrison, "The 
Tebessa Codex: A Manichaean Treatise on Biblical Exegesis and Church Order," 
Emerging from Darkness: Studies in the Recovery of Manichaean Sources, Nag Hammadi and 
Manichaean Studies 43, P. Mirecki and J. BeDuhn, eds. (Leiden, 1997), 33-87; and 
M. Stein, "Bemerkungen zum Kodex von Tebessa," Augustine and Manichaeism in the Latin 
West: Proceedings of the Fribourg-Utrecht International Symposium of the IAMS, Nag Hammadi 
and Manichaean Studies 49, J. van Oort, O. Wermelinger and G. Wurst, eds. (Leiden, 
2001), 250—71. Stein thinks (258) that its original language was Latin. If so, its place 
of origin would probably be Africa. 

14 Text reconstructed by P. Monceaux, "Le manicheen Faustus de Milev: Restitu- 
tion de ses Capitula," Memoires de I'lnstitut National de France, Academic des Inscriptions et 
Belles-Lettres, 43/1 (1933): 1-111. On Faustus' work see G. Wurst, "Bemerkungen zu 
Struktur und genus litterarium der Capitula des Faustus von Mileve," Augustine and Mani- 
chaeism, van Oort et al, eds., 307-24. I do not understand why Decret ("L'utilisation," 
42—44 = Essais, 67—68) includes the work of Adimantus among Manichaean writings 
emanating from Africa. 



104 J. KEVIN GOYLE 

even for Faustus' work, and Augustine's disciple Evodius of Uzala 15 are 
our only (etic) sources for details on Manichaeism in Roman Africa 
in the pre- Vandal period. That complicates matters, not only because 
of the extent to which we are forced to depend on Augustine's "take" on the 
movement, but also because when it comes to Manichaeans his agenda 
is chiefly polemical, meaning that he reports only aspects of the move- 
ment he intends to attack. 16 So, even if his accounts are accurate, they 
must be incomplete. 

As in the case of Christianity 1 ' the circumstances of Manichaeism's 
arrival in Roman Africa are shrouded in obscurity. The first acknowl- 
edgement of its presence appears in Diocletian's rescript to Amnius 
Anicianus Iulianus, governor of Africa, at the turn of the third to 
fourth centuries. 18 It reads: 

We have heard that the Manichaeans, concerning whom your Resourceful- 
ness has written to our Serenity, have set up new and hitherto unheard-of 
sects in opposition to the older creeds so that they might cast out the doc- 
trines vouchsafed to us in the past by divine favour for the benefit of their 
own depraved doctrine. They have sprung forth very recendy (nuperrime) 
like new and unexpected monstrosities among the race of the Persians - 
a nation still hostile to us (de Persica aduersaria nobis) — and have made their 



15 The so-called De fide contra Manichaeos (CSEL 25/2, pp. 951-75), on which see 
F. Decret, "Le traite d'Evodius contre les manicheens: Un compendium a l'usage du 
parfait controversiste," Augustinianum 31 (1991): 387-409 (= Essais, 124—45). 

"' Decret, "Le manicheisme presentait-il," 8—10 (— Essais, 211—13). 

" I do not discuss here Manichaeism's claim to be authentically Christian, though 
that claim was a patent aspect of it in the Roman West (and not just in Africa). I 
do think, though, that Decret's claim that "Pas une seule fois l'auteur [Augustin] ne 
considere la secte comme un courant exterieur au christianisme" needs some nuancing: 
E Decret, "Saint Augustin, temoin du manicheisme dans lAfrique romaine," Inter- 
nationales Symposion titer den Stand der Augustinus-Forschung vom 12. bis 16. April 1987 im 
Schlofi Rauischholzhausen der Justus-Liebig Universitat Giefien, Cassiciacum 39/1, C. Mayer 
and K.-H. Chelius, eds. (Wurzburg, 1989), 88 (= Essais, 16). But so does the statement 
by Theo Sinnige that "En la forma en que se presentaba en Africa, el maniqueismo no 
era una superstition exotica, sino que estaba caracterizada como una secta cristiana. 
La investigation historica de las ultima [sic] decadas ha reconocido este caracter del 
maniqueismo Africana": T. G. Sinnige, "El maniqueismo del joven Agustin y el relato 
de las Confesiones," Jornadas Agustinianas: Con motivo del XVI centenario de la conversion de 
San Agustin, Madrid 22-24 de Abril de 1987 (Valladolid, 1988), 77-8. 

18 Dated by earlier scholarship on March 21, 297, the more recent consensus puts 
it in 302. See Decret, LAfrique manicheenne I, 162-77 (notes in II, 1 1 1-24); and S. N. C. 
Lieu, Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China, Wissenschaftliche 
Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 63 (Tubingen, 1992 [2nd ed.]), 121-25. 
L. D. Bruce, "Diocletian, the Proconsul Iulianus, and the Manichaeans," Studies in Latin 
Literature and Roman History 3, Collection Latomus 180, C. Deroux, ed. (Brussels, 1983), 
336-47, holds out for 297. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF MANICHAEISM IN ROMAN AFRICA 1 05 

way into our empire, where they are committing many outrages, disturb- 
ing the tranquility of the people and even inflicting grave damage to the 
civic communities. We have come to fear that with the passage of time 
they will endeavour, as usually happens, to infect the modest and tranquil 
Roman people of an innocent nature with the damnable customs and 
the perverse laws of the Persians (scaeuas leges Persarum) as with the poison 
of a malignant (serpent). 19 

The first in a long string of Roman imperial indictments of the 
movement, 20 the rescript refers to the doctrine as newly arrived, which 
cannot be strictiy true, for it would have had to be present long enough 
to catch the authorities' attention and for them to have known such 
details as Manichaeism's "Persian" origins. Yet that is all we hear of 
Manichaeans in Africa until 373, when Augustine joined them. Decret 
suggests that in the interim they must have made every effort to blend 
in with the locals: 

la grande originalite des Africains dans l'Eglise de Mani est d'avoir ecarte, 
autant que possible, tout particularisme qui les ferait se singulariser 
parmi les populations de leur pays [...]. II est hors de doute aussi que 
cette «indigenisation» du manicheisme africain explique sa longue survie, 
malgre les persecutions qui s'etaient abbatues sur lui des son arrivee sur 
ces rivages. 21 

If unsingular they were, it would indeed have been difficult to identify 
followers of Mani on external appearance or public behavior alone. But 
Decret's summation, if accurate, may refer only to Hearers. Augustine 
says that the Manichaean Elect never washed, and moreover were rec- 
ognizable by their pale faces and bony bodies. 22 It is possible that he 
was referring to Manichaeans he knew in Italy, where they had enough 
influence to obtain a court appointment for Augustine and enough 



19 "De quibus sollertia tua serenitati nostrae retulit, Manichaei, audiuimus eos 
nuperrime ueluti noua et inopinata prodigia in hunc mundum de Persica aduersaria 
nobis gente progressa uel orta esse et multa facinora ibi committere, populos namque 
quietos perturbare nee non et ciuitatibus maxima detrimenta inserere: et uerendum est, 
ne forte, ut fieri adsolet, accedenti tempore conentur per execrandas consuetudines et 
scaeuas leges Persarum innocentioris naturae hominess, Romanam gentem modestam 
atque tranquillam et uniuersum orbem nostrum ueluti uenenis de suis maliuolis inficere." 
Text and translation in Lieu, Manichaeism, 1 2 1 — 22 (his emphasis). 

20 Listed by Lieu, "Sources," 396-98. 

21 Decret, L'Afrique manicheenne I, 210. 

22 Augustine, Contra Faustum manichaeum XX, 23; De utilitate credendi 36. 



106 J. KEVIN GOYLE 

confidence to experiment with communal living. 23 In his Confessions 
Augustine reports how his friend Alypius was initially attracted to Man- 
ichaeans because they made "a big show of their continence" (ostentatio 
continentiae) - and this attraction seems to have occurred in Carthage. 24 
Besides, if ever there was a time when African Manichaeans "laid 
low" in Africa more than elsewhere, we have to ask why they were first 
spotted by Roman authorities there rather than in, say, Egypt, where 
Manichaeans gave every evidence of being lively and whence their 
movement may have entered Africa. 25 



Some demographics 

Augustine says that the Hearers (or Catechumens) were numerous 26 and 
the Elect (or Perfect) relatively few. 27 The Hearers were mainly drawn 
from the farming class, 28 although William Frend, basing himself on 
Possidius, 29 maintains that Manichaeism was "best represented among 
the wealthy and comparatively secure landowners and merchants in 
Africa." 30 If that is so it would, again, be a case of Hearers, since the 
Elect were supposed to renounce all wealth and property. Of the higher 
orders of Elect we know of only one episcopus (Faustus of Milevis) for 
Manichaeism 's entire sojourn in the region, a single presbyter (Fortunatus), 
and a lone doctor (Felix). 31 This is surprising if, as Decret claims, in Africa 



25 See Augustine, Confessiones V, 13,23; De moribus Manichaeorum 20,74; and Contra 
Faustum V,5. 

21 Augustine, Confessiones VI, 7, 12. 

25 See Lieu, Manichaeism, 115, who takes for granted that "from Egypt the religion 
spread swiftly along the Mediterranean coast to Roman North Africa." 

26 Augustine, Contra Faustum XXX,6 (CSEL 25/1, 755.6). 

2/ See - besides the references in J. K. Coyle, Augustine's "De moribus eeclesiae catho- 
licae": A Study of the Work, its Composition and its Sources, Paradosis 25 (Fribourg, 1978), 
424 - Augustine, De utilitate credendi 14,31 (CSEL 25/1, 39.7), C. Faustum XII,5, XX,23, 
and XXI,10 (382.20, 567.16-18, and 581.13,19), and Contra Secundinum (CSEL 25/2, 
945.21—22). Unaccountably, Decret, "Introduzione generale," xciv, thinks that Hearers 
were separate from Catechumens, and Elect from Perfect. 

28 Augustine, De mor. Man. 17,62. 

29 Possidius, Vita Augustini 6, 15-16. 

50 W. H. C. Frend, "The Gnostic-Manichaean Tradition in Roman North Africa," 
Journal of Ecclesiastical History 4 (1953): 18; repr. in idem, Religion Popular and Unpopular in 
the Early Christian Centuries, Collected Studies Series 545 (London, 1976). 

31 On all three see the pertinent articles in Augustine through the Ages: An Encyclopedia, 
A. Fitzgerald, ed. (Grand Rapids, 1999), and in Encyclopedia of the Early Church I, A. di 
Berardino, ed. (New York, 1992); also Decret, LAfnque manicheenne I, 361—64 and 366—68. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF MANICHAEISM IN ROMAN AFRICA 107 

"les communautes manicheennes [etaient] les plus importantes et les plus 
vivaces de toutes celles qui se developperent en Occident." 32 None of 
Manichaeism's other hierarchical orders is associated with pre-Vandal 
Africa. On the other hand, an office seems to have been created there 
found nowhere else - that of the primas, whose function it was to oversee 
the catechesis of and disciplinary observance by Hearers. 33 



Internal particularities 

Of the seven works usually attributed to Mani - Shapurakan, Book of 
Giants, Letters, Pragmateia, Living Gospel, Treasury of Life, and Book of Mys- 
teries — only the last five seem to have been known in North Africa. 
Heptateuch had become pentateuch, 34 if we allow for the presence of 
some, if not all, of the letters and for the possible identification of the 
Pragmateia with the Letter of the Foundation. It also seems fairly clear that 
the appellation "foundation" for Mani's letter quam uocantfundamenti was 
an Africanism, as was its widespread popularity. 33 As to the Christian 
canon, if Paul was popular among Manichaeans everywhere, 36 the 



It is not necessary to endorse Lim's explanation for the rarity ("Unity," 237) that "they 
might have been honorific titles." Even if they were honorary, that would not justify 
"the impression that 'the dropping of the senior Manichaean grades in favour of two 
categories only, Elect and Hearers, is an African specialty'" (Lim, art. cit., 238, quoting 
Frend, "The Gnostic-Manichaean," 22 n. 3). Nor is there much basis for viewing the 
Manichaean Elect as generally more peripatetic in Africa than elsewhere (see Lim, art. 
cit., 239). Fortunatus, for instance, lived in Hippo for years. 

32 Decret, "Le manicheisme representait-il," 14 (= Essais, 217). 

33 Augustine, De mor. Man. 8,11 and 19,70; and Contra Adimantum 15,2. See Decret, 
"Introduzione generale," xcv. This is the same term used for a phenomenon unique 
to Donatists and African Catholics, the provincial episcopal primate chosen on the 
basis of seniority. 

31 Such is Prosper Alfaric's opinion in Les Ecritures manicheennes II (Paris, 1919), 9, 
although it is questioned by Decret, Aspects, 105-06, who does not think there is proof 
of even the pentateuch in Africa. For other Manichaean works that would have been 
available there (i.e., in Latin) see Lieu, Manichaeism, 118—19. 

35 See E. Feldmann, Die "Epistula Fundamenti" der nordafrikanischen Manichaer: Versuch 
einer Rekonstruktion (Altenberge, 1987), 118. 

36 See H. D. Betz, "Paul in the Mani Biography: Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis," 
Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis: Atti del Simposio internazionak, Rende-Amantea, 1984, L. Cirillo and 
A. Roselli, eds. (Cosenza, 1986), 215-34; E. Feldmann, "Der junge Augustinus und 
Paulus: Ein Beitrag zur (manichaischen) Paulus-Rezeption," Atti del Terzo Congreso Inter- 
nazionak di Studi "Manicheismo e Oriente Cristiano Antico, " Arcavacanta di Rende-Amantea, 31 
agosto—5 settembre 1993, Manichaean Studies 3, L. Cirillo and A. Van Tongerloo, eds. 
(Turnhout, 1997), 42-48; Coyle, Augustine's "De moribus ecclesiae catholicae," 187-89; and 
Decret, "Lutilisation," 29-48 (= Essais, 55-66). 



108 J. KEVIN GOYLE 

accent on the writings attributed to him was more pronounced in 
Africa, as is attested by the Tebessa fragments and the assertions of 
Augustine. 3 ' As William Frend remarked in 1953, "Rejection of the 
Old Testament led in Africa to an almost exaggerated respect for the 
Epistles of St. Paul [...]. African Manichaeism is almost a Paulinist 
heresy. One sees, for instance, that practically the whole of the debate 
between Augustine and his former friend, the Manichee Fortunatus, 
turns on the interpretation to be placed on Pauline texts." 38 

In terms of Christian(-sounding) doctrine, only in Latin Africa, it 
seems, did Manichaeans speak of the Trinity in the terms reported by 
Faustus and Fortunatus. In the treatise he wrote in the 380s, Faustus 
affirmed: 

We worship the divinity, one and the same under the threefold appel- 
lation of the Father who is God almighty, and of Christ his Son, and 
of the Holy Spirit. But we believe that we are to worship the Father as 
residing in that highest and principal light that Paul calls inaccessible [see 
1 Tim 6:16]. And we believe the Son to be in the second, visible light. 
Because he is twofold, in that the apostle knew him as Christ and called 
him the power and the wisdom of God [see 1 Cor 1:24], we believe 
that his power resides in the sun and his wisdom in the moon. We also 
hold that the composition and dwelling of the Holy Spirit, who is the 
Third Majesty, is all the surrounding air; and that, through his effort and 
spiritual distribution, the earth conceives and brings forth the vulnerable 
Jesus (lesus patibilis) who, suspended from every tree, is the life and salva- 
tion of human beings. 39 

Faustus was probably attempting to show compliance with the stipula- 
tion of the famous imperial decree in 381 that Christians profess "one 
Godhead of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit understood as of equal 



See Decret's exhaustive analysis in "L'utilisation," 51—83 (— Essais, 76—106). 

Frend, "The Gnostic-Manichaean Tradition," 21. 

In Augustine, C. Faustum XX,2 (CSEL 25/1, 536.9-21): Igitur nos patris quidem 
dei omnipotentis et Christi filii eius et spiritus sancti unum idemque sub triplici appel- 
latione colimus numen: sed patrem quidem ipsum lucem incolere credimus summam 
ac principalem, quam Paulus alias inaccessibilem uocat, filium uero in hac secunda 
ac uisibili luce consistere. Qui quoniam sit et ipse geminus, ut eum apostolus nouit 
Christum dicens esse dei uirtutem et dei sapientiam, uirtutem quidem eius in sole 
habitare credimus, sapientiam uero in luna. Necnon et spiritus sancti, qui est maiestas 
tertia, aeris hunc omnem ambitum sedem fatemur et diuersorium. Cuius ex uiribus et 
spirituali profusione, terram quoque concipientem gignere patibilem Iesum, qui est uita 
ac salus hominum, omni suspensus ex lingo. My translation. See Decret, Aspects, 220—30; 
Grondijs, "Le manicheisme numidien," 398—410; and idem, "Numidian Manicheism in 
Augustinus' Time," Mederlands Theologisch Tijdschrijt 9 (1954): 38—42. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF MANICHAEISM IN ROMAN AFRICA 1 09 

majesty and as holy Trinity" 40 without betraying Manichaean doctrine — 
not unlike the tactic of the Arians the decree was targeting. Certainly 
the first sentence of Faustus' confession is orthodox - and probably 
habitual: "Haec nomina," Augustine informs us, "non recedebant de 
ore eorum." 41 Only in North Africa did Manichaeans so openly attempt 
trinitarian formulae that sounded "Catholic." 42 

That said, the rest of Faustus' profession of faith reflects no equality 
among the three Persons. 43 It is its soteriology that has shaped Man- 
ichaeism's cosmogony, and its cosmogony has sculpted its trinitarian 
view. For Faustus, Son and Spirit exist solely to speed liberated light on 
its way to the heavenly realm. The Father is in the highest Light, 44 while 
the Son is in the visible light - specifically, moon and sun, an associa- 
tion that makes sense when we recall Augustine's remark in Confessions 
about Jesus being projected out of the divine "luminous mass." 45 In 
Manichaean terms, the Son (or "Christ": not "Jesus") resides in both 
moon and sun, as Power in the one and Wisdom in the other (though 
this does not necessarily make him identical with either). 46 Eugen Rose 
speaks of a Doppelwesen or Doppelcharakter of the Cosmic Savior in this 
regard; 4 ' here, though, if Jesus is the issue as both suffering and redeem- 
ing, we have a case of Doppelgestalt. The Spirit is the "Third Majesty" (a 
being identified in the published Coptic Kephalaion 16 with the Friend 



10 Codex Theodosianus, XVI, 1,2 (Feb. 27, 380), in T. Mommsen. Theodosiani libri XVI 
cum constitutionibus sirmondianis et leges novellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes 1/2 (Berlin, 1905), 
833: ut secundum apostolicam disciplinam euangelicamque doctrinam patris et filii et 
spiritus sancti unam deitatem sub parili maiestate et sub pia trinitate credamus. 

11 Augustine, Conf. 111,6,10 (CCL 27, 31.4-5). On the effect of Manichaean trini- 
tarian teaching on Augustine, see E. Feldmann, "Der EinfluB des Hortensius und des 
Manichaismus auf das Denken des jungen Augustinus von 373," Inaugural-Dissertation, 
Fachbereich Katholische Theologie, Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat, Miinster, 1975, 
I, 684-97 (notes in II, 308-13). 

12 On these formulae see Decret, "Introduzione generale," lxxix— lxxxii. For formulae 
in non-Latin Manichaeism see E. Rose, Die manichdische Christologie (Wiesbaden, 1979), 
160-61. 

13 Decret, Aspects, 227: "seul le Pere a droit au titre de «Dieu tout puissantw, aucun 
attribut de divinite n'est accorde au Fils ni a l'Esprit." See I. de Beausobre, Histoire de 
Manichee et du Manicheisme I (Amsterdam, 1734), 556-68. 

11 See Decret's analysis in "L' utilisation," 73-75 (= Essais, 97-98). 

1:1 Augustine, Conf. V,10,20 CCL 27, 69.63-65): Ipsumque saluatorem nostrum, 
unigenitum tuum, tamquam de massa lucidissimae molis tuae porrectum ad nostram 
salutem ita putabam. 

46 Pace Grondijs, "Analyse," 399—400; and idem, "Numidian Manicheism," 40. See 
Decret, Aspects, 230. 

'' Rose, Die manichdische Christologie, 166. 



110 J. KEVIN GOYLE 

of Lights, the Great Architect, and the Living Spirit), 48 residing in the 
"surrounding air," the vehicle whereby "le Pere envoie sa force a la 
substance divine prisonniere du cosmos materiel." 49 

It is possible that African Manichaeans really did speak of worship- 
ping the moon and sun as Christ's dwelling place, in which case Augus- 
tine's reports are correct. Though that is not quite what Faustus says, 
we should not forget the possibility that Manichaeism was imported to 
Africa from Egypt, 50 nor the African fascination with astrology 51 Egypt 
may also be the inspiration for the conception of moon and sun as 
"light-ships." 12 In any case, what remains of Manichaean data has this 
expression appear only in what Augustine has transmitted. 53 

Compared with Faustus, the formula offered by the Manichaean 
presbyter Fortunatus in his public debate with Augustine in 392 appears 
innocuous in its summation (he even uses the word "trinity"): "this is 
the aim of our faith: in accord with the strength of our mind to obey 
its commandments, following the one faith of this Trinity of the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Spirit." 54 Decret points out that in his trinitarian 
formula Fortunatus omits all mention of astral figures, 55 which could 
be because "le pretre manicheen donne l'impression de vouloir mettre 



48 In Kephalaia, Erste Halfte, Lieferungen 1—10, Manichaische Handschriften der staat- 
lichen Museen Berlin 1, C. Schmidt, H.J. Polotsky, and H. Ibscher, eds. (Stuttgart, 
1940), 49.23-25. 

19 Decret, Aspects, 226. 

50 See Grondijs, "Le manicheisme numidien," 399—404, who also sees inspiration in 
philosophical currents, such as the Stoic double logos: endiathetos and prophorikos. 

51 See E van der Meer, Augustine the Bishop: Church and Society at the Dawn of the Middle 
Ages (New York, 1961), 47 (trans. oiAugustinus de zielzorger, Utrecht, 1949, 2nd ed.). Was 
astrology a passion more evident in African Manichaeism than elsewhere? If so, it might 
have extended, as Frend ("The Gnostic-Manichaean," 18) suggests, the "attraction felt 
by African Christians for the astrological cults of the East." 

52 Grondijs, "Le manicheisme numidien," 407. 

53 G. Flugel, Mani, seine Lehre und seine Schriften: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Manichdismus. 
Aus dem Fihrist des Abul'faradsch Muhammed ben Ishak al-Warrdk (Leipzig, 1862; repr. Osna- 
briick, 1969), 233, cites Abti'l faradj as the only exception to this. In Coptic Kephalaia 
2 and 20 (Schmidt et al, eds., 20.17-18 and 63.34-35) it is the Third Messenger who 
dwells in the sun. Feldmann, Die "Epistula Fundamenti, " 78, thinks that Jesus the Splendor 
is meant in Faustus' formula. On this see Rose, Die manichaische Christologie, 161—66. 

54 In Augustine, Contra Fortunatum 3 (CSEL 25/1, 86.10-12): haec est ratio fidei nos- 
trae et pro uiribus animi nostri mandatis eius obtemperare unam fidem sectantes huius 
trinitatis, patris et filii et spiritus sancti. Transl. R. Teske, The Manichaean Debate, The 
Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 2 1 st Century 1/19 (Hyde Park, 2006), 
146—47. On Fortunatus' formula see W. Geerlings, "Der manichaische »Jesus patibilis« 
in der Theologie Augustins," Theologische Quartalschrift 152 (1972): 224 n. 10. 

55 Decret, Aspects, 233. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF MANICHAEISM IN ROMAN AFRICA 1 1 1 

en evidence les aspects de sa foi que tout catholique admet." 56 But the 
forces at work in Faustus' profession of faith are behind Fortunatus' 
as well: 

And this is our profession: God is incorruptible [. . .] he dwells in an eternal 
light of his own [...]. But he sent a savior like himself. The Word, born 
at the foundation of the world, when he made the world, came among 
human beings after the world was made." 

Apart from this summary, Fortunatus makes no mention of the Spirit. 
Neither his nor Faustus' formula identifies "Christ" with "Jesus"; and 
in neither, of course, can there really be a question of conforming 
precisely to the (anti-Arian) edict of 38 1. 58 

Returning now to Manichaeism's christology Decret argues that its 
docetic aspects were more explicit and more widely held at Rome than 
in Africa, where the accent was on the "Christ spirituel." 59 But we have 
to keep in mind the apparent distinction between "Christ" and "Jesus" 
in the African version. Augustine never explicitly refers to "Jesus the 
Splendor": the closest he gets is in a reference to "ille per solem lunam- 
que distentus," 60 that is, Faustus' Son/Christ. The one called "Jesus" is 
the Light in its helpless, passive state, the patibilis, trapped and suffering 
in matter. For if "le mythe du Jesus patibilis n'est [pas] particulier [. . .] 



56 Decret, Aspects, 233. It may be a similar consideration that keeps him from appea- 
ling to any Manichaean writing. See E Decret, "La christologie manicheenne dans la 
controverse d'Augustin avec Fortunatus," Augustinianum 35 (1995): 444 (= Essais, 269). 

57 In Augustine, C. Fort. 3 (CSEL 25/1, 85.16 - 86.1): Et nostra professio ipsa est, 
quod incorruptibilis sit deus, quod lucidus, quod [. . .] aeternam lucem et propriam 
habitet [...]; sui similem saluatorem direxisse; uerbum natum a constitutione mundi 
cum mundum fabricaret. Transl. Teske, The Manichaean Debate, 146. 

58 See Grondijs, "Numidian Manicheism," 23; and LJ. van der Lof, "Der numidische 
Manichaismus im vierten Jahrhundert," Studia Patristica 8: Papers presented to the Fourth 
International Conference on Patristic Studies held at Christ Church, Oxford, 1963, Part II, Texte 
und Untersuchungen 93, EL. Cross, ed. (Berlin, 1966), 121-25. 

59 Decret, "Le manicheisme presentait-il," 39 (= Essais, 239). 

60 Augustine, C. Faustum XX,1 1 (CSEL 25/1, 550.18-19). In reference to the Mani- 
chaean Amatorium Canticum Augustine mentions the Spknditenens magnus: C. Faust. 15,6 
(CSEL 25/1, 428.7). 



112 J. KEVIN GOYLE 

aux manicheens d'Afrique," 61 but goes back to Manichaeism's roots, 62 
the expression itself seems to be an African product. 63 Elsewhere, as 
in the Kephalaia, it would have been expressed through notions such 
as the "Cross of Light," 64 perhaps in an attempt to avoid confusion 



1)1 Tardieu, "Vues nouvelles," 253-54. On Iesus patibilis see J. Ries, "Jesus la Splendeur, 
Jesus patibilis, Jesus historique dans les textes manicheens occidentaux," Gnosisforschung 
und Religionsgeschichte: Festschrift fur Kurt Rudolph zum 65. Gehurtstag, H. Preissler and H. 
Sewerts, eds. (Marburg, 1994), 238-41; Rose, Die manichaische Christologie, 93—109; and 
F. C. Baur, Das Manichaische Religionssystem nach den Quellen neu untersucht und entwikelt 
(Tubingen, 1831; repr. Gottingen, 1928; Hildesheim, 1973), 71-77. Baur suggests (75) 
that "die Vorstellung des Jesus patibilis [. . .] vielleicht nur eine von den africanischen 
Manichaern angenommene war." 

1,2 Grondijs, "Analyse," 408: "Aucun document redige hors de l'Afrique procon- 
sulaire [sic] et datant d'avant le VIP siecle, ne mentionne le terme «Jesus patibilis». 
II est bien entendu que la notion qui y est indiquee, peut correspondre a un dogme 
probablement essentiel pour le manicheisme primitif, a savoir qu'une idee de fatalite 
et de souffrance s'attache a l'emprisonnement des parcelles de lumiere ici-bas dans la 
matiere." He also expresses the view (409) that "En Afrique proconsulaire, l'expression 
Jesus patibilis trahissait l'intention de prolonger la confusion et le camouflage de la 
doctrine secrete." So also N. A. Pedersen, "Early Manichaean Christology, Primarily 
in Western Sources," Manichaean Studies, P. Bryder, ed., 174-75; Decret, "La doctrine 
centrale," 150 n. 69; idem, "La doctrine du «Iesus patibilis» dans la polemique antiju- 
da'ique des manicheens dAfrique" in idem, Essais, 248-49. G. Wurst, "Bemerkungen 
zum Glaubensbekenntnis des Faustus von Mileve (Augustinus, Contra Faustum 20,2)," 
Studia Manichaica, Emmerick et al, eds., 653, believes that Iesus patibilis is less a dogmatic 
notion than a proselytizing tactic. 

1)3 E. Rose, Die manichaische Christologie, 89; and A. Bohlig, Mysterion und Wahrheit: 
gesammelte Beitrdge zur spdtantiken Religionsgeschichte, Arbeiten zur Geschichte des spateren 
Judentums und des Urchristentums 6 (Leiden, 1968), 200 (= idem, "Der Manichaismus 
im Lichte der neueren Gnosisforschung," Christentum am Nil, K. Wessel, ed. [Rec- 
klinghausen, 1964], 122) and 218 (— idem, "Christliche Wurzeln im Manichaismus," 
Bulletin de la Societe d'Archeologie Copte 15 [I960]: 57); critiqued by Decret, "La doctrine 
du «Iesus patibilis»," 249 n. 39. Only Faustus, and Augustine from him, employ the 
expression: see Augustine, C. Faustum XX, 11 (CSEL 25/1, 550.14-16): "Postremo 
dicite nobis, quot christos esse dicatis. aliusne est, quern de spiritu sancto concipiens 
terra patibilem gignit..." This would not necessarily mean that the doctrine behind 
the expression is confined to North African Manichaeism. See Decret, Aspects, 1 1—13, 
and "La doctrine," 248-49. Elsewhere Augustine accuses Faustus of proposing a 
Christus ligatus: C. Faustum 11,5 and XX, 13. Faustus does speak of this Christ as suffe- 
ring a "mystical passion," a "mystical crucifixion symbolizing the wounds that are the 
passions of our souls" (XXXIII, 1, 784.26-27: per eius scilicet mysticam passionem 
peruenire. . .; and XXXII,7, 766.20-22: credimus [. . .] praeterea crucis eius mysticam 
fixionem, qua nostrae animae passiones monstrantur uulnera). On these passages see 
Wurst, "Bemerkungen zum Glaubensbekenntnis," 654. Faustus also refers to "the soul 
of the world": 11,5 and XX,2 and 1 1. 

1,4 Pedersen, "Early Manichaean Christology," 1 74: "From the cosmogonean myth the 
imprisoned substance of Light should be the five sons of the Primal Man, but in Augus- 
tine it is named Jesus patibilis. A number of scholars have understood this conception 
as a special North African doctrine which was intended to facilitate the Manichaean 
mission among the members of the Catholic Church. This interpretation might have 



CHARACTERISTICS OF MANICHAEISM IN ROMAN AFRICA 113 

by referring to too many Jesuses. The active, Light-guiding Jesus the 
Splendor, the one who himself resides in the visible moon and sun, is, 
then, Son or Christ or "Third Messenger," 65 an identification peculiar 
to African Manichaeism. Evodius identifies the Third Messenger, a fig- 
ure common throughout Manichaean literature, with the beatus ilk pater 
qui lucidas naues habet diuersorias. 66 In light of the above remarks on Iesus 
patibilis, this would make the tertius legatus unequivocally christological, 67 
an application made elsewhere, but here with the active principle "Jesus 
the Splendor," 68 active because he awakens Adam from the sleep of 
death, that is, from demonic thralldom, and reveals to him the divine 
Light trapped in matter, and how it is to be freed. 



Conclusion 

If Augustine's experience is anything to go by, there was much in 
Manichaeism that appealed to North Africans; and that they put their 
own stamp on it seems beyond dispute. 69 However much off the mark 
Grondijs' notions of a separate "Numidian" Manichaeism might be, 70 



some support in the Coptic texts which designate the suffering particles of Light with 
other names, e.g. the Cross of Light." See also 185—86; Ries, 'Jesus la Splendeur," 
240-41; and Rose, Die manichaische Christologie, 96 and 99-103. However, the Cross of 
Light was also known in North Africa. See Augustine, Enarratio in ps. 140, 12. 

65 Coptic Kephalaion 16 (Bohlig, 49.26-28) makes the Third Messenger one of the 
triad that (along with the Column of Glory and "Light-powers") comprises the Fourth 
Majesty, whose mission it is to oversee the process of separating Light from matter and 
sending it on its way back to the divine realm. On the Third Messenger see Rose, Die 
manichaische Christologie, 167-71. 

66 Evodius, Defide contra Mamchaeos 17 (CSEL 25/2, 957.32-958.1). 

67 On the Third Messenger see Coyle, Augustine's "De moribus ecclesiae catholicae" 39 n. 
173; and W. Bousset, Hauptprobleme der Gnosis, Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur 
des Alten und Neuen Testaments 10 (Gottingen, 1907), 74-77. 

68 Feldmann, Die "Epistula Fundamenti", 73 — 74, 78—79. On Jesus the Splendor, see 
especially Pedersen, "Early Manichaean Christology," 163—65; and J. Ries, "Jesus la 
Splendeur," 236—38. In Coptic Kephalaion 16 (Bohlig, 49.23-31), Jesus the Splendor is 
identified with the "Fifth Majesty." 

69 Although E. de Stoop, Essai sur la diffusion du Manicheisme dans I'Empire Romain 
(Ghent, 1909), 89, is probably going too far in considering the Semitic origins of the 
inhabitants as a factor. Then again, on the Numidian temperament and the role it 
played in Donatism, see W. H. C. Frend, The Donatist Church: A Movement of Protest in 
Roman North Africa (Oxford, 1952), 25-140. 

'" Grondijs, "Analyse"; idem, "Numidian Manicheism," 21—42. But in the latter article 
the special characteristics of Manichaeism in Africa are not really Grondijs' focus, which 
is on Western forms generally. See Decret, "Le manicheisme presentait-il," 7 (= Essais, 
209—10); and Van der Lof, "Der numidische Manichaismus," 118—29. 



114 J. KEVIN GOYLE 

he is right to finger its singularity in the realms of trinitarian and 
christological thought,' 1 and it remains that Manichaeism in Roman 
Africa demonstrated traits not found elsewhere. On the other hand, 
Decret maintains that African Manichaeans were especially concerned 
about practices, prohibitions, and rituals - externals, in other words - 
while in Italy the greater concern was with dogma. 72 I have not done 
a comparative study between Manichaeism in Rome (for which there 
is so much less evidence) and its African form; but to my mind, the 
evidence shows that North African Manichaeism was particularly sensi- 
tive to issues of doctrine. 



" Grondijs, "Numidian Manicheism," 38—42. 

' 2 Decret, "Le manicheisme presentait-il," 28 (= Essais, 232). See also his long 
footnote 27 on 11-12 (= Essais, 214-15). 



MANI'S ACCOUNT OF OTHER RELIGIONS 
ACCORDING TO THE COPTIC STNAXEIS CODEX 

Wolf-Peter Funk 
Quebec City 



How Manichaeans denned their relationship to other religions has been 
an issue of permanent interest in Manichaean studies, raising several 
questions to which there is no simple answer. Especially with regard 
to the Christian and Buddhist religions, this relationship also seems to 
have varied somewhat in the course of Manichaean history. But almost 
all the evidence we have had for a long time was focused on, and valid 
for, the opinions and attitudes displayed by Manichaeans, at various 
times and places — rarely those of Mani himself. I am not suggesting 
that Mani's own opinions were necessarily different from those of his 
followers. But the issue of relationship to other religious communities, 
and the views held about them, is an especially delicate one in the 
case of Manichaeism — given the varying degrees of inclusiveness and 
exclusiveness with regard to this or that religion — and therefore war- 
rants our being careful not to over-generalize any conclusions that one 
might like to draw from one or the other particular statement. As far as 
Mani himself is concerned, I consider it likely that, if not his opinion, 
at least his perspective on these matters, based on his own experience, 
might have been somewhat different from that of his followers. Or in 
other words, the points that he felt he had to make - the aspects he 
personally considered most important to stress - may not have been 
exactly the same. 

As can already be inferred from the testimony of the CMC, two rather 
different ways of talk can be found when Mani reports about his own 
activity and achievements. One is the self-assertive, boastful appraisal 
of his achievements as revealer and light-saver, a kind of ideological 
resume of his role sub specie aetemitatis. The other, which will be the prin- 
cipal subject of this paper, is a much more down-to-earth narrative of 
personal experience with real groups of people, among whom he may 
or may not have been successful in spreading his superior knowledge. 

As a point of departure, let us take a brief look at the first kind, for 
which the CMC provides an excellent example when it quotes the very 



116 WOLF- PETER FUNK 

beginning of Mani's Living Gospel. After some introductory formulas, a 
series of statements of self-presentation, Mani's role and achievement 
in the universal salvation process is summarized: 1 

I have proclaimed hope, I have revealed this revelation and written this 
immortal gospel. . . .What [he (i.e., the Father of Truth) revealed], I have 
shown it [to those who live on] the most truthful vision, which I have 
beheld, and on the most glorious revelation, which has been revealed 
to me. 

This is where the CMC quote from the beginning of the Gospel, given 
towards the end of the second Barhaies report, breaks off, adding only 
two other excerpts which may have been taken from later parts of the 
same writing (or from elsewhere). In the unpublished Coptic Synaxeis 
codex 2 there is no actual overlap of text to be found, but the sentences 
quoted above can hardly be far away from the earliest pieces of readable 
text here, which I read likewise as text of the Living Gospel} The top 
facing page of the unconserved book block (which hides the preceding 
text portions), is only in small parts readable but clearly continues in 
the same manner with numerous statements of the form "/ have done 
this, / have done that," and this style appears to have prevailed until 
we reach the first lines of the first conserved page: 4 

(I have set apart, or sim.) . . . [the living] offspring [. . .from] what is dead, 
the children of the light from (3) [the] offspring [of] darkness. 

I have separated the children of the height from the offspring of the 
abyss, the children of God (5) from the children of the enemy. 

I have distinguished the light-gods from the archons . . . etc. 



1 CMC 67,1 1-15; 67,22-68,5 (Koenen & Romer 1988, 46f.). 

2 The bulk of the codex has now returned from Berlin-Charlottenburg to the Chester 
Beatty Library, Dublin, which had originally acquired it, and is there given the label 
"PCBM 5"; the 31 leaves of this codex that had been acquired by the Berlin museum 
bear the inventory number P. 15995. For further details, in particular the odyssey of 
the various parts of this codex, see Robinson 1992, 22-38 and 45. 

5 The first straightforward assertion that these synaxeis most probably contain 
excerpts from (and not commentaries on) chapters of Mani's Living Gospel, is found in 
King 1992, 286-8. A more tentative suggestion to the same effect, but without textual 
demonstration, can already be found in Bohlig 1968, 227. 

1 In terms of the inventory of the manuscript PCBM 5, this page is identifiable as 
the horizontal fibre side of the leaf labelled "Series VI, folio 24." In the forthcoming 
edition this will probably be called page 245. — NB: For maximum clarity I am indicat- 
ing both kinds of numbers in all following quotations. The prospective "page numbers" 
are based on the assumption that the unconserved book block, usually estimated to 
contain about 1 00 leaves or a little more, can be assumed to hold a maximum of ten 
quires (— 240 pages) plus two leaves. 



MANI'S ACCOUNT OF OTHER RELIGIONS 117 

This fairly extensive, repetitive testimony in the 1st person singular is 
technically part of the First Discourse of the Living Gospel (elsewhere 
called Chapter Aleph), although from the point of view of literary struc- 
ture it rather forms the main body of a general preamble to the work. 
This preamble can be assumed to be identical (or at least, co-extensive) 
with the "First Meeting" (1st synaxis) of that First Discourse, which 
culminates — after a paragraph of exhortation 3 — in Mani's exuberant 
praise of his own literary work, 6 followed by the litany of the twenty- 
two "Firsts," or "Primeval Voice" hymn, 7 and concluded by another 
litany, which assures the readers/listeners of finding in this work what 
they are looking for. 8 The remaining major parts of this chapter, that 
is, the Second to Fifth Meetings of the First Discourse, 9 have for their 



5 "Be luminous, be living, be strong, [be] listeners to knowledge! Raise your ears so 
that your hearing organs may be filled with knowledge through the messenger of the 
Father of Greatness," etc. (246, 4-7 = Series VI, f. 24 vert). 

6 "This is is the new Gospel, the holy [. . .] of truth, the great revelation of the 
things of the quality of Greatness, which makes public (5) the great secrets concern- 
ing all that happened and concerning all that will happen, from the beginning to [the 
end] - the one that reveals and instructs about the interpretation [of the] twenty-two 
logoi of the primeval alphabet, from which the worlds borrowed and through which 
(10) they were sown out." (247, 2-10 — Series VI, f. 23 hor.). Cf. also the partial quote 
in the Homilies, 43, 20f, where the text can be restored to read "He sealed it (i.e., the 
Gospel) in/by twenty-two logoi, in/by the primeval alphabet." 

' This place, towards the end of the preamble of Mani's Gospel and shortly after 
proclaiming the mysterious relationship of the work to the primeval alphabet, would 
appear to be the canonical anchoring of the "Primeval Voice" hymn with its twenty-two 
items. It was only in a much later tradition, as attested by one particular version (the 
Chinese-Sogdian), that this hymn was either attributed to Jesus as author (!) or meant 
to be a praise of his aspects and thus ended up in the classical 1926 Waldschmidt- 
Lentz records on the Stellung Jesu. For a critical reassessment and presentation, and 
illuminating commentary, of the hymn in its various Iranian versions see Morano 
1982. I am very grateful to Enrico Morano for explaining to me the identity and 
peculiarity of this piece during the congress. In the Synaxeis codex, this hymn is only 
very fragmentarily preserved and needs a great deal of restoration, which is of course 
helped by knowledge of the Iranian parallels. 

8 According to the pattern, "The children of long-suffering will find long-suffering 
in it, the gentle children will taste gentleness through it, the children of hope will see 
hope in it," etc. (248 = Series VI, f. 23 vert.). 

9 A fairly good impression of the way in which the individual chapters called synaxis 
relate to the twenty-two Discourses of the Living Gospel, of which some are omitted, 
can be obtained from Mirecki 1988 (although the catalogue presented there would 
now need some updating). These synaxeis in fact occupy only the central part of the 
extensive codex, starting near the end of the unconserved book block and extending 
through most of the conserved series of leaves (down to what is called "series 1"), 
thus covering the remains of more than 200 pages. They are followed in the codex by 
several concluding texts (more than 100 pages) of unknown affiliation (among them, 
one entitled The Sermon of the Gospel). 



118 WOLF-PETER FUNK 

topic the description of the Father of Greatness, the realm of light, 
and the beauty of the light aeons. 

While the Second Discourse (comprised in a single "meeting") gives a 
description of the other side, namely, what is going on inside the realm 
of darkness, the real action and dramatic plot begins to unfold with the 
Third Discourse, here divided into at least four, possibly more, "meet- 
ings." It starts with the perception, on the part of the light aeons, of 
the impending danger and evil schemes of the other side and continues 
with the preparations for battle. A series of other Discourses (for the 
most part less well preserved than the earlier ones) are still dedicated 
to various aspects of the mythical drama; these parts extend at least 
as far as the Tenth Discourse, possibly further. Then, starting at least 
with the Fifteenth Discourse, possibly earlier, Mani finds occasion to 
report on more personal subjects and therefore to refer to groups of 
"real people" of his own day. 

The passages from the Coptic Synaxeis codex that I wish to present 
here as accounts of "other religions" can almost certainly also be read 
as fragmentary pieces from chapters of Mani's Living Gospel, but they 
all belong to this later section of the book, situated after the principal 
chapters of mythological contents. Supposing my codicological order 
(and reading of chapter titles) is correct, most of the quotations would 
belong to various "meetings" of the Fifteenth Discourse of the Gospel, 
with the exception only of the last one. 

The first two passages concern the Elchasaites or, as they are called 
in the Codex Maniehaieus Coloniensis, the "dogma of the Baptists". There 
is no explicit identification of the sect to be found in the extant lines 
of these Synaxeis pages, but after the huge amount of information that 
we can gather from the CMC, a few cues found among the text frag- 
ments of this part of the Synaxeis codex cannot fail to tell us that what 
Mani is talking about is indeed the Baptist sect and the place where 
he spent his early youth: 10 

. . .(12). . .the dogma and. . . (2 lines illegible) [...]... (15). . .in the nomos. . . (16) 
[...]... among them . . . (2 lines illegible) (18) [...]... and the birth/genera- 
tion of the body [...]... they nourished my body alone (20) [...]... in 
that dogma [...]... and its presbyters [...]... my body . . . that I should do 
[...]... thus I did not trust them when I was small . . . 



383, 12-23 - Series 1955, f. 6 vert. 



MANI'S ACCOUNT OF OTHER RELIGIONS 119 

Note the repeated reference Mani here makes to "my body" — which 
I suggest ought to be taken into account in discussions of the some- 
what ambiguous book title of the CMC, "On the birth/generation of 
his body" with its possible meanings and implications." The Gospel 
fragment quoted above clearly confirms what may already be inferred 
from certain CMC passages such as that on pages 102-103, 12 that is to 
say that Mani himself tended to mention his body and its "feeding" 
or "nourishment" when he talked about his earlier life with the sect. 13 
Whether this talk, by way of a narrative, is situated in an explanation 
that Mani gives to his Twin about the reasons for his great sadness 
(as is the case in the Timotheos account of the CMC) or whether it is 
found to be situated at the primary narrative level of the Gospel, can- 
not be determined on the basis of the fragments. But it is interesting 
to see that on the verso page of the same leaf, after another mention 
of nourishment (line 19, "...to me, with me feeding") as well as a 
few other things, a dialogue with "my true and most honoured Twin" 
is either initiated or continued, 14 and in this context again, mention 
is made of "the dogmata that walk about in error" (line 22) and "the 
children of the nomos" (line 27). 

On another leaf of the same series ("1955") but quite a few pages 
further down the text we find some readable remains of what surely 
was a more detailed description of Mani's more problematic experience 
when living among the sect: 15 



11 It should be noted that the "genetic" terms in connection with the body are neatly 
equivalent on both sides, with the Coptic expression (t-cin-jpo) pointing to some birth-like 
production at least as distinctly as the Greek yevva in the case of the CMC. 

12 Koenen/Romer 1988, 72f. 

13 It may be interesting to note that in Psalm 42, which belongs to the group called 
"Psalms of the Synaxeis" in the Coptic Manichaean Psalm-Book, Part One (presently 
being prepared for publication by Siegfried Richter), there occurs a passage that could 
perhaps be restored to read "[they nourished his body until he came . . . (lac.) . . . away 
from the error" (PsBk I, 77, 24f.). But the strophe in which this line occurs is the 16th 
among the twenty-two strophes parallel to the twenty-two Discourses of the Living 
Gospel, whereas the section that provides the text quoted above must be identified as 
belonging to Discourse 15. 

11 By the way, this page (384 = Series 1955, 6 hor.) is probably the only one with 
references to "my Twin" (twice: lines 16 and 28); all other occurrences of one or the 
other "twin" in the Synaxeis codex seem to refer to beings other than Mani's Twin, 
especially in various mythological contexts. 

15 391, 10-26 = Series 1955, f 2 hor. 



120 WOLF-PETER FUNK 

(The first ten lines are hardly legible; lines 3f. probably "they are the 
children [of the no]mos"' b and the term trophe, 'food' or 'feeding', in 
illegible context) 

(1 0) ... in a . . . way, according to individual nomoi (or "nomos by nomos"). 
They did ...[...]... They separated plant from plant, vegetable from veg- 
etable, [herb] from herb (?). And so did I. I separated (?)...[...]... their 
outrage, according to their nomos, .. . (1 5) ... (3 lines entirely illegible) ... I took 
it from them, they being ...[...] consideration. In this way I chanced 
upon (?)...[.. .] (20) . . . they ... by his/its schema, by his/its typos, thus [. . .] 
outside. I went into the monasteries [which (25) belonged (?)] to them. 
They (?) desired [. . .] outside and [inside (?)...]... in it. (A few other lines, 
but illegible) 

The one thing that really makes clear reading on this fragment is the 
"separation" or "distinction" practised by the Baptists between different 
kinds of plants and vegetables, that is, accepting some while rejecting 
others. This practice, which in the CMC accounts is somewhat obscured 
by vague formulations 17 and becomes explicit only indirectly in the com- 
ments on some Jesus logia {CMC 93), 18 seems to be the principal point 
of reproach that Mani here makes to the sect — a practice from which 
he is supposed to have distanced himself not without personal trouble, 
after adhering to it for a long time. As regards the other points of great 
importance in the CMC accounts, neither the issue of "wheat bread" 
(or "Greek bread") nor that of "washing" is anywhere evident in the 
extant fragments. The "monasteries" that Mani reports to have visited 
(1. 24) appear to belong to the same religious group (although this is not 
entirely certain, given the illegible space preceding this passage). 

As far as foreign religions are concerned — "foreign", that is, to Meso- 
potamia — there is only one personal encounter of Mani's recounted 
on the extant fragments, and this must have happened during Mani's 
famous voyage to India. But while most other sources that inform us 
about events that happened during this journey focus on the unique suc- 
cess story, the conversion of the Turan-shah in an apparently Buddhist 
environment, this Gospel passage instead reflects the frustration that Mani 
must have experienced in Hinduist (and more particularly Brahmanist) 
milieus. The emphasis that he puts on their being organized into castes, 



16 The Elchasaites seem to be the only religious group for which, apart from the 
category of dogma, also the term nomos is used by Mani (cf. CMC 79, 16; Koenen/ 
Romer 1988, 54f.). 

" Cf. the exegetical footnote 2 in Koenen/Romer 1988, 63. 

18 Koenen/Romer 1988, 64f. 



MANI'S ACCOUNT OF OTHER RELIGIONS 1 2 1 

being firmly grounded in their own traditions, and their unwillingness 
to listen to any outsider can only mean that he found them more or 
less inaccessible for his own (early) missionary efforts. 

The page that carries this report belongs to the same series of leaves 
as that about the Baptists and may belong to just another "meeting" 
(apparently preceding the one that deals with Twin and Elchasaites) 
but the same Discourse of the Living Gospel. A preliminary translation 
of the very first reading of this page was already published many years 
ago 19 and I am now in a position to give a somewhat fuller account of 
this passage, thanks to more decipherment and restoration: 20 

(Remains of the first few lines illegible) . . . little by little (5) [...]... the error of 
their nomas. But ...[...]... error . . . They have already dissolved [and . . .] 
them in/by the bond of the nomos, by way of the (pi.) . . . [...]. They 
were . . . away on account of its error. Thus [I . . .] little by litde and I drew 
many away from the error (10) [of the] nomos. I led them from death to life, 
for I [am . . .] against them (?)... according to their ... (1 2) for a time. 

I... their (?)... in the countries of the land (?) of the east, of In[dia]. 
(14) In that place [I encountered (?)] many sects (dogma) and castes (15) 
[which (?). ..]... except for [their] nomos, while the ... (16) [...]... through 
one another, according to the... (17) [. . .] that place, the ones that I 
distinguished - caste by caste, dogma by dogma. In that place I took a 
close look at (19) the caste of the Brahmans (and found out) that they 
were strong and setded in their (20). . .in the land of the east. They are 
respected in their [caste (?)...]... other dogmafta). Now, their nomos is the 
following. I took (22) a close look at their nomos and found that (?) the 
leaders and the teachers [...]... in prophecy and ascesis, in special skills 
(e\)|ir|xavia) (24) . . . the hair of their head. It is to their own teachers that 
they listen — ever since (?) [their] prophets, their fathers. 

When I saw myself that they were (26) in such a manner opposed and 
incapable of listening to any other but their own . . . and their nomos, that 
they are lined up ("in rank and file"? atoixeiv) and are (28) [...]... their 
caste and did not search outside of ...[...].. . their nomos. As soon as [I 
(?)...] (30) ...[...].. . my head, I sought after ...[...]... I travelled around 
in their countries . . . (32) [...]..., I . . . the disposition which [...]... their 
places which . . . (34) [. . . I (?)] said (?), "Your nomos, which ...[...]... 
which . . . (end of page) 

As those last lines of fragmentary text indicate, there must have been a 
brief record of dialogue between Mani and some Indians, the contents 
of which are largely lost in the lacunas; but this dialogue seems to have 



19 King 1992, 287. 

20 379 = Series 1955, f. 8 vert. 



122 WOLF- PETER FUNK 

extended over most of the next page. After the first seven lines of that 
verso page (which are almost completely lost), there are a few legible 
words which, although narrative, would still be compatible with such 
a dialogue: "I translated/interpreted all the greatnesses (?) from their 
signs (?) to their. . ."; and after that, other dialogue elements are found 
in the more legible lines 20-26 (among them: "all the things that you 
have told us are of light," "we have heard that...," twice "the first 
fathers," and "from generation to generation"). But unfortunately we 
have no means of figuring out how this story ends. 

The last passage I wish to quote here bears no visible relationship to 
Mani's biography or personal experience, but still seems to be an excerpt 
from the Living Gospel, most likely from its Eighteenth or Nineteenth 
Discourse. It concerns — directly or indirectly — the Hebrew religion or, 
to put it more cautiously, apparently some part of the Hebrew people 
or, at any rate, a group of people who are somehow connected with 
biblical traditions. Given the clearly hostile position that Manichaeans 
and, for that matter, certainly Mani himself usually take towards all 
things Jewish, 21 this passage surprises by its apparently fairly neutral, 
almost sympathetic, tone. Thus it can hardly be meant to deal with 
the ancestors of the Jewish community of Mani's day, but perhaps 
with some tribe of "Israelites" before they adopted the fatal Mosaic 
Law. It is clear enough that the passage takes up a very essential part 
of biblical narrative anchored in the Pentateuch: the story of the exo- 
dus from Egypt. The purpose of this part of the discourse, however, 
seems to be an etymological speculation about the two words sina and 
skhina? 2 possibly taken to be in some sort of opposition. Even though 
the actual logical connection between the two terms remains unclear, 
it seems that at least for a few lines this lexical play is the main point — 
rather than an explanation of the religious orientation of the people 



21 Cf., for example, the passage in IKeph 159, 1—7, where the authority speaking in 
Deut 17.2-5, prohibiting any worship of the sun, is identified as Satan. But it is quite 
possible that scholars tend to overstate the case: here again, Mani's own stance may 
have been somewhat "less Manichaean" than that of his followers. If, for instance, one 
reads Chapter 6 of the Kephalaia (and its description of the dark kings) as implicitly 
supplying a list of rejected religious groups, one notes that it mentions magical prac- 
tice {IKeph 31, 22-33), the Zoroastrian fire cult (33, 16f), pagan idolatry (33, 21-24), 
and Baptists (33, 29-32), but not the Jews [this fact was brought to my attention by 
Timothy Pettipiece]. 

22 As a possible locus classicus of the confusion between Hebrew s'neh (— cassia obovata, 
for the "burning thorn-bush" in Ex 3.2—4) and sinai (the name of the mountain), cf. the 
conjectural emendations that are traditionally proposed for the text of Deut 33.16. 



MANI'S ACCOUNT OF OTHER RELIGIONS 123 

the text is talking about, and who are graciously identified as "the seed 
of Abraham." 23 From the imperfect remains of papyrus and ink, this 
is what I have been able to retrieve and tentatively translate: 24 

(Nothing readable of the first five lines of that page, and next to nothing of 
the preceding one) . . . (6) . . . [he] chose the tribe, . . . [the] entire [coun- 
try] . . . [He] . . . their ... so that they ... (1 0) godhead. Later on, [he] ... in 
order to [...], that is (?), the skhina 2: ' . . . , in order to seize ...[...] ( 1 2) ... set 
free (?) her army. Finally, then, after having [. . .] (13)... the seed of 
Abraham, she (?)... them off 26 They . . . and they ...(15)... the slavery and 
the humiliation ...[...]... (forced?) labor. So they departed from Egypt 
[and passed (17) through (?)] the field of the mountain of sina (that is, 
Mount Sinai). There were great [quantities (18) of] thistles [growing 
(?)] in that [place (?)]. Now, the thistle is called sina in the language of 
that place . . . (20) [...]... (2 1) [That is why (?)] that mountain had been 
named. ..[...].. .skhina, after the name of the thorn-tree with which 
[the whole place (?)] is filled. (23) [...]... These Babylonians released 
(?)...[...]... and they ... in it. They seized [the land (?) of] . . . (25) . . . and 

became kings in it (2 lines illegible) . . . (27) . . . Euphrates . . . (29) . . . these 

Chal[daeans (?)] (30) [...]... in (?) Hebrew ...[...]... (32) [...]... in Baby- 
lon ...[...]... (next to end of page) 

Several questions may be raised with regard to this fragment of the 
Gospel. For example, why does Mani apparently adopt from typical 
Pentateuch traditions not only stories about the very first, pre-flood 
human generations, such as Enoch or the giants, but also certain post- 
flood events? Could it be that he valued at least some of the Patriarchs 
approvingly and dated the fatal "error" in the religious history of the 
Hebrew people only with Moses, the one who gave them their nomos — 



23 Cf. the "ethnic identity" role that the expression G7iep|j.a A[3paa|X carries, for 
instance, in Jn 8.33 (and elsewhere in the New Testament gospels) or Rom 9.7; 1 1.1; 
2Cor 1 1 .22 (and elsewhere in the Pauline epistles). On the other hand, passages like 
Jn 8.37—40 might have been reason enough for Mani to see a link between the real 

"seed of Abraham" and the true religion. 

24 422 - Series 1, 1951, f. 12 hor. 

25 The fragmentary context being syntactically rather inconclusive, it cannot be 
excluded that the word is here used in a construction that states the meaning of the 
word, for instance, "skhina is/means great thistle" (supposing that the other word, not 
translated above, which is likewise puzzling may indeed be understood as a noun sar-o 
'great thistle' with zero article, as I tend to think). But even so, the point of the lexical 
opposition between skhina and sina remains utterly unclear. 

26 The female being apparently referred to both in "her army" and the acting "she" 
cannot be identified because of the many lacunas; it cannot be "the skhina" since this 
word has a masculine determiner. What with our ignorance as to what it actually 
means, it is even conceivable that pskhina does not represent "the skhina" but, with the 
possessive article, "her khina" (though this seems unlikely). 



1 24 WOLF- PETER FUNK 

or even later? If the numerous lacunas do not lead us astray in this 
regard, it looks as if Moses is not mentioned at all, which would be 
more than remarkable in a text that relates the exodus from Egypt and 
the passage of Mount Sinai. It talks about "thorn-trees" as being a 
typical phenomenon of the landscape, but not - or at least, not explic- 
itly 27 - about the famous singular "thorn-bush", through which Moses' 
revelation was transmitted. If my readings are correct, however, the 
most intriguing aspect of this fragment might be the apparent recep- 
tion and possible development, on Mani's part, of the ancient tradition 
about Abraham as of Chaldaean origin (Gen 11.28 and 31), and by 
inference, therefore, a leader of a group of "Babylonian" people, in 
other words, of cousins to the ancestors of those living in Mani's own 
country. At any rate, the fact that after "these Babylonians" both the 
Euphrates and Babylon are mentioned at the bottom of this page, and 
more of this kind is said on the page immediately following this one, 28 
makes it clear that the geographical context of the passage and the 
people involved is Mesopotamia. If the writer of this chapter had any 
missionary efforts on his mind when he made the connection between 
"the seed of Abraham" and the indigenous population of his country, 
we still could not be sure whether, in religious terms, his focus was on 
Christians, Jews, or other folk. 29 

Taking into account some readable fragments of phrases from the 
next page - in particular, "those Babylonians who belong to the ancient 
dogma" and "[people who] worship in that temple" 30 - one can hardly 
avoid the impression that Mani is talking about two groups of people 



2/ That is to say, he may have had the "thorn-bush" in mind or implied some of its 
significance as it is commonly understood if the obvious conclusion is correct that the 
enigmatic skhina mentioned in the text originally refers to the Aramaic word meaning 
'(divine) dwelling'. But unfortunately no satisfactory context can be given for the unique 
occurrence of this word here; thus it even remains unclear whether this is meant in 
an accepting or a more critical manner. 

28 This following page (423 = Series 1, 1951, fill hor., very poorly preserved) 
again mentions the Euphrates river and the Babylonians, but it also contains a phrase 
that says "from the land of the Egyptians to the country of [...]" (line 11) and later 
talks about "[people who] worship in that temple" (lines 20 and 21), starting a new 
sentence with "Those Babylonians who belong to the ancient [dogma]" (lines 2 If.), 
though what is said about them is hardly readable, except for the fact that once again 
naming is involved. 

29 Most surprisingly, the next topic after those mentioned in the preceding note, start- 
ing only a few lines later and apparently without any clear break in between, involves 
some sort of Christological discussion: 'Jesus" [line 26], "while they say about him 
that..." [line 31], and, on the other side of the leaf, "the son of Mary" [line 20]! 

50 See note 28. 



MANI'S ACCOUNT OF OTHER RELIGIONS 125 

which can both claim to be called "Babylonians" and that the former 
one ("the seed of Abraham") is simply thought to be distinct from those 
adhering to the ancient religion (the pagans), which means, distinct with 
regard to their religion. If this can be assumed as a contextual setting 
for the whole section, then it becomes likely - as several participants 
in this congress 31 suggested to me - that the former group is to be 
identified with the Mandaean community. From their own literature, 
Mandaeans are known to have cultivated peculiar versions of the Exo- 
dus tradition, although these are mostly viewed in a hostile manner in 
the sources available to us. 32 The hostile presentation, however, could 
be due to a secondary twist, and the mere presence and elaboration 
of these traditions in Mandaean literature may suggest that they were 
perhaps seen in a different light in earlier times. 33 Be that as it may, at 
least at the demographic level, the Mandaean community seems to be 
the primary candidate when we are looking for a religious dissident 
group of substantial size in third-century Mesopotamia. Colleagues 
more competent than myself in the history of Aramaic communities 
assured me that there are good reasons to assume that the Mandaeans 
made up a substantial part of the people who inhabited Babylonian 



31 Notably, and independently from one another, Erica Hunter and Kurt Rudolph; 
other participants confided to me later that they had had the same idea. 

32 Cf., e.g., Right Ginza 38 If. (Lidzbarski 1925, 410), where Abraham as a tribal 
ancestor (albeit of the Jews) and the exodus from Egypt are mentioned in the same 
context. Since these events are said to occur under the guidance of Adonai and Ruha, 
however, any identification on the part of the Mandaeans themselves with this tradition 
appears to be excluded. Note, however, the rather ambiguous reference to Abraham 
in the Sinai section of the Right Ginza (45f, Lidzbarski 1925, 43), where the Jews are 
said to have falsified the Law and to have "falsified the works of Abraham, the prophet 
of Ruha, on Mount Sinai." 

33 It may be interesting in this connection to take a look at the book that, according 
to Lady Drower, is widely considered by modern Mandaeans to be "the true history 
of their race" (Drower 1953: v), the Haran Gawaita (I am grateful to Jason BeDuhn 
for having drawn my attention to this work). Although the Pentateuch (and Jerusa- 
lem) traditions are hardly seen in a less hostile light where they are mentioned in the 
book itself, the amalgamation process suggested to be at the origin of the Mandaean 
community by various particular traits of this work (and strongly argued by Drower 
in her introduction) leaves considerable room for a more diversified reception of typi- 
cally "Jewish" traditions. I do not know how much historical depth, if any, can be 
attributed to an orally communicated assertion such as the one reported by Drower 
(1953, vii, quoted from her earlier work), "Abraham was of our people — we called 
him Bahram," which is the name that in the literature usually appears as Bihram (cf. 
his role as the possible founder of Mandaean baptism rites, "the baptism of the great 
Bihram, son of the mighty," ibid., 6fi, n. 9). If there was any chance for similar equa- 
tions in antiquity, one may assume that Mani was likely to adopt the more "Christian" 
variant of that name. 



126 WOLF-PETER FUNK 

Mesopotamia around the third century, possibly as much as one third 
of the entire population. 

The issue of the relationship between Mandaean and Manichaean 
religions and literatures - once a privileged topic of discussion and 
looked upon with heightened interest after Save-Soderbergh's pioneering 
study of the Manichaean Psalm-Book 34 - was pushed to the background 
and lost much of its pertinance once it became clear, through the CMC, 
that the Baptist community Mani grew up in was not the Mandaean 
one. But this does not necessarily mean that Mandaean doctrines and 
activities were of no interest or consequence to Mani. If the hypotheti- 
cal interpretation of the "seed of Abraham" of our Synaxeis passage in 
terms of Mandaeans is correct, it might be about time to renew our 
interest in the historical relationship between these two faiths. 



34 Save-Soderberch 1949. 



MANI'S ACCOUNT OF OTHER RELIGIONS 127 

Bibliography 

Bohlig, Alexander 

1968 Zu den Synaxeis des Lebendigen Evangeliums, Mysterion und Wahrheit, Arbeiten 
zur Geschichte des spateren Judentums und des Urchristentums 6 (Leiden). 
Cirillo, Luigi 

200 1 Concordanze del «Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis», Pubblicazioni dell' Istituto di 
Scienze religiose in Trento, series maior, 7 (Bologna). 
Drower, E. S. 

1953 The Haran Gawaita and the Baptism of Hibil-^iwa, Studi e Testi 176 (Citta del 
Vaticano). 
King, Karen 

1992 A progress report on the editing of the Manichaean Synaxeis codex, Actes du 
IVe Congres copte. Vol. II: De la linguistique au gnosticisme, M. Rassart-Debergh 
and J. Ries, eds. (Louvain-la-Neuve), 281-288. 
Koenen, Ludwig, and Cornelia Romer 

1988 Der Kolner Mani-Kodex: Uber das Werden seines leibes, Kritische Edition, Papyrologica 
Coloniensia 14 (Opladen). 
Lidzbarski, Mark 

1925 Ginza: Der Schatz oder Das grofie Bueh der Mandder (Gottingen). 
Mirecki, Paul Allen 

1988 The Coptic Manichaean Synaxeis Codex: Descriptive catalogue of synaxis 
chapter titles, Manichaean Studies: Proceedings of the First International Conference on 
Manichaeism, Lund Studies in African and Asian Religions, 1, Peter Bryder, 
ed. (Lund), 135-145. 
Morano, Enrico 

1982 The Sogdian Hymns of Stellung Jesu, East and West 32: 9—43 (and plates). 
Robinson, James M. 

1992 The fate of the Manichaean codices of Medinet Madi 1929-1989, Studia 
Manichaica: II International Kongrefi zum Manichaismus, Studies in Oriental 
Religions 23, G. WieBner & H.-J. Klimkeit, eds. (Wiesbaden). 
Save-Soderbergh, Torgny 

1949 Studies in the Coptic Manichaean Psalm-Book: Prosody and Mandaean parallels 
(Uppsala). 



HOW WE KNOW THE EXACT YEAR THE ARCHEGOS 
LEFT BAGHDAD 

Cyril Glasse 
New York 



An-Nadim informs us that the Manichaean Archegos left Baghdad in 
the reign of the Caliph al-Muqtadir. This was from the year 908 to 
the year 932, a time window of twenty-four years. However, the great 
French Islamicist Louis Massignon wrote in The Passion of al-Hallaj that 
the Manichaean "patriarch, who was tolerated at Ctesiphon, the Sas- 
sanid capital (with the symbolic title of 'Babel'), was watched closely 
by the Muslim police from the very beginning of the conquest; and 
ended up by being exiled to Soghdiana. precisely in 296/908. '" Massignon 
did not explain how he knew the precise year. His translator, Herbert 
Mason, told me that he did not know either. Nevertheless, by long 
reflection (and it takes a long time to go through those four volumes of 
Massignon's), the logic of Massignon's statement becomes quite clear 
and the details that become apparent are rather interesting. 

It should be noted that Massignon was very well informed on Man- 
ichaeism. Al-Hallaj, Massignon's hero, was executed for Manichaeism 
in the year 922. Before Massignon, it was assumed by scholars that 
al-Hallaj really had been a Manichaean. In 1902, E. G. Browne wrote, 
"what we learn [of Hallaj's writings] as to the sumptuous manner in 
which they were written out, sometimes with gold ink, on Chinese 
paper, brocade, silk and the like, and magnificently bound, reminds us 
strongly of the Manicheans. In short, as to the extreme unorthodoxy 
of this Persian, whose near ancestors had held the Magian faith, there 
can be little doubt..." 2 Not to mention that Hallaj's actual doctrines 
cleverly weave Manichaeism into Islam, and his cryptic statements, like 
"I am an orphan but I have a Father," glow with double meaning in 
the light of modern scholarship. 



1 Louis Massignon, The Passion of al-Hallaj, Herbert Mason, tr. (Princeton, 1982), Vol. 1 , 
381. The Islamic year 296 ran from 30 September 908 to 20 September 909. 

2 E. G. Browne, Literary History of Persia (Cambridge, 1964), Vol. 1, 362. 



130 CYRIL GLASSE 

Yet, in the new edition of the Encyclopedia of Islam, in the article JVur 
("Light"), we read: "The first representatives of a metaphysics of light in 
Islam readily fell under the suspicion of Manichaeism . . . many mystics 
also (e.g., al-Halladj, according to Massignon, Passion 150—1, wrongly) 
were accused of this dualism." Wrongly accused of Manichaeism? 
Now, after Massignon, we find that the contemporary authorities who 
tried al-Hallaj twice with deliberations that ran for years in the tenth 
century were misinformed! 

What Massignon accomplished was to posthumously argue as a 
lawyer in a Court of Appeals for al-Hallaj and to acquit him of the 
accusations and judgment of the original trial in Baghdad. In doing so, 
Massignon learned a great deal about the Manichaeans and went so 
far as to calculate how much lettuce — the Manichaean staple — had to 
be grown in 'Iraq to feed what he called Hallajians (432 Hectares were 
used to grow lettuce for the "Hallajians" of Baghdad). That is why he 
knows "precisely" when the Archegos left Baghdad, because, as he says, 
already in 910 "Hallajians" were being rounded up and arrested. 3 This 
is a reconstruction of his deductions, along with some choice additions 
that Massignon did not know, which further the argument. 



The Palace Intrigue of 908 

Al-Muqtadir, the 18th 'Abbasid Caliph, succeeded his elder brother al- 
Muktafi on 13 Qa'dah 295/ August 14, 908 when he was thirteen years 
old. He was deposed soon after, for a day, on 20-21 Rabi' 296/Decem- 
ber 17-18, 908, by his cousin 'Abu-f Abbas ibn al-Mu'tazz al-Muntasif 
bi-Llah, and, before the end of his reign, for three days (February 28 - 
March 2, 929), by his brother al-Qahir bi-Llah. Al Muqtadir was finally 
killed in 320/932. 

Ibn al-Mu'tazz (861-908), the grandson of the Caliph al-Mutawakkil, 
was the son of the Caliph al-Mu'tazz, who himself had been put on 
the throne in 866 until 869 by the Turkish Guards of Samarra 1 when the 
Caliph al-Musta'in fled from them to Baghdad. A poet, he wrote "The 
Epistles," a miniature epic of 450 iambic couplets celebrating the 
reign of his cousin, the Caliph al-Mu'tadid, which Browne called 
the "nearest approximation to an epic poem to be found in Arabic 



5 Massignon, The Passion of al-Hallaj, Vol. 2, 473. 



HOW WE KNOW THE EXACT YEAR THE ARCHEGOS LEFT BAGHDAD 1 3 1 

literature." He also wrote works on poetics influenced by Aristotle's 
Rhetoric, which had recently been translated into Arabic. He had led a 
life away from politics, extolling the pure Arabic of the Beduins while 
occupying himself with literary criticism. But he was opposed to Twelve 
Imam Shi'ites. 

Al-Muqtadir was put, and kept, on the throne by Twelve Imam 
Shi'ite bankers and Shi'ite secretaries. The unsuccessful backers of 
Ibn al-Mu'tazz (known as "the Caliph for a day") were Sunnis and 
mainly Sunni secretaries, government clerks, for their revolt was a 
palace revolt only. Evidently, Massignon saw in this struggle between 
Sunni and Shi'ite backers, groups which were more or less dangerous, 
or more or less tolerant, as regards the Archegos and Manichaeism in 
general. The Shi'ites, who were on the rise in influence, were the party 
which was more opposed to the Manichaeans than ordinary Sunnis, 
who had little understanding of what Manichaeans were. The "Hidden 
Imam" of the Twelve Imam Shi'ites, through his representative the 
Wakil, condemned al-Hallaj to death for Crypto-Manichaeism in 917, 
five years before al-Muqtadir, out of hesitation, signed the court's 
decision for the same crime. Shi'ites were the ones who, much more 
than the Sunnis, understood the Manichaeans. After all, many of the 
Shi'ites were Manichaeans. 

If you have ever tried to explain Gnosticism to someone, you will 
appreciate the difficulty they would have in recognizing Gnosis when 
it is not pointed out, and especially the difficulty such non-initiates 
would experience in recognizing Gnosis when it was disguised - and 
disguise was the rule, since Gnosis was officially looked down upon and 
even persecuted by the Islamic state. But the Shi'ites were themselves 
initiates, they are themselves Gnostics (which is why there are very 
few Sufi orders in Iran, their function being carried out instead by the 
inherent mysticism of the state religion). The Shi'ites can perceive a 
Gnostic at a distance and even in disguise. And being Gnostics, they 
were less tolerant of Gnostics of different stripes. And Gnostics of 
different stripes is what the so-called "Sunni" secretaries who staged 
the palace revolt actually were, and not really orthodox Muslims, for 
reasons which follow. 

Massignon recognized that the defeat of Ibn al-Mu'tazz 's party and 
the victory of the Shi'ites, was a struggle between Manichaeans and 
Shi'ites for the control of the nominally Sunni Caliphate, and it sig- 
naled the coming of the final peril for the Archegos which precipitated 
his departure from Baghdad, according to an-Nadim, for Sogdiana 



132 CYRIL GLASSE 

(although there, too, the Manichaeans were being persecuted, they 
gained toleration by counter-threats from the Uygur ruler of Qpcho- 
Turfan, in Chinese Turkestan). 

Besides the attempted coup d'etat of Ibn al-Mu'tazz in December in 
the year 908, there was also a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the 
constellation of Aries on the 13th of March. The Isma'ilis used 
the conjunction of these two planets, astrologically related to royalty 
and dynasty, as propaganda to create expectations of historical changes 
of cosmic proportions. More than 60 years earlier they had planted 
what they purported were ancient prophecies regarding these conjunc- 
tions. The prophecies spoke of a series of seven such conjunctions, 
the last of which would restore the world order to what it had been 
before Islam. Al-Biruni reported this as a prophecy which said that the 
Magians would be brought back to power. An earlier conjunction had 
taken place in 895 and the last of the prophesied series took place in 
928. Belatedly, in 930 the Black Stone was stolen from Mecca by the 
Qarmati Isma'ilis and kept hidden in East Arabia until it was returned 
in 951 by being hurled in a sack into the main Mosque of Kufah, after 
having been deliberately shattered into seven pieces and crumbs. Since 
then, Muslims, like in a dream, have been circling a substitute center: 
Mani in place of c Ali; Mani's black stone in place of Muhammad's 
black stone. 



Background: the Rise of the 'Abbasids 

To unravel the threads of these events and their significance, we have 
to go back to the beginning of the 'Abbasid dynasty. The 'Abbasids 
in 716 stumbled upon a mysterious connection which their cousins, 
the descendants of Ali, had to a clandestine revolutionary group in 
'Iraq. 4 In 685, this group, called the Kaysaniyyah and also known as 
the Mukhtariyyah, had captured Kufah, which was the successor to 
the city of Hirah, center of Arab Manichaeism and capital of the 
Lakhmids, who had been either Manichaeans or pro-Manichaean. 
The leader of this revolutionary group and the revolt which bears his 
name was Mukhtar ibn Abu 'Ubayd ath-Thaqafi, the nephew of the 
Caliph 'Ali's governor in Mada'in-Ctesiphon. After taking part in c Abd 



See M. Sharon, Black Banners from the East (Leiden, 1983). 



HOW WE KNOW THE EXACT YEAR THE ARGHEGOS LEFT BAGHDAD 133 

Allah ibn az-Zubayr's Arab Muslim revolt against the Umayyads, he 
appeared in 'Iraq claiming to be inspired by the Angel Gabriel and, in 
verse imitative of the Koran, preached the appearance of the Mahdi, 
a divinely guided leader, who would eliminate injustice on the earth. 
Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, one of the sons of the Caliph c Ali, 
was, in secret, this very Mahdi. 5 

Raising a force of discontented mawali, Aramaic and Persian Muslim 
converts who were, by necessity, clients of the occupying Arabs, Mukhtar 
put them under the command of Ibrahim ibn al-Malik al-Ashtar, the 
chief of the Nakh 1 tribe of Madhhij, a Shi'ite leader in Kufah and the 
son of one of the Caliph 'Ali's generals. In Rabi I 66/October 685, 
they succeeded in taking Kufah. The forces of Mukhtar won several 
victories in 'Iraq and defeated a Syrian army led by 'Ubayd Allah ibn 
Ziyad, the Umayyad governor who had sent troops against Husayn at 
Kerbala. 'Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad was killed, and Mukhtar celebrated 
the victory by a ceremony in front of an empty throne, which was 
represented as being "a chair belonging to 'Ali" — in Arabic kursi 'Ali — 
whose keeper, according to Tabari, in the city of Kufah at one time 
was a man called Hawshab. 6 Arabs of 'Ali's generation did not have 
chairs, much less thrones; they sat on the ground. This throne, to which 
Mukhtar spoke in speech difficult for Arabs to understand, which was 
Aramaic, was the seat of the presence of God. In this ceremony, and 
in his speeches, Mukhtar made extensive use of saj' or rhyme, like a 
kahin or shaman. 

This ceremony of the empty chair looks so temptingly like the 
Manichaean Bema Ceremony that... it must be the Bema Ceremony. 
And it links the Mukhtariyyah/Kaysaniyyah to the Manichaeans whose 
center among the Arabs had been Hirah, the Lakhmid capital. The 
Lakhmids were dispossessed when Islam expanded, and their capital 
Hirah dwindled away as the population moved to the newly founded 



5 This is the first time the Mahdi idea appeared in Islamic history. The latest was 
in 1979, when a coup d'etat was attempted in Saudi Arabia, and the Grand Mosque of 
Mecca seized, by a group of religious students who promoted one of themselves as a 
Mahdi. He was from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The Eastern Province was 
the region controlled by Qarmatis in the 10th century and is today the only part of 
Saudi Arabia which is Twelve Imam Shi'ite. The stolen Black Stone of the Ka'bah of 
Mecca was hidden there, in the city of Hofuf. 

6 An Ibn Hawshab, or "son of Hawshab," shows up as an architect of the trans- 
fer of Isma'ili operations from Syria and 'Iraq to North Africa, and the birth of the 
Fatimid Empire. 



134 CYRIL GLASSE 

military camp-city of Kufah some thirty kilometers away. Kufah 
became the well-spring of Shi'ism and religious radicalism into the 
10th century Hirah eventually disappeared, or rather took on a new 
identity as did the Lakhmids. Manichaeans and former Manichaeans, 
their new identity now became Shi'ites, that is, partisans or support- 
ers of c Ali (the idea that Shi'ism began in Mecca when the Prophet 
died because c Ali was supposed to become Caliph at that moment is 
a myth). The Caliph c Ali had turned to them for support against the 
Umayyads, who were themselves supported by the Christians and for- 
mer Christians of Syria. 

The immediate predecessors of Mukhtar's revolt, the Tawwabun, 
also exhibited a Manichaean trait, in that some four thousand persons 
without military experience went off in search of apparent martyr- 
dom, as the Rawandiyyah were to do some seventy years later in the 
presence of Mansur the 'Abbasid.' This march of the Tawwabun, the 
"Repentents," took place in 65/685, when several thousand old men, 
regretting having betrayed Husayn, 'Ali's son, who was martyred several 
years earlier, marched out of Kufah, seeking martyrdom for themselves 
(which they found), crying out ya latha'arat al-Husayn - "rise to avenge 
Husayn's blood." Mani was martyred, and to Manichaeans martyr- 
dom appears to have been a fitting and desirable end to life — imitatio 
Manichaei. This is the beginning of Shi'ism as a religion, the fusion of 
Islam and Manichaeism. 

Mukhtar originated the concept of bada', not accepted by Sunni 
Islam (but accepted in Shi'ism). This is the possibility of changes in 
the Divine Will. Before one battle he told his followers that God had 
informed him of their coming victory; when in fact they were defeated, 
Mukhtar explained that "God's will had changed." The Mukhtariyaah/ 
Kaysaniyyah also pioneered the use of the term imam and imam al-huda 
("leader of guidance or doctrine"). Mukhtar called himself the Wazir 
Aal Muhammad ("the Vizier of the Family of Muhammad"). He trans- 
mitted the Mahdi's teachings to the faithful, and received an oath of 
allegiance, a bay 'ah on behalf of the Imam. 

The large-scale participation of newly converted non-Arab clients, 
called mawali (from which the word Mulla comes), and slaves side by 



' The Rawandiyyah, some six hundred of them, came to the Caliph al-Mansur, 
demanded that he give them food and drink, declared that they knew that he was really God, 
and proceeded to jump to their deaths from a cupola of a building in the expectation 
of being reborn in a more fortunate state. 



HOW WE KNOW THE EXACT YEAR THE ARGHEGOS LEFT BAGHDAD 135 

side with Arab tribesmen was innovative and upset some fo the con- 
servative leaders in Kufah. Tagiyyah, or systematic deception regarding 
one's affiliation (widespread in Shi'ism and other dualist religions), which 
was a fundamental Manichaean technique — Mani said his followers 
could denounce him under duress with equanimity — , also makes its 
appearance within Islam with this movement. Mukhtar himself was 
killed on 14 Ramadan 67/ April 3, 687 in a desperate battle against 
Mus'ab ibn Zubayr. 

The organization behind these revolts continued to exist despite their 
defeats. In 716 a descendant of 'Ali and his son Muhammad ibn al- 
Hanafryyah, named Abu Hashim, at that time the senior head of the 
'Alid family went to the 'Abbasid homestead of al-Humaymah near the 
Dead Sea to die, and bequeathed to his cousins, the 'Abbasids, the 'Urn, 
the secret knowledge of how to deal with this secret organization based 
in 'Iraq. Abu Hashim's father had been, unbeknownst to the Muslims, 
and the Umayyads, the clandestine Arab figurehead, the mysterious 
Imam of the Mukhtariyyah revolt. 

The contacts the 'Abbasids received were in Kufah, 'Iraq, although, 
as it turned out, the organization also existed in Khorasan as well, such 
that later writers, like Jahiz, like to call the 'Abbasids "the Khorasani 
dynasty." It seems to me that the 'Iraqi component of this revolutionary 
organization could only have been a Lakhmid network, which survived 
their conquest by their Arab Muslim brothers from the south, and 
which sought to reassert itself. The Khorasani component was simply 
the Iranian branch of the Manichaean family. It is interesting to note 
that the revolutionaries preferred to use trade names like "saddler," 
"vinegar-seller," and so forth, to show that they were "from the people." 
"Tent-maker," or Khayyam, was the literary affectation of a later age. 
Thus the Kaysaniyyah/Mukhtariyyah having abandoned the 'Alids as 
non-productive, carried on as the da'wah, or propaganda, and as the 
revolution of the 'Abbasids, and ultimately achieved a shared success 
when the 'Abbasids defeated the Umayyads and became the supreme 
power of the Islamic state. 



The Barmakid Connection 

Along with the 'Iraq and Khorasani connections, the 'Abbasids came up 
with another ally: the Barmakid family. The Aal Barmak or al-Baramik, 
were a Persian noble family from Balkh. The family supported the 



136 CYRIL GLASSE 

'Abbasid rise to power and became powerful government figures, but 
in 803 they were suddenly deposed and almost destroyed by Harun 
ar-Rashid. 

The name Barmak is a title meaning head priest in Sanskrit (par 
mukhi or pramukha, "head of a Buddhist monastery"; the term mukhi 
is still used by Indian Isma'ilis for a religious functionary). The Bar- 
maki or Barmecides were hereditary priests in a kind of Buddhist 
monastery in Balkh (today Mazar-I Sharif in Afghanistan), called in 
Persian Nawbahar inava vihara, or "new monastery," in Sanskrit). There 
they had extensive land holdings and they ran a collective farm of a 
familiar type on the Silk Road, exploiting the religious initiates. The 
monastery was destroyed in 663 by the Muslim conquests, and the city 
of Balkh soon after. The city was rebuilt in 725. Barmak, as the family 
head was called, set out to investigate the new world order which had 
come crashing down upon his family business. He visited the Umayyad 
Caliphal court in Syria, depicting himself as a physician, astrologer, 
and philosopher from the mysterious East (this may sound familiar as 
the story of another physician, then from the mysterious West, visit- 
ing a Persian king). His sons, Khalid, Sulayman, and al-Hasan, went 
to Basrah and became clients of the Azd tribe, who had moved from 
Oman to Basrah at the end of Mu'awiyah's Caliphate, and were also 
represented in Khorasan. 

Khalid ibn Barmak (d. 165/781) was an architect of the 'Abbasids 
revolution and was on very intimate, family-like terms with the first two 
'Abbasid Caliphs, as-Saffah and al-Mansur, the latter of which became 
the founder of Baghdad. 8 To create a strong alliance the 'Abbasids 
and Barmakids had mutually fostered each others' children; the wife 
of Khalid ibn Barmak nursed the children of Mansur, and Mansur's 
wife nursed the children of Khalid. He led military expeditions, was 
governor, and held state office. 

His son Yahya ibn Khalid and the latter's two sons Fadl andJaTar 
became the most famous Barmakids and virtually ran the government 
during the first seventeen years of Harun ar-Rashid's Caliphate. Yahya 
had been Harun's tutor and became his protector when Harun's elder 



8 Khalid helped to choose the site and lay out the Round City. His decision to turn 
Ctesiphon-Seleucia or, as the Arabs called it, al-Mada'in, into a world capital again 
under the name of Baghdad may be seen in a new light when the family history is 
made clear. The name Baghdad was interpreted by Arab historians to mean "Gift 
of God." 



HOW WE KNOW THE EXACT YEAR THE ARCHEGOS LEFT BAGHDAD 137 

brother, al-Hadi, became Caliph in 169/785 and tried to eliminate him. 
Al-Hadi, who swore to follow his father the Caliph Mahdi's advice to 
root out Manichaeans, had set out to do so when he died suddenly. Al- 
Hadi had thrown Yahya into prison for disloyalty, and the day Yahya 
was to be executed, al-Hadi died instead - poisoned, people said, by his 
brother Harun's mother, who was not the mother of al-Hadi. Harun, 
the new Caliph, made Yahya his Vizier, while Yahya's son Fadl was 
governor of Tabaristan (Mazandaran) and Azerbaijan, although he had 
to answer to Harun's mother Khayzuran. Harun called Yahya Barmak 
"Father"; Fadl ibn Yahya Barmak was his foster or "milk" brother 
(the Barmaki and Abbasi children were still being suckled by mothers 
from both families). JaTar Barmak was Harun's boon companion and 
intimate, and the tutor of Harun's son Ma'mun. Fadl was the tutor of 
the other son, Amin. A favorable report — one should say "spin" on 
the part of many figures in the Islamic world at the time and shortly 
thereafter (due to some special sympathy towards the Barmakids) - 
depicted the Barmakid epoch as a "golden age." 

In 803, returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, Harun suddenly 
arrested Yahya Barmak and Fadl and two sons of Fadl, Musa and 
Muhammad. JaTar was put to death at the age of 37 and his head was 
impaled on one bridge over the Tigris river, while two parts of his body 
were placed on either side on two other bridges. Yahya was to die in 
prison in 805 at the age of 70, and Fadl in 808 at the age of 45. But 
a brother of Yahya, Muhammad ibn Khalid, was not harmed. Musa 
(d. 835) and Muhammad, sons of Yahya, were released from prison 
by Amin when he became Caliph. 

The downfall of the Barmakids has been treated as a tragedy and 
a mystery; it has been speculated that Harun had gone insane. The 
Barmakids were not, however, what they appeared to be. Baghdad 
writers from Jahiz to Ibn Qutaybah and al-Asma'i noted that, "When 
in an assembly anything religious is said, the faces of the Barmakids 
light up; but when a verse from the Koran is quoted in their presence, 
they tell stories from the Book of Mazdak." 9 The Book of Mazdak was 
translated into Arabic by Aban ibn c Abd al-Homayd ibn Lahiq ar- 
Raqqashi (d. 815), himself a protege of the Barmakids, and considered 



9 Mazdak was a Manichaean or Manichaeanoid who tried to institute a form of 
communism in Iran in the reign of Kavad (488—531 CE), preceding Anushirwan. In 
any case, Islamic historians considered him to be Manichaean. 



138 CYRIL GLASSE 

to be Manichaean. Many things of the kind were said about them, 
and about Khalid as well. They were already accused of disloyalty by 
the Caliph al-Mahdi and his son al-Hadi. Then Harun, at first on the 
friendliest of terms with them, suddenly had them imprisoned and torn 
to pieces. There is a veiled reference to this by the Twelve Imam Shi'i 
historian Mas'udi when he wrote about the Persian predecessor book 
to the Thousand and One Nights, known as The Thousand Stories, which was 
about Sassanid kings like Khusrow II. Mas'udi has Khusrow discover 
that his vizier Bakhtakan is a Manichaean, and has him drowned in the 
Tigris river. An-Nadim, writing a little later, was more explicit in the 
Fihrist: "it is said that all of the members of the Barmak family were 
zanadiqah [crypto-Manichaeans] except for Muhammad ibn Khalid ibn 
Barmak [the one not arrested by Harun]. It is also said that al-Fadl 
and his brother al-Hasan were also Manichaeans." This explains why 
the Barmakids were such successful governors, and also their sudden 
downfall. 

Ibn Khaldun, the father of modern Historiography and Sociology, 
says that an empire can have only as many provinces as populations 
with which it has ethnic ties, and the Barmakids had special religious 
ties with these far-flung provinces of the 'Abbasids empire. 10 The Bar- 
makid "Buddhist" monastery in Balkh was a Manichaean Buddhist 
monastery. We know that Manichaeism disguised itself as whatever 
religion was dominant; it can best be understood as an intellectual virus 
that pretends to be part of the DNA which it infiltrates, and thus, of 
necessity, it readily mutates in response to new imperatives and takes 
on numerous disguises. For this reason there is some confusion as to 
what kind of monastery the Barmakids ran. Writers such as Ibn Khal- 
likan and Ibn Khaldun called Nawbahar a "fire temple" (rather than 
a Buddhist monastery). Muslim authors tended to lump all Iranian 
religions together as Magians (al-Majus), without bothering to sort 
them out. Moreover, they confused Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, 
which can be seen from al-Tabari's Book of Empire, in which he ascribed 
Zoroastrian ceremonies involving bull's urine to Manichaeans, and the 
Bema to Zoroastrians. 11 But the Chinese traveler Hsiian Tsang around 
632 described Balkh as having orthodox Buddhist monasteries and 
some peculiar, innovative neo-Buddhist monasteries. The name of the 



10 See Ibn Khaldun, The Muqadimmah, Franz Rosenthal, tr. (Princeton, 1958). 

11 See al-Tabari, The Book of Religion and Empire, A. Mingana, tr. (Lahore, nd). 



HOW WE KNOW THE EXACT YEAR THE ARGHEGOS LEFT BAGHDAD 139 

Barmakid's monastery, Nawbahar, means just that - "new" [Buddhist] 
monastery — and their family name means [Buddhist] priest. 

The name Barmakid later came to be used by many others who were 
perhaps clients but not directly of the family. There was a neighborhood 
of Baghdad called the Barmakid quarter. There is a story in the Thousand 
and One Nights about "a Barmecide Feast" where the food is imaginary 
and invisible. This is doubtless a reference to the Manichaean Bema 
feast, where the chief guest in whose honor the ceremony is held was 
for some also imaginary, since he was invisible; but for others, invisible 
or not, he was absolutely real. 

The Barmakids were creating an empire within an empire, and Harun 
ar-Rashid realized he was in peril. Manichaeans may have brought the 
'Abbasids to power, but thereafter there had been continuous Man- 
ichaean inspired revolts in Khorasan from Sindbad to Muqanna 1 , from 
Babak to the "Red Flag Revolt" {Surkh-i Alam) and Mazyar. Also, as Ibn 
Khaldun said, "The reason for the destruction of the Barmakids was 
their attempt to gain control over the dynasty and their retention of the 
tax revenues." 12 Now, important to the events of the year 908, they also 
created a class of state secretaries loyal to themselves, their proteges and 
sympathetic to their philosophy. As Brockelmann said, "Manicheanism, 
particularly in 'Iraq, still exercised a great influence . . . and very nearly 
became the religion of the educated classes." 13 These secretaries were 
not to be ousted until the Twelve Imam Shi'ites replaced them with 
their own people at the time of al-Muqtadir. But Harun ar-Rashid, 
with the ruthless instinct of the 'Abbasids, double-crossed the Barmakids 
first before they could double-cross him, the way the second 'Abbasids 
Caliph al-Mansur had done with Abu Muslim, his leading general 
whom he put to death during a strategic meeting in one of the villages 
which constituted pre-Baghdad Ctesipphon (al-Mada'in). 14 

The power struggle between Sunnis and non-Islamic elements was 
also a factor in the succession war between Harun's two sons, the 
half-brothers al-Amin and al-Ma'mun. Al-Amin was supported by con- 
servative Islamic elements. Al-Ma'mun was supported by Khorasanis, 



12 Ibn Khaldun, The Muqadimmah, vol. 1, 30. 

13 Brockelmann, History oj the Islamic Peoples (London, 1948), 1 1 2 — 113. 

11 For the record, Abu'l-Qasim al-Busti, a Zaydi Mu'tazilite circa 1000, wrote in 
his Min Kashf Asrar al-Batiniyya wa-Ghaivar Madhhabihim ("Revelation of the Esotericists' 
Secrets and the Destruction of their Doctrine"), that Barmak was the "ancestor" of the 
Fatimids. This is not to be taken literally, but in the sense of "Father of" when speaking 
of vast developments, such as George Washington, Father of his Country. 



140 CYRIL GLASSE 

especially from Balkh. Al-Ma'mun was said to be under the unhealthy 
influence of an astrologer from Balkh, and although he once led an army 
against al-Mada J in which was defended by Tmran ibn Musa, a grandson 
of Yahya's, during his war of succession, he nevertheless was to reconcile 
with the Barmakids and restore the precarious alliance which had, of 
necessity, to be set aside by Harun and his son al-Amin. Al-Ma'mun 
was to make Barmakids governors again — in one case a governor of 
Sind, a region with a very ancient Manichaean population. 15 

It was after the Mu'tazilite concession instituted by al-Ma'mun was 
brought to an end that the Caliphs had to leave Baghdad for the gar- 
rison city of Samarra 1 where, instead of Khorasani Persian troops, they 
were protected by Turkish slaves. 16 A word about Mu'tazilites: this was a 
heretical school of Islamic theology which was created by a figure called 
Wasil ibn Ata. One of its tenets is "a position between two positions." 
Mu'tazilism is today still the official theology of Twelve Imam Shi'ites. 
According to the Arab writer and authority al-Jahiz, the Mu'tazilite 
Wasil ibn Ata was the head of a secret organization with followers 
virtually in the whole world, for Jahiz said of him: "Beyond the Pass 
of China, on every frontier to far distant Sus and beyond the Berbers, 



15 During the Fatimid empire, Sind spontaneously declared its loyalty to the Fatimids. 
The Fatimids sent missionaries to Sind from Cairo to "Islamicize" the local religion 
and bring it in step with themselves. According to S. Stern, the Fatimid theologian, 
the "Cadi" an-Nu'man, called the Sind religion "Majusi." Since there is no question of 
them being Zoroastrians, nor would Hindus suddenly find an affinity for some Islamic- 
like sect thousands of miles away, this is another example where the word "Majusi," 
used in the Islamic world, refers to Manichaeans. There is a celebrated story that 
Bayazid al-Bistami, a Persian "Drunken" Sufi, that is, a Sufi who claimed to be united 
to God, and himself a converted "Majusi," taught a certain 'Ali Sindi how to perform 
Islamic ablutions, while 'Ali Sindi taught him "Sufi" mysticism. To explain this strange 
combination of a Sindi who knew "Islamic" Sufism but did not know how to perform 
an ablution, that is, to pass himself off as a Muslim, the Islamicist Arberry searched 
and found a village called "Sind" in Iran. But the Iranian village was not the Sind 
which acknowledged Fatimid suzerainty, and the contortions of Sufis and Islamicists 
become clear or unnecessary when one changes the terms of reference. And one of 
these changes is to recognize that for the Islamic Middle Ages "Majusi" was not a strict 
designation for Zoroastrian, but was a vague term which could also mean Manichaean. 
That would make most of the Drunken Sufis recently converted Manichaeans and 
not recendy converted Zoroastrians, which is the usual, and misleading, translation. 
Needless to say, it will be simple to show that Sufism, especially "drunken" Sufism, is 
nothing but the shadow of Manichaeism. 

16 Al-Ma'mun made an early heretical theology, Mu'tazilism, initially favored by the 
Abbasids, the official theology of the empire. There was passionate resistance on the 
part of orthodox authorities. The decision to make Mu'tazilism official was a concession 
to the Shi'ites and Manichaeans in the empire. It was rescinded. It is interesting to note 
that an-Nadim also says that the Caliph al-Ma'mun was himself a Manichaean. 



HOW WE KNOW THE EXACT YEAR THE ARCHEGOS LEFT BAGHDAD 141 

he has preachers. A tyrant's jest, and intriguer's craft, does not break 
their determination. If he says 'Go' in winter, they obey; in summer 
they fear not the month of burning heat" {Bayan I, 37). What secret 
organization was this, I wonder? This is surely food for thought. 

The Caliphs returned to Baghdad in 892, but by this time they were 
clients of the newly emerging Twelve Imam Shi'ites, and revolts like 
that of the Zanj (according to Massignon, the Black Slave revolt was 
inspired by Manichaeans) and the Qarmatis (according to me, these 
were Manichaeans themselves) were raging around them rather than 
in far off Khorasan. Also, unexpectedly, these revolts were soon to be 
overshadowed by the rise of the Fatimid empire, which was officially 
founded in that fateful year 909, when 'Ubayd Allah was liberated 
from Sijilmassa in Morocco by the Berbers of Tunisia, and the next 
year entered Kairouan. 



The Crisis of 908 and the Flight of the Archegos 

Back to the year 908. Now the 'Abbasids were being controlled by 
a byproduct of the original theological-military establishment which 
brought them first to power. This byproduct are the Twelve Imam 
Shi'ites who spin off from the so-called Shi'ite movement. The original 
partisans saw in 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Caliph, the road back 
to power, and fused the identities of Mani and 'Ali together in order 
to exploit Muslim upheavals for their own purpose - as viruses use 
the DNA which they infiltrate to attain their own ends. Around the 
year 765 the death of JaTar as-Sadiq, the 6th Shi'ite Imam, became 
the occasion of a split between those who actually believed that the 
descendants of the 4th Caliph 'Ali have a spiritual authority (who 
become Twelve Imam Shi'ites), and those for whom this was a fiction 
to deceive outsiders, and whose real leaders were not descendants of 
'Ali at all (who became the Seveners). The latter suddenly revealed a 
distinctly un-Islamic theology that included, in the early phases around 
750, actual gods, like Kuni and Qadar. Thereafter these gods became 
philosophical constructs as the Seveners evolved into Qarmatis and 
Isma'ilis. To be explicit, they were mutating Manichaeans, yet they also 
were forced ultimately to pretend that their leaders were descendants 
of 'Ali, which they, of course, were not. 

The standard explanation is that the Seveners were "extremists" 
(ghuldh) who attributed divinity to the Imams, while the Twelvers were 



142 CYRIL GLASSE 

non-extremists who do not attribute outright divinity to the Imams, 
but instead spiritual power to a lesser degree. For them, the Imams are 
"a litde bit divine," if that is possible. After 765 the Seveners and the 
Twelvers disagreed as to who the Imams were, and as to the nature 
of the Imams. The Twelvers only accepted relatively Islamic looking 
formulations and actual historic descent, whereas the Seveners accepted 
rather un-Islamic and even anti-Islamic formulations. Both ran into 
problems. The Twelver line came to a halt when the 1 1th Imam could 
produce no offspring, and so the 12th Imam had to be invented and 
spirited off the stage into Neverland. The Seveners discovered that some 
of their own followers wanted their magical leaders to have official 
Muhammadan credentials. 

After the split between the two Shi'ite branches, the "radical" Seven- 
ers and the "reasonable" Twelvers, there was enmity between them, of 
which the orthodox Sunnis were oblivious, and are oblivious to this day. 
When the Twelvers became the power behind the imperial throne (the 
struggle had been brewing for a long time), and put the thirteen-year- 
old al-Muqtadir on the throne, the state functionaries, a class put into 
office by the Barmakids and who were themselves crypto-Manichaeans, 
staged an unsuccessful palace revolt and attempted to put the poet Ibn 
Mu'tazz on the throne instead. 

The attempt to restore the status quo ante through the palace imposi- 
tion of Ibn al-Mu'tazz on the throne was short lived. The day after the 
child Caliph al-Muqtadir had been deposed, the Shi'ites successfully 
struck back, and Ibn al-Mu'tazz, "the Caliph for a Day," was executed. 
Thus the shift of state power into the hands of Twelve Imam Shi'ites 
was decisive and confirmed. The Twelver Shi'ites, as direct rivals, were 
more aggressive against Manichaeans than the authentic Sunis had 
been, and above all the Shi'ites knew who the Manichaeans were when 
the real Sunnis generally did not have a clue. The Manichaeans who 
until then chose to be disguised as Sunnis (but thereafter increasingly as 
Twelve Imam Shi'ites) were now out of power and under serious threat 
(al-Hallaj had supported Ibn al-Mu'tazz, for example, and al-Hallaj 
himself was condemned by the "Hidden" Twelfth Imam through an 
edict issued in 917 by the Imam's "representative" before the state court 
actually condemned him). 

This now definitive shift of power would have signaled the time for 
the Archegos, the head of the Manichaean religion living in the outskirts 
of Baghdad in the villages that made up old Mada'in, to depart for 
safer ground. These events were accompanied by the Qarmati revolt, 



HOW WE KNOW THE EXACT YEAR THE ARCHEGOS LEFT BAGHDAD 143 

the founding of the Fatimid dynasty, and the re-arrest of al-Hallaj in 
913 on charges of crypto-Manichaeism and following the "Master of 
the Sparkling Light." After his first trial, however, the authorities hesi- 
tated. Al-Hallaj, according to Massignon, had thousands and thousands 
of followers or fellow travelers. The authorities kept him in prison for 
another eight years. A second trial took place before he was finally 
executed in 922. It should be mentioned that al-Hallaj, like a good 
Manichaean, had often publicly asked to be martyred. The Archegos 
would not have waited for that. The abortive coup of 908 was enough 
of a signal for him to leave. Arrests of "Hallajians" began in 910. As 
an-Nadim says: 

But [subsequently] the leader sought out anyplace where he could be 
safe. The last time they [the Manichaeans] appeared was during the 
days of al-Muqtadir, for [after that] they feared for their lives and clung 
to Khurasan. Any one of them who remained kept his identity secret 
as he moved in this region. About five hundred of their men assembled 
at Samarqand, but when their movement became known, the ruler of 
Khurasan wished to kill them. But the king of China [an-Nadim means 
the Uygur Khan, the Idiqut, of Chinese Turkestan, a Manichaean 
kingdom], who I suppose was the lord of the Tughuzghuz, sent to him, 
saying, "There are more Msulims in my country than there are people 
of my faith in your land." He also swore to him that if he [the ruler of 
Khurasan] should kill one of them [the Manichaeans], he [the king of 
China] would slaughter the whole community [of Muslims] who were 
with him, and would also destroy the mosques and appoint spies among 
the Muslims in the country as a whole, so as to slay them. So the ruler 
of Khurasan left them alone except for exacting tribute from them. 
Although they have become few in the Islamic regions, I used to know 
about three hundred of them in the City of Peace [Baghdad] during the 
days of Mu'izz ad-Dawlah [946—967]. But at this time [986] there are 
not five of them in our midst. The people [the Manichaeans], who are 
called Ajara, are at Rustaq, Samarqand, Sughd, and especially Tunkath 
[Tashkent]. 17 

The execution of al-Hallaj in 312/922 in Baghdad for zandaqah (crypto- 
Manichaeism) began a wave of persecution in which thousands of those 
vegetarians that Massignon called "Hallajians" were put to death. This 
term is peculiar to him since he, a fervent, albeit idiosyncratic Catholic 
fully aware that Manichaeism is a heresy, refrains from calling his hero 
a Manichaean. What he calles Hallajians, however, others refer to as 



17 Bayard Dodge, The Fihrist of al-Madim (New York, 1970), 802-803. 



144 CYRIL GLASSE 

Isma'ilis; al-Hallaj himself was called a Qarmati and Isma'ili by the 
police authorities and by many Arab writers, but Massignon insisted 
that these were absurd, delirious "inventions." By 986, an-Nadim writes, 
the Manichaeans who had been numerous in Baghdad, were reduced 
to five. Classical Manichaeism disappeared from the Islamic empire; 
at the same time a new sect flourished, for a while divided into two 
groups, Qarmatis and Fatimids. The ones who were willing to make 
the greatest concessions to Islam, the Fatimids, founded a rival empire, 
and in 962 they also founded a rival capital to Baghdad, called Cairo, 
whose full name means "The Victorious City of the Exalter of the 
Religion of God." The name was propaganda to proclaim the success 
of their strategy to their kindred sceptics, the Qarmatis. This success, 
the acquisition of territory and a government, a sort of "Manichaeism 
in One Country," spreading gradually rather than through world revo- 
lution — Bolshevism rather than Trotskyism — reminiscent of an earlier 
Manichaean schism, convinced the rest that the Fatimids were right, 
and the Qarmatis eventually re-entered the fold. 



AN EXPERIMENT IN DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION WITH 

A MANICHAEAN BOOK PAINTING: THE WORK OF THE 

RELIGION SCENE (MIK III 4974 RECTO) 

ZSUZSANNA GULAGSI 

Flagstaff 



Digital technology can make an important contribution to art historical 
studies of severely damaged works of art. In cases where scholarship 
leads to an understanding of the original iconography composition, 
or style, a verbal description of the discoveries may not be enough. A 
digitally produced illustration can show the research findings effectively. 
While the resulting computer image could never replace the work of 
art itself, it can capture a new understanding about the object, and thus 
increase its relevance as a visual source. Although growing in relevance, 
so far this new technology has been employed relatively rarely in connec- 
tion with art history. The reasons are numerous. Art historians dealing 
with early remains are accustomed to decay. Damage is part of the 
objects we study. At the same time, the attention of modern art history 
tends to focus less on the object itself and more on the interpretations 
of its meaning and context. A further obstacle is hidden in the digital 
work itself, which requires significant infrastructure, technical know-how, 



Northern Arizona University's Intramural Grant Program financed this project during 
2005—06. This generous grant allowed me to dedicate a summer for the computer work 
and cover the significant expenses associated with the digital work and the illustrations 
of this article — both produced at the Bilby Research Center (Northern Arizona Univer- 
sity). I would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff of the Imaging Lab of the 
Bilby Research Center for contributing the needed technical expertise to this project. 
On the actual digital reconstruction work, I collaborated with Patrick McDonald and 
Ryan Belnap (Imaging and Photography), whose creative minds and superb technical 
skills greatly aided the final result. On the illustration of the current article, I worked 
with Ronald Redsteer (Illustrations), whose precision and skill was a much needed 
component in creating images that capture the findings successfully In addition, this 
project was aided by the technical advice and supervision of Dan Boone (Imaging, 
Photography, and Videography), who also helped me with the digital presentation of 
my talk at the 6th Manichaean studies congress. The writing of this paper took place 
during the fall of 2006 at the National Humanities Center (Research Triangle Park, 
North Carolina), where I was a fellow during the 2006—07 academic year. 



146 ZSUZSANNA GULAGSI 

and is as time-consuming as it is costly. Therefore, it is not surprising 
that the current art historical literature on digital subjects does not deal 
with digital reconstructions. 1 Nevertheless, more and more works of art 
are subjected to virtual makeovers based on art historical research. The 
best known examples include the faded Mayan murals from the 15th 
century at Bonampak in Mexico, the digitally reconstructed photographs 
of which grew out from a National Geographic project (1995); 2 the 3D 
computer images of the Byodo-in Buddhist temple in Japan, which show 
the original painted decoration of the 950-year old wooden building 
(2000); 3 and an ongoing project at the Center for the Arts of East 
Asia (University of Chicago) that set out to reconstruct the Buddhist 
caves from the Northern Qi Dynasty (550—577 CE) at Xiangtangshan 
in China, and will show the 3D digital results at an exhibition in the 
Smart Museum of Art (2008). 4 

This paper is an experiment that combines digital imaging and art 
historical research. It documents the stages of the computer work and 
discusses the art historical reasons behind it. Although it would be 
possible to write solely on the technological side of this project, the 
goal here is not technical in nature. 3 Instead, my attention remains on 
recording the process and the reasons that result in a digitally recon- 
structed work of art. 

The reconstruction itself centers on a Manichaean book painting 
from East Central Asia that dates from ca. the 10th century CE. This 
small scale image, measuring 6.6 cm in height and 6.1 cm in width, 
constitutes an intratextual miniature on the recto of a codex folio (MIK 
III 4974) that belongs to the collection of the Museum fur Indische Kunst, 
Berlin (Fig. 1 and Color Plate la). The painting is embedded in a clearly 
legible Middle Persian language benediction on the sacred meal and 
the leadership of the Manichaean community, written in Manichaean 
script continuously across the two pages of the folio. 6 Known as the 
Work of the Religion Scene, the image on this paper fragment has been 



1 Greenhalgh 2004. 

2 Miller 1995, 50-69. 

3 Tokyo National Museum et al. 2000, 156-61. 

1 http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/050331/shrines.shtml and http://xts.uchicago. 
edu/introduction/ 

5 For a technical discussion of the rebuilding and recreating of images, see Eismann 
2006, esp. 236-74. 

6 BeDuhn 2001, 228-30. 



DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION WITH A MANICHAEAN BOOK PAINTING 147 

discussed in numerous publications with much attention paid to its 
iconography, which today is well understood.' Moreover, it is one of 
the most important Manichaean paintings in terms of its content. As 
its formal title indicates, it depicts how the religion works, that is, the 
ultimate mythological goal of Manichaeism — the liberation of the Light 
from its earthly mixture with the forces of the Darkness. This complex 
doctrinal theme is captured in the image. The fruit (considered to be 
rich in particles of Light) is presented by the laypeople to the elects. 
The elects consume the fruit and use their bodies to separate the Light 
from the Darkness. After the meal, their singing of hymns sends the 
liberated Light up to the heavenly bodies (moon, sun, stars) that function 
as vessels, ferrying the Light back to its original home, to the Realm 
of Light, where God dwells. God's hand reaching into the picture 
symbolizes the completion of the journey. All this, however, remains 
disguised by a poor state of preservation on a book painting executed 
in what I call the West Asian Fully Painted Style of Turfan Manichaean Art? 
The surface of the painting seems to be impacted by water damage. 
While much of the color and all of the gold leaf has disappeared, 
significant parts of the underdrawing, solid colors, and contour lines 
have remained intact, allowing us not only to comprehend the image, 
but also to attempt its digital reconstruction. 

Certain Manichaean works of art are ideal subjects for art histori- 
cally based digital reconstructions. Dating from between the mid-8th 
and early 1 1th centuries, they were discovered in the arid regions of 
the Turfan Oasis (Xinjiang, Northwest China) during the first decade 
of the 20th century, primarily by German expeditions. The remains 
were found in distressed states of preservation that seriously disguised 
the rich artistic and religious data in them. Although they have been 
recognized as an essential corpus for the study of Medieval Central 
Asia and the artistic connections between West, South, and East Asia, 
their damaged condition led to a diminishing art historical interest by 
the end of the 20th century. So much so that, while Manichaean art 



7 Le Coq 1923, 46-48; Klimkeit 1982, 39; and Gulacsi 2001a, 83-86, the latter 
published with enlarged color facsimiles of both sides of the folio. For the codicologi- 
cal study of the folio in context of other reconstructible codex fragments, see Gulacsi 
2005, 144—146. For an article-length study that explains what is visible from the original 
iconography of the image in light of the techniques of the Manichaean book painter, 
see Gulacsi 2001b. 

8 For more on the discussion of this style and its dating, see Gulacsi 2003, 12-19; 
and Gulacsi 2005, 39-58 and 106-16. 



148 ZSUZSANNA GULAGSI 

was treated in a long essay with extensive illustrations in the Encyclope- 
dia of World Art in 1964, it did not receive an entry in the most recent 
encyclopedic resource of art history the Dictionary of Art, published 
in 1996. Today there are a variety of new methods in the toolbox 
of art history that allow us to bring out the all but lost data from the 
Manichaean fragments, and begin their analysis and interpretation. 
My goal here is to test the possibility of digital reconstruction as such 
a tool, exploring its limits and potential. 



Methodological Considerations 

Imagining paintings without damage based on data preserved in them 
has played a role in Manichaean art studies since its beginnings. Espe- 
cially one case must be noted here. Writing about the iconography of 
the Bema ceremony, Jorinde Ebert used a reconstruction drawing of the 
Bema Scene (MIK III 4979 verso) as an illustration for her study in 1994 
(Fig. 2). 9 This drawing was the first attempt to show a scholarly notion 
of what is missing from a Manichaean book painting. In addition to 
tracing the outlines of the preserved figures, Ebert used broken lines to 
indicate elements of the iconography that she reconstructed by relying 
on clues retained in the image and employing replacement motifs from 
the overall repertoire of Turfan Manichaean art. While Ebert's study 
did not include a discussion of the reconstruction, the image in itself 
documents the desire to create a visual record of the knowledge that 
the researcher has about a damaged work of art. Therefore, Ebert's 
reconstruction drawing represents a precursor to the digital experiment 
discussed here. 

What makes a damaged work of art suited for digital reconstruction? 
What art historical issues must be considered in connection with such 
a process? What basic digital techniques can be used? How does the 
work proceed? Understandably, the questions are numerous, suggesting 
that it is important to consider the methodological framework within 
which this project is realized. 



9 Ebert 1994. Bema ceremony that commemorated Mani's death and spiritual ascen- 
sion is depicted on a full-page book painting, preserved on the verso of a fragmentary 
codex folio (MIK III 4979). For a color illustration of the image in its actual condition, 
see Le Coq 1923, Taf. 8b, or Gulacsi 2001a Fig. 32.1. 



DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION WITH A MANICHAEAN BOOK PAINTING 149 

Rules of Conduct 

The art historical aspects of the actual digital work are built on three 
criteria, each of which capture an essential need for the overall recon- 
struction project: (1) data-rich starting image, (2) scholarly rationales 
for the reconstruction process, and (3) resulting image in harmony with 
the quality of the rest of the corpus. 

(1) The need for a data-rich starting image. A painting is suitable for recon- 
struction only if it contains enough clues about its original iconography, 
composition, and painting style. Unfortunately, we must face the fact 
that many Manichaean paintings fall beyond this possibility due to their 
hopeless state of preservation. A significant number of them, however, 
including the Work of the Religion Scene, can be reconstructed. 

(2) The reconstruction must be based on scholarly rationales. In other words, 
an art historical reason must be presented to justify every stage of the 
work. This means that we must refrain from guesswork and inven- 
tions. Also, we must refrain from replacing missing lines and motifs 
(i.e., eyes, hands, faces, folds of garments, gilded surfaces, etc.), in the 
to-be-restored image by drawing them in ourselves. Instead, we turn 
to the corpus of Turfan Manichaean art to find replacement lines or 
motifs, and base their selection on sound arguments. This also means 
that stylistic and iconographic correlation must form the foundations 
of digital replacements. By relying on better-preserved Manichaean 
paintings in matching styles for the replacement motifs, we use the 
original Manichaean color palate and the original brush strokes of the 
Manichaean painters. 

(3) The quality of the resulting image must be in harmony with the rest of 
the corpus. We set out to create an image that reflects a good state of 
preservation, as if it was found in a condition similar to other well- 
preserved examples of Turfan Manichaean works of art; and not as if 
it was painted yesterday. 

Digital Techniques 

Starting with a high-resolution digital scan of a color transparency, 
the reconstruction work is conducted by using Adobe Photoshop. This 
computer program provides a wide repertoire of imaging tools for this 
project. 10 All in all, the digital work boils down to three essential tasks, 



Eismann 2006. 



150 ZSUZSANNA GULAGSI 

the countless applications of which lead to the restored painting. They 
include: (1) repairing color and texture, (2) enhancing existing lines, and 
(3) fitting copied motifs into their new settings. 

(1) Repairing color and texture starts with taking a sample of an already 
existing color. Such a sample may come from an intact area of the 
to-be-restored image or from another, better-preserved scene painted 
in the very same painting style of Turfan Manichaean art. The thus 
cloned color carries the texture of the surface it is associated with. The 
larger the size of the sample, the more of this texture is visible. The 
application of the sample is challenging, since placing a series of color 
patches next to one another introduces a repetitive pattern of patches 
into the newly created surface. This can be avoided by using several 
samples of different sizes and shapes with diffused edges. 

(2) Enhancing existing lines involves areas that preserve remnants of the 
contour lines that the Manichaean artist drew on the surface of the solid 
colors. These are the lines that capture the facial features, the folds of 
garments, the fluted bodies of metal vessels, the decorations of carpets 
and furniture, the contours of hands and faces, etc. Naturally, their 
thicknesses and colors vary, which can be matched in Photoshop easily. 
The challenge comes from restoring lines with significant missing sec- 
tions. In such cases, the trajectory, the length, the color, and the thickness 
of the missing lines are known from what is left of them. Through trial 
and error, I found that the best way to restore them involves placing a 
series of dots (matching the color and thickness of the line) along the 
known trajectory and fusing the dots with the smudge tool (Fig. 7b, left 
image). The result is a line without sharp edges, similar to the penman- 
ship of the Manichaean artist. When too much is missing from a line, 
this technique cannot be used, since it would require invention. In such 
cases, it is best to turn to the third technique. 

(3) Fitting copied motifs into their new setting begins with finding the 
needed motif on a Turfan Manichaean work of art that was executed 
in the very same style as the to-be-restored image. Motifs that can 
be reintroduced to the damaged image through this technique may 
include small element such as an eyebrow, an eye, a nose, a finger; or 
a larger element such as a hand, the sleeve of a garment, the folds of 
white garments that gather at the neckline or at the feet of a kneeling 
figure, or an entire face. The motif is copied from the source image, 
and transformed into the needed orientation and size. After the basic 
fitting is done, the edges of the copied motif must be blended with 
the new context. 



DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION WITH A MANICHAEAN BOOK PAINTING 1 5 1 

The Stages of the Reconstruction Process 

The reconstruction is conducted in stages that target one part of the 
painting at a time. To facilitate this, the Work of the Religion Scene is divided 
into sections, reflecting the units of the composition established by the 
Manichaean artist (Fig. 3). On the two sides of an imaginary line that runs 
across vertically along the right third of the painting (between the elects 
and the laymen), six visual units can be distinguished: two on the left 
and four on the right side. In light of their relative height on the picture 
plane, they are numbered starting from the lower left: 

Section 1: Footed Bowl with Figs 

Section 2: Laymen Holding Books 

Section 3: The Elects 

Section 4: Gesturing Left Hand of Elect 

Section 5: Vessels of Light 

Section 6: Hand of God 

In addition to these six sections, we may consider the blue background 
and the surrounding blank paper surface. The blue background forms 
an important component of this fully painted scene. Since it covers 
the entire surface of the image, it is not enumerated in the diagram. 
Nevertheless, it represents an essential and technically challenging step 
for the digital work, and thus we may consider it, together with the 
adjacent blank paper surface, as "Section 7." 



Reconstruction of Section 1: Footed Bowl with Figs 

The lower left of the image retains remnants of a bowl piled high with 
fruit (Color Plate 1). This motif is a prominent visual element within 
the overall composition due to its conspicuous placement. Against the 
blue background, it is positioned in relative isolation from the rest of 
the motifs and thus demands the viewer's attention. 

Current Condition 

Much of the bowl is preserved through its red-violet underdrawing, 
indicating that its approximate original width and height reached ca. 
1.7 cm and ca. 0.9 cm, respectively (Fig. 4a). The underdrawing conveys 



152 ZSUZSANNA GULAGSI 

the vessel's rounded bottom and its three short legs distributed evenly. 
A narrow lip surrounds the rim. Due to the perspective employed, 
the round body is depicted frontally with the horizon (eye level of 
the viewer) slightly above the rim. Accordingly the central leg is only 
partially visible, since it is the furthest away from the viewer. The now 
blank surface of the outlined object against the background suggests 
that originally this bowl was gilded. 

A red-violet line of the underdrawing also preserves the silhouette 
of the fruit pile. Although the paper is torn in this area, the trajectory 
of this line conveys a curve, protruding above the rim of the bowl ca. 
0.5 cm. Besides the underdrawing, bits from five pieces of painted fruit 
can be seen at the lower half of the pile. These pointed pieces of fruit 
resemble figs captured in pale violet and red pigments contoured in 
thin black lines. Each measures ca. 0.3 cm in width. 



Sources and Techniques of Reconstruction 

Numerous Manichaean book paintings contain vessels defined in gold 
leaf and red outlines that are in relatively good condition (Fig. 4b). 11 
Many of them are round and have fluted bodies and three legs. A 
vessel comparable in shape and size to the to-be-restored footed bowl 
can be found in the Bema Scene (MIK III 4979 verso). The body of the 
bowl from the Bema Scene requires some minor digital touch-up, since 
portions from its gilding and red decoration have flaked off This can 
be reconstructed by first coating its surface with the cloned gold color 
and then adding the missing red lines onto the gold. Once the body 
of the Bema Scene's vessel is restored, it can be copied and fitted under- 
neath the rim of the to-be-restored vessel, keeping the shape and the 
size defined by the underdrawing. The three legs can be dealt with in 
the same way. The rim, too, requires gold filling and red contour lines, 
the latter of which is best achieved by distributing a series of red dots 
and connecting them with the smudge tool. 

The reconstruction of the pile of fruit is much aided by the pre- 
served portions of three pieces of fruit seen along the lower right of the 



1 ' Examples of gold vessels can be seen on six book paintings executed in the West 
Asian Fully Painted Style of Turfan Manichaean Art, including (1) MIK III 4979 recto, 
(2) MIK III 4979 verso, (3) MIK III 6257 verso, (4) MIK III 4959 recto, (5) MIK III 
6258a recto, and (6) MIK III 7283 recto. For illustrations, see Gulacsi 2001a, Figs. 
32.1, 32.2, 33.2, 34.2, 35.1, and 48.1, respectively. 



DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION WITH A MANICHAEAN BOOK PAINTING 153 

pile. After restoring their missing portions, the three figs can be used 
to create a complete pile. Piles of fruit in metal vessels are frequent 
in better-preserved examples of Manichaean miniatures, providing us 
with samples of how to position the individual pieces of fruit within 
the complete pile. 12 In order to approximate the shape of the pile 
indicated by the underdrawing, we placed ten fig motifs next to, and 
on top of one other. 

Reconstructed Motif 

In its digitally reconstructed condition, this portion of the painting 
captures a familiar element of iconography and painting style (Fig. 
4c). It shows a gold repousse bowl with a fluted body, narrow rim, and 
three short legs. The bowl is piled high with figs that are arranged on 
top of one another with their pointed tips upwards. Familiar features 
of the Fully Painted West Asian Painting Style of Turfan Manichaean Art are 
reflected on the restored bowl and its fruit. On the surface of the gold 
leaf, the details of the metalwork are defined by the red contours. The 
fruit is fully painted in violet and red, and its form is further articulated 
in black contours. 



Reconstruction of Section 2: Laymen with Books 

The lower right of the painting contains two laymen sitting on their 
heels holding books in their folded arms (Color Plate l). 13 The rectan- 
gular carpet on which the two men are seated, as well as their identical 
garments and body positions, define them as one visual unit. The man 
painted closer to the center seems to be the older and more important 
of the two. His age is captured in a slightly taller and heavier build. In 
addition, his position seated closer to the vertical axis signals a higher 
social standing than that of his companion. 



12 Well-preserved examples of piles of fruit are seen on two book paintings executed 
in the West Asian Fully Painted Style of Turfan Manichaean Art, including (1) MIK III 4979 
verso and (2) MIK III 6257 verso. For illustrations, see Gulacsi 2001a, Figs. 32.1 and 
33.2, respectively. 

13 The depiction of laymen seated on carpets observing a religious ceremony is 
frequent among the remains of this art. They are found, for example, on the Sermon 
Scenes (MIK III 8259 folio 1 recto) and on the Musician Scene (MIK III 6368 verso). For 
illustrations, see Gulacsi 2001a, Fig. 28.4 and Fig. 40.2. 



1 54 ZSUZSANNA GULAGSI 

Current Condition 

The carpet and the garments of the figures are the best-preserved ele- 
ments of this section (Fig 5a). The rectangular carpet stretches 2.68 cm 
horizontally and 0.77 cm vertically. The red hem, just as the central area 
it surrounds, is contoured in black. The men's brownish-colored outfits 
show recognizable attributes, including long sleeves, round necklines, 
belts with pointed attachments, and side slits that reveal red-and-white 
undergarments. Around the upper bodies of the two men, we can see 
the red-violet lines of the underdrawing, indicating that the bodies were 
somewhat larger in the planning stage of the image than in the final 
version. Although the now faded blue background reveals these lines, 
they were concealed in the finished product. 

The heads of the figures and the books are retained mainly through 
their contours, allowing us to see the shapes and sizes, but only minimal 
details from the execution. 14 Remnants of the heads measure ca. 0.58 
cm and 0.62 cm in width, and ca. 0.84 cm and 0.88 cm in height, 
respectively. Their features indicate that while both figures had long 
hair and wore no headgear, the older man had a pointed beard. Almost 
all of their facial features are gone with the exception of the younger 
man's eyebrows and eyes, which are partially preserved. The books are 
captured through their rectangular red borders that reach outside the 
chest area at the right shoulders. They measure ca. 0.65 cm and 0.70 
cm in width and ca. 0.40 cm and 0.50 cm in height, for the inner and 
outer figures respectively. The uneven edges of the red frame together 
with the intact brown color of the chest suggest that gold leaf was 
used to capture the book covers. Small pieces of unevenly cut gold 
leaf were glued onto the already painted chest area of the figures. 
Painted onto the unwanted portions of the gold leaf were the straight 
red edges and black contours. When the painting was damaged the 
gold leaf disappeared, revealing an area beneath it that was concealed 
in the original image. 



11 In addition, parts of the underdrawing are visible around the head of the outer 
layman. Since the heads are outlined in red on all examples of paintings executed in 
the West Asian Fully Painted Style of Turfan Manichaean Art, the underdrawing and 
the oudine cannot be distinguished in this damaged image. 



DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION WITH A MANICHAEAN BOOK PAINTING 155 

Sources and Techniques of Reconstruction 

A significant portion of this section can be restored through minor 
touch-ups of the well-preserved areas such as the carpet and the gar- 
ments. These involve the elimination of discolored patches of the base 
colors and the evening out of the contour lines. A close-up view of the 
carpet's now faded brown central area reveals that originally the carpet 
was painted in green. This is true for both the laymen's and the elects' 
carpets. Actual traces of the green are preserved in front of the outer 
elect. 15 Most of the red hem of the carpet, just like the garments of 
the laymen, is intact. The same is true for the white undergarments 
visible at the right knees of the figures. 

For the interpretation and rebuilding of the heads, we must rely on 
images of laymen preserved in two paintings (MIK III 8259 folio 1[?] 
recto and MIK III 4979 verso), since only the forehead and the hairdo 
of the outer figure can be restored through touch-ups (Fig. 5b, left and 
middle images). 16 I selected an older face with facial hair for the inner 
figure, and a younger face without facial hair for the outer one. The 
correct orientation of the source heads can be reached through mirror 
inversion. Although both of the source heads have headgear, these can 
be easily eliminated and replaced by black hair. The intact outlines 
and underdrawing of the to-be-restored heads define the shape of the 
needed black hairdos. 

For the reconstruction of the books, we must turn to a textile paint- 
ing (MIK III 6286 side 1 [?]), where the folded arms of a female elect 
hold a codex with a jeweled cover, practically identical to the one 
alluded to in the to-be-reconstructed image (Fig. 4b, right image). 
Although the textile painting is in the Chinese Fully-Painted Style of 
Turfan Manichaean Art, it preserves a book with its gilded cover held 
in the very same position as that of the red-framed gilded book of the 
laymen. Our interest is in the central gilded area that is missing from 
the to-be-restored image. By copying the central gilded part of the 
book from the textile painting, and fitting it in between the red frames 
around their gilded centers, we reach a convincing replacement for 



15 The green color of the carpet, preserved in front of the elect, did not provide us 
with a clean color sample for cloning, and thus a green had to be exported from the 
green on MIK III 4959 verso. For an illustration, see Gulacsi 2001a, Fig. 34.2. 

"' Although the forehead and the area of the eyes of the outer figure are somewhat 
preserved, the reconstruction of these lines here would have required much invention. 
Thus, I decided to use already existing faces for the reconstruction. 



156 ZSUZSANNA GULACSI 

this all but lost motif of the painting. To complete the rebuilding of 
this section, the gold of the book must be harmonized with the gold 
of the already restored metal vessel. This can be done by cloning the 
gold color and using it to coat the surface of the book cover beneath 
the line-drawn decoration. 

Reconstructed Section 

After reconstruction, this section shows both familiar and new elements 
of Manichaean iconography (Fig. 5c). The familiar motifs include the 
use of a carpet, just big enough to fit the seated figures on its surface, 
and longhaired laymen dressed in local garments with jeweled books 
in their folded arms. Unlike laymen in all other scenes surviving from 
Turfan, these figures wear no headgear and they are the ones who hold 
the books (instead of the elects). Regarding the style of execution, we 
notice a relatively rich color repertoire that includes black, white, brown, 
green, red, pink, and gold. As is customary in Manichaean book paint- 
ings of this style, all parts of the motifs are fully covered with paint, on 
the surface of which contour lines surround the silhouettes and define 
further details when needed. Gilded elements are incorporated by glu- 
ing the gold leaf onto the paper surface, surrounding it with paint, and 
covering its surface with contour lines. 



Reconstruction of Section 3: The Elects 

Depicted on a scale twice as large as that of the laymen, the two elects 
dominate the left half of the painting (Color Plate l). 17 They, too, form 
a visual unit defined by their red-framed carpet, identical white uniforms 
and body positions - seated on their heels with their arms folded in 
front of their straight upper bodies. Their silhouettes, extended by the 
tall headgear, increase the sense of verticality that governs not just this 
section, but also the overall composition. 



" Together with their carpets and the outstretched left arm of the inner elect, the 
unit of the two measures 5.5 cm in height and 4.64 cm in width from a painting 
surface that is 6.1 cm x 7.1 cm. 



DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION WITH A MANICHAEAN BOOK PAINTING 157 

Current Condition 

While most of the paint has flaked and/ or washed off from the paper, 
these ghost-like white figures preserve much useful information for the 
reconstruction. The heads retain data on the sizes and shapes of the 
headgear (H: ca. 1.1 cm, W: ca. 0.75 cm) and the faces (W: ca. 0.7 cm), 
and also show traces of the hair along the cheeks and the shoulders 
(Fig. 6a). The headgear is somewhat unusual in its proportions. 18 
Although the rectangular shape does resemble intact headdresses of 
male elects seen in numerous Manichaean paintings, the excessive height 
is unique to this image. The garments of the elects survive relatively 
well (Fig. 7a). They hold significant portions of the white base color, 
as well as much of the thin black lines that conveyed the folds of these 
cloaks and the body positions of their wearers. In front of the elects, 
the area of the paper is torn, leaving us with a partial carpet. 

Sources and Techniques of Reconstruction 

The headgear, hair, faces, and necks can be reconstructed with the aid 
of images of male elects from the Bema Scene (MIK III 4979 verso), (Fig. 
6b). Regarding the headgear, a well-preserved headgear from the Bema 
Scene provides us with a source motif to fit each elect with a headdress 
that approximates the lost original. The same is true for the faces, 
hairdos, and necks. For the rebuilding of the two faces, I selected a 
bearded, more senior face for the more prestigious inner position based 
on a recurring pattern seen in this style of Turfan Manichaean art, and 
used a younger male face, one without facial hair, for that of the outer 
figure. 19 Both faces required minor touch-ups in the area of their hair, 
where bits from the black paint have flaked off. In order to reach the 
sizes and shapes needed here, the head motifs had to be reshaped by 
using Photoshop's transformation tools. In full accordance with the shapes 
of the headgear, the faces in this image were more slender compared 



18 Similarly, somewhat elongated proportions of faces and headgear of elects can be 
seen on the remnant of an intracolumnar scene preserved on a folio fragment (MIK 
III 4971a— c recto). For a color illustration, see Le Coq 1923 Taf 5b/ 1—3, or Gulacsi 
2001, Fig. 49.1. 

19 Senior figures are frequently portrayed with active hands, as seen for example in 
the Sermon Scene (MIK III 8259 folio 1 recto). For the analysis of this composition and 
its color illustration, see Gulacsi 2001a, No. 28. 



158 ZSUZSANNA GULAGSI 

to the rounded faces seen on most images that survive from the West 
Asian Fully Painted Style of Turfan Manichaean Art. 

The garments of the two elects retain much detail that can form the 
starting point of the reconstruction in terms of two elements: the lines 
that capture the folds, and the white that indicates the base color (Fig. 
7b). (1) The lines of the garment lend themselves for touch-ups (Fig. 7b, 
left image). The basic trajectory of the lines is captured with a series 
of dots in a color cloned from the already existing lines. In return, the 
dots are connected with the smudge tool. The lines at the edges of the 
garments, however, present a challenge. Since most of the lines are 
beyond reconstruction, the dotting technique does not work here. To 
make matters worse, no Manichaean painting preserves an identical 
view of the seated elects' garments. Instead of inventing this portion 
of the painting, I turn to the folds that cover the crossed legs of the 
main elect in the Bema Scene (Fig. 7b, right image). While undoubtedly 
the sitting position in the Bema Scene is not the same, along the left 
and right sides the folds are close to those of the kneeling elects to be 
restored. When fitting these well-preserved folds to the least preserved 
area of the garments to be restored, the result is acceptable. (2) The 
reconstruction of the white base color of the garments presents yet 
another challenge. Covering the area with a cloned white color does 
not work, because it yields an artificial-looking texture. Instead, we 
experimented with changing the saturation of the already existing white 
color of the robes and matching it to the saturation of the authentic 
Manichaean white seen on the headgear. This worked well. 

The elects are seated on a rectangular carpet. Traces of the paint 
surviving in this area of the image confirm that the carpet was identi- 
cal in its design to that of the laymen. The now missing portion of 
the carpet can be restored by using the green and red colors already 
established for the laymen's carpet. Here, too, the red border was out- 
lined in black, while the meeting of the green and white surfaces did 
not show traces of black outlines. 

Reconstructed Section 

After reconstruction the two elects emerge with a familiar iconography 
and painting style (Figs. 6c and 7 c). Draped in loosely folding white robes 
worn over their long white garments, the elects are sitting on their heels, 
facing slightly to the right side of the painting. Accordingly, their faces 



DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION WITH A MANICHAEAN BOOK PAINTING 159 

and bodies are shown from a three-quarter view. Characteristically in 
Manichaean art of this style, the abundant folds of the elects' garments 
form a dominant part of their depiction. Being just big enough to fit 
them, the rectangular carpet frames the seated figures as a unit. 



Reconstruction of Section 4: Gesturing Hand of the Elect 

The elect seated closer to the laymen is the more important of the two, 
as suggested by his closeness to the vertical axis and his prominently 
positioned active hand, holding a communicative gesture (Color Plate 1). 
The elect's left arm reaches to the side, with the elbow lifted away from 
the body, while the lower arm is kept horizontal. The hand is held 
straight out with the palm turned upward, while the thumb and index 
finger touch. Being the only element of the painting that crosses from 
the left side to the right side of the image, this hand forms a key unit 
in the communication of the overall message. 

Current Condition 

Although most of the pigments have flaked off from this area of the 
painting, the gesturing hand survives in a condition that retains clear 
clues about the painting technique of the West Asian Fully Painted Style 
of Turfan Manichaean Art (Fig. 8a). Accordingly, we can see remains of 
the pinkish paint used to fill in the area of the hands and the red out- 
lines that contoured the palm and the fingers. The area of the hand 
measures 0.65 cm in width and 0.42 cm in height. 

Sources and Techniques of Reconstruction 

Despite the fact that much of the hand is retained, the reconstruction 
could not rely on touch-ups for the red contours, because that would 
have involved an overwhelming amount of invented, modern lines. 
Thus, I searched for a hand in the corpus of Manichaean paintings 
that is depicted with an identical gesture. Luckily, there is one fragment 
(MIK III 4959 recto) with a well-preserved hand that displays the needed 
pose and is executed in an identical painting style (Fig. 8b). On this 
fully painted fragment, the left hand of the inner figure shows a gesture 
identical to that of the to-be-rebuilt hand, with the only exception that 



1 60 ZSUZSANNA GULAGSI 

of it being vertical rather than horizontal. After copying the hand, a 
90-degee clockwise turn can easily fix this discrepancy. By using the 
scale tool we can size the hand to the needed proportions. 

Reconstructed Section 

The thus rebuilt gesturing hand of the elect fits the overall painting in 
terms of its iconography style, and size, resulting in a good solution for 
this important section of the image (Fig. 8c). Clearly, a visual emphasis 
is placed on the hand, as it is placed in relative isolation from the rest 
of the composition, against the background. The tip of the touch- 
ing fingers above the flat palm forms an implied triangle that points 
upward and thereby leads the viewer's attention to the next element 
of the scene. 



Reconstruction of Section 5: Vessels of Light 

Above the area of the gesturing hand of the elect, in relative isola- 
tion against what originally was a blue background, heavenly bodies 
occupy the painting (Color Plate 1). These motifs are visible only to the 
trained eye, even when viewing the original folio in Berlin, or a high 
quality color reproduction of it on the computer screen. Nevertheless, 
the remnants of the specific motifs are clearly recognizable here. They 
indicate a waxing moon crescent, a sun disk, and numerous smaller 
disks that symbolize smaller bodies of the sky. These now-lost motifs 
are integral to the message of the overall scene. 

Current Condition 

This important section of the painting is the least preserved, and 
therefore a careful observation of the surviving data is necessary (Fig. 
9a, left image). Let us consider the faint red-violet lines first. They 
show a circle, measuring ca. 0.67 cm in diameter, on top of a cres- 
cent shape, tilted with its left side lower than the right. The crescent 
measures ca. 0.68 cm in its width, and ca. 0.16 cm at its middle part. 
Around the central circle, traces of a series of smaller circles can be 
made out - two on the right, two below, and one on top. The curves 
left from these smaller circles allude to a diameter of approximately 
0.13 cm for each circle. These red-violet lines are identical to the other 



DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION WITH A MANICHAEAN BOOK PAINTING 1 6 1 

red-violet lines of the painting, confirming that we are dealing with 
remnants of the underdrawing, representing the original plan for the 
intended painting. 

Across the area of the red-violet lines, paper-colored geometrical 
shapes can be seen: a triangle, two rectangles crossing one over the 
other, surrounded by three smaller squares (Fig. 9a, right image). They 
all are somewhat darker than — and thus are distinguishable from - 
the much-faded blue background. These blank geometrical shapes, 
which were never painted blue, reflect the silhouettes of roughly cut 
gold leaf that originally was glued on top of the underdrawing. Due 
to the fact that the gold leaf cannot be cut into the exact shape of the 
motifs, the Manichaean artist used two techniques: linedrawing on the 
surface of the gold motif (most likely yellow, in this case), and back- 
ground paint around the gold motif (blue, in this and in most cases). 
Thus the painter transformed the little squares into stars, the triangle 
into a moon crescent, and the crossing rectangles into a sun disk. In 
cases where the gold leaf happens to be smaller than the desired motif 
(by a few millimeters), the linedrawing continues on the paper surface 
surrounding the gold leaf, completing the illusion. In cases where the 
gold leaf and/or the underdrawing is larger than the needed motif, 
the excess is covered with the blue of the background and will not be 
visible in the finished image. Most likely due to water damage, the gold 
leaf had vanished and much of the blue background had washed off in 
this case, leaving us with this tantalizing section of the painting. While 
the underdrawing conveys the shapes of the motifs, the now-blank area 
of the gold leaf indicates their actually rendered sizes, confirming that 
these motifs were executed in a smaller size than initially planned dur- 
ing the stage of the underdrawing. 

Sources and Techniques of Reconstruction 

The reconstruction of this section is based on the information provided 
by the underdrawing, and by well-preserved source motifs. Within the 
corpus of Turfan Manichaean art, there is a fragment of a pictorial 
scroll (MIK III 4947 & III 5d) that contains nine intact gold disks (Fig. 
9b). It presents not only a suitable source for reconstruction in terms of 
color and shape, but also a much-needed aid for the interpretation of 
what is left from the to-be-reconstructed area of the central disk. 

The source motif is found on a blue background along the upper 
right of the overall fragment, directly beneath a gilded decorative 



162 ZSUZSANNA GULAGSI 

border, and is best interpreted as a sun disk. Attached to the edge of 
the main disk, there are eight smaller disks distributed evenly. In the 
to-be-restored image, the smaller disks seem to be paired around the 
central disk, as indicated by the remnants of the underdrawing seen 
beneath and to the right of the main disk (Fig. 9a). Therefore, the most 
likely reading of what is left from the motif is eight small disks placed 
around the main disk distributed evenly in groups of two: two on the 
top, two on the bottom, two on the right, and two on the left. 

Clues retained on this damaged section of the correspond to the 
Manichaean repertoire of techniques of execution by which squares 
of gold leaf are fashioned into disks by line drawing and the blue 
background. The underdrawing must have been concealed in the 
original image not only by the gold leaf, but also by some of the blue 
background. Yellow concentric circles and central dots, similar to the 
source motif, most likely enhanced the shiny disk surfaces. Accordingly, 
the moon crescent created from a triangular piece of gold leaf must 
have been contoured in yellow, too. 

In terms of technique, a copy of the source motif's main disk (after 
minor touch-up to its base color) provides us with the central disk. 
Using the transformation tools, it can be fitted to cover the area designated 
by the blank background. The very same process can be used for the 
eight smaller disks, which must be placed in pairs around the main 
disk. The moon crescent can be made from the gold of the sun disk, 
and contoured in yellow by using the cloned hue of the source disk to 
create the contour lines with the usual dotting technique. 

Reconstructed Section 

Clustered close to one another, the waxing moon crescent, the sun disk, 
and the eight smaller disks of stars represent a well-defined unit of this 
painting (Fig. 9c). In addition to the already bright color of their gold- 
and-yellow surfaces, it is their value contrast with the background that 
enhances the brightness of these celestial motifs. The blue background, 
after it is introduced, will conceal the lines of the underdrawing, which 
at this stage of the digital work are still visible around the restored 
motifs, due to the fact that the actual size of the motifs is defined by 
the gold leaf and not the underdrawing. 



DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION WITH A MANICHAEAN BOOK PAINTING 163 

Reconstruction of Section 6: God's Hand 

Partially outside of the frame established by the blue background, God's 
hand forms the last visual unit of the composition (Color Plate 1). It 
is depicted on the largest scale with a gesture that mirrors the elect's 
left hand. This hand is portrayed with the wrist and parts of the lower 
arm dressed in a red sleeve. Befitting the highest point on the picture 
plane, the hand is shown with a low horizon that allows the viewer to 
see some of the palm. 

Current Condition 

While much of the detail has washed off, we can make out the red 
outlines of a once fully painted hand and lower arm. The hand is 
depicted as a right hand with the thumb and index finger touching, 
while the rest of the fingers are stretched gently in a natural pose 
pointing downward in a diagonal angle (Fig. 10a). This hand occupies 
a sizable area, measuring ca. 2.28 cm in width and 1.62 cm in height, 
from the latter of which ca. 1.00 cm falls within the frame of the blue 
background. The upper part of the hand and most of the sleeve are 
on the originally blank paper surface that formed the margin of the 
page. Traces of the paint are preserved only from the red sleeve, which 
retains none of its outline. 

This section of the image contains missing pieces of paper. To the 
left of the hand, the outer margin seems to be cut along a straight line, 
ca. 4.65 cm long, that roughly corresponds with the upper edge of the 
originally blue background. In addition, a small piece of paper, ca. 0.30 
cm wide and 0.52 cm long, is missing from an area that contained the 
lower part of the palm. Similarly to the elects' carpet, this part of the 
image may have become brittle due to the combination of heat and 
water damage and thus had broken off 

Sources and Techniques of Reconstruction 

Neither the hand, nor the arm preserves enough data for touch-ups of 
their definitions on the computer screen. Therefore, source images are 
needed for our digital work, including a well-defined hand motif and a 
red sleeve motif. They both have to derive from book paintings that are 
executed in the West Asian Fully Painted Style of Turfan Manichaean Art. 



1 64 ZSUZSANNA GULACSI 

Gesturing hands are frequently portrayed on images remaining 
from this style, but none of them happens to show the exact position 
needed here. A hand closest to the to-be-restored hand is found on the 
well-preserved matched fragments of a scroll (MIK III 4947 & III 5d), 
capturing the right hand of the historical Buddha in vitarka mudra, from 
a three-quarter view (Fig. 10b). 20 The transformation tools allow us to alter 
this hand, without drawing any parts of it, and create a convincing hand 
motif for the role of God's hand. Firstly, the copy of the Buddha's hand 
has to be scaled to the needed size, turned 90-degrees counter clock 
wise, and angled slightly to fit the position of God's hand. Secondly 
the unit of the touching thumb and index finger has to be moved away 
from the rest of the hand to match their lower position defined by the 
retained outlines of God's hand. To accomplish this, the thumb has to 
be enlarged, while the index finger has to be straightened somewhat, 
knuckle-by-knuckle, from its original curved pose. Thirdly, the rest of 
the three fingers have to be moved closer to one another in order to 
approximate the traces of the outlines of God's hand. 

The reconstruction of God's red sleeve is based on the marginal scene 
of a folio fragment (MIK III 4859 recto), where the left arm of the outer 
figure contained the needed motif 21 In this case, the lower arm had to 
be copied, scaled to size, and flipped both horizontally and vertically 
in order to approximate the diagonal angle of the to-be-restored arm. 
The next step requires the change of the source motif's green color 
first to gray and then to red. The accurate shade is reached by taking 
a sample of the red paint found in the to-be-reconstructed image along 
the frames of the carpets and the undergarments of the laymen. 



211 The reconstruction of God's hand was the most challenging task in this project. 
Since this gesture is seen on numerous Manichaean paintings, I anticipated no hard- 
ship. To my great surprise, the combination of the hand (right hand vs. left hand) 
with the angle (horizontal vs. vertical) and the view (frontal vs. three-quarter) results 
in at least two distinctive depiction types. Type I is the more common. In the to-be- 
restored image, it is represented by the elect's gesturing hand. Type II is more rare. 
Its examples include the hand of the Buddha (MIK III 4947 & III 5 d), the hand of 
an elect in the Sermon Scene (MIK III 8259, folio 1 recto), and the remnants of God's 
hand in the to-be-restored image. For a discussion of the hand motifs depicted in the 
West Asian Fully Painted Style of Turfan Manichaean Art, see Gulacsi 2003, 13 and Fig. 9d; 
or Gulacsi 2005, 109 and Fig. 4/ Id. 

21 For an illustration of the source image see Gulacsi 2001a, Fig. 34.2. 



DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION WITH A MANICHAEAN BOOK PAINTING 1 65 

Reconstructed Section 

After reconstruction, this section of the painting reveals both familiar 
and new elements of Turfan Manichaean art (Fig. 10c). While the hand 
gesture and the sleeve themselves look familiar, in the role of God's 
hand these motifs are used only in this painting. In terms of style, 
the fully painted surface of the pinkish hand is contoured in outlines 
that, due to their larger scale, are thicker than the lines found in the 
regular size motifs in this art. The same is true for the black contour 
lines of the red sleeve. Since no comparable scale survives among the 
miniatures, comparable line thickness is not documented in our sources. 
Nevertheless, it seems that thicker lines must have been used in order 
to preserve the proper proportions within the motifs. 



Reconstruction of Section 7: Blue Background and Blank Margin 

While there are numerous examples of Manichaean images with blank 
or red-orange backgrounds, the blue background has been associated 
with Manichaean paintings in the literature of Central Asian art since 
the beginning of its research. In this case we are dealing with a much- 
faded remnant of a blue background, the restoration of which turned 
out to present a unique challenge for digital reconstruction. 

Current Condition 

The blue background is the most damaged area of the painting (Color 
Plate 1). No parts have remained intact from the original shade and 
thickness of the paint. Instead, most of the surface is covered with an 
extremely light, see-through blue hue, giving the impression that water 
damage is responsible for its current condition. A few darker shades of 
the original blue are found along the edges, especially at the lower left. 
Above the image, most of the area that originally was the outer margin 
of the folio seems to have been cut away, requiring the reconstruction 
of the blank paper surface along this area. 

Sources and Techniques of Reconstruction 

Contrary to our expectations, coating the surface with a cloned shade 
of the Manichaean blue resulted in a "colorized" look. The image 



1 66 ZSUZSANNA GULAGSI 

lost the texture of the painted paper and appeared cartoon-like. Since 
this method did not produce the needed effect, we began to search for 
a different technique. After a period of experimentation, we found a 
solution that yielded a satisfying result. We began by taking a sample 
of the blue hue from the background of a well-preserved image. We 
coated the background with this hue by using a see-through effect, 
without concealing the patchiness of the remaining blue on the paper. 
The reconstruction of the missing area of the margin was done by 
cloning not only the paper color, but also the paper texture from the 
intact area of the page adjacent to the image. 

Reconstructed Section 

The reconstruction of the paper and background surfaces complete this 
project. The edges of the blue background, their natural unevenness, 
along with the surface texture of the blue paint returns. The color 
contrasts between the blue and the blank paper form a line defined 
by the edge that creates the illusion of a framed composition. Within 
the image, the thin black, red, and yellow outlines around the motifs 
approximate successfully the effect seen on the best-preserved examples 
of book paintings executed in the West Asian Fully Painted Style of Turfan 
Manichaean Art. 



Conclusions 

This experiment represents the first attempt to use digital technology 
as a tool for East Central Asian art history. Based on the art historical 
research of the corpus of Manichaean art, our goal was to resurrect 
a poorly preserved book painting and capture its rich visual data in 
a digitally reconstructed form, as if the image had survived in good 
condition. By rebuilding its all but lost iconography, composition, and 
style, we could reveal this book painting, as it really is an important 
Manichaean visual source surviving from 10th-century Turfan (Color 
Plates la and lb). 

The restored iconography permits us to notice a unique set of motifs 
familiar to us from West Asian religious art, including figures holding 
books, a priestly communicative hand gesture, the hand of God in the 
upper corner, and celestial bodies. These motifs are employed in order 
to convey an abstract theological theme — The Work of the Religion — that 



DIGITAL RECONSTRUCTION WITH A MANICHAEAN BOOK PAINTING 167 

is uniquely Manichaean. Most likely this Turfan image builds on a pro- 
totype that originated within the first Manichaean community in late 
antique Mesopotamia, where Mani (216-276 CE) was credited with 
the creation of a didactic pictorial scroll, depicting the core teachings 
of his religion. 

In terms of its composition, the newly restored scene allows us to 
observe an effective way of visual communication. The informal balance 
along the vertical axis together with the hierarchy of scale skillfully organizes 
six distinct visual units in relative isolation from one another. They are 
depicted from varied perspectives, which nevertheless correspond with their 
placement on the picture plane. Accordingly, we see God's hand from 
below, the heavenly bodies from the front, while the gesturing hand of 
the elect as well as the figures of the elects with the laypeople and the 
pile of fruit from slightly above. The arrangement of these units in itself 
constitutes art historical data. It confirms that visual acuity, as a religious 
didactic tool, was part of Manichaean art during its Turfan era. 

The restored style brings out yet another important aspect of the 
painting that would have remained lost without the digital reconstruc- 
tion. Fragmentary clues extracted by painstaking analysis of the dam- 
aged original with tools of magnification and lighting, are translated 
into an approximation of the full effect achieved by the painters working 
in this style. When touch-ups were not sufficient, we relied on care- 
fully selected replacement motifs that were digitally fitted into their 
new context. As a result, the reconstructed image accords with the 
original color repertoire and brushstrokes of the Turfan Manichaean 
artists. The brightly painted and gilded motifs are surrounded by a 
blue background, similarly to what is seen on the vast majority of book 
paintings in this corpus executed in the West Asian Fully Painted Style of 
Turfan Manichaean Art. 

All in all, I find digital reconstruction to be a useful tool for art 
historical research as long as the original condition of the work of art 
is featured together with the virtual image and the steps and rational 
of the reconstruction process are recorded. While the application of 
modern imaging technology opens new means for art historians to 
reflect light onto visual data that otherwise would be lost because of 
the damaged condition of the sources, it is important to emphasize that 
their digitally restored versions constitute visual renderings of scholarly 
interpretations. When used responsibly, this new tool may prove to be 
especially relevant for the study of the Manichaean corpus, the remains 
of which have suffered academic neglect due to their poor state of 



1 68 ZSUZSANNA GULAGSI 

preservation. The rich data preserved in them can now be brought to 
light, urging future studies to begin their analysis and interpretation 
with a commitment to situate these important remains in their broader 
art historical contexts. 



Bibliography 

Ebert, Jorinde 

1994 Darstellungen der Passion Manis in bekannten und unbekannten Bildfrag- 
menten des Bema-Fests aus der Turfan-Sammlung, Memoriae Munusculum: 
Gedenkbandfilr Annemarie v. Gabain, K. Rohrborn and W. Veenker, eds. (Wies- 
baden), 1-28. 

Eismann, Katrin with Wayme Palmer 

2006 Photoshop: Restoration and Retouching, 3rd edition (Berkeley). 
Gulacsi, Zsuzsanna 

2001a Manichaean Art in Berlin Collections: A Comprehensive Catalogue. Corpus Fontium 

Manichaeorum: Series Archaeologica et Iconographica 1 (Turnhout). 
2001b Reconstructing Manichaean Book Paintings through the Techniques of 
Their Makers. The Light and the Darkness: Studies in Manichaeism and Its World, 
P. Mirecki and J. BeDuhn, eds. (Leiden), 105-127. 

2003 Dating the 'Persian' and Chinese Style Remains of Uygur Manichaean Art: 
A New Radiocarbon Date and Its Implication to Central Asian Art History, 
Arts Asiatiques 58: 5—33. 

2005 Mediaeval Manichaean Book Art: A Codicological Study of Iranian and Turkic Illu- 
minated Book Fragments from 8th— 11th cc. East Central Asia. Nag Hammadi and 
Manichaean Studies 57 (Leiden). 
Greenhalgh, Michael 

2004 Art History, A Companion to Digital Humanities, S. Schreibman, R. Siemens, 
and J. Unsworth, eds. (Maiden), 31-45. 

Klimkeit, Hans-Joachim 

1982 Manichaean Art and Calligraphy (Leiden). 
Le Coq, Albert von 

1923 Die manichdischen Miniaturen (Berlin), [repr. Graz, 1973] 
Miller, Mary 

1995 Maya Masterpiece Revealed at Bonampak. National Geographic, February 
1995: 50-69. 

Tokyo National Museum et al. 

2000 Visions of the Pure Land: The Treasures of Byodo-in Temple (Tokyo). 



THE MANICHAEAN CHURCH BETWEEN 
EARTH AND PARADISE 

Claudia Leurini 
Boloena 



The Manichaean Church and its structure have always represented 
a major concern for both antagonists in ancient times and modern 
scholars. Both the subdivision of the Manichaean community into 
two sections, Elect and Auditors, and the organization of the highest 
clerical degrees - twelve Teachers, seventy-two 'Bishops', 1 and three 
hundred and sixty Presbyters - have attracted the attention and the 
interest of many over the centuries. The latter scheme has been usu- 
ally considered as the expression of an adaptation of the Manichaean 
Church organization to a Christian model, the one Mani surely knew 
from contemporary communities in Mesopotamia, particularly because 
of the number of the Teachers (see Augustine, de haer. 46). This tra- 
dition linking the Manichaean ecclesiastical structure to that of the 
contemporaneous Christian Church has been kept alive for centuries 
until the present. 2 On the other hand, regarding the subdivision of the 
community into two — clerics/Elect and laymen/Auditors with their 



This contribution derives from research I conducted for my Ph.D., forthcoming as a 
book under the title The Manichaean Church. Description of a Religious Institution in Central 
Asia. 

1 I use the title 'bishop' here for the second dignity in the Manichaean hierarchy 
because of need of clarity in the exposition of the facts I wish to bring to the attention 
of the reader. Although the western tradition (attested in both Manichaean sources and 
also by adversaries such as Augustine, for example) has actually transmitted the title 
in'iGKOiioq/ episcopus for this degree, the oriental tradition in Middle Persian fragments 
from Turfan attests 'spsg/ ispasag, also testified in Manichaean Chinese and Turkish 
texts as a loanword. A deep analysis of the Manichaean texts and of the secondary 
literature about ispasag has shown that this title did not mean 'dean/servant', as usually 
accepted, but it rather hinted at an administrative office of Achaemenid origin still 
existing also in Parthian and Sasanian times, the one of 'eye of the king', as rightly 
supposed by Schaeder 1934, 5, although the German scholar just inferred this without 
possessing any evidences in support of his thesis, evidences we can count on nowadays. 
For a detailed discussion about this see Leurini, forthcoming. 

2 See Puech 1979, 256-263; Widengren 1961, 100, Koenen 1983, v. Tongerloo 1982; 
de Menasce 1985; cf. Tongerloo et al. 1991; BeDuhn — Harrison 1997; Sundermann 
1997; Lieu 1998. 



170 C LAUD IA LEURINI 

reciprocal relationships — scholars have taken the structure of the Bud- 
dhist communities into account, although a highly probable derivation 
from the Elchasaite gnostic model is maintained as a very probable 
component, too. 3 

Moving beyond such suppositions of organizational influence, one 
may consider possible ideological underpinnings for Manichaean Church 
structure. Tardieu, for example, maintains that three hundred and sixty, 
the number of Presbyters in the Manichaean Church, corresponds 
to the monthly calculation of the movement of the moon multiplied 
by the twelve solar months during one year; while seventy-two, the 
number of the Bishops, and twelve, the number of the Teachers, can 
be considered as corresponding to the number of missionary men Jesus 
sent out to diffuse his religion in the former case, and to the number 
of Christ's Apostles in the latter. 4 I find this position by Tardieu both 
interesting and tantalizing: the reasons given for why Mani chose these 
three numbers — seemingly from the Christian tradition on the one 
hand and from astronomy on the other — are actually irreconcilable 
with each other. Twelve and seventy-two show a completely different 
origin from three hundred and sixty, although the explanation by the 
French scholar appears as tenable as any that has been offered. 3 The 
Christian interpretation does not account for the third numerical 
entity, while the astronomical one seems to provide no help with at 
least the number seventy-two. As the Manichaean hierarchy shows a 
clear pyramidal shape, an attempt to derive all three numbers from the 
same category would seem to be logically preferable, however. Besides 
any possible reference to a Christian model inspiring Mani, there were 
likely also intra-religious reasons bound to his cosmological conception 
of the world that may justify his choices as far as the clerical structure 
of his community is concerned. The link with astronomy proposed by 
Tardieu appears to offer more from an exegetical point of view than 



3 In the Tebessa Codex the binary subdivision of the Manichaean community is 
bound to the Christian model deriving from the Pauline Letters. See Omont 1918; 
Alfaric 1920; Merkelbach 1988; Decret 1989; BeDuhn - Harrison 1997. Both Elcha- 
saite (or more generally Gnostic) and Buddhist inspirations are taken into consideration 
by Tardieu 1981, cf. Tongerloo 1982, Koenen 1983, Sundermann 1997, and Lieu 
1998, for example, while a pure Buddhist origin for this dichotomy is maintained by 
Widengren 1961. 

1 Respectively in Luke 10.1 Syriac and Diatesseron, and Matthew 10.1—2; see Tardieu 
1981, 74. This explanation has been supported by van Oort 2002. 

5 See Widengren 1961, 100, who while not pointing to the astronomic pattern 
behind the number 360 seems to hint at it. 



THE MANICHAEAN CHURCH BETWEEN EARTH AND PARADISE 1 7 1 

the traditional view presupposing that Mani merely copied Christian 
organizational models. 

The complex sequence of creations and counter-creations reported 
in the Manichaean mythological cosmogony should not be considered 
as separated from actual existence in this world. The narration of the 
cosmogonic events actually represents both the framework in which are 
inserted the history of this world (birth, life and end) and the explana- 
tion of the ratio of the world's existence as Light-liberating tool. The 
universe as Mani figured it out is structured in kingdoms, all depending 
on the highest divinity in the Manichaean system, the Father of Great- 
ness. His reign is described in the Chinese Hymnscroll 6 as composed 
of five Greatnesses: 1) the twelve Light-kings; 2) the kingdoms; 3) the 
wonderful fragrant Air; 4) the Glory and 5) the diamond-hard noble 
Earth. The same description is found in the Sogdian fragment M 178, 7 
except for the missing first and second Greatnesses, thus starting from 
the third, the Blessed Places, followed by the Pure Air in Paradise as 
the fourth and by the Light Earth as the fifth. The Realm of Light 
is also described in the Coptic Psalm-Book, 8 giving an account of the 
five Greatnesses starting from the Father of Greatness, followed by the 
twelve Aeons, the Aeons of the Aeons, going through the Living Air 
until the Land of Light. These three lists coincide, although some sort 
of discrepancy can be observed in them: the Chinese version did not 
count the Father among the Greatnesses in Paradise, thus it added the 
Glory in fourth position, which is not attested in the other texts, which 
are more ancient than the Chinese one. Thus in the case of the Chi- 
nese text we observe a very probable interpolation in the description. 
In any case, the Realm of Light shows a very 'earthly' structure, as it is 
provided with sky, earth, mountains, hills, and trees bearing fruits and 
flowers. It is also inhabited by godly entities and by its king, the Father 
of Greatness, who wields his power there. It is obviously a separated 
world, but it is located in a very specific position in the cosmic order, 
as it stands above all other components of the universe. 

Below the Realm of Light, ten Firmaments were organized during 
the second phase of creation by the Lord of the Seven Climes and 
the Mother of the Living. Each Firmament was provided with twelve 



6 Waldschmidt - Lentz 1933, 485-486. 

' Henning 1948. The fragment now preserved at the Museum fur Indische Kunst 
in Berlin under the signature MIK III 4990. 

8 Allberry - Ibscher 1938, 9.12 and Wurst 1996, 37, 9.12-15. 



172 C LAUD IA LEURINI 

Gates plus four for each cardinal point, along with earth and air, as 
M 178 again testifies. 9 Once more we see a very earthly image of the 
organization of these Firmaments, analogous to the one of the Realm 
of Light, where around the Father of Greatness twelve Aeons dwell, 
three in each of the four directions 10 in a world with wonderful moun- 
tains and hills and pure air. Thus one can deduce that the Lord of the 
Seven Climes and the Mother of the Living shaped the Firmaments 
on the model of Realm of Light. What is really puzzling as far as the 
Firmaments are concerned is their number, ten, as numerology in the 
Manichaean system is never casually introduced. In this case, it must 
have a precise meaning as well, and I think this number should be linked 
to the regular recurrence of the number twelve in the Manichaean 
system. 11 In light of this consistent pattern, however, the scheme of ten 
Firmaments would seem to lack two units. 

The problem might be partially solved on the basis of the above 
mentioned analogies between the Realm of Light and the Firmaments: 
the former should be included among the latter and considered as the 
highest Firmament, thus their number would count eleven units. This 
solution is still not satisfying from a numerological-symbolic point of 
view, however, as one Firmament is still missing 12 But there are many 
ways allowing us to reconstruct what it is. If the Paradise of the Father 
of Greatness is taken into consideration, some characteristics can be 
identified that will help in this reconstruction. First of all, Paradise is 
a kingdom and a dominion as the seat of the virtue of Kingship. In 
relation to this we can take into consideration a few Manichaean frag- 
ments from Turfan 13 describing an organization of twelve Kingdoms, as 



9 M 178 II/r/4-17 in Henning 1948, 311-312 (69-85); 312 and 313. 

10 Widengren 1961, 52. 

11 Gharib 2001. 

12 Panaino 1997, 269 suggests that the Rolling Wheel deployed under the ten 
Firmaments should be considered as the eleventh one. The Rolling Wheel actually 
shows a different structure from that of the Firmaments, however. Moreover, while it 
is the seat of the Sun and the Moon, godly entities charged with lifting up purified 
Light to Heaven, nonetheless the Zodiac and the Planets, devilish beings, also dwell 
there. Thus the Rolling Wheel shall be considered as a place of mixture, a tool per- 
mitting the movement of planets, Sun and Moon. In contrast, the Firmaments are 
not mingled with matter and devilish beings, as I will show in this contribution. See 
also Leurini, forthcoming. 

13 M 14/r/18-28+v/l-25 (Waldschmidt - Lentz 1933, 547 and f; Boyce 1975, 
132; transl. Klimkeit 1989, 118-119); MIK III 4974 (Waldschmidt - Lentz 1933, 
558f, Boyce 1975, 133; trans. Klimkeit 1989, 120; M 798a/r/ii-v/ii (Waldschmidt - 
Lentz 1933, 560 and 598-599, Boyce 1975,134, trans. Klimkeit 1989, 121; M 738 



THE MANICHAEAN CHURCH BETWEEN EARTH AND PARADISE 173 

reconstructed by Klimkeit: 14 the Father of Greatness represents in them 
the virtue of Dominion/Kingship; the Mother of Life is the patron of 
Wisdom; the First Man (Ohrmizd) of 'Victory' and Salvation; the Five 
Sons of the First Man of Contentment and Joy; the Friend of the Light 
is the patron of Zeal; the Great Builder of Truth; The Living Spirit 
of Faith; The Third Messenger of Patience; The Column of Glory of 
Righteousness; Jesus the Splendor of Kindness; The Maiden of Light 
of Harmony and Mildness and finally Vahman, the Great Novq, is the 
patron of Light. 

If, following this list, the Realm of Light of the Father of Greatness 
should correspond to the first Kingdom, the Firmaments below might 
be supposed as being as many Kingdoms under the patronage of the 
remaining divinities listed. Evidence supporting this thesis comes from 
M 178 again. 10 The Lord of the Seven Climes and the Mother of the 
Living seated the All-Maker, i.e. the Living Spirit on a throne in the sev- 
enth Firmament. The Living Spirit actually corresponds to the seventh 
Kingdom and is patron of the seventh virtue in the scheme studied by 
Klimkeit. In accordance with this proposed correspondence, the twelfth 
Firmament would have Vahman as King, as he is identified with the 
twelfth dominion in this same scheme. It is well known that Vahman is 
the protector and supporter of the Manichaean Church; 16 he is called 
sahryar i den, sovereign of the Church. 17 Thus Vahman is sovereign of 
the twelfth dominion and of the Church, the latter being a Kingdom 
with Light as its virtue, because the function of the Church is both to 
free trapped light particles from matter to send them up to heaven and 
to diffuse the Religion of Light. Thus, if the first and seventh elements 
of the series God-Kingdom- Virtue correspond to respective Firmaments 
(Father of Greatness-Paradise-Kingship-First Firmament and Living 
Spirit-seventh Kingdom-Faith- Seventh Firmament), and an analogous 
situation of Vahman - twelfth Kingdom - Light can be supposed, then 
the twelfth Firmament should correspond to the Manichaean Church, 



(Waldschmidt - Lentz 1933, 561-562 and 599-603; Boyce 1975, 134 and f.; M 37 I 
(Leurini, forthcoming). 

14 Klimkeit 1993, 77-78. See also Klimkeit 1989, 117. 

15 Henning 1948, 313. 

16 See for example M 729 II/v/ii/12— 16: new benediction/and new praise from the 
sovereign Vahman is invoked on the community. Andreas — Henning 1933, 330—333; 
Boyce 1975, 149-151; transl. Klimkeit 1989, 139; Leurini, forthcoming. 

17 M 1 1/r/ 13-14. Waldschmidt - Lentz 1933, 556-557; Boyce 1975, text en; transl. 
Klimkeit 1989, 134; Leurini, forthcoming. 



174 CLAUDIA LEURINI 

just as all other Firmaments should correspond to the respective twelve 
divinities, kingdoms, and virtues of the list above. But to maintain that 
the Manichaean Church should be considered as the twelfth Firmament 
requires additional evidence. 

The ten Firmaments, as they are known from the description in 
two Sogdian texts, 18 are provided with twelve Gates (8[kr) plus four, 
one for each cardinal point, and each of the twelve Gates comprises 
six Thresholds (paSind), which makes seventy-two Thresholds alto- 
gether: an evident analogy with the numbers characterizing the two 
highest degrees of the Manichaean Church, i.e. twelve Teachers and 
seventy-two Bishops. The system of Gates and Thresholds seems to 
be combined with the movement of the Sun, but the number seventy- 
two is not so strikingly clear from an astronomical point of view — so 
much so that scholars have maintained that it might be the result of a 
mistake. According to the proposed correction, the Thresholds should 
be considered to number six altogether in each Firmament (rather 
than seventy-two in each Firmament), representing the position of the 
Sun during each month of the year; thus the Sun would cross each 
Threshold twice a year. 19 This position appears to be supported by the 
contents of fragment M 798 1, 20 which expressly hints at six Thresholds 
altogether. But two questions can be raised at this point: a) why should 
Firmaments have both Gates and Thresholds if they both corresponded 
to the months? - a strange kind of superimposition; b) if in the Sog- 
dian fragments the units corresponding to the months are called Spar, 
'door/gate', why are similar units in the Middle Persian fragment M 
7981 called astanag, 'threshold? 

M 7981 contains the description of the movement of the sun across 
the blue vault, as it goes back and forth. As far as the sky over the earth 
is concerned, the sun goes across six Thresholds in a movement that 
starts from the centre of the sky towards one of its extremities, then 
it comes back to the centre and it moves on to the other extremity of 
the vault, returning again to the center; thus it moves in four phases 
altogether, affecting three Thresholds during each phase, which makes 
twelve. Thus the sky is divided into two, each section being composed of 
three Thresholds. This particular aspect of the sky has been combined 



18 M 178 II/r/28-31 - II/v/1-9 in Henning 1948, 313; M 548 in Henning 1948, 
317. 

19 Panaino 1997; Tubach 1987. 

20 Henning 1932, 188-189; Panaino 1997, 262-263. 



THE MANICHAEAN CHURCH BETWEEN EARTH AND PARADISE 1 75 

with the zodiac by Tubach. 21 The Rolling Wheel/sky, however, is not a 
part of the Firmament-system; it just hangs from it. It is thus evident 
that the Thresholds of the sky do not correspond to the Thresholds 
in the Firmaments, but are rather analogous to the Gates. This ter- 
minological confusion has led both the Sogdian scribes and modern 
scholars afterwards to conflate the Thresholds of the sky with those 
of the Firmaments, thus causing the Sogdian Fragment M 178 to be 
considered erroneous. It is actually not, because the Six-Threshold 
system affects the observable sky, corresponding to the 'Rolling Wheel' 
described in M 178, where the position of the sun can be observed 
also in relationship to the zodiacal signs. Thus the system counting six 
Thresholds altogether has nothing to do with the one of the Firma- 
ments, where each Gate/month comprises six Thresholds. 

Now, if we consider the Seventy-Two-Thresholds system as separate 
and independent from the Six-Thresholds one, then it is necessary to 
understand what this number seventy-two stands for. The Parthian frag- 
ment from Turfan M 183 II/r/2"12+M 3404/r/l-5 22 might be helpful 
on this question, as it tells about the creation of the sun as a chariot 
surrounded by five Walls being provided with twelve Doors each. The 
average time of solar irradiation every day is twelve hours. Thus solar 
light crosses twelve Doors a day. To go through all five Walls it will 
need five days of irradiation: 12x5 = 60. Thus every five days sixty 
hours of irradiation shall be counted. Each month of thirty days, then, 
comprises six solar cycles of five days: here we have the six Thresholds 
contained in each Gate/month reported in the Sogdian fragment M 
178. Thus the number seventy- two is linked to the number of solar 
cycles of five days during twelve months (6 x 12). 

A question remains: why should we count cycles of five days? Apart 
from the mention of the five Walls corresponding to as many days in 
the Parthian fragment mentioned above, the Manichaean tradition in 
the east preserves the teaching of the panj gah 23 of Zoroastrian origin; 
but it is only tangentially relevant here as it regards only the five inter- 
calary days to be added each year to keep the calendar in balance. It 
does tell us, however, that the Manichaean community, at least in the 
Iranian east, had a three-hundred-sixty-day standard year divided into 



21 Tubach 1987. 

22 Sundermann 1973, 63. 

23 About this subject see de Blois 1996 and Boyce 2005. 



176 C LAUD IA LEURINI 

twelve months of thirty days, to which the five-day panj gah was added 
to maintain seasonal harmony We still need to search for a continuous 
pentadic cyclicity that works within such a calendar. In the Sermon of the 
Light- Novg' 2 * we are told about a series of three days and two nights, 
the former representing the period of the creation of the world by the 
Living Spirit and the Mother of the Living and the latter the counter- 
creation of the human being by the dark powers. When at the end 
of time the Light-Not^ will begin his action of final liberation of the 
Light, it is reported that the three days will stand up against the two 
nights and they will overwhelm them and dominate them. The complete 
story in the Sermon actually tells that the Light-Novi; will substitute 
all dark creations with their luminous equivalents, thus also the nights 
shall be substituted by days: here we have the cycle of five days. But 
those five days pertain to a saved world and not to the current one, 
which continues to be characterized by the incessant sequence of night 
and day, light and darkness. This means two things: 1) the Sun with 
its five Walls is not affected by the sequence day/night as it is already 
purified; 2) neither is the structure of the Firmaments, as it is founded 
on five-day cycles, thus once more a piece of evidence confirming the 
pure, saved, and divine status of the Firmaments. 

Now one question still remains open: the number three hundred 
and sixty characterizing the group of the presbyters. Two possibilities 
of interpretation are acceptable: 1) it refers to the number of hours 
of solar irradiation in one month, coming out of the multiplication of 
the number of hours of solar irradiation during one solar cycle with 
the number of cycles in one month (60 x 6), 2S this thesis being more 
strictly bound to the sequence in M 178, which presents some serious 
exegetical problem exactly at this point; 26 or rather, 2) it refers to the 
number of days in one year, excluding the intercalary ones neces- 
sary to keep the calendar working in the mixed world characterized 



24 Sundermann 1992, 68-69. 

25 Hutter 1992, 63; Panaino 1997, 261-263. 

26 M 178, after describing Gates and Thresholds in each Firmaments, tells that every 
Threshold contains thirty Bazaars, identified by the Sogdian scribes and the scholars 
with the days in each month. That is why an error about the number seventy-two of the 
Thresholds has been maintained. See on this Henning 1948, Tubach 1987, and Panaino 
1997. The Sogdian tradition that produced this fragment substituted the number sixty 
with the number thirty because the structure of the Firmaments was not understood 
anymore, thus the structure of the sky/Rolling Wheel was superimposed on that of the 
Firmaments, causing an enormity of difficulties in the interpretation of the text. For a 
closer analysis of the problems raised by this text see Leurini, forthcoming. 



THE MANICHAEAN CHURCH BETWEEN EARTH AND PARADISE 177 

by movement, while the Firmaments, being already perfect and thus 
fixed with an ever constant period of solar irradiation, do not need 
such intercalation. 

On the basis of these short notes, a correlation between the structure 
of the Firmaments and that of the Manichaean Church appears at 
least possible. Under the Chief of the Church stood twelve Teachers, 
one for every month, and underneath them stood seventy-two Bishops, 
one for each solar cycle during one year, and below them three hun- 
dred and sixty Presbyters, one for each day of the year. I prefer this 
latter interpretation, as far as the number of Presbyters is concerned, 
because it fits perfectly with the whole cosmological structure comprising 
Paradise, Firmaments, and Church. The Church and the Firmaments 
actually exist because they each play a specific and shared role in the 
salvation project of the Father of Greatness: they all transmit Light — 
the former up to Heaven, the latter to enlighten mankind and dif- 
fuse the activity of salvation and liberation. Light is diffused upon the 
mixed world following two ways: its sensible manifestation, solar light, 
sheds its rays down to the earth through the six Thresholds in the sky, 
while its metaphysical essence, the Light-No{)<;, comes from God and 
his last emanation, Jesus the Splendor, and is diffused by the Church 
through twelve Gates/Teachers, seventy-two Thresholds/Bishops and 
three hundred and sixty Days/Presbyters. Although the Church lives 
in the mixed world, its members are considered as free from the bonds 
associated with the materiality of the world, thus they are fit for the 
diffusion of Light, which, shed by the highest clerics, touches all Elect 
and gets diffused also among the Auditors. Thus the numerology bound 
to the structure of the Manichaean Church is no metaphoric one; it is 
rather cosmologically meant as an actual description of the way down 
of the Light-Novq. These numbers, therefore, represent on the one 
hand phases of the descent of the Light from God to the earth; while 
on the other hand they represent the ascending Light that, after being 
collected by the moon from the Church thanks to the daily sacred 
meal performed by all clerics, is sent during the moon's waning phase 
to the sun, and is elevated through the Gates and Thresholds of the 
Firmaments towards the heaven of the Father of Greatness. 



178 C LAUD IA LEURINI 

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(Turnhout). 



MEDIEVAL MANICHAEAN AND NESTORIAN REMAINS 
IN THE ZAYTON (QUANZHOU) OF MARCO POLO 

Samuel N. C. Lieu 
Sydney 



Quanzhou in the Province of Fujian in South China and its neighboring 
municipality of Jianjiang became known among Manichaean scholars 
worldwide through Professor Lin Wushu's efforts to stage there the 2003 
International Symposium of Manichaean Studies, "Manichaeism and 
Ancient China." The choice of the venue underscores the importance 
of these two municipalities for the history of Manichaeism, which made 
the subsequent cancellation of the symposium all the more disappoint- 
ing. The city of Quanzhou was China's major sea-port throughout 
the European Middle Ages and was host to a number of affluent and 
influential foreign mercantile communities. It was from Quanzhou that 
Marco Polo left for Europe c. 1292 CE after his long sojourn in China. 
The nearby municipality of Jinjiang possesses the only Manichaean 
shrine which is still used as a place of worship with a historic statue of 
Mani as the Buddha of Light. However, an Australian team under my 
leadership has been paying regular research visits to both Quanzhou 
and Jinjiang since 2000 and in this paper I hope to highlight some 
of the more significant finds relevant to the study of the diffusion of 
both Manichaeism and Nestorianism (i.e. the Church of the East) in 
South China. 



The Manichaean shrine on Huabiao Hill (Jinjiang) 

We know from literary sources that Manichaeism had made its presence 
felt in the Commandery of Qingyuan (which included the medieval 
city of Quanzhou) not long after the religion was expelled from the 
capital cities of Changan and Loyang in the Ninth Century CE (i.e. 
after 842). Among the fanciful stories collected from the region is the 
tale of the house of a senior local official in Qmgyiian being haunted 
by an exceptionally pernicious evil spirit. Repeated efforts by Daoist 
priests to get rid of it only resulted in its being more pugnacious. In 



182 SAMUEL N. G. LIEU 

the end a Manichaean priest was asked to stay overnight in the house 
together with his scriptures and the spirit disappeared for good. 1 The 
sect continued as a secretive popular Buddhist cult in South China until 
the conquest of the region by the Mongols in 1277. It is not surprising 
therefore that the extant Manichaean shrine on Huabiao Hill is linked 
in the local gazetteer (the Minshu of He Qiaoyuan) to the Mongol 
period of Chinese History (i.e. the Yuan Dynasty c. 1260-1368 CE). 
The relevant literary source was first noted by the Chinese scholar Chen 
Yuan in 1921. 2 The significance of this material from the Minshu was 
immediately realized by the French Sinologist Paul Pelliot who translated 
it into French with accompanying material. 3 The section most relevant 
to the shrine is as follows: 

The Huabiao Hill of the county of Jinjiang prefecture of Quanzhou is 
joined to the Lingyuan Hills. Its two peaks stand up like huabiao (i.e. twin 
columns placed at entrance of tombs). On the ridge slope back of the 
hill is a cao'an (lit. thatched nunnery) dating from the Yuan period. There 
reverence is paid to Buddha Mani. The Buddha Mani has for name 
"Brilliant Buddha Mo-mo-ni." He came from Sulin (i.e. Assuristan) and 
is also a Buddha, having the name "Envoy of the Great Light, Complete 
in Knowledge." .. .In the period Huichang (841-846) when (Buddhist) 
monks were suppressed in great numbers, the Religion of Light was 
included in the suppression. However, a Hulufashi* came to Futang (south 
of Fuzhou), and taught his disciples at Sanshan (in Fuzhou). He came 
to the prefecture of Quan in his travels and died (there) and was buried 
at the foot of a mountain to the north of the prefecture. In the period 
Chidao (995—997) a scholar of Huai'an, Li Dingyu, found an image of 
the Buddha (Mani) in a soothsayer's shop at the capital; it was sold to 



1 The author would wish to acknowledge the financial support from the Australian 
Research Council and the Chiang Ching Kuo Foundation for International Academic 
Exchange which enabled him and his Austrlian research 'team-mates' to make regular 
visits to Quanzhou since 2000. 

Taiping kuangji 355.2812, trans. S. N. C. Lieu, Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire 
and Medieval China (Tubingen, 1992), 267-68. 

2 Chen Yuan, "Moni jiao ru Zhong-guo kao (A Study of the Introduction of Man- 
ichaeism into China)," Guoxuejikan (National Learning Quarterly) 1/2 (1923): 233-34. 

3 P. Pelliot, "Les traditions manicheennes au Fou-kien," T'oung Pao 22 (1934): 
193-208. 

1 The term is either an abbreviation of the title for a Manichaean preacher huluhuan 
= Middle Persian xrwh(x)wn in which cases it means 'Preacher-Priest' or the hulu part 
could have come from Old Turkish uluy in which cases the tide would have simply 
meant a 'Great' or 'High Priest'. Cf Takao Moriyasu, "On the Uighur cxsapt ay," 
Studia Manichaica. IV. Internationaler Kongrefi zum Manichaismus, Berlin, 14.-18. Juli 1997, 
R. Emmerick et al., eds. (Berlin, 2000), 435-36. 



MANIGHAEAN & NESTORIAN REMAINS IN ZAYTON (QUANZHOU) 183 

him for 50,000 cash-pieces, and this his auspicious image was circulated 
in Fujian. In the reign of Chenzong (998—1022) a Fujian scholar, Lin 
Shihchang, presented his (i.e. Manichaean) scriptures for safe-keeping 
to the Official College of Fuzhou. When Taizu of the Ming Dynasty 
established his rule, he wanted the people to be guided by the Three 
Religions (i.e. Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism). He was further 
displeased by the fact that [the Manichaeans] in the name of their religion 
(i.e. Ming) usurped the dynastic title. He expelled their followers (from 
their shrines) and destroyed their shrines.' The President of the Board of 
Finance, Yu Xin, and the president of the Board of Rites, Yang Lung, 
memorialized the throne to stop (this proscription); and because of this 
the matter was set aside and dropped. At present those among the people 
who follow its (Manichaean) practices use formulas of incantation called 
"The master's prescription," (but) they are not much in evidence. Behind 
the shrine are the Peak of Ten Thousand Stones, the Jade Spring, the 
Cloud-Ladder of a Hundred Steps, as well as accounts inscribed on the 
rocks (by visitors). 

Given such a detailed description of its whereabouts, one would expect 
the shrine to be located almost immediately upon the publication of the 
studies of Chen Yuan and Paul Pelliot. However, China was embroiled 
in civil war throughout the 1920's and much of coastal Fujian was 
occupied by Japanese forces from 1938 to 1945. A group of Chinese 
scholars from the University of Xiamen tried to locate the building in 
1928 but were turned back shortiy after leaving the city of Quanzhou 
because of the presence of armed bandits in the vicinity The first notice 
Western scholars received about the successful location of the shrine 
was the publication of an important work on foreign religious inscrip- 
tions (Islamic, Nestorian, Catholic and Manichaean) of the Quanzhou 
region by a local archaeologist and secondary school teacher in Biol- 
ogy by the name of Wu Wenliang in 1957. 6 A research colleague of 
his who later became the Professor of Archaeology in the University 
of Xiamen, Zhuang Weiji, had published a year earlier a very short 
notice on the successful identification of the site of the Manichaean 
shrine through what he called "dedicated team effort" and hinted at the 
possibility of Manichaeism reaching South China by sea as well as by 



: ' On the Hui-chang suppression of Buddhism see Lieu, Manichaeism in the Later 
Roman Empire (see note 2), 234-39. 

6 Quanzhou zongjiao shike (Religious Stone Inscriptions at Quanzhou), (Beijing, 1957), 44-45 
and pis. 



184 SAMUEL N. G. LIEU 

land.' Zhuang's article is almost completely unobtainable outside China 
and Wu's monograph became instantly the source of all knowledge on 
foreign religions in the Quanzhou region. 

In his book, Wu Wenliang published a total of three black and 
white photographs of the shrine which in Chinese is termed a cao'an 
(a thatched nunnery): 

(1) Fig. 105: An overall view of the cao'an on Huabiao Hill 

(2) Fig. 106: Text of a (Manichaean) Inscription on Huabiao Hill 

(3) Fig. 107: The statue or image of Mani the Buddha of Light inside 
the cao'an 

For the next two decades, as China was caught up in the Cultural 
Revolution and largely closed to the outside world, these three pho- 
tographs remained the only published physical evidence of the shrine 
and there were great fears among 'Western' scholars that the site might 
have been totally destroyed by rampaging, iconoclastic, Red Guards. 
However, in 1980, a guide-book to the historical remains and scenic 
sites of Quanzhou was published in Fuzhou. Thanks to the alertness 
of one of my then doctoral supervisors at Oxford, Professor Piet Van 
der Loon, I was able to obtain a copy of this rare publication in a 
bookshop in London's Chinatown specializing in Chinese language 
publications. This little volume contains a colour photograph giving a 
panoramic view of the shrine 8 which greatly reassured me and other 
scholars outside China that this unique structure had indeed survived 
the Cultural Revolution and was at last publicly acknowledged as an 
important part of the region's historical heritage. The photograph also 
shows clearly that the shrine had an adjacent building which had since 
then been demolished. The shrine became the subject of a series of 
articles by our learned colleague and founding member of the Inter- 
national Association of Manichaean Studies, Dr. Peter Bryder of Lund 
University (Sweden), 9 who was the first 'Western'-trained Manichaean 



' Zhuang Weiji, "Tan zuijin faxian de Quanzhou Zhong-vvai jiaotong de shiji (Dis- 
course on the Most Recently Discovered Evidence on the Relations Between China 
and the Outside World via Quanzhou)," Kaogu tongxun [Archaeology Newsletter) 1956, 3, 
43-48. 

8 Quanzhou mingsheng guji - Scenic Spots and Historical Sites in Quanzhou, compiled by a 
committee (Fuzhou, 1980), plate between pages 20 and 21. 

9 P. Bryder, "...Where the faint traces of Manichaeism disappear," Altorientalische 
Forschungen 15/1 (1988): 201—08; "Cao'an Revisited," Manichaica Selecta; Studies presented 



MANIGHAEAN & NESTORIAN REMAINS IN ZAYTON (QUANZHOU) 185 

scholar to visit the site and it was in his company that I first set eyes 
on this historic building in 1990. The first of Bryder's series of articles 
contains three important photographs of the shrine: 

1. (p. 204) Photo of Cao'an published in China Pictorial, Oct. 1980. 

2. (p. 205) Cao'an with the new Buddhist temple in front (Photo 
P. Bryder). 

3. (p. 207) The relief of Mani enclosed in a wooden cupboard (Photo 
P. Bryder). 

The first of the three photographs is particularly important because it 
was taken from below rather than above the shrine and showed that 
the main building was perched on a cliff-face and that its forecourt is 
supported by pillars. For the next two decades this view was to some 
extent obscured by the construction of a large Buddhist temple-complex 
in front of the shrine and the pillars themselves had been walled to 
form a lower storey. For the Manichaean scholar the construction of 
a new Buddhist temple nearby did have the positive effect of compel- 
ling archaeologists attached to the local Jinjiang Museum to conduct 
rescue-excavations at the site between 1979 and 1982. This led to the 
discovery of one perfectly preserved brown earthen bowl with the 
inscription "Mingjiao hui (the Society of the Religion of Light)" as well 
as hundreds of fragments from similar bowls from the area in front 
of the shrine near to where the Buddhist temple would later be built. 
The term "the Religion of Light" is the official title of Manichaeism 
in South China and the bowls were probably used for the eating of 
vegetarian meals by members of the sect during the Song Dynasty. 
The Buddhist temple-complex totally obscured the shrine because of 
its size and proximity. The good news for Manichaean scholars is that 
this Buddhist temple-complex in front of the Manichaean shrine was 
totally demolished in 2004 and has since then been rebuilt on the top 
of Huabiao Hill — making way for what strikes me and my colleagues 
as a projected "Mani Theme Park" surrounded by a recently built wall 
with freshly laid landscape gardens. Already a new Mani-statue with 



to Professor Julien Ries on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, Manichaean Studies I, 
A. Van Tongerloo and S. Giversen, eds. (Louvain— Lund, 1991), 35—42; and "Man- 
ichaeism as a Link Between the Silk Roads on Land and Sea," /fiongguoyu haishang sichou 
zhi lu — China and the Maritime Silk Route, UNESCO Quanzhou International Seminar 
on China and the Maritime Silk Route, II (Fujian, 1994), 63-69. 



186 SAMUEL N. G. LIEU 

strong Daoist influence in its depiction of the prophet had been added 
to the area of the demolished wing of the shrine. In due course tour 
guides would undoubtedly try to convince unsuspecting tourists that this 
Daoist image of Mani is as old as the image inside the shrine. The site 
is now regularly visited by large numbers of overseas Chinese visitors- 
cum-worshippers as well as by UNESCO dignitaries. 

Quanzhou (Zayton) shot to international fame (or notoriety) with the 
publication in 1997 of the account of the sojourn of an Italian Jewish 
merchant, Jacob of Ancona, at the port-city c. 1271—72. The work The 
City of Light was quickly labeled a forgery or literary hoax by critically- 
minded scholars who had noted a large number of anachronisms in the 
translated text - especially the use of terms and place-names closely 
linked with the Mongol occupation of the region which took place a 
few years after the departure of Jacob in 1272. 10 Moreover, the book 
gives only an English translation of a closely guarded manuscript in 
Franco-Italian and the translator, David Selbourne, has consistently 
refused to provide any photographic images of the original text - not 
even a transcription of select portions in the original language. The 
work, however, contains a great deal of little known but locally verifi- 
able historical details about Quanzhou in the last years of the Southern 
Song Dynasty (1225-1280 CE) - including the presence of Nestorians 
in the city, a fact which is known only to a small handful of specialists. 11 
Many Quanzhou-based Chinese scholars therefore were impelled to 
defend the authenticity of a document which, if proved genuine, could 
equal the // Milione of Marco Polo in importance. This local riposte to 
international critical denunciation culminated in the publication (with 
support from UNESCO) of the first substantial work on the histori- 
cal sites of Quanzhou and its environs in Chinese with good parallel 
translation in English. The work also meets international publishing 
standards, in the quality of the color photographs it reproduces. The 
picture of the Manichaean shrine it contains shows clearly how it was 
overshadowed by the Buddhist temple-complex built after the end of 
the Cultural Revolution. The book contains also a stunning photograph 



10 [Jacob D'Ancona] The City of Light, translated and edited by D. Selbourne 
(London, 1997). 

11 Ibid. 110—11 and 113, which interestingly calls the Nestorians 'elicoveni' the Italian- 
ized (?) version of the official title of Nestorians in Chinese transliteration 'Telikewen' 
introduced after (!) and not before 1277. 



MANIGHAEAN & NESTORIAN REMAINS IN ZAYTON (QUANZHOU) 187 

of the famous statue of Mani as the Buddha of Light inside the shrine. 
It was taken with the correct amount of artificial lighting by a profes- 
sional photographer and the protective wood and glass structure which 
normally houses the statue was removed specially for the photographer. 
The book, Return to the City of Light, 12 was in considerable demand by 
scholars involved in the on-going debate over the authenticity of the 
itinerarium of Jacob of Ancona and went out of print within two years 
of publication. The Australian team will negotiate with the relevant 
authorities in Quanzhou for the right to reproduce this outstanding 
photograph of the statue in their final report on the cao'an for publica- 
tion in the Series Archaeologica of the Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum. 

According to He Qiaoyuan's statement translated above, the cao'an 
on Huabiao Hill was converted to the worship of Mani during the 
period of Mongol rule which in this region would have run from 1277 
to c. 1368 CE. According to local records, the extant statue of Mani 
inside the shrine was carved in 1339 CE, but it was probably based 
on an earlier image which had deteriorated with age. However, the 
excavations carried out in the area surrounding the shrine appear to 
suggest that the site was already a significant religious centre under the 
Northern and Southern Song Dynasties (960—1280 CE) and the earliest 
building may even go back to the Late Tang period, i.e. shortly after 
the arrival of the first missionary taking refuge from the persecution 
of the religion in the capital cities (after 842 CE). In fact, on Taimu 
Hill in the north of Fujian Province there is a very small rustic Man- 
ichaean shrine of very great antiquity, but now without its Mani-statue, 
which Ralph Kauz successfully located and on which he reported at 
the Fourth International Conference on Manichaeism in Berlin in 
1997. 13 The future visitor to the cao'an on Huabiao Hill injinjiang will 
undoubtedly be given the impression by local guides that this unique 
Manichaean building is an ancient building and the only one in the 
world which is still an active place of worship. However, the word 'gu' 
in Chinese means both 'ancient' and 'old'. It soon became obvious to 
the Australian team that the shrine is an 'old' rather than an 'ancient' 
building because of the large amount of modern building material 



12 Wang Lianmao, ed., Return to the City oj Light — Quanzhou: An Eastern City Shining 
with Splendour of Medieval Culture (Fujian, 2000), 129 (shrine) and 130 (statue). 

13 R. Kauz, "Der 'Mo-ni-gong' — ein zweiter erhaltener manichaischer Tempel in 
Fujian?' Studia Manichaica, 334—45. 



188 SAMUEL N. C. LIEU 

used in its construction, and because its architectural style is typical of 
the so-called Southern Style with its typical 'swallow-tail' rafters which 
flourished in Fujian Province in the Late Imperial and Early Modern 
periods (i.e., mid-eighteenth to early twentieth century). 14 Close inspec- 
tion of the building inscriptions in Chinese reveals that the shrine had 
undergone a major program of rebuilding and refurbishment between 
1923 and 1932 just before it was identified as a Manichaean shrine 
by Chinese and European scholars. 15 According to local records, both 
written and oral, the building was left in ruins by forces of the ruling 
Manchu (Qing) Dynasty who fought in the vicinity with local nationalist 
"rebel" forces led by the legendary Coxinga (Zheng Chenggong) who 
became famous for driving out the Dutch settlers from nearby island of 
Taiwan (Formosa) in 1662 CE. At the beginning of the last century, a 
Buddhist monk took up residence in the ruins and established a popular 
Buddhist cult based on the statue of Mani the Buddha of Light which 
had survived the pillaging. The cult, which has no discernible intel- 
lectual links with Manichaeism, was a great success with inhabitants 
of the local villagers, and it was largely through the personal effort of 
this Buddhist monk that sufficient funds were raised to repair, rebuild, 
and refurbish the entire shrine between 1923 and 1932 in the Southern 
Architectural Style. The Manichaean origins of the site was probably 
not known to the worshippers until Wu Wenliang and his colleagues 
had successfully located it in the early 1950's and identified it as the 
cao'an detailed in the Minshu of He Qiaoyuan. Its relation to the most 
famous and most severely persecuted heresy in the Christian world is 
still probably obscure to most local worshippers who could not but be 
impressed by the number of foreign scholars interested in their local 
shrine. A drawing of Mani the Buddha of Light based on the statue 
now heads the pantheon of local deities in a village shrine within walk- 
ing distance to the cao'an and what we may be witnessing is what I have 
termed the beginnings of a "UNESCO-Cargo Cult." 

The cao'an consists of a small main hall large enough to accom- 
modate about a dozen worshippers (or visitors) (see PI. 1), measuring 
6.08 meters deep and 7.5 meters in length, with a doorway 2.75 meters 



11 Quanzhoushi jianzhu ji [An Architectural History of Quanzhou) (Quanzhou, 1995), 
140-72. 

15 For a less thoroughly modernized and probably more "ancient" Manichaean 
shrine in Fujian see the aforementioned shrine on Taimu Hill reported by R. Kauz, 
"Der 'Mo-ni-gong,'" esp. Fig. 1 on 335. 



MANIGHAEAN & NESTORIAN REMAINS IN ZAYTON (QUANZHOU) 189 

wide, and the height of the building from the eaves to ground level 
approximating 13 meters. All other adjacent buildings were added in 
recent times. The statue of Mani the Buddha of Light which is carved 
into the cliff-face which forms the rear wall is 1.54 meters tall and 0.85 
meter wide and 0.1 1 meter deep. The head of the statue is 0.32 meter 
long and 0.25 meter deep (see PI. 2). Behind the statue is a radiant 
nimbus-halo 1.7 meters in diameter. It is this halo or aureole with streaks 
in red and white which gives the statue its famed luminescent appear- 
ance. 16 More than one scholar has noted that the visage of the statue 
is different from that of the Buddha as normally depicted in statues or 
paintings in the Far East. The cheeks of the Mani-figure are fleshy and 
his eyebrows are raised. He is also bearded and his lips are exception- 
ally thin. The statue was said to have originally possessed a beard or 
side-burns, but these had been knocked off by a zealous Buddhist monk 
over half a century ago to make the statue more "Buddha-like." Had 
he not done so, the face of the Mani-stature would have more closely 
resembled the one known image of him preserved on a seal 17 and also 
very probably on a temple-banner (MIK III 6286 side 2[?]), 18 both 
from Central Asia. Bryder is correct in labeling the facial features of 
the Mani-figure as "Westasian type." 19 Bryder has also noted similari- 
ties in the garment worn by the statue with that of the Manichaean 
archegos in the famous wall-painting from Chotscho once exhibited in 
Berlin and now lost because of Allied bombing, especially in the strik- 
ing double 'butterfly'-knots. 20 This may explain why the Manichaeans 
in South China were nicknamed the "Followers of Two Knots." 21 Also 
worth noting is that the sleeves of the garment depicted on the Mani 



16 Lin Wenming, "Moni jiao he Cao'an yiji (Historical Remains of Manichaeism 
and Cao'an)" Haijiao shiyanjiu {Research into China's Overseas Communication History) 1978, 
1, 38. 

17 W. Sundermann, "Ein ubersehenes Bild Manis," Altorientalische Forschungen 12 
(1985): 172-74. 

18 Cf. Zs. Gulacsi, Manichaean Art in Berlin Collections, Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum, 
Series Archaeologica et Iconographica 1 (Turnhout, 2001), 180. My identification 
of the central seated figure on the top of the banner as Mani is based on the fact 
that the reverse of the banner shows a depiction of Buddha in the same position. It 
is interesting that the Mani-figure was robed in red and not white. I am grateful to 
Dr. Lore Sander for drawing my attention to this representation in the Museum fur 
Indische Kunst during the International Association of Manichaean Studies' Fourth 
International Conference in Berlin in 1997. 

19 Bryder, "...Where the faint traces," 205. 

20 Bryder, "...Where the faint traces," 205. 

21 Cf. Lieu, Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire, 287. 



190 SAMUEL N. G. LIEU 

statue exhibit distinctive squares which might, as Dr. Jorinde Ebert has 
shown in her important contribution to the study of the Late Roman 
influence on garments in Manichaean figural representations, have 
originally been official badges of rank (segmenta). 22 

In front of the shrine there was once an inscription of sixteen Chi- 
nese characters on a large natural rock in four rows. In translation 
they read: 

(You are) implored to recite: Purity, Light, Great Power, Wisdom, the 
highest and unsurpassable truth, Mani the Buddha of Light. Inscribed 
in the ninth month of the Jichou year of the Zhengtung period (i.e. 
1445 CE). 23 

The inscription puts beyond doubt the Manichaean identity of the 
shrine, as the tetrad of divine qualities the worshipper was implored 
to memorize or recite are those of the Father of Greatness who heads 
the Manichaean pantheon, with 'Divinity' translated as 'Purity' which is 
quite common in the translation of foreign religious terms into Chinese. 
Sadly this inscribed rock was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution 
and the same inscription now replicated on the cliff-face to the side of 
the shrine is a well-meaning but a-historical replacement. 



The Nestorian and Catholic Remains 

Wu Wenliang who first reported on the Manichaean shrine near Jinji- 
ang was also a pioneering scholar in the study of Medieval Christian 
(both Nestorian and Catholic) remains in Quanzhou. The presence 
in Quanzhou of what appears to be grave-stones decorated with the 
typically Nestorian 'Cross-on-Lotus' symbol embedded either in its 
medieval walls or used as rockery in gardens was reported by Catholic 
missionaries as early as the first half of the seventeenth century. They 
also noted the similarity in their design with the symbol on top of the 
famous Nestorian stele from Xi'anfu found between 1623 and 1625. 
More significant is the discovery in the early part of the Twentieth 



22 J. Ebert, "Segmentum and Clavus in Manichaean Garments of the Turfan Oasis," 
Turfan Revisited: The First Century of Research into the Arts and Cultures of the Silk Road, 
D. Durkin-Meisterernst et al., eds. (Berlin, 2004), 72-83. 

25 Wu Wenliang, Quanzhou, 44, trans. S. N. C. Lieu, Manichaeism in Central Asia and 
China (Leiden, 1998), 190. 



MANICHAEAN & NESTORIAN REMAINS IN ZAYTON (QUANZHOU) 1 9 1 

Century of a finely carved headstone with an angelic figure with four 
wings holding in his lap the 'Cross-on-Lotus' symbol. A poor quality 
photograph of this stone taken by G. Arnaiz was published by Arthur 
Moule in his major study on Christianity in China in the pre-Modern 
Era. 24 The stone, which many thought had disappeared, was tracked 
down by the art historian Gustave Ecke to the Daoist (?) Zoukui Gong 
in Quanzhou in 1927 and a superior photograph was duly published 
by him in 1935. 25 However, because the book in which it was published 
is devoted to the art of the Buddhist Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou 
famous for its 'Twin-Pagodas', the existence of this important photo- 
graph is known to few scholars of Nestorian Christianity in China. 
It was correctly suggested by Moule and other scholars that the most 
likely date for these Christian relics would have been the mid-late Yuan 
Dynasty (i.e. c. 1295— c. 1360) viz. the half-century after Marco Polo's 
visit to the region when many foreigners, including Franciscan mission- 
aries, were known to have been active in the city under Mongol rule. 26 
About the same time as Ecke's visit to Quanzhou, the local authorities 
ordered the partial demolition of the city's medieval walls to make way 
for the construction of a railway line. The walls were later completely 
demolished during the Sino-Japanese Conflict when the order was given 
to deny their use by the advancing Japanese army against planned 
counter-attacks by Chinese guerilla forces. A large number of tomb- 
stones with unmistakably Christian symbols and some with inscriptions 
in a variety of scripts (Syriac, Mongol, Chinese, and even one in Latin) 
were unearthed. Wu Wenliang dedicated himself tirelessly to rescuing 
many of these precious stones and stored them in his backyard which 
became a veritable beilin (forest of inscribed stelae). This material would 
later form the core of the collection now housed in a special wing of 
the Quanzhou Maritime Museum built in 1990. 

Wu published his major study on foreign religious inscriptions in 
Quanzhou in 1957, and included in it are photographs and brief 
descriptions of some thirty of these Christian tombstones, the majority 



24 A. C. Moule, Christians in China before the Tear 1550 (London, 1930), fig. 11, 
facing 80. 

25 G. Ecke and P. Demieville, The Twin Pagodas of Dayton — A Study of Later Buddhist 
Sculpture in China, Harvard- Yenching Institute Monograph Series 2 (Cambridge, Mass., 
1935), 22 and pi. 70b. 

26 For an up-to-date general study of Christianity in China under the Mongols see 
N. Standaert, ed., Handbook of Christianity in China Vol. 1 (635-1800), (Leiden, 2001), 
43—1 1 1. See also Moule, Christians in China, 78—264. 



192 SAMUEL N. G. LIEU 

of which are almost certainly Nestorian. 2 ' Aware that this important 
material is almost completely unknown to Western scholars, Wu had 
earlier sent via a friend a selection of black and white photographs to 
John Foster, a noted scholar of Nestorian Christianity in China then 
based in England. Foster realized immediately the importance and 
uniqueness of this material and with the help of learned colleagues 
published a seminal article based entirely on the photographs even 
though he had never set eyes on the original stones himself 28 Several of 
the stones had elaborate 'Cross-on-Lotus' designs flanked by Christian 
angels with striking resemblances to Buddhist apsaras. 29 Two of these 
also had long inscriptions in the Syriac script. 30 A major contribution 
of Foster is his recognition of the inscription in Roman script as that 
of the Franciscan missionary Andrea of Perugia who came to the 
Quanzhou (Zayton in Latin) as part of the papal mission led by John 
of Montecorvino c. 1294 and who was also the third Catholic bishop 
of the city. Foster's transcription of this very worn inscription remains 
standard: 31 

I Hie (in PFS) sepultus est 
Andreas Perusinus (de- 

votus ep. Cayton 

ordinis (fratrum 



. . . (Jesus Christi) Apostolus 



(in mense) 

M (cccxx)xii + 



Wu Wenliang died in 1967 - a victim of the Cultural Revolution - but 
his important work was continued by his son Wu Yuxiong The lat- 
ter has published in Chinese a steady stream of learned articles and 



2/ Wu Wenliang, Quanzhou, 28—43 and 46—7, and figs 71—101, and suppl. figs 8 
and 17-19. 

28 J. Foster, "Crosses from the walls of Zaitun," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 
n. s. 1954, 1-25 with 17 pis. 

29 Wu Wenliang, Quanzhou, figs 78.2, 80 and suppl. fig. 8. Cf. Foster, "Crosses from 
the walls of Zaitun," pis XI and XVII. See also 20-22. 

! " Wu Wenliang, Quanzhou, figs 78.2 and 79. Cf. Foster, "Crosses from the walls of 
Zaitun," pis XV and XVI. 

51 Foster, "Crosses from the walls of Zaitun," 19. The transcription was the work 
of Professor C.J. Fordyce. 



MANIGHAEAN & NESTORIAN REMAINS IN ZAYTON (QUANZHOU) 193 

the occasional monograph updating his father's work. A revised and 
expanded version of Wu Wenliang's 1957 monograph-catalogue was 
completed by his son Wu Youxiong in 2005. 32 The majority of the new 
finds are now housed in the UNESCO-sponsored Quanzhou Maritime 
Museum, but Wu Wenliang had earlier deposited some of the mate- 
rial in the Museum of the Department of Anthropology at Xiamen 
University. In the last few years, UNESCO funding had enabled two 
new museums to be established in the Quanzhou region, the Jinjiang 
Municipal Museum and the Quanzhou City Museum. The former now 
holds the bowls recovered from the site of the Manichaean shrine and 
the latter houses Nestorian material discovered in the last few years. A 
handful of Nestorian tombstones had also been deposited in the Fujian 
Provincial Museum in Fuzhou. Associate Professor Iain Gardner and 
Dr. Kenneth Parry of the Australian team have begun a consolidated 
catalogue of all Manichaean, Nestorian and Catholic material from the 
Quanzhou region exhibited in the six museums and so far more than 
sixty items (i.e., double the number listed by Wu Wenliang) had been 
catalogued and digitally photographed. Examination of published and 
unpublished photographs of the various items taken over a period of 
years has led to a number of startling or unsettling discoveries. The 
most significant of these concerns the image of the angel with four 
wings photographed by Ecke in 1927. The angel-figure given in the 
photographs bears a striking non-resemblance to the stone with the 
same description now on display in the Quanzhou Maritime Museum. 
We owe it to Director Wang Lianmao for the sad tale that the stone 
photographed by Ecke was saved from the ravages of the Cultural 
Revolution only for it to be damaged beyond repair when the collection 
was taken out of storage. What is now a centerpiece of the exhibition 
in fact is a replica and this is not explained in the official description of 
the object in either English or Chinese. Fortunately another headstone 
with a four- winged angel was discovered in 1975 and acquired by the 
Museum in 1988. This has an intriguing hollow design above the head 
of the angel. It has been suggested that it is a representation of Bud- 
dhist Nirvana which could be interpreted as nothingness. However, it 
will be difficult to imagine that the Nestorian Christians in Quanzhou 
preached a nihilistic afterlife! 



32 Wu Wenliang, Quanzhou zongjiao shike (Religious Stone inscriptions at Quanzhou), revised 
and expanded edition by Wu Youxiong (Beijing, 2005). This work appeared too late to be of 
use to the preparation of this study. 



194 SAMUEL N. G. LIEU 

A tombstone of considerable importance to the study of Manichaeism 
is that of the Nestorian bishop Mar Solomon who died in 1313 CE. 
His funerary inscription is bilingual: Chinese and Syro-Turkic - the 
latter is Eastern Turkic written in the Syriac script with frequent use of 
Syriac loanwords. I have published a translation of the Chinese version 
as early as 1980, 33 with subsequent revisions in 1992 34 and 1998. 3n The 
following is yet another revised version translated in collaboration with 
my colleague Dr. Lance Eccles: 36 

{Line 1} To the Administrator of the Manichaeans (Mingjiao) and Nestori- 
ans (Qinjiao) etc. in the combined Circuits of Jiangnan, the Most Reverend 
(Mali Haxiyd) Christian (Telikewen) Bishop (ahisiguha) Mar Solomon (Mali 
Shilimen), Timothy Sauma (Tiemida Saoma) and others have mournfully 
and respectfully dedicated this tombstone {Line 2} in the second year 
of Huangqing, guichou, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month (5th 
September, 1313). 

The Syro-Turkic version is neither a translation of the Chinese nor is 
it the original for the latter. It is very brief and the much longer Chi- 
nese version is therefore of very limited help in deciphering its more 
difficult Syro-Turkic counterpart. This can tentatively be translated as 
follows: 

This is the tomb of the Most Reverend Bishop Mar Solomon of the 
Circuits (lit. realms) of Manzi (i.e. South China). Zauma (= Syr. Sauma), 
the administrator leading [the mourners (?) . . .], wrote this on the fifteenth 
day of the eighth month of the Ox year. 

The very first word of the Syro-Turkic has proved problematic to 
scholars who have attempted to transcribe and translate this version of 
the inscription. The first Altaicist to tackle it, the late Murayama, read 
mahi ail-lar-ning and translated it in German as "Religionsbezirke(?)." 37 
His reading and interpretation has been accepted by a number of 



33 S. N. C. Lieu, "Nestorians and Manichaeans on the South China Coast," Vigilae 
Christianae 34 (1980): 73. 

M Idem, Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire (see note 2), 297. 

35 Idem, Manichaeism in Central Asia (see note 24), 180. 

36 Texts and translations from L. Eccles, M. Franzmann and S. N. C. Lieu, "Obser- 
vations on Select Christian Inscriptions in the Syriac Script from Zayton," Silk Road 
Studies X - From Palmyra to Zayton: Epigraphy and Iconography, I. Gardner, S. Lieu, and 
K. Parry, eds. (Turnhout, 2005), 265. The present translation includes some revision 
made in 2008. 

37 S. Murayama, "Eine nestorianische Grabinschrift in tiirkischer Sprache aus Zai- 
ton," Ural-altaistische Jahrbiicher 35 (1969): 394. 



MANIGHAEAN & NESTORIAN REMAINS IN ZAYTON (QUANZHOU) 195 

scholars. Professor Niu Ruji, a noted scholar in the study of Nestorian 
Syro-Turkic inscriptions found in Central Asia and China, has recently 
suggested translating this unusual term as "of the Clan of Mahe." 38 
However, such an interpretation bears no relationship to the obviously 
relevant information provided by the Chinese version of this bilin- 
gual funerary inscription. Our reading of this problematic first word 
m(a)nzi illar-ning, meaning "the Circuits (or Districts) of Manzi" is the 
result of international team-work. My Macquarie colleague and fellow 
team member, Dr. Lance Eccles, drew my attention to the fact that the 
arch-diocese of the deceased Mar Solomon is designated in Chinese as 
"the various circuits of Jiangnan" (i.e., the region south of the Yangtze), 
and the plural is unnecessarily emphatic. It was fortunate that the pres- 
ent author had the opportunity to discuss the reading with Professor 
Takao Moriyasu at the Akademienvorhaben Turfanforschung in Berlin 
while both attending the "Turfan Revisited" conference in September, 
2002. Professor Moriyasu insisted that the -ildrning ending must be pre- 
ceded by an actual place-name as it was almost certainly a translation of 
the Chinese "of the various districts" (zhulu). So, I narrowed the search 
for a place-name to fit the hard-to-read letters in Syriac script at the 
beginning of the first word which, as Professor Alois van Tongerloo of 
the Catholic University of Leuven had already noted to me more than 
once, reads very like m'ny- (i.e. Mani). Although the Chinese version 
mentions Mar Solomon's role as bishop in charge of Nestorians and 
Manichaeans, a senior Nestorian cleric was never likely to have had as 
the first and most prominent part of his titulature "of the Manichaean 
districts of..." The ongoing debate on the authenticity of the City of 
Light might have made an unexpected contribution to the solution of 
our puzzle. In David Selbourne's book, the region south of the Yangtze 
is almost always referred to as Manzi. This has always struck me as an 
anachronism, as its use in a work which was said to have chronicled a 
visit to Quanzhou five years before the Mongol occupation of the city 
in 1277, is tantamount to associating the government of France with 
'Vichy' before July 1940, as Manzi was used principally by foreign visi- 
tors to China like Marco Polo to designate South China after the Mongol 
Conquest. Close examination of the initial letters of this unusually long 



38 Niu Ruji, "Cong chutu beiming kan Quanzhou he Yangzhou de Jingjiao laiyuan 
(On the origin of Nestorianism in Quanzhou and Yangzhou from the inscriptions 
of the excavated tombstones)," Shijie zongjiao yanjiu {Researches in World Religions) 93/2 
(2003): 75. 



196 SAMUEL N. G. LIEU 

first word as given in the publication of Wu Wenliang suggests m'nzy- 
or mynzy- as a possible reading for the place-name. Many hours were 
spent by the Australian team trying to read the word on the stone as 
exhibited in the Quanzhou Maritime Museum. 39 It was not until the last 
day but one of the Australian team's 2005 visit that a senior technician 
revealed the fact that the stone we have lavished so many hours on is 
a high quality replica of the original which for security reasons is now 
kept in the Fujian Provincial Museum in Fuzhou — a city some two 
hundred kilometers away from Quanzhou. The team hopes to make 
the journey to Fuzhou in the near future. We believe nevertheless that 
our reading of m(a)nzi- should be taken seriously by scholars because 
it fits precisely with the information provided by the Chinese version 
of the text, viz. Mar Solomon was Bishop of the various administra- 
tive districts of Manzi (in Chinese Minzhe), i.e., the region south of the 
Yangtze River {jiangnan zhulu). 

Although a large number of Nestorian funerary inscriptions in Syriac, 
mostly from the period of Mongol domination, have been found in 
Central Asia and published by scholars like Chwolson 40 and Klein, 41 the 
number in Syro-Turkic is still very small. 42 While inscriptions in Syriac 
and in Syro-Turkic both continued to use the 'Greek' (i.e. Seleucid) sys- 
tem of year-reckoning, at least three of the inscriptions in Syro-Turkic 
found in Quanzhou exhibit a much more elaborate dating formula than 
those found in Central Asia. The formula on the best preserved and 
most recently discovered (May, 2002) of the three stones gives: 43 



59 The epigraphical team in 2005 consisted of Professor Majella Franzmann and 
the present author, with Professor Nicholas Sims- Williams, FBA, as an international 
research collaborator whose visit to Quanzhou was part-funded by the British Academy 
under the aegis of the Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum project. 

40 D. Chwolson, Syrische Grabinschriften aus Semirjetschie, Memoires de l'Academie 
Imperiale des Sciences de St.-Petersbourg, VIP ser., Tome XXXIV, 4 (St.-Peters- 
bourg, 1886), and idem, Syrisch-Nestorianische Grabinschriften aus Semirjetschie, Nebst einer 
Beilage: 'Uber das tiirkische Sprachmaterial dieser Grabinschriften von W. Radlofjj mit drei photo- 
typischen Tafeln und einer ebensolchen, von Julius Euting ausgearbeiteten Schrifttafel ', Memoires 
de l'Academie Imperiale des Sciences de St.-Petersbourg, VIP ser, Tome XXXVII 
No. 8 (St.-Petersbourg, 1890). 

11 W. Klein, Das nestorianische Christentum an den Handelswegen durch Kyrgyzstan bis zum 
14.Jh, Silk Road Studies III (Turnhout, 2000), 158-76. 

12 See especially those collected in C. Dzumagulov, Tazyk syro-tjurkskix (nestorianskix) 
Pamjatnikov Kirgizii (Frunze, 1971). See also the important bilingual (Syro-Turkic and 
Chinese) inscription from Yangzhou which belongs to the same period as similar inscrip- 
tions found in Quanzhou. Cf. Geng Shimin, H.-J. Klimkeit, and J. -P. Laut, "Eine neue 
nestorianische Grabinschrift aus China," Ural-altaistische Jahrbucher 14 (1996): 164—75. 

41 The inscription which is now in the Quanzhou Municipal Museum at the time 
of writing still does not carry an accession-number. It was found in Chidian in the 



MANICHAEAN & NESTORIAN REMAINS IN ZAYTON (QUANZHOU) 197 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, forever. 
In the year one thousand six hundred and twenty-four of the reckoning 
of Alexander the Great King, the son of King Philip from the state of 
Macedonia (= 1313 CE), in the Year of the Ox of the Turkish reckoning, 
in the third month, on the sixth day, . . . 

The typical dating formula of Syriac inscriptions on Nestorian tomb- 
stones is much simpler and shows little recollection of the Macedonian 
roots of the Seleucid system: 44 

This is the grave of Ama the Chorepiscopus (i.e. regional bishop). In the 
year one thousand five hundred and sixty-six (= 1255 CE), he departed 
from this world in the month of Ab (= July), on Sunday. . . . May our 
Lord mingle his soul with that of the Pious and the Just. 

While 'Khan Alexander' is frequently encountered in dating formulae 
in Syro-Turkic inscriptions from Central Asia, the mention of his father 
Philip and of his homeland Macedonia is extremely rare. In fact of 
the twenty or so Syro-Turkic inscriptions published by Dzumagulov, 
only one mentions Macedonia, 45 none mentions Philip, and none gives 
Alexander the epithet of ilig-khan which literally means 'king with 
a realm' (hence the royal Il-Khans who underpinned the Eurasian 
Mongol Empire) which must be the Turkish equivalent of the Persian 
tide Shahanshah (king of kings). Even the very formal formula found in 
the Syriac version of the famous bilingual (Chinese and Syriac) Sianfu 
inscription found in Xi'an in 1653 CE which gives an official account 
of the reception of Nestorianism by Tang Government in China from 
638 to 781 CE does not allude to Alexander or Philip in its Seleucid 
dating formula: 46 

Adam, priest and chorepicopus andfapshi of Zin(i)stan. In the days of 
the Father of Fathers Mar Hananishu Catholicus Patriarch. In the year 
one thousand and ninety and two of the Greeks (= 781 CE) my lord 
Izd-buzid priest and Chorepiscopus of Khumdan the metropolis (i.e., 



vicinity of Quanzhou in 2002. The stone carries the provisional number of Z47 in 
the working catalogue of the Australian team. Cf. Niu Ruji, "A New Syriac-Uighur 
Inscription from China (Quanzhou, Fujian China)," Journal of the Canadian Society for 
Syriac Studies 4 (2004): 60—65, and Franzmann, Eccles, and Lieu, "Observations on 
Select Christian Inscriptions," 265-66. 

11 Chwolson, Syrische Grabinschriften aus Semirjetschie (see above note 37), no. 66 
(138), 14. 

15 Cf. Dzumagulov, Yazyk syro-tjurkskix, 9 1 . 

'"' Syriac text from P. Y. Saeki, The Nestorian Documents and Relics in China (Tokyo, 
1937), Chinese Text Section, 11. 



iy« SAMUEL N. C. LIEU 

Changan), son of the late Milis priest, from Balkh a city of Tahuristan 
(i.e., Tocharistan), set up that tablet of stone. . . 47 

The only example of an inscription in Syriac naming Alexander as the 
son of Philip of Macedonia in the dating formula I have been able to 
find comes from the Kefr Lab region in Southern Syria. In translation 
this reads: 48 

In the year one thousand and eighty and [four] (= 772/3 CE) accord- 
ing to the era of Alexandras the son of Philippos the Macedonian. — I, 
Daniel am I. 

All three of the more elaborate dating formulae found on Nestorian 
tombstones from Quanzhou could have come from a single template, 
but how the scribe could have devised such a "historical" and typically 
Greek formula when the Nestorian Christianity had flourished mainly 
in Iran and Central Asia under Sassanian and Arab rule certainly 
remains a mystery. 

Another major addition to the Nestorian material catalogued by 
Wu Wenliang is a large funerary inscription entirely in Turkish and in 
the Uighur script. Unlike the epigraphical material in Syro-Turkic, the 
content of this inscription is relatively straight forward, for the trained 
Altaicist and Professors James Hamilton and Niu Ruji had published 
the editio major text with French translation more than a decade ago. 49 
The stone was discovered in 1941 near the East Gate of Quanzhou 
but was deposited in the Museum of the Department of Anthropol- 
ogy of Xiamen University until 1951. Since then it appears to have 
vanished from this particular Museum despite its relatively large size 
(33 x 69.5 cms). 50 A replica version of it is now on display in the 
Quanzhou Maritime Museum. The edition of Hamilton and Niu can 
be translated as follows: 

In the Year of the Sheep, the second day of the man (i.e. full moon) period of 
the month of fasting (i.e., the twelfth month) (= 31st December, 1331? CE), 



" English trans. Moule, Christians in China, 48. 

48 E. Littmann, ed., Publication of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to 
Syria in 1904-1905 and 1909, Division IV Section B, Syriac Inscriptions (Leiden, 1934), 
inscr. 51, 41. 

19 J. Hamilton and Niu Ruji, "Deux inscriptions funeraires turques nestoriennes," 
Journal Asiatique, 282 (1994): 156. 

50 The stone carries the number of Z6r in the Australian Team's Working-Catalogue 
(r indicating that the only version available to the team is a replicated version now on 
display in the Quanzhou Maritime Museum). 



MANIGHAEAN & NESTORIAN REMAINS IN ZAYTON (QUANZHOU) 199 

the Lady (i.e. wife) of the Christian (arkdgiin) Qupluy Xu|3ilgan, Martha 
Terim fulfilled the commandment of God (and) ascended to the divine 
heaven. 

Besides being one of a handful of Turkic Nestorian inscriptions in the 
Uighur script found in China, 31 the text is of great importance in that 
it gives uniquely in foreign script the most commonly used word for 
Christian in China under Mongol rule, viz. yelikewen. This word was 
phonetically transliterated from a foreign word into Chinese as the 
four characters have no meaning as a phrase. It has frequently been 
suggested that the term comes from the Arabic word Rekhabuin, 52 
but there is very little Arabic influence in extant Nestorian texts and 
inscriptions found in Central Asia and China. The way in which the 
word is given in Turkish, arkagiin, strongly suggests to the late James 
Hamilton the Greek word dpxriyov, the accusative form of ocpxtiyot;. 33 
Thus we may have another example of a word of Hellenistic origin 
in use in medieval China, and one which is also well known to us as 
the tide of the Grand Imam of the Manichaean Church in Seleucia- 
Ctesiphon after the death of Mani. 54 



51 For another rare example see Hamilton and Niu, "Deux inscriptions," 150. This 
interestingly contains two lines in Syriac and written in the Syriac script. 

52 Cf. Lieu, Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire (see note 2), 297. 

53 Hamilton and Niu, "Deux inscriptions," 160. 

54 On the use of the term to designate a Manichaean priest of the highest rank 
see Kephalaia 6.22 et passim, Kephalaia, H. J. Polotsky and A. Bohlig, eds. (Stuttgart, 
1940-). 



SUKHAVATl AND THE LIGHT-WORLD: 

PURE LAND ELEMENTS IN THE CHINESE MANICHAEAN 

EULOGY OF THE LIGHT-WORLD 

Gunner Mikkelsen 
Sydney 



Pure Land devotionalism was the most popular and widespread form of 
Mahayana Buddhism in medieval China. The image of Amitabha and 
his Pure Land or Western Paradise, known in Sanskrit as Sukhavati, 
"Land of Bliss", with all its splendour and magnificence, captured the 
imagination of countless Chinese who aspired to be reborn there and 
thus attain complete enlightenment and buddhahood. The popular- 
ity of Amitabha in the Tang period is seen in mural paintings of the 
Mogao caves at Dunhuang, 1 and it is attested in the change of thematic 
emphases in the sculptural art of the Longmen caves near Luoyang 
An investigation by Tsukamoto Zenryu of dated inscriptions of statues 
in the Longmen caves has shown that the number of carved images of 
Amitabha and his attendant bodhisattva Guanyin (Avalokitesvara) 

here increased from 30 between 500 and 540 CE to 147 between 650 
and 690, whereas the number of images of Sakyamuni and Maitreya 
in the same period decreased from 78 to 19. 2 This significant rise in the 
number of Amitabha images in Buddhist art coincided with and may 
be seen partly as an outcome of the proselytizing activities of Shandao 
, the third of the great Pure Land masters, who effectively and 
successfully spread the teachings of the Pure Land school in the capital 
Chang'an from the 640's to his death in 681. Shandao's achievements 
are well documented. He wrote several works, produced and distributed 
thousands of copies of the Amita Sutra, and painted more than three 
hundred pictures of Sukhavati. 3 According to the 11th-century Xinxiu 
wangsheng zhuan , "the monks and laymen who submitted to 



1 Cf. Shi 2002. 

2 Tsukamoto 1942, 371-80. See also Seah 1975, 173-82, Pas 1987, 78, and Pas 

1995, 68. 

3 For Shandao's artistic work, see the comments in Pas 1987, 77—78 and Chappell 

1996, 160-61. 



202 GUNNER MIKKELSEN 

him in their minds were as numerous as those going to market." Some 
of these followers were affected by his teachings to such a degree that 
they committed suicide by "throwing themselves from a high mountain 
range," "jumping into a deep well," or "setting themselves on fire," in 
order to hasten their entry into the Pure Land. 4 The growth of the 
Pure Land movement in the seventh and eighth centuries was consid- 
erable, and in the second half of the eighth, following the An Lushan 
rebellion, its practices were introduced at the court. 

More than one fifth of all Mahayana sutras of Indian origin in 
the Chinese Buddhist Canon mention Amitabha and his Pure Land. s 
Particularly important to the Pure Land school were the Larger and 
Smaller Sukhavativyuhasutras (Sutras on the Land of Bliss), which are believed 
to have been composed in Northwest India in Gandhari or a related 
Northwestern Prakrit language around 100 CE. Sanskrit and Tibetan 
versions of both texts are extant, and fragments in Old Turkish and 
Khotanese from the Turfan region and Dunhuang testify to the popu- 
larity of Amitabha and Sukhavati at Buddhist centres in Central Asia. 6 
From the third (or possibly second) century to the tenth, several Chinese 
translations of the Sukhdvatnyuhasutras were produced. Twelve transla- 
tions of the Larger Sukhavatwyuhasutra are recorded in Chinese Buddhist 
catalogues; of these five are extant. The most influential translation, 
entitled Foshuo Wuliangshou jing (Sutra on the Buddha of 

Infinite Life preached by the Buddha), is attributed to Kang Sengkai 
(Samghavarman, ca. 252 CE) but may - as surmised by Fujita Kotatsu - 
have been produced by Buddhabhadra and Baoyun around 

42 1. 7 The most influential translation of the Smaller Sukhavatwyuhasutra, 
entitled Foshuo Amituo jing (Amita Sutra preached by the 

Buddha), was made by Kumarajiva in 402 or shortly after; the Smaller 



1 Pas 1987, 69-70; Pas 1995, 91. 

5 Yabuki 1937, 450-74; Fujita 1973, 141-61. 

'' For recent English translations of the Sanskrit texts, see Gomez 1996, 61—122. For 
editions and translations of Central Asian versions, see Zieme 1985, 129—49 (seven 
fragments of L.Sukh. and one of S.Sukh. in Old Turkish from Sangim); Hamilton 1986, 
I, 26—29 and II, 271—72 (fragment of L.Sukh. in Old Turkish from Dunhuang); Kudara/ 
Zieme 1997, 73—82 (two fragments of L.Sukh. in Old Turkish from Yarkhoto); Kudara/ 
Zieme 1985 (fragments of the Contemplation Sutra in Old Turkish from the Turfan region); 
Elverskog 1997, 50-51, 63-65; Gomez 2004, 62-68 (S.Sukh. in Tibetan); Skjarvo 2002, 
176 (fragment of L.Sukh. in Khotanese from Khadaliq). 

7 Fujita 1996, 7. The text is edited in T. XII (360), 265c-79a, and translated in 
Inagaki 1995, 227-313 and Gomez 1996, 153-222. 



SUKHAVATI AND THE LIGHT-WORLD 203 

Sukhavatwyuhasutra was translated also by Xuanzang in 650. 8 A 

third text, the Foshuo Guan Wuliangshoufojing {Sutra on 

Contemplation of the Buddha of Infinite Life preached by the Buddha), commonly 
known as the Contemplation (or Meditation) Sutra, belongs to the central 
corpus of Chinese Pure Land texts. Buddhist catalogues attribute the 
translation of the extant Chinese version of the Contemplation Sutra to 
Kalayasas, some time between 424 and 442, but the sutra is likely to 
have been either a Central Asian or Chinese compilation as Sanskrit 
versions are absent. 9 

Each of the three Pure Land sutras contains vivid and detailed 
descriptions of Sukhavati. In the principal Chinese translations of the 
two Sukhavatwyuhasutras from the fifth century, it is characterised by the 
following main features: 10 (1) the land is located in a western direction 
of the universe; (2) it is vast and has no boundaries; (3) it has no Mount 
Sumeru, rings of mountains, or land features of our world system; 
(4) it has no greater or smaller seas, no torrents, canals, wells, or val- 
leys; (5) it has no hells, realms of hungry ghosts (egui ) or animals; 
(6) it has no light from sun, moon and stars, yet no darkness; (7) it has 
no seasons; (8) its climate is always mild; (9) its land is flat and even; 
(10) its land is made of seven precious substances (Chin, qibao ; 
Skt. saptaratna; i.e. gold, silver, beryl, coral, amber, mother-of-pearl, and 
agate); (11) it is covered by countless gems; (12) around the land are 
seven tiers of railings, seven rows of netting, and seven rows of trees, 
all made from the seven precious substances and all emitting bright 
light; (13) pearl nets and jewelled curtains cover the seven-jewelled 
trees; (14) the trees all stand in neat rows next to each other and are 
colourful and bright; (15) pure and gentle breezes blow among the 
trees and nets and produce enchanting music and marvellous sounds of 
the Law which spread to all the buddha-lands in the ten directions of 
the universe; (16) the breezes move jewelled bells hanging around the 



8 Kumarajlva's translation: T. XII (366), 346b-48b; trans. Inagaki 1995, 353-60 
and Gomez 1996, 145-51. Xuanzang's translation: T. XII (367), 348b-51b. 

9 Fujita 1990, 154if Ed. T. XII (365), 340b-46b, trans. Yamada 1984 and Inagaki 
1995, 317—50. No manuscripts containing the Contemplation Sutra in Sanskrit, Tibetan 
and Khotanese have been found. 

10 Main passages on Sukhavati in L.Sukh: T. XII (360), 270a, 270c-72b; Inagaki 
1995, 253-54, 258-67; Gomez 1996, 176, 179-86; main passages in S.Sukh: T. XII 
(366), 346c-47b; Inagaki 1995, 353-55; Gomez 1996, 146-47. The descriptions of 
Sukhavati in the Chinese sutras are more elaborate than in the Sanskrit versions. See 
also Fujita 1996, 22 on variations in the earlier and later descriptions. 



204 GUNNER MIKKELSEN 

nets, and these and the trees emit the sounds of the Law and spread 
sweet perfumes; (17) the trees bear flowers from which appear various 
light-emitting fruits of the seven precious substances; (18) Mandara 
flowers (i.e. red flowers from the Indian coral tree, one of the four 
heavenly trees) rain down from heaven and cover the ground; (19) jewel 
lotuses fill the land; (20) ponds made of the seven precious substances 
are filled with water which is pure, clean, fragrant and sweet-tasting 
like ambrosia (Chin, ganlu 'sweet dew'); (21) pavilions made of 

the seven precious substances are situated above the pools; (22) heav- 
enly music is played by countless gods in countless jewelled pavilions; 
(23) ten thousand varieties of music consisting of sounds of the Law 
are constantly heard; (24) Amitabha and disciples, bodhisattvas, among 
them Guanyin and Shizhi (Mahasthamaprapta), as well as humans 

and gods who all possess wisdom and supernatural powers, inhabit the 
land; (25) all physical forms of the inhabitants are equal; (26) the inhab- 
itants are of noble and majestic countenance, and their appearance 
is more impressive than seen anywhere; (27) they are able to see the 
land clearly as if they were looking at their own reflection in a bright 
mirror; (28) light emitted from Amitabha shines in all the buddha-lands 
in the ten directions of the universe; (29) lecture halls, monks' quarters, 
palaces, mansions, pavilions and watchtowers are all adorned with the 
seven jewels; (30) there is an abundance of food and drink, garments, 
flowers, perfume, ornaments, silken parasols and banners; (31) flocks 
of various sweet-voiced birds inhabit the land; (32) like the realm of 
Nirvana, the land is pure and serene, and it is resplendent and blissful; 
(33) there are no sorrows or afflictions, and (34) all human needs are 
satisfied by heavenly blessings. 

It is hardly surprising that this opulent depiction of Amitabha's 
Sukhavati provided strong inspiration for the depiction of paradise, 
the world of Light, in Chinese Manichaean hymns. In the hymns and 
prayers in the so-called Hymn-scroll {Xiabu zan ) from Dunhuang, 

the translator Daoming draws extensively from Pure Land texts 

and their technical terminology 11 The Light -world is called "World of 
utmost happiness" {file shijie ), which is the standard rendering 

of "Sukhavati" in the Contemplation Sutra and in Xuanzang's translation 
of the Smaller Sukhavatwyuhasutra. It is called "Country of peace and 



11 British Library, S 2659 (— H.). For Pure Land and other Buddhist terms and 
concepts in this, see Schmidt-Glintzer 1987b and Mikkelsen 2002. 



SUKHAVATI AND THE LIGHT-WORLD 205 

happiness" (ank guo ), a name occurring in the chief translation 

of the Larger Sukhavatwyuhasutra, 12 and also "Nirvana-world" (niepanjie 
), "Nirvana -land" {niepan guotu ), "Nirvana-world of 

eternal light" and "Eternal light-world of nirvana" {niepan changming 
shijie ), 13 and simply "new pure land" (xinjingtu ). 14 

Neutral terms for "World of Light" are employed for instance in the 
tide and text of the Tan mingjie wen {Eulogy of the Light-world 

{= ELW)). 15 In this lengthy hymn, the Light-world is praised as a 
"World of utmost happiness" and "Nirvana-world" that is identical 
or very similar to Sukhavati in a remarkably large number of points: 16 
(1) it is boundless; (2) its countries are numerous as grains of dust or 
sand, and are all alike; (3) the world and its countries are marvellously 
adorned with jewels and have jewel earth or soil of diamond that glit- 
ters in countless colours; (4) the soil of the countries is abundant and 
fertile; (5) innumerable lands in layers or gradations are all fully visible 
in every detail; (6) life-giving waters, deep and clear from numerous 
streams, rivers, seas and fountain-heads, are fragrant and wonderful, 
and one does not drift away nor is drowned in them; (7) clean streams 
flow ceaselessly from fountain-heads tasting like ambrosia (sweet dew); 
(8) jewelled trees stand in rows; (9) their roots, trunks, branches and 
leaves are all like ambrosia; (10) their jewel fruits always thrive, never rot, 
are fragrant and delicious, taste like ambrosia, and are all of the same 
size; (11) their jewel flowers are always red and white; (12) wonderful 
fragrances spread from spacious, splendid, pure gardens and orchards 
and pervade the world; (13) mild and pleasant winds blow in the ten 
directions of the universe; (14) the winds touch jewelled towers and 
pavilions and stir jewel bells into tinkling; (15) streets, roads, lanes and 
foot-paths are splendidly adorned; (16) the land is pure, without dust 



12 H. 60d, 247d, 328b, 332c. Jile shijie in the Contemplation Sutra: T. XII 
(365) 341b29, c8, c20, c27, 342a23, b24, clO, passim; in Xuanzang's translation of the 
S.Sukk: T. XII (367) 348cl6, 17, 22, 23, passim. Ante guo in the L.Sukh.: T. XII 
(360), 275b6, 278al. Both names are used in several other Pure Land texts. 

13 H. 327b, 389, 399. 

14 H. 41b; cf. the mention of 'being born in the pure land' in the Manichaean 
Treatise on the Light-Nous in Chinese from Dunhuang (Beijing National Library, BD 
8470), col. 199. 

15 For all occurrences of the term "world of Light" (guangmingjie , guangming 
shijie , mingjie ) in the Chinese Manichaean texts, see Mikkelsen 2006, 
24 and 44. 

16 H. 261-338 {ELW 1-78); ed. Lin 1997: 305-10 and T. LIV (2140), 1276a-78a; 
trans. Tsui 1943, 199-208 and Schmidt-Glintzer 1987a, 44-52. 



206 GUNNER MIKKELSEN 

or dirt; (17) light pervades everywhere, no place is dark; it is without 
shadow, gloom and dusk; (18) the land is constantly blissful, peaceful, 
safe, calm, and eternally free from terrors; (19) it is free from birth and 
death, destruction and impermanency - life is eternal; (20) saintly masses 
{shengzhong ), buddhas (zhufo ) and light-envoys (mingshi ) 

inhabit the land; (21) no devils (mo ); hungry ghosts (egui ) and 

animals exist there; (22) lecture halls, temples, palaces and mansions 
are all adorned with (or made of) marvellous jewels; (23) all inhabitants 
live safely and happily in rich, pure and imposing monasteries (qielan 
);'' (24) the temples and monasteries are all alike and all emit 
light; (25) all natures and forms are equal; (26) there are no sorrows or 
afflictions, no ignorance, passion or desire; (27) there is an abundance 
of food and drink tasting like ambrosia; (28) the saintly masses wear 
unique clothes, ornaments, etc. of many marvellous colors; (29) the 
saintly masses are enlightened and possess wisdom; (30) their appear- 
ances are marvellous and unique, and (31) the saintly masses are able 
to see all things and phenomena in the Light -world as if facing a bright 
mirror. Further features are described in one other text of the Hymn- 
scroll, a confessional prayer for the hearers: (32) the land has fragrant 
ponds made from seven precious substances and filled with life-giving 
water; 18 (33) it has flags, floral patterns and jewelled parasols; 19 (34) its 
roads are flat and even; 20 (35) Guanyin and Shizhi are among the holy 
ones; 21 (36) the holy ones sing endless praises. 22 

The colophon of the ELW ascribes its original composition to Mo 
Mao , a "teacher" (mushe ; cf Parthian 'mwc'gl 'mwcg, Sogdian 

mwz"k) who may be identified as Mar Ammo, Mani's "apostie to the 
East". 23 In the mid-third century, Mar Ammo brought the mission 
of the Manichaean church to the regions around the Oxus and into 
Kushana, where it is likely that he encountered the Mahayana notion 
of Buddha-lands, including the most splendid one presided over by 



17 This is an abbreviated form of sengqielanmo which transcribes Skt. 
sanghdrdma 'monastery, convent'. In H. 267a-b (ELW 6) is referred to the fatang 
'halls of law' of the saintly masses and the qielansuo of the buddhas. 

18 H. 391. 

19 H. 396. 

211 H. 397, with reference to Lushena jingjie "realm of Lushena", i.e. the 

Column of Glory. 

21 H. 391. 

22 H. 395-96. 

2:5 H. 261. Cf. Henning apud Tsui 1943, 216 note 6; Sundermann 1991, 110-11; 
and Bryder 1999, 259-62. 



SUKHAVATI AND THE LIGHT-WORLD 207 

Amitabha. However, the hymn that has been identified as the text on 
which Daoming based his translation, namely the first canto of the 
Huyadagmdn hymn-cycle in Parthian, contains no trace of distinctly 
Buddhist notions and terminology 24 In the surviving fragments of this 
canto, all recovered at Turfan, the description of the Light-world is far 
less detailed than that of the ELW. The Light-world is described as 
(1) a boundless land, that has (2) fragrant lakes, (3) trees which carry 
fruits that never rot, (4) happiness, (5) light and no darkness, (6) no 
searing wind, (7) no destruction or pain, (8) no hunger or thirst, and it 
has (9) inhabitants who sing wonderful praises. 25 Fragments of versions 
of the hymn in Sogdian and Old Turkish found in the Turfan region 
do not add significantly to this description. 26 Some of the features 
included in the ELWs portrayal of the Light-world are attested in other 
Manichaean texts from the Turfan region. In one abecedarian hymn 
in Parthian, for instance, the "Land of Light" {zmyg rwsri) is praised 
as being "fragrant with sweet-smelling breezes", and it is described as 
having powers, gods, deities, jewels, joyous aeons, trees, springs, and 
plants. 2 ' Another Parthian hymn of the same type mentions splendid 
trees, divine springs, sweet winds, and splendid thrones. 28 A prose text 
in Sogdian gives a description of the Light Earth or Land of Light, 
the fifth of the "five greatnesses" of the Light-world. 29 This is in several 
points similar to the description given in the Huyadagmdn: 

The fifth, the Light Earth, *self-existent, eternal, miraculous; in *height 
it is beyond *reach(?), its *depth cannot be perceived. No enemy and no 
*injurer walk this earth: its divine pavement is of the substance of dia- 
mond (yajrd) that does not shake forever. All good things are born from 
it: adorned, graceful hills wholly covered with flowers, grown in much 
excellence; green fruit-bearing trees whose fruits never *drop, never rot, 
and never become *wormed; springs flowing with ambrosia that fill the 



24 The number of Indian words in early Manichaean texts in Parthian is small, cf. 
Sims- Williams 1983, 133. 

25 Boyce 1954, 68-77; Sims- Williams 1989, 322ff; Sundermann 1990, 14, 22; Klimkeit 
1993, 100-2; Bryder 1999, 262-70. 

26 For these, see Sundermann 1990, 23-24; Reck 2005, 159-63; Henning 1959, 
122-24; Le Coq 1922, 45 (no. 32); Zieme 1975, 46-47; Klimkeit 1993, 102, 107; 
Bryder 1999, 263, 266-71. The Sogdian versions appear to be closer to the Parthian 
than to the ELW. 

27 Boyce 1952, 442-44 (text C). 

28 Boyce 1952, 437-40 (text A). 

29 See infra, note 33. 



208 GUNNER MIKKELSEN 

whole universe, its groves and plains; countless mansions and palaces, 
thrones and *benches that exist in perpetuity for ever and ever. 

Thus arranged is the Paradise, in these Five Greatnesses. They are calm 
in quietude and know no fear. They live in the light, where they have 
no darkness; in eternal life, where they have no death; in health without 
sickness; in joy, where they have no sorrow; in charity without hatred; in 
the company of friends, where they have no separation; in a shape that 
is not brought to naught, in a divine body where there is no destruction; 
on ambrosial food without restriction, wherefore they bear no toil and 
hardship. In appearance they are ornate, in strength powerful, in wealth 
exceedingly rich; of poverty they know not even the name. Nay, they are 
equipped, beautiful, and embellished; no damage occurs to their bodies. 
Their garment of joy is finery that never get soiled, of seventy myriad 
kinds, set with jewels. Their places are never destroyed. . . 30 

Although this text contains one or two Indian elements, the main inspi- 
rations for all of these descriptions are clearly West Asian rather than 
Indian and Buddhist. The image of the Light-world generally painted 
in the Middle Iranian texts is reminiscent of the image of the "Land 
of Light" in the Manichaean Psalm-Book in Coptic. In various psalms 
of the Psalm-Book, the Light-world is praised as a glorious, peaceful and 
joyous place where gods, angels, and blessed ones dwell, and where 
there is "neither heat nor cold," "neither hunger nor thirst," and no 
sorrow. The Land has fragrant blooming trees, fountains filled with life, 
green fields, and dew of ambrosia. 31 

It is obvious that the large-scale import of the features of Sukhavati 
from the Chinese Pure Land sutras has created a far more detailed 
and impressive image of the Light-world in the ELW than in the first 
canto of the Parthian Huyadagmdn. The expansion is partly a result 
of the translator's choice of a more elaborate metre; verses of two 
lines in the Parthian hymn are translated into verses of four lines in 
the Chinese eulogy. As stated in the colophon, the ELW is organised 
in "seventy-eight verses, each in four clauses" (fan qishiba song fen siju 
). 32 In accordance with the predominant form of 
versification during the Tang, the qiyanjueju , each verse is a 

quatrain with seven characters to each clause or line. Qiyanjueju was 



30 M 178; Henning 1948, 307-10. 

31 Allberry 1938, 65, 136, 143, 144, 154. 

32 H. 261. The actual number of verses is seventy-seven; possibly the colophon was 
counted as one verse. 



SUKHAVATI AND THE LIGHT-WORLD 209 

adopted widely in poetry and in Buddhist literature, including several 
Pure Land texts. 

Daoming's decision to depict the Light-world as a pure land that 
closely matches the most splendid and most popular of all Buddhist 
pure lands was, however, not ruled by considerations of the poetic 
metre and rhyme schemes. His ambition was to present the Manichaean 
notion of paradise as attractively as possible to Chinese audiences. The 
adaptation to Buddhism is in the ELW taken a great distance further 
than simple outward "dressing" of this notion in Buddhist language - 
a technique applied to most of the Manichaean texts in Chinese. The 
Light-world is presented as a "new pure land" that is nearly identical to 
and certainly as splendid as Sukhavati and even carries its name. There 
is, however, hardly any doubt that the original Manichaean identity of 
this pure land was retained. Distinctively Manichaean concepts such 
as the "five greatnesses" and the "three constancies" are mentioned. 33 
Amitabha is absent, and the Light-world is not described as specifi- 
cally located in the West or in any other direction of the universe. 
Such differences in key features would have helped to ensure that the 
Manichaean audiences and followers in China were able to distinguish 
between the two paradises. 



33 The "five greatnesses" (wuda , wu zhong da ) and "three constancies" 

(sanchang ), which "steadily illuminate each other," are mentioned in ELW 75 

(H. 336c). The five greatnesses, i.e. the five parts of the Light-world, are enumer- 
ated in the Universal praise and petition (H. 122— 23) and Eulogy of the Light Venerable Ones 
(H. 357). In the latter, they are listed as: (1) "the great true lord" {da zhenshi zhu ), 

(2) "the twelve light-kings" (shi'er guangwang ), (3) "numerous wonderful worlds 

and lands as numerous as fine dust" (zfongmiao shijie weichen guotu ), 

(4) "the eternally living wonderful air" (changhuo miaokong ), and (5) "the 

praiseworthy land/earth" (kan haqyu di ). This corresponds to fragmentarily 

preserved lists of the greatnesses in Parthian and Sogdian texts; cf. Waldschmidt/Lentz 
1933, 549; Boyce 1975, 92; Klimkeit 1993, 30; Henning 1948, 307-8; Gharib 2000, 
259fC And it corresponds to the list in the Psalm of the Bema CCXXIII of the Coptic 
Psalm-Book (9.12-16, ed. and trans. Allberry 1938): "The Kingdom of Light, on the 
one hand (uiv) consisted in five Greatnesses, and they are the Father and his twelve 
Aeons and the Aeons of the Aeons, the Living Air (drip), the Land of Light; the great 
Spirit breathing in them, nourishing them with his Light." For the three constancies, 
see Waldschmidt/Lentz 1926, 98-99 n. 11, and Lin 1997, 242ffi 



210 GUNNER MIKKELSEN 

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TMTjV "HIND: THE BEGINNING OF MANI'S 

PSALM WUZURGAN AFRlWAN IN PARTHIAN 

AND MIDDLE PERSIAN 

Enrico Morano 



The seventh book of the canonical works ascribed to Mani, 1 believed to 
have been composed in his mother tongue, an Aramaic dialect, appears 
to be, in the Coptic lists, a collection of prayers and two psalms. 2 In 
the most extensive of these lists (Homilies, 25.2-6) 3 the seven canonical 
books are "the Gospel and the Treasure of Life, the Pragmateia and the Book 
of the Mysteries, the Book of the Giants and the Epistles, the Psalms and the 
Prayers of my Lord," followed by the Image and other texts, while the two 
references to Mani's scriptures given in the Coptic Psalms (Sarakoton 2, 4 
and Bema Psalms) 5 refer to ncNey N"t*avAMOC "the two Psalms." More- 
over, in the list in the third article of the Chinese Compendium of the 
Doctrines and Styles of the teaching of Mani, the Buddha of Light, after the 
Epistles the Prayers are mentioned, quoted in Chinese script as 
a-fuyin, which represents Middle Persian dfrin "blessing" 6 

Although none of Mani's prayers can be identified, a caption in a 
Sogdian text in Sogdian script establishes that a long hymn-cycle called 



1 During the compilation of the final version of the present paper I greatly benefited 
from Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst's {Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 
Turfanforschung) collaboration and work on these texts, in view of a full edition of the 
fragments of the Middle Iranian versions of Mani's Psalms which we are preparing, 
and which will soon be published (Durkin-Meisterernst & Morano forthc). To him 
and to all the staff of the Akademienvorhaben Turfanforschung my warmest thanks for the 
kind hospitality they gave me in Berlin. I am very grateful to the Berlin-Brandenburg 
Academy and to the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preujiischer Kulturbesitz for their kind permis- 
sion to consult and edit the Turfan fragments of their collection. 

2 On the Manichaean canonical scriptures see Haloun & Henning 1952, 20411, 
Boyce 1968, 69-71. 

3 See Pedersen 2006, 25. 

4 Allberry 1938, 140.6. 

5 Allberry 1938, 47.1. 

6 Haloun & Henning 1952, 208. Middle Persian afnn is the technical literary term 
closest to Parthian afriwan, see Sundermann 1985, 594. The headline of M209/V/, 
fry(n)[, a manuscript containing a Middle Persian translation of a hymn from one of 
Mani's Psalms, proves that this was the Middle Persian term for Mani's Psalms. 



214 ENRICO MORANO 

Wuzurgan Afriwan "The Blessings of the Great Ones," 7 was composed 
by Mani. The text runs as follows 8 



Sol4570/R/ 

Headline in Verso: 'ymyn "xy-nt 

/4/ {red} rty pty-'mty 'z-w'nt'k 

/5/ {red} yr'ywy 12 'nSm'kw xwy-ck'wy 

/6/ {red} %Y "yst wz-'rk'n "pry-wn 

/7/ {blank} 

/8/ yn 'k xcy "pry-wnh 

/9/ cw Z r "pry-tS'rt 'xw 

/10/ xwt'w ysw 'z-y'nt mr 

/l 1/ m'ny ktxw pr rxwsny ' 9 

/l 2/ 'z-ny' z-'wr 'wst't °° 

/1 3/ rty %Kw kwc'kh pr ywfity' 

/14/ pwrnw fount' r(t)y wy'jir %Y 

/15/ w'nkw w'P °° 

/4/ and the 12 cantos of the Explanation of the 

/5/ Living Soul are (also) completed 

/6/ and begun is the Blessing of the Great Ones. 

Ill {blank} 

/8/ This is the Blessing 

/9/ which the Apostle 

/10/ of the Lord Jesus Mar 

/l 1/ Mam prayed, when he was established 

/12/ in the power of the Light- Knowledge. 

/13/ And he filled his mouth with praise and 

/14/ speech and 

715/ after this manner said: 



' For a discussion on the possible meaning of this title see Morano 2005, 277, and 
Durkin-Meisterernst & Morano (forthcoming). 

8 The entire sheet is published in Morano 2005, 281 ff For previous quotations of 
the caption see Reck 2006, nr. 171. 

9 Mistakenly printed rxwsny in Morano 2005, 281. 



'TMTN "Hl'ND: THE BEGINNING OF WUZURGAN AFRlWAN 215 

The importance of this text should not be underestimated for several 
reasons: it says that a Blessing named Wuzurgan Afnwan starts in the 
following lines (line /6/); it establishes that this Blessing was composed 
by Mani (lines /8 1 1/); the first words of the text after the caption, 'yn'k 
xcy, "This is," are the Sogdian translation of the Parthian phrase ymyn 
'hynd, "These are," which appears in the headline on the Verso of the 
manuscript itself and constitutes the Parthian title of the first canto 10 of 
the Blessing. Another manuscript, from the same book, also containing 
the Sogdian version of Wuzurgan Afnwan, So 14444, bears a headline 
V/R '(y)m'yn "xy-nt / wz'rk'n "prywn, "These are / Blessings of Great 
Ones," and has, in its Recto, 11. 2~ 3," a caption, written in red ink, in 
which it is stated that the first canto ends and the second begins: 

/V/2/ pty-'mty sryk 'nSmy wz-'rk'n 
/V/3/ <T "yst Sptykw 'nSm'k 

/V/2/ the first canto of "[The Blessings] of the Great Ones" is 

finished 
/V/3/ and the second canto has begun. 

It is then certain that the first canto was named ymyn 'hynd, and that the 
name of the canto was taken from the opening Parthian words of the 
canto itself, 12 from which the Sogdian version was evidently translated. 
The original Parthian of the beginning of this canto, with its opening 
words ymyn 'hynd, can in fact be reconstructed from several manuscripts 
in Manichaean and Sogdian script from the Berlin Turfan collection. 
Two fragments in Manichaean script, M608b and M895b, form 
together, without joining directly, part of a loose page, which probably 
never belonged to a book but was used as a practice sheet: 13 



10 Line /5/ of the text informs us that the long hymn-cycles were subdivided into 
'nSm'k, lit. "limbs," see Morano 2005, 279—281, where all the headlines of the mss 
containing the Sogdian version of the Wuzurgan Afnwan are listed. 

11 Published in Morano 2005, 279. See also Reck 2006, nr. 163. 

12 See Morano 2005, 281 with n. 8. 

13 In both fragments the lines are written inversely to those of the Verso, which has 
bits of lines in Manichaean script and a few letters in Sogdian script. Boyce 1960, 42 
did not recognise that the two fragments belong together and did not assign M608b to 
the Psalms, and on 61 she gave no description of M895b, assigning it to the Psalms. 



216 ENRICO MORANO 

M608b ~ M895b (see pi. 1) 

R/H/ y(myn y )[hynd] 

R/l/ 'ymyn 'hynd Qffrywn ° cy fryd m] (rym) ['] (ny °)frystg cyyysw 

R/2/ msyh'h (°) pd bgf'n pydr k'm ° kd 'w wzrjgyft ° 'wd hrwyfn shr)' 

(n r'z) 
R/3/ 'bgws(t) [° cy bwjfyd )bw(d)[ 'st ° 'wd] (')c shr('n) ° (n) [gw] (s) [t] 
R/4/ ['hynd 'bdyfj(t) ° 'b(r sh)[r'n rwsn'n r'z ° 'J(wd) '(br t'ryg'n shr') 

fn r'z] 
{lines missing} 

Another fragment from (the same?) loose practice sheet contains traces 
of the beginning of the word 'frywn and the first six words of the Psalm 
written in big characters, leaving the rest of the sheet blank. 14 The 
Verso of all three fragments has bits of lines in Manichaean script and 
letters in Sogdian script. 

M895e (see pi. 1) 

R/l/ ffjfrywn?] 

R/2/ 'ymyn '(h)[yn]d 'f(r)ywn cy 'fryd mry(m)['ny] 

{rest blank} 

Two joined fragments' 3 written on the Verso of a Chinese scroll contain, 
after 8 lines of a concluding part of a caption 16 and two blank lines, 
the Parthian text in Sogdian script of the beginning of the Psalm: 

Ch/So20501/V/ + Ch/U6546/V/ (see pi. 2) 

V/l/ pr'y(.)[15-17] 
V/2/ kr' [17-18] 



11 In this fragment also the text is written inversely to that of the Verso, but the 
handwriting is different from that of M608b and M895b. 

15 See Reck 2006, nr. 339. I am grateful to Christiane Reck for having pointed out 
these fragments to me long before the publication of her catalogue. The two fragments 
join in line /1 4/ wz-rkypjft) °° QfwS. 

"' The text is too fragmentary to attempt a running translation. The word rwz-'k 
(rwcg) "fast" in 1. Ill seems to relate these texts to the Fast ceremony. 



'YMW "Hl'ND: THE BEGINNING OF WUZURGAN AFRlWAN 217 

V/3/ 'z~P"n(h) (r')[st 12-14] 

V/4/ ym "pry-w 'n(h) [.](.)[ 5-7 J 

V/5/ ('w)S k'm'yS rwz~'n[. ](.) ny 

V/6/ f. . J('n) 00 wsy 'wr (.)[. . . Jn 00 > 'n 

V/7/ f. ..J(.y )wr 00 (p)fwj '8 rwz~ 'k °° xyp 

V/8/ fpwyJfS) * 

V/9/ {blank} 

V/10 {blank} 

V/ll/ ymyn "xynt "fky-w'nh °° cy 

V/12/ ["fir] (yd) (mrm)'ny °° jiryst'k cy ysw 

V/13/ [msyx](') °° p8 fby'npyJ(Sr) (k)'m 00 k8 

V/14/ fw? wz-rkyPJ(t) °° QfwS xrwyjfn) sxr'n 

V/15/ r'z 'py'wst °° (c)[y pwyS pw](S) 

V/16/ 'st 00 'wS 'z sx(r'n) 00 nyws(t) 

V/17/ "xynt 'fiSy-st 00 'pr sx(r)['n] 

V/18/ rwsn'n r'z °° 'pr t'r'k'n sxr'n 

V/19/ r'z °° 'wS 'pr wymyxtk'n sxr'n 

V/20/ [wrJSysn nm'8 °° 'w8 k8 'ymyn °° 

V/21/ [nywsjtky-pt 'Pywst °° 'dy'n 

V/22/ ['ymyn "pry-w'n "pry 8] 'w wz-rkyp-t xwS'(y') 

V/23/ fwS 'w wysp'n] (h) pySr'n °° 'ymyn 

{lines missing} 

Combining the texts given in the aforementioned fragments (M895e/R, 
M608b/R ~ M895b/R, Ch/So20501/V + Ch/U6546/V), the Par- 
thian version of the beginning of the first canto of the Wuzurgan Afriwan 
can be reconstructed as follows: 

/H/ y(myn ')[hyndj 

'ymyn 'hynd 'fryum ° cy fryd mrym'ny ° cyfrystg cyyysw' msyh'h ° pd bg'n pydr 
k'm ° kd fw?] wzrgyft ° 'wd hrwyn shr'n r'z 'bgws(t) ° [cy bwjfyd )bw(d) 'st 
° 'wd 'c shr'n ° ngwst 'hynd 'bdyst ° 'br shr'n rwsn'n r'z ° 'br t'ryg'n shr'n r'z ° 
'wd 'br wmyxtg'n shr'n [wrjdysn nm'd ° 'wd kd 'ymyn ° [ngwsjtgyft 'bgwst ° 'dy'n 
[ymyn frywn fryd] 'w wzrgyft xwd'y' ['wd 'w wysp'n] pyd'r'n ° 'ymyn [. . .] 



218 ENRICO MORANO 

Translation: 
"These a[re] ..." 

"These are the Blessings which Mar Mani, by the will of the Father of 
Gods apostle of Jesus Christ, recited, when he revealed [the] Greatness 
and the mystery of the worlds [that will b]e, were, (and) are, and 
showed (things that) were hidden to the worlds: he showed concerning 
the mystery of the Light Worlds, concerning the mystery of the Dark 
Worlds, and concerning the turning(?) of the mixed worlds. And when 
he revealed these [hidden] things, then [he praised this blessing] to the 
Lord of Greatness [and to all the] fathers: these [...]" 

Commentary: 

- mrym'ny frystg cy yysw' msyh'h ° pd bg'n pydr k'm: the usual initial for- 
mula found in Mani's works recalls the incipit of the Living Gospel 
(M17/V/i/12ff = M644/A/4— 5): 'n m'ny pry stg'yg yysw' 'ry'm'n pd q'm y 
pdr by w'bryg'n "I Mani, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of the 
Father, the true God"; 17 cf. also in the Epistula Fundamenti, "Manichaeus 
apostolus Iesu Christi prouidentia dei patris." 

- f'w?] wzrgyft ° 'wd hrwyn shr'n r'z 'bgws(t) ° [cy bwjfyd )bw(d) 'st "he 
revealed [the] Greatness and the mystery of the worlds [that will b]e, 
were, (and) are": here the two principles and the three times (primeval 
separation, mixture, and apokatastasis) are mentioned. The brachylogical, 
asyndetic expression cy bwyd bwd 'st, lit. "that will be, was, is," 18 here in 
the singular, may grammatically refer to r'z: the mystery of the future 
worlds, the mystery of the primeval worlds, and the mystery of the 
present world. 

- 'wd 'c shr'n ° ngwst 'hynd 'bdyst "and showed [things that were] hidden 
to the worlds"; the sense of this part of the sentence seems to be that 
Mani has revealed things that were previously hidden to the world. If 
this is correct, a passage of the Gospel of Matthew can be compared: 



17 See MacKenzie 1994, 191. 

18 We should rather expect, in succession, "that were, are, and will be." At this point 
the text in all the manuscripts is damaged, and this is only a tentative restoration. In the 
corresponding Middle Persian text, see below M379b/R/15/, we have, however, y b(w) 

y(d b)[, which seems to agree with the proposed emendation of the Parthian text. 



'TMTN "Hl'ND: THE BEGINNING OF WUZURGAN AFRlWAN 219 

Mt 13:35 - "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, 
saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have 
been kept secret from the foundation of the world (KEKp-uuuevcx duo 
KaxapoXfiq Koauoo)." 



Middle Persian version 

The beginning of the Middle Persian version of the text can be found, 
after a preceding text with final formula ("for ever and ever may it be 
so") and a blank line, in M379b, a tiny and narrow almost entirely 
preserved sheet. 



M379b (see pi. 3 and 4) 

R/l/ [. ](t)w'n[....] 

R/2/ [...... 10fb [...... ](Sn) 

R/3/ [. ](h) eh'fr) [..... J ° 

R/4/ [. xw](r)xsyd u m'(h) ° 

R/5/ f. .J (mn) 'st'r 

R/6/ [. .](s) bwxtgyh 

R/7/ [... 'w prj'zyst uj'yd'n 

R/8/ fzm'n 'whj byh ° ° ° ° 

R/9/ {blank} 

R/10/ [yn 'stj ysn yyst m(r)[m'ny] 

R/ll/ [prystgjy yysw' 'r(y)['m'n] 

R/l 2/ [pd k'm](y)sn y by zr(vu)'[n k'J 

R/l 3/ f'wj (w)zrgyh ° u n(h) [w] (p) [tgyh y] 

R/l 4/ fshr'Jfn) 'bhwpt ° '(m)[wxt? ...] 

R/l 5/ f. . . .Jfk/x. .) 'n y b(w)y(d b)fwd 'stj 

R/l 6/ f'wd 'z shrj'n nhwpt h(y)[nd. ... J 

{end of page} 



{beginning of page} 

V/l/ n(h)[wpt h](y)nd °[. J 

V/2/ r(w)[sn wh]yst'(w)[° 'wd 'br] 
V/3/ fsj(h)r t'ryg ° u QfbrJ 
V/4/ [sjhr'n gwmyxtgf'n nmwd °J 
V/5/ (k y ) ymyn nhwpt(g) [yh'n 'bhwpt] 



220 



ENRICO MORANO 



page} 



V/6/ 

V/7/ 

V/8/ 

V/9/ 

V/10 

V/ll/ 

V/12/ 

V/13/ 

V/14/ 

V/15/ 

{end of 

R/l/ 

R/2/ 

R/3/ 

R/4/ 

R/5/ 

R/6/ 

R/7/ 

R/8/ 

R/9/ 

R/10/ 

R/ll/ 

R/l 2/ 

R/13/ 

R/14/ 

R/15/ 

R/l 6/ 

{end of page} 



(h)ynd ° ygys 'st'fydj 
['](y)nysn 'w 'wy xwd(')[y] 
f'wd ']w wysp'n nyg'(n)[.. .] 



hjrw ky 'ymyn r'z(')fn. . . .J 
]° 'ymy<n> 'ndr '(d/r/g)[. 
J'bhwpthynd (°)[...J 
.J hyb yzyd u 'b[r] 
■](.)y(.) ° (u) hmys 'w(.)[. . . .J 
.](.) ° y[m](yn) b'ry(s)[t...] 
(k/x). -Jqyh 'bzw'(d)[. ... J 



■■] 



■1 



] thy/power [. 

]or[ ] 

] four[ ] 

the S]un and the Moon. 

] my sins 

] salvation 

.for ev]er and eternally 
may it be [so]. 
{blank} 

[This is] the Blessing recited by Mar[ Mam], 
[the Aposde] of Jesus Ary[aman] 
[by the wish] of God Zurwa[n, when] 
[the] Greatness and the secret [things] 
[of the worlds] he revealed. He tau [ght? . . .] 

[ ] which will be [were and are] 

[and which] were hidden [from the worlds] 



{beginning of page} 

V/l/ were hidden. 19 [He showed on...] 

V/2/ [Light Pa]radise [and on the] 

V/3/ dark [wo]rld, and [on the] 

V/4/ mixed [wo] rids. 

V/5/ When these hidden things were revealed, 



19 See the last line of the Recto. This line was probably copied twice by the 
scribe. 



'YMXN Hl'M): THE BEGINNING OF WUZURGAN AFRlWAN 



221 



V/6/ 

V/7/ 
V/8/ 

V/9/ 

V/10/ 

V/ll/ 

V/12/ 

V/13/ 

V/14/ 

V/15/ 



then he prai[sed] 

th]is blessing to the Lord 

and] to all Ancestor s[...] 

.] all those who [. . .] these mysteries. 
Those in [ ] 

]are revealed. 

] may ye recite and upon 

] . And together to [ ] 

] . These highest [. . .] 

] may increase/ be added to [ ] 



{end of page} 

As the following interlinear text will show, it is apparent that the Middle 
Persian text runs almost parallel with the Parthian, from which it was 
probably translated: 

Pth. - /H/ y(myn y )[kynd] 

1 

• Pth. - ymyn 'hynd Trywn ° cy Tryd mrym'ny ° cy frystg cy yysw 1 
msyh'h ° pd bg J n pydr k'm ° 

• MP - [yn 'stj ysn y yst m(r)[m'ny prystg J y yysw' 'r(y)['m'n pd k'm](y) 
In y by zr(w)'[n 

In all three versions (Sogd.: yn'k xcy "pry-wnh cw %Y "pry-tS'rt, see 
above) the figura etymologica "the blessing which [Mar Mam] blessed" is 
maintained. In the Middle Persian translation the termj^n, from Av. 
yasna- "Verehrung, Anbetung, Huldigung, Preis, Gebet," 20 has perhaps 
a Zoroastrian flavor. 



1 



Pth. - kd [w?] wzrgyft ° Vd hrwyn shr'n r'z J bgws(t) ° 

MP - k' 'w] (w)zrgyh ° u n(h)[w](p)[tgyh y shr'](n) 'bhwpt 



20 Bartholomae 1904, 1270. 



222 ENRICO MORANO 

1 

• Pth. - [cy bw](yd )bw(d) J st ° wd J c shr'n ° ngwst J hynd J bdyst ° 

• MP - '(m)[wxt? .](k/x..)'n 'y b(w)y(d b)[wd 'st 'wd 'z shrj'n nhwpt 

h(y)[nd. ... J {n(h)[wpt hjfyjnd °} 

n(h)[wpt h](y)nd °, in the first line of the Verso, is perhaps a case of 
dittography and must be expunged. If this is the case, the sheet is 
complete. 

1 

• Pth. — J br shr'n rwsn'n r J z ° J br t'ryg'n shr'n r J z ° J wd J br wmyxtg'n 

shr'n [wrjdysn nm'd ° 

• MP - [. .] r(w)[sn wh]yst'(w)[ ° 'wd 'br s](h)r t'ryg ° u Q[br sjhr'n 

gwmyxtgl'n nmwdj 

1 

• Pth. - wd kd ymyn ° [ngwsjtgyft J bgwst ° J dy J n [ymyn Trywn Tryd] 
V wzrgyft xwdy J [wd w wysp'n] pydVn ° ymyn [. . .] 

• MP - (k') 'ymyn nhwpt(g) [yh'n 'bhwpt] (h)ynd ° ygys 'st'fyd '](y)nysn 'w 
'wy xwd(')[y 'wd ']w wysp'n ny'g'(n)[ h]rw ky 'ymyn 

1 

• Pth. - lost 

• MP -r'zOfn.... J V/10 [....]°'ymy<n> 'ndr '(d/r/g) [....] V/ll/ [....] 
'bhwpt hynd (°)[. . .] V/12/ [.....] hybyzyd u 'bfrj V/13/ [. . . .](.)y(.) ° (u) 
hmys 'w(.)[. ...J V/14/ [... .](.) ° 'y[m](yn) b 'ry(s)ft. . J V/15/ f. . (k/x). .] 
qyh 'bzw'fdjf. — J 



'ymw "mm: the beginning of wuzurgan afriwan 223 

Bibliography 

Allberry, C. R. C. 

1938 A Manichaean Psalm-Book. Part II, Manichaean Manuscripts in the Chester 
Beatty Collection 2 (Stuttgart). 
Bartholomae, Ch. 

1904 Altiranisches Wbrterbuch (StraBburg). 
Boyce, M. 

1960 A Catalogue of the Iranian Manuscripts in Manichean Script in the German Turfan 

Collection (Berlin). 
1968 The Manichaean Literature in Middle Iranian, Handbuch der Orientalistik Abt. 
I, Bd 4., Abschn. 2., Lief. 1, (Leiden), 67-76. 
Durkin-Meisterernst, D. and E. Morano 

forthc. Mani's Psalms. Edition of the Middle Persian, Parthian and Sogdian fragments in the 
Turfan Collection, Berliner Turfantexte (Turnhout). 
Haloun, G. and W. B. Henning 

1952 Compendium of the Doctrines and Styles of the Teaching of Mani, the 
Buddha of Light, Asia Major 3: 184-212. 
MacKenzie, D. N. 

1994 'I, Mani...', Festschrift fur Kurt Rudolph zum 65. Geburtstag, H. PreiBler & 
H. Seiwert, eds. (Marburg), 183-198. 
Morano, E. 

2005 A Manichaean Oratio Dominica, II Manicheismo. Nuove propettive della richerca. 
Atti del Quinto congresso internazionale di studi sul manicheismo. Dipartimento di Studi 
Asiatici Universitd degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale", Napoli, 2S Settembre 2001, 
Manichaean Studies 5, A. Van Tongerloo & L. Cirillo, eds. (Turnhout), 
277-285, 432-433 (plates). 

Pedersen, N. A. (ed.) 

2006 Manichaean Homilies. With a number of hitherto unpublished fragments. Corpus Fontium 
Manichaeorum Series Coptica II, Turnhout. 

Reck, Ch. 

2006 Mitteliranische Handschriften Teil 1: Berliner Turfanfragmente manichaischen Inhalts 
in soghdischer Schrift, VOHD XVIII, 1, (Stuttgart). 
Sundermann, W. 

1985 Afurisn, Encyclopaedia Iranica (London), Vol. I, 593—594. 



A SOGDIAN VERSION OF MANI'S LETTER OF THE SEAL 

Christiane Reck 
Berlin 



During my work on the catalogue of the Middle Iranian fragments in 
Manichaean script, 1 I came across a glass plate with ten fragments more 
or less damaged by worm eating: So 14150 — So 141 59. 2 The label of 
the find site shows T II D 9 1 , indicating that it was found during the 
second expedition in Dakianussahr = Qpco (Gaochang). 3 At first sight 
three fragments seem to have the same shape. The other fragments also 
show similarities. I was able, therefore, to arrange the fragments into 
two groups. A reading of the text confirmed this arrangement. The 
first group of fragments contains Sogdian text (So 14150, So 14151, 
So 14153, So 14156, and So 14159). The other group of fragments 
contains Middle Persian and Parthian text in Sogdian script (So 14152, 
So 14152a, So 14154, So 14155, So 14157, So 14158). I was able to 
identify some of these pieces as parts of Bema hymns. 4 Two of these 
hymns are part of the well known Manichaean book of prayer and 
confession, the so called "Bet- and Beichtbuch" (BBB) edited by W. 
Henning. 5 This part of the manuscript containing the Bema hymns 
has been published recently'' 

But the other group of fragments with Sogdian text was difficult to 
classify. Some verbal endings in the second plural form indicated that 
the text is addressed to the Manichaean community. The text was 
possibly composed by Mani himself. Comparing the text with the part 



1 This is an enlarged version of the paper presented at the the "2005 International 
Symposium on Turfanological Studies, Turfan, Xinjiang/China" (Reck 2006b) and 
additionally at the "Sixth International Meeting of the International Association of 
Manichaean Studies." Here the complete transliteration and translation of the Sogdian 
text is added including the new results by E. Morano. 

2 Reck 2006a, 95-101 (ns. 114-124). 

3 This plate can be viewed in the Digital Archive of the Turfanforschung: http:// 
www.bbaw.de/forschung/turfanforschung/dta/so/images/sol4150sol4159_seitel.jpg 

1 Reck 2004, 46-48 (hymns J, K, Z and AH). 

: ' Henning 1936. 

6 Reck 2007, 318-327. 



226 CHRISTIANE RECK 

of the Letter of the Seal, which is also part of the book of prayer and 
confession (BBB) mentioned above, 7 I found the following correspon- 
dences: M 801a/I/r-v/4/ (BBB 18, 11. 1-22) = So 14150 + So 14156 ~ 
So 14152 I/r-v/9/ (pi. 1). Unfortunately no title is preserved. We 
do not know whether this manuscript had headlines at all. But the 
occurrence of this text in combination with the hymns identified with 
Bema hymns allows us to assume that it can be the Letter of the Seal in 
a Sogdian translation. 

The Letter of the Seal was the last letter Mani wrote in prison before 
his death. It is his legacy sent to his adherents. It is mentioned in a 
report about his death, M 454 I/r/12-13/, as frwrdg y mwhr. 8 The 
Middle Persian text in the BBB is the final part of the beginning of 
the letter which ends after the list of the people being addressed, in the 
course of which. Mani mentions the whole Manichaean community. 
The Sogdian text continues the letter, but it is unfortunately very badly 
preserved. As a result of the comparison of both texts, which differ in 
the preserved parts only in very few cases, one can state that only a few 
lines, two or three, are missing. So 14156 and So 14159 preserve the 
lower margin. For this reason, one can conclude that on the upper part 
of the fragments at least two lines, at most three lines are completely 
missing. We deduce from this that one page had 18 lines. The length 
of each line was approximately 4,5 cm. 

Besides these fragments of the Letter of the Seal we know two fragments 
where the word mwhr, "Seal" appears in the headline, M 720c/2.S./ 
(Manichaean script) and So 18 151 /verso/ (Sogdian script). The last 
fragment belongs together with So 18056 and contains the doxology 
and the beginning of the Living Gospel. One line is missing between the 
two fragments. It is not clear why the word mwhr is mentioned here. 

But there is also another fragment, M 1 3 1 3 9 (pi. 4), which Henning 
already identified as preserving the very beginning of the Letter of the 
Seal. 10 It starts with the words: "Mani, apostle of Jesus Aryaman,..." 
It is nearly the same beginning as in the Living Gospel, which starts 



7 Henning 1936, 18, facsimile: Weber 2000, Pis. 102 and 103 (M 801a folio I). See 
BBB, 18, n. 4 and commentary 8—9. Henning assumed that it is the final part. But as 
W. Sundermann wrote in "Studien zur kirchengeschichtlichen Literatur der iranischen 
Manichaer I," 86, it is obviously the final part of the opening salutation only. 

8 Andreas / Henning 1934, 891, commented on by Sundermann 1981, 135, text 
24.3. 

9 Boyce 1960, 69. 

10 Haloun / Henning 1953, 20, n. 6. 



A SOGDIAN VERSION OF MANI'S LETTER OF THE SEAL 227 

with "I, Mani, the Apostle of Jesus, . . ." In the Letter of the Seal we miss 
the Initial "I." This opening formula is also well attested in fragments 
of one or more canonical epistles of the Kellis papyri," for example: 
"Manichaios, apostle of Jesus Chrestos, and all the brothers who are 
with me; to N.N., my loved one, and all the brothers who are with you, 
each one according to his name." 12 

Comparing this with the text given below, we find some similarities. 
But the formula used in the Middle Persian and Sogdian texts here is 
more extended and comprises the whole Manichaean community. What 
is missing is the formula "Peace through God the Father, and our Lord 
Jesus Chrestos..." as it is quoted in a Coptic letter. 13 The verso of M 
1313 has the same text as BBB, but adds in line v/9/ one word nyws 1 - 
g J n, "hearer" as Henning already ascertained there (n. 8), and which is 
confirmed also in the Sogdian text here: nyws'kt (So 14150+/r/14/). 
The Sogdian text seems to include ['rtj(wt), "righteous" as well, as 
Henning had assumed in the lacuna of line /9/. This word cannot be 
found in M 1313. Before starting the Letter of the Seal some defective 
lines are preserved in this fragment finishing with the words: r/5/ (h) 
n(j)ft wnglywnyg b'sf'h], "Finished is the hymn on the Living Gospel." 
The fact that we find at least two times both texts mentioned in the 
same fragments underlines a close relation between the Living Gospel 
and the Letter of the Seal. The fragment M 1313 is under glass with M 
1312. Both fragments belong with a number of others, for example 
M 52 and M 61, to the same manuscript. 14 This manuscript includes 
many cantillated hymns. The fact that it contains also the Letter of the 
Seal increases the importance of this hymn book, which is still awaiting 
systematic research. 

I am very grateful to Enrico Morano who discovered that the two 
fragments M 1312 and M 1313 belong to one page (pl.4). He kindly 
allowed me to use his reading and interpretation of M 1312 and gave 
me some other additions and corrections. M 1312/r/ repeats the text 
of M 1313/r/10-13/ and M 1312/v/ that of M 1313/v/6-ll/ in 
cantillated form. Both texts complete each other. In M 1313/v/l— 5/ 
the text is also written in a kind of cantillated form. Presumable the 
text of these lines preceded in a non-cantillated form in that part of the 



Gardner 1997, 79-80, and Gardner 2001, 93-99. 
Gardner / Lieu 2004, 167. 
Gardner 2001, 96, and Gardner 2004, 167. 
Boyce 1960, 52, and Reck 2004, 14 n. 6. 



228 CHRISTIANE RECK 

page that is now lost. I therefore have been able to add this fragment 
to the compiled text below. Additionally Enrico Morano has informed 
me about the congruence of Otani 615 1 15 with M 801a/I/r/9— 18/. 
Obviously the first three lines of Otani 6151 are written in cantillated 
form as the long lines between the letters and the use of 8 instead of 
d makes clear. 16 It seems to employ the same system of alternation of 
cantillated and non-cantillated text found in Ml 3 12 and M 1313. But 
the handwriting of Otani 6151 is bigger than that of M 1312 and M 
1313. The distance between the lines is 0,9 cm, against less than 0,7 
in M 1312 and M 1313. The backside of Otani is not visible because 
it is glued on a board. It seems to be empty. So the fragments cannot 
have belonged to the same manuscript. 



Combined text of the beginning of the Mani's Letter of the Seal 

(M 1312 ~ M 1313, M 80 la/I/, So 14150 + So 14156 ~ 

So 14152 1/ and Otani 6151) 

M 1313/r/9/ nwystmwhr dyb(.)[]" 

It has begun the Letter of the Seal 

M 1312/r/3-5/ /3/ [fry]-stg — (y)-(y)[sw"] /4/ ['-]ry'[-](m)'n © (m) 

[w-rzy- /5/ [-](v)-dg— 
M 1313/r/10-12/ /10/ m'ny frystg yy[sw'] /l 1/ 'ry'm'n mwrzyd(g) 18 

Mani, the apostle of Je[sus] Aryaman, the persecuted 

M 1312/5-7/ (yr)-(p'-y) /6/[-'](n) 19 n'-m © '-[z] 11/ [shry-'-Jr'-n 

© (>y)[g shr] 
M 1313/r/l 1 12/ 
+M 1312/r/l-2/ [yr]/12/ [p'y ]('n n)'m \z 20 s)[hryVn] 12/ [ ( y](g) shr 

®® 



15 Kudara / Sundermann / Yoshida 1997, text volume, 175, and facsimile volume, 
100. 

16 This fact is noted in the edition as well. I thank Kasai Yukiyo for her translation. 
" Incipit, written with red ink. The b has two diacritical dots. 

18 See Henning 1943, 67 n. 1. 

19 The reconstruction is not sure, because the remaining lower parts of the letters 
do not clearly show the r. Usually yrp'y'n is written with initial <>, Durkin-Meister- 
ernst 2004, 81. But one can read clearly ' here, see yr "lower", Durkin-Meisterernst 
2004, 99. 

20 M 1312/r/l/ shows the very lowest part of the z. 



A SOGDIAN VERSION OF MANI'S LETTER OF THE SEAL 



229 



M 801a/I/r/l/ 
So 14150+/r/4-5/ 



M 801a/I/r/l-2/ 
M 1313/V/1-2/ 
So 14150+/r/5-6/ 



/l/ yg shr ©© 
/4/ fs.)[ 8 ](.) ZY MN CPc)'np[8y] /5/ (^xsVJ^S'rty 21 
0© 0© 
[of spurned ] name by the rulers of the world. 

'wd 'mw 11/ pws 'ym d[wsyst] 

/l/ ['wd '](mw)~ 22 (p)[ws] /2/ [ym 5](w)-sy-s[t V5] 

rty /6/ [MN 'm](w) mn' pry z-'t'kw 

And from Ammo (?), this most beloved son 



M 801a/I/r/3-5/ 
M 1313/V/3-6/ 

So 14150+/r/7-8/ 

M 801a/I/r/6-7/ 
M 1313/v/6-7/ 
M 1312/v/l-3/ 
So 14150+/r/9-10/ 



M 801a/I/r/8-9/ 
M 1313/v/8-9/ 
M 1312/v/3-5/ 



/3/ 'wd 'c wysfpj'n /4/ przynd'n dwsyst"n /5/ ym 

'b'g hynd 

/3/ ['-c w](y)sp(')-(n)[przy-n8 '-n] /4/ (dw)-sy-(s)[t'-'-n] 

/5/ ['y](m) © 

'b'-(g) 23 /6/ [hy-nd] 

/7/ [ZYMN](sy)tm'nwpry-t /8/ ["](?) [wn] (t) ky t'm' 24 

prw /9/ ['sk](w'nt) 

and from all the very dear children, who are with 

(me). 

/6/ ®® 'w wysp'n swb'n'n II I (h)mwc'g'n u ['](s) 

psg'n 

®® 'w wysp'n 111 [swjb'n'n (h)mwc'g'n u /8/ [ ( ](s) 

psg'n 

/l/ [wysp'n swb']n'~-(n) ® (h)[mw- 11/ c'-g]'n 'w~8 i, 
the Buddha of Light, Asia Major 3: 184-212. 
Henning, W. 

1936 Ein manichdisches Bet- und Beichtbuch, Abhandlungen der Preussischen Akademie 
der Wissenschaften, Jg. 1936, Phil.-hist. K.I., Nr. 10 (Berlin). 

1943 The Book of the Giants, BSOAS 11: 52-74. 
Klimkeit, H.-J. 

1993 Gnosis on the Silk Road: Gnostic Texts from Central Asia (San Francisco). 
Reck, Ch. 

2004 Gesegnet sei dieser Tag: Manichdische Festtagshymnen. Edition der mittelpersischen 
und parthischen Sonntags-, Montags- und Bemahymnen, Berliner Turfantexte 22 
(Turnhout). 

2006a Mitteliranische Handschriften, Teil 1: Berliner Turfanfragmente manichdischen Inhalts 
in soghdischer Schrift, Verzeichnis der Orientalischen Handschriften in 
Deutschland, vol. XVIII, 1 (Stuttgart). 

2006b The Seed in the Field: The Sogdian Version of Mani's Letter of the 
Seal, Tulufanxueyanjiu: Dierjie Tulufanxue Guojixueshuyantaohui Lunwenji, Studia 
Turfanicum: Sammelband der Beitrage des Zweiten Internationalen Sym- 
posiums zur Turfanforschung, Turfan Antiquarian Bureau, ed. (Shanghai), 
414-418. 

2007 Tage der Barmherzigkeit: Nachtrage zu den mitteliranischenmanichaischen 
Montags- und Bemahymnen, Iranian Languages and Texts from Iran and Turan: 
Ronald E. Emmerich Memorial Volume, Iranica 13, M. Macuch, M. Maggi, 
W. Sundermann, ed. (Wiesbaden), 317-342. 
Sundermann, W. 

1981 Mitteliranische manichdische Texte kirchengeschichtlichen Inhalts mit einem Appendix 
von N. Sims-Williams, Berliner Turfantexte 1 1 (Berlin). 

Iranian Manichaean Turfan texts in publications since 1934: Photo Edition, CII, 
Suppl. Series, vol. IV (London). 

Alttiirkische Handschriften Teil 8: Manichaisch-tilrkische Texte der Berliner Tufansam- 
mlung, Verzeichnis der Orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland, vol. 
XIII, 16 (Stuttgart). 

Ein manichaisch-turkisches Fragment in manichaischer Schrift, Acta Orientalia 
Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 23.2: 157—165. 



V'eber, D. 


2000 


V'ilkens, J. 


2000 


,ieme, P. 


1970 



SNATCHES OF THE MIDDLE IRANIAN 
"TALE OF THE FIVE BROTHERS" 

Christiane Reck 
Berlin 



Manichaean literature includes many tales used as parables to demon- 
strate dogmatics. They were intended to help the believers to under- 
stand the meaning of mythical events and ethical demands, and to 
act correctly. These parables are very often part of a didactic lecture, 
illustrating the aim of the speech in a metaphorical way. Unfortunately 
our stock of Manichaean literature is very defective. Therefore we know 
in only a few cases the context of the parable. 1 Nevertheless there are 
also collections of tales such as the Manichaean Parable book. 2 In most 
cases we cannot know whether the fragment was part of a collection 
of parables or part of a didactic speech. What we can observe is that 
most parables are closed with an epimythion identifying the persons 
and explaining their actions. These explanations give the Manichaean 
interpretation of the tales, sometimes borrowed from Indian or other 
traditions, 3 such as the famous story of the pearl-borer. 4 In the case 
of the following story a small part of the epimythion is preserved. But 
the epimythion usually follows the story. For this reason, I would like 
first to introduce the fragments, the preserved parts of the story, and 
so on. Afterwards we will learn the aim of the story by means of the 
epimythion. 

The two badly damaged Sogdian fragments So 18058 and So 18197, 
which belong to the same manuscript, contain parts of one story. They 
can be joined in the way indicated below. So 18197 (16,0 cm x 9,2 
cm) is the badly damaged remainder of a nearly complete sheet. It 
preserves small parts of the headlines and of lines 2-15. So 18058 
(6,8 cm x 9,4 cm) is the lower part of this same sheet. It preserves 
lines 15—22. The joined piece is 18,2 cm x 9,4 cm. One can surmise 



Colditz 1987, 275. 

Sundermann 1985. 

See Wilkens 2003, 240-241, 253-254. 

Henning 1945, 465-469. 



242 



CHRISTIANE RECK 



that this sheet originally contained 22 lines. The first line of the text is 
completely lacking. We see the end of a red headline with ornamental 
blossoms. On the verso side the headline begins with the number five, 
pnc. There are more fragments with a similar handwriting, although 
sometimes the letters are a little bit larger, or the distance between the 
lines is greater. We therefore have no other fragments that belong to 
precisely this hand. 



Transliteration and Translation of So 18058 + So 18197 (See Pis. 1 and 2) 



r/hl / 

III 

111 

/3/ 

/4/ 

/5/ 

/6/ 

111 

/8/ 

/9/ 

/10/ 

/ll/ 

l\V 

/13/ 

/14/ 

/15/ 

/16/ 

/17/ 

/18/ 

/19/ 

/20/ 

/21/ 

722/ 



](■)* 



1 



< 1. ] sw 

< 1. ]w8 ; rt 

< 1. ]w 
<1. ](s)y 

6](.)[ ](mr)w[l](.8)[r]t OO 
rty pcp'ty y(w) my88 (.)[ 4 | 

XYW 'z-y'rt J rkw L' [ 3-4 ] 

kS'rt ZY s(w) ywn y88 pty-x(w y) 
OO rtms w( J nt) J 8ry J XYW prymyS 

Pryn J ( )st5'rt OO (cy)w(y?)55 

(py8 J r) (p)['rwt]y 'z-y'rt [prm'nh] 
L' 8p ; rt 5(Vn)t[ 6 ] 

yyrtr ZKh J (p/y)[ 8 ] 

(pncmykw) ( J XY-W)y pt[3](. . .)[1"2](.) 
wysn k(.tr.)y mn(t)[ 5 | 

yrP'kstr [ 4 ](0) [rt](y) [w'n](k)w 
w(Vn.5k) (w)[y](5)[ > r](t kt) ZKw ctp J r 
J (XY)[Wtrt ] ZY m(y) pty-xw'y ZY (k8)[r]y 
xw wVnxrs 5 (cy/p/f/yVn) 6 (t)[ 4 ](s) J r 
(p)[2-3 ](t) OO rty nwkr (.)[ 3 ](p/k.)y 
Csfpfkjw ZY J s(kw) [1-2] (w/y/r) \ 4 ] (. .) 



5 It could also be read wrryrs, "salvation." 

6 The first letter is illegible and it is not clear whether this word consists of three 
or four letters. Could one read here cyn for cnn? 



THE MIDDLE IRANIAN "TALE OF THE FIVE BROTHERS" 



243 



v/hl / * pnc[ 
IXI [ 
121 p(8)[ 

/3/ ^ 'yw(-)[ 
interlinear: 
/3a/ pnc[ 
/4/ k(. J n)[ 
interlinear: 



<1. 



/4a/ 

/5/ 

/6/ 

111 

181 

/9/ 

/10/ 

/ll/ 

/12/ 

/13/ 

/14/ 

/15/ 

/16/ 

1X1/ 

/18/ 

/19/ 

/20/ 

/21/ 

/22/ 



(■■)[ 



<1. 



< 1. 



;-jn 



. .ms.') [ 
r J m J nt(y)[ 3 
C)[ 5-6 ](. 



< 1. 

](y/p)rt[ 8 
ZY s(n) pr xwrm ZY 

(s)[ ] L J p8w(3s(n)tw ZY (rymnyt) 

[L 1 ] xnt OO rty kwprm z-w'nt(y) 

[ 4—5 ] (ZY) mwnw J rk kwn J (rty) 

['s]k 5 t(r) (x)w 8yw y8cw ptyrn 

i 3-4 ](. .t) rty n(w)[kr ]cy-wy88 

[ 6 ](.) Z(Y) (pr)Vs 7 OO OO 

[ 8 ] (Jwt 8yw 

xw(ty) xw [ 2 ](-)[l]k(.)r(.) (tnp'r xcy) 

C M pC)[ry](kt) 8 8ywty pr J yw OO ZY 

(pn)[c ]( J XYW-tr)t [Z]Kh pnc 

p(wt)yst ZY p(rys)t'ktw xnt 

ky ZY pr J pt J z-wrn J k (ZK)h 

rw( J n)[th J kw] wstmxs'r sk(rt) 

8Q[rnt OO ] OO ZY s(m)[n]w pr (p.)[3-4](t) 

p(.)[ 7-8 ]ZY(p Y )y-sty 



r/hl/ 
III 

121 
131 
141 
151 
161 



1 

1 ^ 
]him 

]did 

]■■■ 

](his) 
]did. 



7 The reading is not clear. Maybe all letters belong to one word and can be read 
nypys, "he wrote" (N. Sims-Williams, personal communication). 

8 Reading and reconstruction by W. Sundermann, personal communication. 



244 GHRISTIANE RECK 



111 


And this time at one day [ 


1 


/8/ 


brother did the work not quickly [ 


1 


/9/ 


and he killed him immediately. 




/10/ 


Furthermore he did ... in this way 




/ll/ 


to those three brothers. Therefore 




/12/ 


they did not give[ a command] 




/13/ 


quickly. [ 


1 


/14/ 


later the . . . [ 


1 


/15/ 


(fifth brother) [ 


1 


/16/ 


they/them [ 


1 


/17/ 


most wise [ ]. [An]d [s]o 




/18/ 


. . . (spoke): "He has killed my four 




/19/ 


brothers, and (now) 




/20/ 


he/the (fight/ salvation of) [ 


1 


/21/ 


. . . And now [ 


1 


/22/ 


vehement and (diffi)[cult 


1 


v/hl/ 


Five [ 


1 


III 


[ 


1 


111 


...[ 


1 


/3/ 


one [ 


1 


interlinear: 




/3a/ 


five/fifth [ 


1 


/4/ 


...[ 




/4a/ 


...[ 


1 


/5/ 


one . . . [ 


1 


/6/ 


always[ ]...[ 


1 


/7/ 


] and them in dust 




/8/ 


| ] they do not stick and they are 




/9/ 


[not] dirty. And as long as <he> [has 


been] 


/10/ 


living and did this work, 9 as much / and more 


/ll/ 


the demon [ ] any reason 




/12/ 


| ]. And [now] of this 




/13/ 


j ]and (he) sent. 




/14/ 


j ] the demon is 




/15/ 


self he/the 





9 Or: "As long as the [Redeemer] of the Living did this work" (W. Sundermann, 
personal communication). 



THE MIDDLE IRANIAN "TALE OF THE FIVE BROTHERS" 245 

/16/ together with the (remaining) demons. And 

/17/ the (five brothers) are the five 

/18/ Buddhas and (apostles), 

/19/ who guided the souls into the 

/20/ paradise during the seven periodes. 

/ 2 1 / And Ahriman in . . . 

/22/ [ ] and the gods 

The story contained in these fragments tells us something about brothers 
who are in conflict with a demon. We learn on the recto side that one 
brother could not do anything fast enough. That is why he was killed. 
Three brothers remain. The following parts are difficult to understand. 
Then one brother is speaking: "He has killed my four brothers . . ." So 
we may deduce that the story is about five brothers. Maybe the fifth 
brother strengthened his efforts in the fight against the demon. We do 
not know what happened. 

On the verso side we find the epimythion mentioned above: 'And 
the (five brothers) are the five Buddhas and (apostles), who guided 
the souls to paradise during the seven periods." So we learn that our 
presumption of five brothers is correct and that they are the five Bud- 
dhas and apostles. In the epimythion the devil is mentioned. I think, 
therefore, that one can identify the demon of the story with Ahriman. 
In the Manichaean myth Greed and Ahriman induced several persons 
to slander the apostles and to spoil the religions, as is mentioned in the 
Sogdian text So 18248 I, published by W B. Henning in "The murder 
of the magi." 10 

Who are the five Buddhas and apostles? I think that the expression 
"Buddhas and apostles" is used as a hendiadys, referring to the apostles 
of Light who have brought the redeeming knowledge to humankind 
and by this means show the way to paradise. Buddhas have been 
mentioned in this sense in various texts according to the Dictionary by 
Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst, 11 mainly in some Parthian and Middle 
Persian hymns. 



Henning 1944. 
Durkin-Meisternst 2004, 1 ] 



246 CHRISTIANE RECK 

What is surprising is the number of the apostles. Usually we know of 
four apostles: Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus Christ and Mani. 12 This list of 
four apostles is given in the quotation of the Sabuhragan by al-Birum, 13 
and in the list of apostles mentioned in the hymnic dialogue between 
Jesus and the child in the fragment M 42. 14 Lists of many transmitters 
of the divine manifestation are also preserved. In the Central Asiatic 
sources given by al-Sahrastanl, for example, these are Adam, Seth, 
Noah, Abraham, the Buddha, Zarathushtra, Christ, Paul and Muham- 
mad. 15 In another list: Sem, Sem, Enos, (Nikotheos,) and Henoch. 16 The 
list in the Coptic Kephalaia is: Sethel, Enosh, Enoch, Sem, Buddha 
Aurentes, Zarades, Jesus Christ; 17 this list unfortunately exceeds the 
desired number five. This subject has been discussed in detail by John 
C. Reeves, in a chapter on "Manichaeism and the Biblical forefathers" 
in his book Heralds of that Good Realm. 18 

But there are also lists of four prophets preceding Mani: The 
"Homily addressed to laymen" (ny'ws'k'n'k wy-SP'y) lists Adam, Azrusc 
(Zarathushtra), Buddha Sakman (Sakyamuni), and Christ. 19 In this text 
Adam is added to the common three predecessors of Mani. Another 
proof for the addition of Adam is given by the snatches of the legend 
of Zarathushtra, partly published by W. Sundermann. 20 These frag- 
ments may belong to a detailed description of the lives of the prophets 
before Mani, of which the so called 'Zarathustralegende' is one part. 
The other parts are very mutilated and cannot be reconstructed easily. 
Nevertheless the mention of the Jews and Paul, and the reconstruction 
of Adam make it a reliable assumption that the text deals with the 
predecessors of Mani. In M 129/r/ 15/ Adam receives the religion 
from Jesus the Splendor. 21 This agrees with a report by Theodore bar 



12 Kephalaia, 1. Haifa (Lfg. 1-10), Manichaische Handschriften der Staatlichen Museen 
Berlin 1, H.J. Polotsky and A. Bohlig, eds. (Stuttgart 1934-40), 7.6-8.7 (Gardner 1995, 
13). See Smagina 1992, 356-357. 

13 Chronology of Ancient Nations ed. by Sachau 1879, 190 and 207, 14-18. 
11 Andreas/Henning 1934, 879-881. 

15 Haarbriicker 1850, vol. I, 285-291, quoted from Bohlig/ Asmussen 1980, 155. 

16 Henning 1934, 27-28. 

17 Keph 1, 7.23-8.8 (Gardner 1995, 18). See Smagina 1992, 357. 

18 Reeves 1996, 5-30. 

19 Henning 1944, 136, 138, 140-141. In this text the victims of the slanderers are 
split between one in the West, Adam, and one in the East, the Brahmanic religion. 
This is the only passage where the Brahmanic religion is mentioned as one of the 
predecessors of Mani. 

20 Sundermann 1986, 465 and n. 24 (So 18432A78/ unpubl). 

21 Sundermann 1994, 319-320. 



THE MIDDLE IRANIAN "TALE OF THE FIVE BROTHERS" 247 

Konai. 22 This important story of Adam's enlightenment, repeated in 
multiple Manichaean sources, explains why Adam can be included in 
the line of the prophets. 

However, the Middle Persian fragments of the Book of Giants (M 101 a— n 
and M 911) give Sitpl] as first forerunner, followed by (reconstructed) 
[Zarathushtra,] Buddha, and Christ. 23 Four preceding Buddhas (ren- 
dered as "prophets" in Clark's translation) are mentioned also in the 
Turkish "Great Hymn to Mani," 66: "You descended after the four 
Prophets. You obtained the unsurpassable blessed state of being a 
Prophet"; 24 Clark argues that Sitil could be the additional prophet. So 
it is still undecided whether Adam or Sitil(Seth) should be added as 
the first apostle. 

Five Buddhas are mentioned also in several other Sogdian and 
Turkish texts. The liturgical fragment M 1 14, for example, mentions 
five Buddhas. 23 Henning has published also two lines of the Sogdian 
fragment M 6330 (/r/1— 2/), where "the five Buddhas of the three 
periods" are mentioned. 26 My colleague Jens Wilkens has informed me 
that there are five Buddhas in the Turkish fragment U 64a+b+Mainz 
435b. Here the Light-Nous is praised: "Mein Gott, der du, nachdem 
du die Weisheit der fiinf Buddhas herabkommen lieBest, in der Mitte 
der Ebene von Bizakiin erschienen bist . . ." 27 

Zs. Gulacsi has described three pictures as representations of the 
prophets preceding Mani: MIK III 4947 + MIK III 5d, 28 MIK III 
4970c, 29 and the lost fragment originally published by Le Coq on page 
8 of his Chotscho. 7 ' Le Coq himself already expressed his supposition 
that these are representations of Mani and his predecessors. 31 Refer- 
ring to the fragment MIK III 4947 + MIK III 5d, one could imagine 
that Mani is the central person in the middle of the painting, while his 
predecessors are sitting around him. We can conclude this from the title 
pwt "Buddha" written on the chest of the person in the right corner. 



22 Theodore bar Konai: Liber scholiorum, CSCO 69, A. Scher, ed., 317, quoted from 
Bohlig/Asmussen 1980, 107-108. 

23 Henning 1943, 57 lines 153-155, and 63. 
21 Clark 1982, 183 with note on 196-197. 

25 Henning 1937, 47. 

21 ' Henning 1936, 585 on zwrnyy. 

27 Wilkens 1999/2000, 222-223. 

28 Gulacsi 2001, nr. 66, 46-148. 

29 Gulacsi 2001, nr. 50.2, 117-118. 

30 Repr. Gulacsi 2001, 266. 

31 Le Coq 1923, 45. 



248 CHRISTIANE RECK 

In a Buddhist painting Buddha never would be a marginal figure. 
The reading is disputed, but I prefer the reading pwt. The lost picture 
possibly showed the same situation. Here the Nestorian cross lets us 
assume that Jesus was depicted. It is possible that these representations 
were formed like Buddhist Pranidhi-scenes. But of course we must 
be aware that these are all speculations because of the fragmentary 
character of the evidence. 

Now that we have an idea of the five prophets, what are the seven 
periods? In the text M 6330, quoted above, three periods are mentioned. 
The Manichaean religion itself is called sometimes "Religion of the 
two principles and the three periods." 32 These three periods are: (1) 
the existence of the Light and Dark Realm side by side, (2) the period 
of mixture, creation of the cosmos, and redeeming of the light, and 
(3) the separation of Light and Dark and the eternal peace. 33 The three 
periods are also mentioned in the Kephalaia, called the beginning, the 
middle and the end. 34 But these latter three periods are in fact divisions 
of the Middle period of mixture. Nevertheless, one cannot conclude 
that a clear regional difference existed on this subject between Eastern 
and Western Manichaean traditions. G. Wurst has shown that the three 
times of the Eastern tradition are reflected in the Coptic Bemapsalm 
223. 35 

A very common formula for the occasional appearance of the 
apostles in Manichaean Sogdian texts is zwrnyy zwrnyy "from time to 
time" (equivalent to the Middle Persian formula pd wm Wm), 36 for 
example in the as yet unpublished text, So 10200(5)/v/. This fragment 
and So 20192 once belonged to the same page. Here I quote only the 
pertinent passage: 

So 10200(5)/v/ 

/6/ [ctpjQrmykw 37 (nwy)[ my8 x](w)ty my8 "yty 
111 [ 3 ](...)[ 2 Jpty'mprt ZY py J y J ?- J nt 



32 For example in the Xwastwamft § VIII, Asmussen 1965, 196. 

33 See "The Compendium of the Doctrines and Styles of the Teaching of Mani, 
The Buddha of Light," 81al-10 (Schmidt-Glintzer 1987), 75. 

34 Keph 17, 55.16-57.32 (Gardner 1995, 59-61), cf. Nagel 1974, 204-207. 

35 Wurst 1994, 170-172. 

36 M 299a/ 1/ Henning, 1934, 27. 

37 The small piece at the beginning of the line should be turned over, because the 
punctuation mark belongs to the end of the line of the recto side. 



THE MIDDLE IRANIAN "TALE OF THE FIVE BROTHERS" 249 

181 [1— 2](t) ° (k)y z-wrny z-wrny z-mny' z-mny' 38 

191 (pr) p J cmp8 wxwz-Yitw 39 wyn'ncykw w(3 J ntw 

/10/ [l](.kw) (. J pyky) mrtxmyncw 8'my rsty r'8 

1 11 1 [1-2] (. . .)[l-2](p8) 'st'y(')[nt ZY 'kw ](w)[s]tm J xw s J r 

l\V ['sk'r|(')[ntw ] ° 

/6/ Fourth: The new day itself is the Tathagata, 

II I | ] the envoys and god's messengers 

181 \ ], who from period to period, time to time, 

191 descend to the world and become visible 

1 101 ( ) show the human beings the right way 

/ 1 1 / [from the world] and [lead] them to paradise. 

This passage refers to the apostles, called here pty'mprt ZY Py J y 
'z-y'nt, "envoys and god's messengers," who are sent by the Light-Nous 
to enlighten and to redeem humankind. A similar formula is given 
in the text So 14187 + So 14190. 40 In this text a lady asks Mani for 
forgiveness and confesses her faith with the words: 

IV [l](n/ J )k p/y/w)[7 ](. .k)[ zwrn]y z-w(r)[ny] 
131 cykt pwttysty ps'[Y](r)y[w](')k ZY pr[w] 

141 Pryst'k 

"[I was waiting] for the paraclete of the Buddhas of the different 
periods and for the apostle." This formula zwrny zwrnycykt pwtyst is 
also used in letters, e.g. L 44, line 8. 41 

So far, however, I have not found any evidence for a seven-period 
scheme in Manichaean texts. For this reason, we must look for such a 
concept in the materials of other religions with which Manichaeism had 
contact. One Zoroastrian apocalypse, the £and i Wahman Tasn, speaks 
about a tree which had seven branches, one of gold, one of silver, one 
of copper, one of brass, one of lead, one of steel and one on <which> 



38 There are two diacritical dots under the z of z-mny' in both cases. 

39 Unusual writing for 'wxz-. In this text the scribe several times wrote a super- 
fluous -w 

40 Reck 2007, 60-61, 11. 50-52. 

41 Sims-Williams 1981, 235-236. 



250 CHRISTIANE RECK 

iron had been mixed, which Zarduxst saw in his dream. 42 Could it be 
possible that these ideas influenced the interpretation of our story? 
Otherwise, the Buddhist tradition knows a succession of seven Bud- 
dhas: Vipashyin, Shikin, Vishvabhu, Krakuchchanda, Konagamana, 
Kashyapa and Sakyamuni. 43 The adherents of the Maitreya-schools 
await the future Buddha Maitreya. Do the seven periods reflect the 
eras of the former seven Buddhas? 

In Buddhism five Buddhas are known in the Buddhakula, the 
Buddha-family shown in the Mandala of the five Tathagatas: Vairo- 
chana, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi. 44 
Could it be that these ideas influenced the Manichaean interpretation 
of the story of the five brothers? We do not know. But the figures five 
and seven are very often used in the Manichaean literature itself. We 
know of many examples. Added, they yield 12, the next symbolic fig- 
ure in Manichaeism. 45 One can assume that the figures five and seven 
in this story are topoi for a better understanding of the Manichaean 
myth. We find the same usage of the figures five and seven in the 
epimythion of the parable of Basndad in MIK III 8259, published by 
W. Sundermann. 46 There seven ratnas (jewels) and five mahabhutas (great 
elements) are mentioned. The Sermon of the Soul contains five ratnas and 
five mahabhutas as part of many other identifications of the five divine 
light elements. 47 The similes given there end with the "fiinf briiderliche 
Wundentrager, aus denen der funffaltige Wald wachst." W Sundermann 
identifies the forest with the Manichaean church, i.e., the five ranks 
of the Manichaean hierarchy. But he admits that the allegory of the 
five wounded brothers is unusual. Could it be an allusion to our five 
brothers, the prophets of the true religion? 

What about literary antecedents of tales about brothers? Tales and 
mythological legends commonly involve three brothers. The two older 
ones fail; but the youngest brother, often under-estimated, is victorious. 48 



12 Cereti 1995, 151—152. The first chapter mentions only four branches of the tree, 
"of gold, silver, steel, and 'mixed' iron, symbolizing four periods to come after the 
millennium of Zarathustra." See Sundermann 1989, 492a. 

15 Troje 1925, 94—95 n. 2, and Lexikon der ostlichen Weisheitslehren, 51—54. 

11 Additional other lists of five Buddhas are known, see Lokesh Chandra, Dictionary 
of Buddhist Iconography, Bd. 4, 1128. 

15 Tables of pentads and dodecads are listed in Sundermann 1992, 137-141. 

46 Sundermann 1973, 98-99, text 33; facsimile: Gulacsi 2001, 58-60, transl. 221 
224, nr. 28. 

" Sundermann 1997, 86-87, with explanation on 141-142, § 119. 

48 Luthi 1979, col. 846. 



THE MIDDLE IRANIAN "TALE OF THE FIVE BROTHERS" 25 1 

A special form is that of the quick, dexterous or skillful brothers. 49 
The fact that one brother in our text could not do something fast 
enough leads us to assume that the abilities of the brothers also play 
an important role. 

There is a Buddhist story, the "Punyavanta-Jataka," 30 in which five 
princes have different merits or capabilities. The fifth brother, the most 
virtuous one, becomes the king after his father's death and the Buddha 
identifies himself with this brother, because he esteems virtuousness 
most. This story is transmitted in the Kalila wa Dimna as the story of the 
four friends. Its Indian origin was proved by J. Hertel.' 1 The Buddhist 
redaction enlarged the number of the four friends into five and changed 
the friends into brothers. Presumably this is not the same story as our 
parable. Unfortunately, we do not know enough of the parable of the 
five brothers in our Manichaean text to be able to compare it directly 
to these parallels. But it is an example of the victory of the fifth brother, 
whereas in many tales mostly only three brothers are in competition. 
We know, for example, the Manichaean story of the three princes in 
Old Turkic. 52 Unfortunately, its epimythion is not preserved. But the 
editors guess that the three princes and brothers could be identified 
with the three main envoys of the Manichaean myth: the Primal Man, 
the Living Spirit, and the Third messenger. 

However, the motif of brothers in contest or in struggle is famil- 
iar also in Manichaean lore. Yukiyo Kasai has recently published an 
article on "Ein Kolophon um die Legende von Bokug Kagan". 53 The 
legend is transmitted in Persian, Chinese, and Uygur. The texts differ 
in some points. I summarize briefly: There was a tree or two trees in 
Mongolia between two rivers. It / They got pregnant by the heavenly 
light. Then five children were born. The fifth was called Bokug. After 
he was grown up he became the ruler of Mongolia because he was 
the best or because of the death of the other children. In a night he 
dreamed that an old man in white clothes met him and gave him an 
oracle. Bokug became the king of the Uygurs. After his death the Uygurs 
lost the Mongol territory and went to the Tianshan area. According to 
Y. Kasai the tree, the heavenly light, and the white clothes show the 



Ranke 1979, col. 868. 

Sieg 1944, 18-20, and Dschi Hian-lin 1943, 284-303. 

Hertel 1914, 371-385. 

Geng Shimin/Klimkeit/Laut 1989, 329-345. 

Kasai 2004, 9 and n. 22. 



252 CHRISTIANE RECK 

Manichaean influence in this legend. I think that the figure five is also 
Manichaean. The fact that the fifth became the ruler is similar to the 
victory of the fifth brother in our tale. 

Looking for parallels in the Manichaean Middle Iranian litera- 
ture, I have found the small fragment M 6470, published by Werner 
Sundermann. 54 This fragment contains text in several languages: The 
headline and the last word of a Middle Persian text in the first line, 
a Sogdian sentence, and a Parthian story. Here I provide the text in 
English translation: 

The Middle Persian headline: 

'[The parable] s of the (two??) brothers sho[ws]" 

The last word of a Middle Persian text: 
"...increased." 

Sogdian: 

"To the (gods?) shall be [ ]." 

The Parthian Parable: 

"The parable (of) the evil demon: It is told, that there was an (evil) 
and thievish demon. And always he (damaged) [ ] and in a house 
| ] <verso> he is not able to do. The [ ] did it in one moment. 
One day the swift [ ] was not able to give a command to the older 
brother. Immediately the [ ] got up and killed him. And [ ] to 
[ ] to the fifth." 

What do both fragmentary texts have in common? A demon, brothers, 
that something is to be done swiftly enough, that the demon kills one 
brother, a fifth is mentioned, but we can not be sure whether the fifth 
brother is meant. The differences are that the title of the story given 
at the beginning in red is "The parable of the evil demon." On the 
top of the page is given: "The parables of the [ ] brothers show." 
W. Sundermann assumed in his edition that a b should fill the gap. He 
further assumed that the letter b is being used to represent the number 
2. This would be a unique use in Manichaean texts. On the basis of the 
remaining parts of the letters, I would suggest reading pnj. So we could 
read this headline: "The parables of the five brothers show." Another 
possible way to translate this sentence could be "It shows: The parables 



51 Sundermann 1973, 93-94, text 28; facsimile: Pis. 43 and 44. 



THE MIDDLE IRANIAN "TALE OF THE FIVE BROTHERS" 253 

of the five brothers." 55 The question remains why the word parable is 
in plural. Are there more parables of the five brothers? Is the parable 
with the evil demon only one of them? We do not know. 

Nevertheless both parables contain the element that one brother is 
not fast enough, and he is killed by the demon. That is why this frag- 
mentary parable could be the same story as the Sogdian one under 
consideration. 

In his paper at the fifth Conference on Manichaean Studies, Werner 
Sundermann presented the Ardhang wifras to us and identified the Ardhang 
with the Pragmateia? 6 Some of the fragments list resumes of parables. 
Sundermann pointed out that one of these, M 258, mentions the parable 
"About the demon who killed four brothers, and the youngest brother 
killed the demon" (see n. 16: "M 258/I/V/1-3/ J [c] (dy)w (ky)[ J w ] 
(cfr) br('dr)'(n)[ wjd] (Vd qs'dr br 'd V dyw Vjd)."). One can assume 
that this is the story of which remains are preserved in Parthian and 
in Sogdian. P. O. Skjaervo also presumes that the Pragmateia could have 
contained the legends about the Prophets and their times, and for this 
reason he came to the same conclusion as W Sundermann. 57 

The question is whether this story of the five brothers fighting against 
the demon is the same as that mentioned in the Ardhang wifras. If the 
Ardhang is to be identified with the Pragmateia and the Ardhang wifras is 
referring to this work, did Mani himself then identify the line of five 
prophets? If so, why did he not give the same line in the Sabuhragan? 

Jorinde Ebert has drawn my attention to a very fragmentary painting 
on silk which is housed in the Museum of Indian Art in Berlin under 
the number MIK III 6279 a— h. 58 It contains a very fragmentary text 
in Parthian and Middle Persian in Manichaean script of unfortunately 
unidentified content. 39 Therefore an identification of the illustration is 
not attempted. We could imagine that it shows the brothers fighting 
against the demon. But caution is called for, since we have no definite 
indication for this, besides the existence of a demon and at least two 
fighters. 

To sum up: There are two parables about five brothers, one in Par- 
thian, one in Sogdian. A demon kills one brother after the other. The 



Suggested by W. Sundermann. 

Sundermann 2005, 381-382. 

Skjaervo 1996, 624. 

Gulacsi2001, 171, fig. 77. 

Edited by J. BeDuhn in Gulacsi 2001, 243. 



254 CHRISTIANE RECK 

youngest brother overcomes the demon. The epimythion of the Sogdian 
story explains that the brothers are the five Buddhas and apostles, who 
guide the souls to paradise during the seven periods. We assume that the 
light apostles are meant and do not know who was the first apostle in 
this parable, because there are usually only four apostles mentioned in 
Manichaean literature. It could be Adam or Seth for example. We do 
not know which seven periods are meant. We can assume that Zoroas- 
trian or Buddhist traditions could have provided this scheme. But the 
most probable explanation is that the figures five and seven are used 
as topoi. The quotation of this story in the Ardhang wifras, if it refers 
to the Pragmateia, one of the canonical scripts by Mani himself, would 
allow us to conclude that he himself introduced the idea of a line of 
five prophets. We do not know whether he expressly had the Buddhist 
story of the five brothers in mind, or whether other ideas supplied him 
with this conception of his place in the history of religion. 



THE MIDDLE IRANIAN "TALE OF THE FIVE BROTHERS" 255 

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1979 Bruder, die behenden B., Enzyklopadie des Mdrchens, K. Ranke et al., eds. 
(Berlin), col. 868-871. 
Reck, Ch. 

2007 Die Bekehrung einer Christin zum manichaischen Glauben? Probleme bei 
der Interpretation eines fragmentarischen Textes, Inkulturation des Christentums 
im Sasanidenreich, A. Mustafa and J. Tubach with S. W. Vashalomidze, eds. 
(Wiesbaden), 55-70. 
Reeves, J. C. 

1996 Heralds of That Good Realm: Syro-Mesopotamian Gnosis and Jewish Traditions, Nag 
Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 41 (Leiden). 
Sachau, E. 

1879 The Chronology of Ancient Nations (London). 
Schmidt-Glintzer, H. 

1987 Chinesische Manichaica. Mit textkritischen Anmerkungen und einem Glossar, Studies in 
Oriental Religions 14 (Wiesbaden). 
Sieg, E. 

1943 Ubersetzungen aus dem Tocharischen, APAW 1943, Nr. 16, (Berlin), 18-20. 
Sims-Williams, N. 

1981 The Sogdian fragments of Leningrad, BSOAS 44.2: 231-240. 
Skjasrvo, P. O. 

1996 Zarathustra in the Avesta and in Manicheism. Irano-Manichaica TV, with 
a contribution by Peter Zieme, La Persia e lAsia Centrale da Alessandro al X 
secolo: convegno internazionale, roma, 9-12 novembre 1994, Accademia Nazionale dei 
Lincei. In Collaborazione con I'Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, Atti 
dei Convegni Lincei 127 (Roma), 597-628. 

Smagina, E. B. 

1992 Die Reihe der manichaischen Apostel in den koptischen Texten, Studia 
Manichaica: II. International Kongrefi zum Manichaismus, 6.-10. August 1989, St. 
Augustin/Bonn, Studies in Oriental Religions 23, H.-J. Klimkeit, ed. (Wies- 
baden), 356-366. 
Sundermann, W 

1973 Mittelpersische und parthische kosmogonische und Parabeltexte der Manichder mit einigen 
Bemerkungen zu Motiven der Parabeltexte von Friedmar Geissler, Berliner Turfantexte 
4 (Berlin). 

1985 Ein manichdisch-soghdisches Parabelbuch, Berliner Turfantexte 15 (Berlin). 

1986 Bruchstiicke einer manichaischen Zarathustralegende, Studia Grammatica Iranica. 
Festschrift fur Helmut Humbach, Miinchner Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft, n.E, 
Beiheft 13, R. Schmitt and P. O. Skjjervo, eds. (Miinchen), 461-482. 

1989 Bahman Yast, Encyclopedia Iranica, vol. 3, pp. 492a-493b. 

1992 Der Sermon vom Licht-Nous. Eine Lehrschrift des ostlichen Manichaismus. Edition der 

parthischen und soghdischen Version, Berliner Turfantexte 1 7 (Berlin). 
1 994 Eva illuminatrix, Gnosisforschung und Religionsgeschichte: Festschrift fur Kurt Rudolph 

zum 65. Geburtstag, H. Preissler and H. Seiwert, eds. (Marburg), 317-327. 

1997 Der Sermon von der Seek: Eine Lehrschrift des ostlichen Manichaismus. Edition der 
parthischen und soghdischen Version mit einem Anhang von Peter 2j,eme: Die tilrkischen 
Fragmente des "Sermons von der Seek", Berliner Turfantexte 19 (Turnhout). 



THE MIDDLE IRANIAN "TALE OF THE FIVE BROTHERS" 



257 



200.-1 



Troje, L. 
1925 

Wilkens, J. 
1999/2000 

2003 



Wurst, G. 
1994 



Was the Ardhang Mani's Picture-Book? // Manicheismo. Muove prospettive 
della ricerca. Atti del quinto congresso internazionale di studi sul manicheismo, 
dipartimento di Studi Asiatici, Universitd degli Studi di Napoli "L-Orientale" , 
Napoli, 2—8 Settembre 2001, Manichaean Studies 5, Alois van Tongerloo 
and Luigi Cirillo, eds. (Turnhout), 373-384. 

Die Dreizehn und die Z wo tf in Traktat Pelliot (Dogmen in Zahlenformeln): Ein 
Beitrag zu den Grundlagen des Manichdismus (Leizpig). 

Ein manichaisch-tiirkischer Hymnus auf den Licht-Nous, Ural-Altaische 

Jahrbucher, N.F. 16: 217-231. 

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Symposions vom 7. Bis 10. Mai 2001, VerofFentlichungen der Societas 

Uralo-Altaica 61, S. Bretfeld und J. Wilkens, eds. (Wiesbaden), 239- 

258. 

Zur Bedeutung der "Drei-Zeiten"-Formel in den koptisch-manichai- 
schen Texten von Medinet Madi, Peregrina Curiositas: Eine Reise durch 
den orbis antiquus. 2ji Ehren von Dirk Van Damme, Novum Testamentum 
et Orbis Antiquus 27, A. Kessler, ed. (Gottingen), 167-179. 



A MANICHAEAN COLLECTION OF LETTERS 
AND A LIST OF MANI'S LETTERS IN MIDDLE PERSIAN 

Werner Sundermann 
Berlin 



Mani, the 'Apostle of Jesus Christ," not only copied St. Paul's self- 
presentation in the incipit of his letters; he by far outdid him as a 
prolific writer of instructive and hortative epistles to individuals and 
communities of his church. His disciples followed the master's pattern. 
They are mentioned as fellow-authors of some of Mani's letters, 1 or 
they composed their own epistles. 2 Furthermore there were certainly 
parishes who did not hesitate to turn to Mani when they felt they were 
in need of an authorized decision on problems. 3 So there must have 
existed a voluminous and multifarious epistolary Manichaean literature 
from the beginning of Manichaeism. 

Thanks to a precious tradition preserved in the Dublin Kephalaia we 
know that Mani employed a clerical office. He dictated (as St. Paul did) 
letters to his staff meant to be sent to more than one addressee (and to 
be archived). 4 It is small wonder that Mani's disciples and certainly the 
master himself 5 began to collect and archive this wealth of epistolary 
production, and that the collection of Mani's letters was subsequently 
regarded as one of Mani's canonical works, a canonized collection, 
it is true, which gained less reputation than his Gospel, his Treasure of 
Life, etc., since, according to the 148th Kephalaion, the epistles were not 
revealed by a deity but composed by Mani himself 6 

Epistolary collections have been known for a long time. An-Nadim 
gave in his Fihrist al-'ulum a list of letters by Mani and, as he put it, wa 
l-a'imati ba'dahu (and the Imams after him). 7 But an-Nadim does not 
clearly specify which of the listed letters were composed by people 



Schmidt 1933, 23 (Koustaios); Henning 1937, 18 - 1977, I, 432 (Mar Ammo). 

Andreas, Henning 1934, pp. 857-860 = 1977 I, pp. 284-287 (Sisinnios?). 

Cf. in the text to be published here frg. 1, /V/12-16. 

Quoted after Funk 1997, 158 (chapter 333). 

Schmidt 1933, 26. 

Kephalaia I, zweite Halfte, ed. Funk 1999, 355. Cf. Henning 1952, 208-209. 

Fliigel 1862, 73-76, 103-105; Dodge 1970, 799-800. 



260 WERNER SUNDERMANN 

other than Mani. Among the Coptic Manichaean texts of Medinet 
Madi there was also a corpus of letters by Mani and his disciples. 8 It 
was taken to Berlin, only to disappear for the most part in the chaotic 
events of 1945 and 1946 before it could be edited and published. 9 What 
has been left is, for the time being, a couple of folios, and a reliable 
description of the manuscript by Carl Schmidt already in 1933. 10 It is 
good news, however, that the editorial work on those parts which are 
presently accessible has been recently taken up by W.-P. Funk and I. 
Gardner, the first results of whose work already has been published. 11 

Single letters or excerpts of Mani's letters, intended to be read in 
the liturgical service, have turned up among the Iranian Manichaean 
Turfan texts; 12 but many more letter fragments in Sogdian language are 
products of the Central Asian community and thus of a later date, 13 as 
are also most of the recently found Coptic Manichaean letters of the 
Kellis oasis. 14 Those among the letters from Kellis, however, that cer- 
tainly or most likely belong to the corpus of Mani's canonical epistles 
will be published by I. Gardner in collaboration with W.-P. Funk. 10 In 
addition, some letters of Mani are quoted by Christian polemicists, 
such as the Epistula Fundamenti, cited so often by Augustine that it has 
been possible to reconstruct long passages of its text, 16 or Mani's let- 
ter to Menoch quoted by Julian of Eclanum against Augustine, but of 
doubtful authenticity 17 

These testimonies suffice to prove the presence of Mani's letters wher- 
ever Manichaeism took root, and to prove the existence of epistolary 
collections of his letters in Mesopotamia and Egypt. It is by no means 
sure that such collections were faithful renderings of Mani's original 
corpus of letters as a canonical book of his church. Of an-Nadim's 
Arabic list of 76 letters one can say that it represents a rather incom- 
plete collection of what the second or third generation had of the 
epistolary material of the first generation. Such a re-edition may have 



8 Schmidt 1933, 23-26. 

9 Robinson 1992, 55-57. 

10 Cf. n. 8. 

11 Gardner 2001, 97-104. 

12 Boyce 1960, 147. 

13 Cf. the provisional remarks in Boyce 1968, 73. 

14 Gardner 1997, 84-94; Gardner, Alcock, Funk 1999; Gardner, Lieu 2004, 
272-281. 

15 Gardner 2001, 95-97. 

16 Feldmann 1987; Stein 2002. 

17 Stein 1998, cf. esp. 36-37, 39. 



A MANIGHAEAN COLLECTION OF LETTERS 261 

been made easier because of the relatively low grade of canonicity of 
Mani's letters. 

It was to be expected that epistolary collections existed also in the 
Eastern Manichaean tradition. It can now be proved in the case of 
Manichaean literature in Middle Persian language, thanks to a number 
of small fragments the writing style of which, more cursive than formal, 
proves that they belong to one and the same manuscript. They are the 
following fragments: M 501p, M 882c, M 1402, M 5770, M 5771, 
M 5772, M 6604, M 6935, M 6944, and M 9152. Taken by themselves 
they hardly make sense. And yet, Mary Boyce was able to communicate 
Henning's discovery that M 882c was a part of a "letter of Mani." 18 

This is true, and it becomes even more obvious once one joins most 
of the small pieces to fragments of two codex sheets. Two groups 
emerge: (1) M 5770 + M 5771 + M 5772 + M 6604 and (2) M 501p + 
M 882c + M 1402 + M 9152. Two fragments, M 6935 and M 6944, 
seem to remain isolated. 

I have known this for quite a while now. But only now that I have 
taken the time to scrutinize these pieces more carefully have I discovered 
that they are not the remains of one letter, but of at least two letters, 
both probably by Mani, and of the introduction to yet another letter, 
addressed to Mani and written by representatives of the Manichaean 
church. The letters were assembled in a book of codex format. That 
much seems to be certain. But the sequence of the texts on the two sides 
of the two sheets of paper remains doubtful. The assumed sequence 
of Recto and Verso of both sheets follows the supposed and partly 
restored line of thought. The side margins offer no criteria. Fragment 1 
has none, fragment 2 does, but unfortunately both of equal breadth. 
My arrangement of sheet 1 and 2 is tentative and based only on the 
possibility that letter 2 of fragment 2 is an answer to question(s) put in 
fragment 1, lines 12— 16 Verso(?). The texts as I understand them are 
presented in facsimile in the plates, and in transliteration and transla- 
tion in an appendix. Letter 1 begins on fragment 1, line 1 Recto, and 
ends in line 12 Verso before the punctuation marks. Following those 
marks and up to the end of fragment 1 (/V/16/), the announcement 
of a letter is given. Letter 2 covers the whole of fragment 2. The more 
comprehensible letter 2 was evidently sent to a group of addressees. 



18 Boyce 1960, 60. M 6604 is identified, however, as belonging to a "hymn to the 
hierarchy" (123). 



262 WERNER SUNDERMANN 

That distinguishes it from letter 1, the addressee of which is a single 
person. 

The receivers of the second letter are called 'sm'h dwsyst'n, "you (PL), 
the most beloved" (/R/3, 5/), or just 'sm'h, "you (PI.)" (/V/3/), and 
once br'dr'n dwsyst'n, "most beloved brethren" (/V/5/). Who might those 
"most beloved brethren" be? No obvious proper name or place name 
is to be found. But there is a faint possibility that the letters ] (wr)s'n 
in /R/5/ are the end of a country's name or even the whole of it. 
wrs'n is very much like the spelling wyrsn of the name "Georgia" in the 
Parthian version of the inscription of Shapur I at the Ka'ba-i Zardust 
which should render a Parthian form Wirzdn. 19 If we can assume that 
the author of the Middle Persian letter used the Parthian form of the 
country's name in the contemporary Parthian Pahlavi spelling, then a 
letter to Georgia might be proposed in which the writer expresses his 
wish that the whole Manichaean community of the country, from broth- 
ers and sisters in the spirit to servants and slaves, should fare well. The 
appearance of a Parthian local name in a Middle Persian text might 
cause surprise. But it would not be exceptional. The opposite took place 
in the Parthian version of the Manichaean missionary history where 
the proper Middle Persian form wrwc'n is used. 20 

The author of the letter makes it clear that he has not yet met the 
community there but that he desires to visit and see them, as he puts it, 
with his "corporeal eyes" (/V/7/). The words he uses are csm 'y ns'hyn. 
It is remarkable that nasdhen, lit. "of the dead body, from the corpse," is 
here used without any negative connotation at all. It is another example 
of what J. P. Asmussen called the "de-demonisation" of Zoroastrian 
terms when he commented on the change of meaning of the Avestan 
word busiiqstd, "demon of sleepiness," to Middle and New Persian (and 
esp. Jewish Persian) busdsb, busyds, etc., "sleep" and "dream." 21 

Was there, then, a letter to Georgia? It is not attested in any of the 
collections or lists of letters. But that does not mean that there was none. 
In any case, if my understanding of Manichaean missionary history is 
correct, Mani himself went to Georgia and won over its king Habza 
for the Manichaean faith. 22 Henning, it is true, localized the country 



19 Gignoux 1972, 67. 

20 Sundermann 1986, 281-283 = 2001, 317-319. 

21 Asmussen 1982, 112-121. 

22 Sundermann 1974, 131-132; idem 1981, 24-25. 



A MANICHAEAN COLLECTION OF LETTERS 263 

in question, there written wrwc'n, in the area of modern Afghanistan, 23 
but allowed later for the possibility that the name meant Georgia. 24 

If that were so, it would seemingly go against my assumption that 
Mani was the author of the letter. If he had already been to Georgia, 
how could he say that he did not know the members of its community? 
On the other hand, the conversion of the Warucan-sah might have been 
the first and last thing Mani achieved in Georgia. The Manichaean 
community might have grown under the protection of the Warucan- 
sah after Mani's departure. 

It is much more difficult to give an opinion on the first letter (frag- 
ment 1, /R/l/ - /V/12/). It can safely be stated, however, that the 
addressee is one person only. The writer just calls him (or her) "you" 
(Sg, twyc, "you also," /R/5/, cf. 'bryyt, "upon you," /V/10/). The 
sender formulates his injunctions as Singular Imperative forms (twxs, 
"strive!" /R/7/, wynyyr, "arrange (it)!" /R/14/). 

An interesting detail which can be gathered from the defective text of 
this letter is that it was a second message to one and the same person. 
This follows from /R/7— 9/ where the fragmentary phrases are recogniz- 
able "strive that that epistle . . .," "and also this second one which I now 
[send]," "to be read and to be placed on it" (i.e. the second letter should 
be put on top of the first one). The list of Manichaean letters offers 
more than one example of two or more of Mani's letters addressed to 
one person. An-Nadim precisely mentions "The First Epistle to Maynaq 
the Persian (fern.!)" 25 and "The Second Epistle to Maynaq," and also 
"The Epistle of (i.e. to) Ardasir and Maynaq." 26 Already Fliigel 27 and 
Alfaric 28 noticed that this Maynaq must be the virgin Menoch. A letter 
of Mani's to Menoch was quoted at length by Augustine, but, as was 
stated already, its authenticity is doubtful. Anyway, it would be rash to 
conclude that the Middle Persian text stems from Mani's second letter 



23 Hemiing 1945, 87-89 = 1977, II, 227-229. 

24 Henning 1947, 49, n. 1 = 1977, II, 283; idem 1952, 206, n. 9. 

25 Arab. Risala Maynaq al-jarisiya al-ula, which could also be translated as "The First 
Persian Epistle to Maynaq" (so Gardner and Lieu), but hardly as "the first epistle to 
Maynaq, Al-Farisiyah" (Dodge). My translation follows Fliigel, presupposing the identity 
of Arab. Maynaq and Lat. Menoch. 

26 Fliigel 1862, 75, 11. 11-13, cf.104; Dodge 1970, 801; Gardner, Lieu 2004, 166. 

27 Fliigel 1862, 379-380. 

28 Alfaric 1919, 70, 74. 



264 WERNER SUNDERMANN 

to Maynaq or Menoch, and it is not surprising that nothing identical 
with the Latin text of the letter to Menoch can be found. 29 

Finally, the last lines of the first fragment, /V/12 - 16/, need some 
comment. A question is put by high-ranking representatives of the 
Manichaean hierarchy and by some "brethren," and it is sent to what 
I restore as [p](dy)stnywjdhr, "the holy place" (/V/16/), which certainly 
refers to Mani's residence or even Mani himself. 

The end of the last line is filled with punctuation marks. So a new 
text must have followed. It was either the letter of the community to 
Mani or, if this text was skipped, Mani's answer(s) to the question(s) 
put to him. Mani's reaction to the community's letter must have been 
a message to a group of recipients like the second letter of this manu- 
script. It is tempting to assume that the second letter itself is this answer 
of Mani. But unfortunately it cannot be proved. 

The merit of the two small fragments 3 and 4 is twofold: they con- 
firm the epistolary character of the whole manuscript, and they attest 
the irregular intrusion of the Parthian word form 'rw'n'n instead of 
rw'n'n. Whatever the explanation for this phenomenon is, it might lend 
support to my suggestion to interpret the letters ]wrs'n in the second 
fragment as "Georgia," as another intrusion of a Parthian form into 
the language of the letter. 

The text fragments which I present here are but a few only of at 
least 49 text fragments of letters in Manichaean script and of possibly 
28 letter fragments in Sogdian script which came down to us from 
Turfan and are now housed in the Berlin Academy. Most of them are 
parts of letters written in or sent to addressees in Central Asia without 
any claim to a canonical status like those letters which I published in 
1984 30 and which Yoshida published in 2000. 31 Their historical value, 
however, may be great. 

The notable exception is fragment So 15502 (T III D 271k). It lists 
a number of (doubtlessly Mani's) canonical letters and accuses a group 
of heretics of disfiguring the word of those authoritative works. The 
fragment has recently been read again by Christiane Reck who has 
described it in her catalogue of Manichaean texts in Sogdian script. 32 



29 Gardner, Lieu 2004, 172-174. 

30 Sundermann 1 984, 289—3 1 6, re-edited in the Emmerick Memorial Volume (Sun- 
dermann 2007, 403-421). 

31 Yoshida 2000, 3-199. 

32 Reck 2006, 172. 



A MANICHAEAN COLLECTION OF LETTERS 265 

She successfully identified the names of two letters which I had not 
understood when I came across the text years ago. The relevant pas- 
sage can be read and translated as follows: 

/V/10/ ZY ZKwy np'ky frm'nh ptwy-rfnt 

11/ 'wn'kw cw ZY ZKwy-h xr8y J n(?) 33 Prwrt'(k) [w] 

1 2 / (Z)Y t J 5y-(s) [t'ny 34 ] (P)rwrty (oo m) [ry ] (sy-s) [y-n] 

13/ Prwrt'kw sy-sy-n tw p(yk')[ry Prwrt'kw] 

14/ "p J pry Prwrt y[ j 

15/ [p J ](p)yl prwrt'kw [ | 

/V/10/ And in the Scriptur(es) they turn away 3S the command 

11/ such as in the Letter to the Khaldeans(?), i6 

12/ and the Letter (on) the Judgment/' 1 the Mar Sisin — 

13/ Letter^), [the Letter] (to) Sisin (on) the Two Im[ages], 

14/ the Letter (to) Aba (on) Love [ j 

15/ the Letter (to) [Ba]bel [ ] 

The titles of seven of certainly many more letters are preserved in this 
fragment. Some but not all of them have an equivalent in an-Nadim's 
list of letter titles. One is the Letter (on) the Judgment if that is the risala 
qada al-'adl "Letter on the execution of justice." 38 The [Letter] (to) Sisin 
(on) the Two ImfagesJ corresponds to Arabic risala sis dat al-waghaini. 39 
It was translated by Fliigel as "das doppelsinnige Sendschreiben des 
Sis," noting, however, that the literal translation would be "mit zwei 
Gesichtern." 40 Dodge rendered it loosely as "the double epistle to Sis," 41 
and no closer to the text is M. Lallan's translation, quoted by Gardner 



33 Instead of r an / is possible, y doubtful and only possible if of very small size. 

34 Reading and translation Yoshida (at Sundermann 1986, 61, n. 64 = 2001, 238). 
It is more likely than my previous reading t'Sy (s)jysyn ](fi)rwrty since in that case traces 
of the bottom part of the second s should be visible. 

35 Cf. Gharib 1995, 321 s.v. ptw'yrt. 

36 Not attested otherwise. If xrSy 'n may be read Xalddydn it would render Syriac kldy ' 
(xaldaye), i.e., people living in southern Babylonia or Babylonian priests. 

37 Cf. note 33 and especially Sundermann 1986, 61, n. 64 = 2001, 238. 

38 Fliigel 1862, 73, 1. 13, cf. 103. Dodge convincingly comments that the title "very 
likely refers to the divine judgement" (Dodge 1970, 799, n. 282). 

39 Fliigel 1862, 74, 1. 5-6, cf. 103. 

40 Fliigel 1862, 103, 374. 
11 Dodge 1970, 799. 



266 WERNER SUNDERMANN 

and Lieu, "The dualist Epistle of Sis." 42 If one derives the Arabic title 
"Letter (to) Sisin, possessing the two images" from a Middle Persian 
tide Sisin do paikar frawardag, it becomes obvious that do paikar = waghaini 
means the zodiacal sign of Gemini. 47, Gemini may have been a charac- 
teristic topic of this letter, be it as the celestial constellation, or as an 
illustration of the communion of Mani with his spiritual twin. The Letter 
(to) Aba (on) Love and the Letter (to) [Ba]bel were convincingly restored 
and identified by Christiane Reck, the first one against my objection 
that pry (fri) means "beloved, dear" in Sogdian and not "love" which 
is fntdt. But the problem is solved once one realizes that this tide, like 
the other ones, is Middle Persian and not Sogdian, so that the spelling 
in Sogdian script pry stands for Middle Persian pry(y)h (friyih) "love." 
The Arabic equivalent is Risdla Aba fi l-hubb. 44 The Letter (to) Babel cor- 
responds largely to an-Nadim's Risdla Babil al-kabira, the Great Letter (to) 
Babel. 45 The correspondence would be exact if we restore wz'rk ppyl 
firwrt'kw, Great Letter (to) Babel. 

Without equivalent in an-Nadim's list is the title that I read as 
xr8y'n(?) firwrt'(k)[w], Letter (to) the Khaldeans, which makes my explanation 
doubtful. The Mar Sisin - Letter, a somewhat unspecific and problematic 
restoration, could stand for three letters addressed to Sisin that are 
mentioned by an-Nadim. 

Another Sogdian text, M 915, listing among other works of the 
prophet the letters to Armenia ('rmyn (f)[rwr0yj — Arabic Risdla 
Arminya) 46 and to Sisinnios and Pattikios (sysn ppy frwrp(y) perhaps = 
Arabic Risdla Sis wa Futtaqfi s-suwar) 41 was published in 1952 by Hen- 
ning. 48 Further letters of Mani quoted in Iranian Manichaean texts 
or mentioned by name are the Letter of the Seal (muhr dib) 49 the Letter 
to Mesdn (on) the two bodies (frawardag Mesun i do tanwdr), 50 the Letter (to) 
the Presbyters (frawardag i (mah)istagdn = Arabic Risdla al-kubara ') , 51 and, 
in the same text, the Letter (to) Hattd (frawardag i Hattd = Arabic Risdla 



Gardner and Lieu 2004, 165. 

Chr. Brunner in Encyclopedia Iranica (London, New York, 1987), Vol. 2, 866. 

Fliigel 1862, 74, 1. 10, cf. 104. 

Fliigel 1862, 74, 1. 6, cf. 103. 

Fliigel 1862, 73, 1. 14, cf. 103. 

Flugel 1862, 74, 1. 6-7, cf. 103. 

Henning 1952, 206. 

Henning 1937, 18 = Henning 1977, I, 432, M 720c, M 1313, So 18151. 

M 731 in Boyce 1975, 185. 

Fliigel 1862, 73, 1. 12, cf. 103. 



A MANICHAEAN COLLECTION OF LETTERS 267 

Hattd 52 ) , 3? ' and the Big Letter (to) India (frawardag THind[ugdn i] wuzurg 3 * — 
Arabic Risdla Hind al-'a^ima). 55 

As for Mani's canonical letters, a general problem is that it is dif- 
ficult and sometimes impossible to distinguish between instructive and 
exhortative epistles on the one hand and homiletic treatises on the other. 
Another problem is the reliable identification of fragments belonging 
to the manuscripts containing letters. The well-known variety of Man- 
ichaean writing styles is certainly a great help. But it could happen that 
different manuscripts were written in the same or nearly the same hand. 
The epistolary manuscript which I presented here is a case in point. 
There are some fragments (M 5098 + M 9056) with almost the same 
handwriting and similar contents. But similarity is not identity, and so 
I left those fragments out, which would be the wrong decision if one 
allows for the possibility that a text's writing style may slightly change 
from the incipit to the colophon. Therefore those texts which can safely 
be determined as letters may be just a minimal choice. But even so, a 
comprehensive edition and re-edition of Manichaean letter fragments 
in Iranian languages is a worth-while task for the future. 



52 Fliigel 1862, 76, 1. 1, cf. 104. 

53 M 733 in Boyce 1975, 184. 

54 M 1221 /p.l/ii/8-9/. 

55 Fliigel 1862, 73, 1. 12, cf. 103. 



268 



WERNER SUNDERMANN 



Appendix: The text of the collection of 
Middle Persian Manichaean letters 

First fragment: M 5770 + M 5771 + M 5772 + M 6604. The pieces 
join as follows: M 5772 /pp. 1&2/1-8/, M 5771 /pp. 1&2/9-11/, 
M 5770 /pp. 1&2/12-16/, M 6604 /pp. 1&2/12-16/. Measures: 
9.4 x 7.0 cm. 



/p. 1/ 1/ 
2/ 
3/ 
4/ 
5/ 
6/ 
7/ 
8/ 
9/ 
10/ 
11/ 
12/ 
13/ 
14/ 
15/ 
16/ 

/p. 1/ 1/ 
2/ 
3/ 



](st u) P C)[ 
]y J ndrz y yzd[ J n 
h](wr)w J nyh 56 pr J c wyn J (r)[ 
p](r) J c wyn'ryd (.)[ 

](•) Vg tw y c P( d >m )[ 

p](r) J c hrw'gwc hy J (r) b J s[ 

jQwn twxs kw h'n prwrdg [ 

](.)[ ±5 ](wd u) ync y dwdyg c yym nw(n)[ 

](.)yy xwndn s pdys cyydn u pd hr(w)[ ±1 ](. 

](g) J (ry)h wyn'rdn u h'm'wxyy(h) [ J 

](')n J ndws prm'(y 37 qyr)[dn 

](x)[w] > ny[h > ](d) 58 Vt myzd u p'd'sn ( J )[ 

](.) u ('m^-hyc 39 pdys hwsnwd u 'sp'fsd'r 

] u wynyyr pd dsn y drwd u h J n yzd y '(.)[ 

](b)r J d c ym gr'myg pd hrw pr'(rwn) [yh 60 

](V)t hrw pty'r wzynd u gwm(')[n 

] and [ 

] the command of the God[s 61 

the pijety 62 set forth! 63 [ 



56 Hardly ](.d)w'nyh. The dot over the r must have been torn off 

57 Last letter covered by paper fold. 

58 Doubtful. Last letters blurred by traces of script showing through from the other 
side. 

59 m ' and hyc written separately. The bottom of the m is slightly displaced so that 
it looks like the lower part of a z- 

60 rum partly covered by paper fold. 

61 For MP. 'ndrz y yzd'n cf. Parth. 'ndrzyzd'n and yzd'n 'ndrz (Sundermann 1997, 
80-81 [§§ 73, 77] and 125). 

62 Certainly the community of the lay people (cf. Durkin-Meisterernst 2004, 194). 
bi Or, if wyn'd is to be read instead of wyn' (r), "(it) will see." 



A MANIC HAEAN COLLECTION OF LETTERS - APPENDIX 



269 



4/ 

5/ 

6/ 

7/ 

8/ 

9/ 

10/ 

11/ 

12/ 

13/ 

14/ 

15/ 
16/ 

/p. 2/1/ 
2/ 

3/ 
4/ 
5/ 
6/ 
7/ 
8/ 
9/ 
10/ 



] he will set [f]orth 64 [ 

] then you also [ 

] thereupon 65 be you a helper everywhere [ 

s]o strive that that epistle 66 [ 

] and also this second one which I now[ send(?) 

] to read and to gather 6 ' it with it and to every [ 

] to arrange and unanimous [ly 

] condescend to make familiar [with 

shall be] recited(?), and your reward and 
recompense [ 

] and we too [shall be] contented and grate [ful] 68 
through it [ 

] and arrange (it) with the right hand of well-being, 
and that God of [ 

]my dear brother, with all righteousness 

] and to you all mischief, damage and doubt [ 

]p 169 gwwg[ 70 

]br J dr dws[yst 

](.)s h'(n)ys'n pdy(.)[ 

] J wd k J J ndr[ 

](w's)ysn y grd(w)[n 

](r)d h'nd u wzrg swd u w(h)[ybg J ryh 

] J d u pd hrw xrd brhm (u)[ 

] J gnyn hs'xt ffnd yg ps[ 

]h pyr yg 71 'b'c pd drystyy (u)[ 

|' 'bryyt drystyh u Qsp [wrgTyh 



64 Or "y ou (pi.) arrange"? The restoredyra<: may simply intensify the meaning of the 
verb, unless it is the final part of a phrase az. . .fraz "above/after (something)." 

65 I assume that jrdz has to be restored again and that it belongs to a construction 
az. . .fraz described under the previous note. Or "beyond that"? 

66 After frawardag a word seems to be deleted. It might have been the name of the 
letter. 

67 I.e. "to join it with the first letter"? For cidan "gather, pile up" cf. MacKenzie 
1970, 22. The other option, to translate "to mourn, lament, grieve" does not make 
sense in the given context. 

68 For ispasdar cf. MacKenzie 1970, 76, s.v. spds-dar. Here ispds rather means "grati- 
tude" than "service." 

69 Or (s) ' ? 

70 Or gww g(.)[ ? 

' ' Hardly pyr 'yg, written in two words. 



270 



WERNER SUNDERMANN 



11/ 
12/ 
13/ 
14/ 
15/ 

16/ 

/p. 2/ 1/ 
2/ 
3/ 

4/ 
5/ 
6/ 

7/ 

8/ 

9/ 

10/ 

11/ 



]xy(h J )snwym s pd(.)[ 

](y m)- J ny u J myn(?) o/o u pwrsyn(d.)[ 

'] (s)psg'n u mhystg'n y xw J (s) [t] (yh .) [ 

mj^rsrY'n hmys hm'ywyn b^pdr'n 

h](n)zmn'n ws'n prysfd [ 

p](dy)stn ywjdhr o 8 [ 

]...?...[ 

most] beloved brother [ 
]that 72 their...?. ..[ 
]and when in(?)[ 
]the rest(?) 73 of the sky[ 74 
] they will be, and great benefit and 
improve [ment 75 

] and with all behaviour of wisdom and[ 

] together they will be prepared. Then after [(?) 

] ornament' 6 again in well-being and[ 

] on you well-being and com[pletion 

] 7 ' I hear 78 and it [ 



' 2 Dem. pron. 

73 w'sysn, not attested so far, and if it is a complete word, might be a derivation 
from MP. *was- "sich beruhigen" (Weber 1970, 115), cf. w'syn- "to calm" which seems 
not to make very good sense, however, in the present context (and Skjaervo's "to don" 
does not make sense either, cf. Durkin-Meisterernst 2004, 336). Unlikely are also "the 
roaring of the sky" (to Sogd. w's, Khot. mass-) and a number of other options. Less 
unlikely would be a comparison with Av. vd- "wehen" and Sogd. w's "anfangen zu 
wehen" (Weber 1970, 115), but that would only be imaginable if semantic extension 
from "blowing" (intransitive) to "moving" or "be moved" might be assumed. In that 
case "the movement of the sky." 

" For gardun cf. New Persian gardun "a wheel; heaven, the celestial globe or sphere; 
chance, fortune and her revolving wheel..." (Steingass 1963, 1081). 

75 Certainly a word beginning with why- "better" has to be restored. The most 
meaningful alternative of whybg'ryh, whywn "betterment, improvement," is attested so 
far only in Parthian (Durkin-Meisterernst 2004, 342). 

76 Or "decorating." Or should one read pyr yg? 

" The letters Jxyh at the beginning of the line might be the end of jrwxyh "fortune, 
prosperity" or h'm'wxyh "harmony." 

/S Or perhaps, as a late form, "we hear." 



A MANIC HAEAN COLLECTION OF LETTERS - APPENDIX 



271 



12/ 
13/ 
14/ 

15/ 
16/ 



1 



I ] 79 Mani. And amen! - 80 And they ask, [ 

| the] bishops and the presbyters of peacefulness 81 [ [ 
| together] with the hymn-singers (and) likewise the 

breth [ren | 

| the congregations, And they sent [a letter to the j 

[ ]holy [pi] ace 82 . 83 [ ] 



Second fragment: M 501p + M 882c + M 1402 + M 9152. The pieces 
join as follows: M 1402: /pp. 1&2/1-5/, M 882c: /pp. 1&2/1-8/, 
M 501p: /pp. 1&2/5-8/, M 9152 /pp. 1&2/5-7/. Measures: 5.5 x 
13.3 cm. 



/p. 1/ 



1/ 

2/ 
3/ 
4/ 
5/ 

6/ 



±5 ] kw V dwsys(t)['n ±2 ]( ±3 )[ ±10 
±3 ](p)d r'mysn Vd drwd phryzyyd o (.)[ ±6 
V](h) kw pd hyTbwdyh y frystg'n J sm J h dwsy(stn) 84 
±4 ] (d)ryst hyd wd J c tn "rg syrq Vd prmyyn 
±6 ](. wrjs'n 85 (kr'n) 86 br'd Vd dwst zn Vd rhyg 

bng 

Vd (qn)y(cg)[ ±3 

'spync y 



]nyw Vd dryst h J nd Vd pd 



1 



' 9 The obvious restoration of the first letter of this line is ay, and this might be 
the end of a m(')ry "my Lord," the common title of Mani. But that would only be 
possible if the writer of this ending phrase was not Mani himself but a commissioned 
scribe or an editor of the letter. Mani himself could not possibly present his person 
as "my Lord." 

80 At this point two big punctuation marks indicate the end of a letter and the 
beginning of a new section. 

81 I.e. of the Manichaean community, esp. of the elect (cf Durkin-Meisterernst 
2004, 366). 

82 I restore pdystn which, I think, has the same meaning as Middle Persian pdyst 
"place, home" (Durkin-Meisterernst 2004, 273). It may go back to Young Avestan 
paiti-stana- (beside paiti-stana-) "Standort, Wohnstatte" (Bartholomae 1904, col. 837). It 
denotes either Mani's residence, a sancta seeks as it were, or Mani himself as the apostolic 
bearer of the divine revelation within the chain of prophets (cf. Henning 1934a, 27—28 
= Henning 1977, I, 341—342: the ancient prophets of truth are the pdyst'n 'hyng'n, the 
"former places" of the Holy Spirit). 

83 The end of the line is filled by a row of punctuation marks. There must have 
followed either the announced letter to Mani or immediately Mani's response. 

84 So instead of dwsyst'n for want of space. 

85 Uncertain reading. Only upper margins of first letters preserved. The dot in 
black ink above the r seems to be blurred by another brown dot, and only traces are 
visible. 

86 Uncertain, k (or x) and the final n clearly visible. What seems to be a dot above 
the (.n) is a small hole in the paper. Not kn'r, etc. 



272 WERNER SUNDERMANN 

7/ J smh dwsyst'n nyk drwd h J d 'wt'n J c hrw'gwc o 8/ 
8/ r'mysn h'd yg J c yzd'n nyw dybg hyb hnd'cyhyd 

/p. 1/1/ | ] that to the most beloved [ j 

2/ j ] at ease and healthy you remain 88 . 89 [ | 

3/ [s]o(?) that with the aid of the angels you, the most 

beloved, 
4/ [in spirit(?)] are well, and as for the body content 90 

and happy. 
5/ [And at(?)] the limit(?) 91 of Georgia(?), 92 brother 

and friend, wife and servant, slave 
6/ and maiden [all(?)] may be well and healthy 93 

And in the hostel 
7/ of yours, the most beloved, there may be good 

well-being 94 And from all sides 
8/ there may then be for you peace from the gods, 95 

and good luck may be allotted. 

/p. 2/1/ [ ±8 ](...)[ ±3 ](s)gmdkwkynz(')[ ±4 ] 

2/ | +4 b](xs J )ynd kwm'n c'wn J c dwr pd J ndq [ ±4 j 

3/ [ c ]y J c 'smh pt'n zyryh hwrw'nyh pryh u dw(s)[ J rmyy] 

4/ "zrm J wd gr'myg why bwd hym 'ygm'n ws [ +3 j 

5/ "wn J br hnd'cyh kw V b(r J dr J n) dws(ys)[t'n ±5 ](pd) 

6/ csm y nys'hyn xwd wynyn oo oo b[yc t 1 ](k' yk) w 

7/ dwdy wynym yg pystr yk n'mg y fryh u dws'rmyh 

8/ Vd dyb y drwd Vd bwrdysnwhryh Vd qyrbg o 



8/ No punctuation mark but just a space filler. 

88 2nd PL A 3rd sg. would also be possible, but is less likely in view of the following 
hyd in line 4. 

89 A punctuation mark followed by an empty space might indicate the beginning 
of a new paragraph. 

911 Quoted in Durkin-Meisterernst 2004, 312. The reading given there is serag. The 
unexceptional spelling with final q is remarkable. 

91 So far only kr'n "side, direction; edge, end, limit" is attested in Manichaean Par- 
thian (Durkin-Meisterernst 2004, 208), but Pahlavi and New Persian have kardn too. 
If my tentative reading is correct, it might present Georgia as the final point reached 
by the Manichaean mission north of Iran. 

92 Cf. my introductory remarks. 

93 From /5/ to this point the Manichaean lay-people are well-thought of, the rest 
of the letter concerns the elect. 

91 This may be a reference to a Manichaean monastery where the elect regularly 
assembled. 

95 Or: from God (PL majest.)? 



A MANIC HAEAN COLLECTION OF LETTERS - APPENDIX 



273 



/p. 2/1/ [ ] came to...?... [ 96 

2/ [ they grjant 97 that we, when we from afar through a 

little [comfort(?)] , 
3/ which (is) from you, through your wisdom, piety, love 

and gentleness, 
4/ honor 98 and affection, 99 have been bettered, thereupon 

we many [times(?)] 
5/ planned that I myself with corporeal eyes might see 100 
6/ the most beloved brethren [ ]. 
6/ But t[ill then] that we shall see 
7/ each other, before (that), [we send you] a letter of love 

and affection, 
8/ and an epistle of salutation and gratitude and charity. 

Third fragment: M 6935. Measures: 2.7 x 2.5 cm. 



/p. 


1/1/ [ 




2/ [ 




3/ [ 




4/ [ 




5/ [ 


/p. 


1/1/ [ 




2/ [ 




3/ [ 




4/ [ 




5/ [ 



]( ±12 )[ 

](p)ryh'n Vd (dw)s[ysfn 101 
](h) J mtng hyd[ 
n]cyhym 102 [ 

](•••)[ 



] beloved and [most] dear [ones 
]of the same body 103 you (PI.) are[ 
]I [tjeach [ 



96 A word beginning with ken "hate, malice, revenge"? 

9/ Instead of baxsay- Manichaean Middle Persian has elsewhere baxs-, but once also 
bxfysn (M 8202 /I/R/5/, context unclear). I assume that the form belongs to New 
Persian baxsa'idan "to bestow; to pity; to forgive" (Steingass 1963, 159), even if the 
New Persian word derives directly from Middle Persian 'bxsy- "to forgive, have pity 
on" (which could be restored in the present context as well). 

98 To Pahlavi azarm "honour, respect" (MacKenzie 1971, 15). 

99 gramig is strictly speaking an adjective "treasured, dear" (Durkin-Meisterernst 
2004, 163, cf. fragment 1, /p. 1/15/), here evidently used instead of gramigih (Mac- 
Kenzie 1971, 37). 

mo T/he verbal form wynyn, not attested so far, looks like a cross of wynym (1st Sg. 
Pres. Inidic.) and wyn'n (1st Sg. Pres. Conj.). On the other hand a 1st Sg. Pres. Opt. 
expressing an illusive wish would fit the context. Cf. Lazard 1984, 4—6. 

101 Written with a very long d which looks rather like Z- 

102 Or wcyhym (idem). 

103 Cf. Parthian h'mtnb'r (Durkin-Meisterernst 2004, 174). 



274 



WERNER SUNDERMANN 



/p. 


2/1/ 


[ ](•)[ 




2/ 


[ ](..rd) , wdy(z)d ,, [n 




3/ 


[ ](r) J n p'dfr'h ( c )[y 




4/ 


| ](.) dwr ph(ryz) [yd(?) 


/p. 


2/1/ 






2/ 


1 ]...?. ..and god[s 




3/ 


| ] punishment of the | 




4/ 


| ] far away remain [(?) 



Fourth fragment: M 6944. Measures: 2.3 x 4.6 cm. 



/p. 


1/1/ [ 




2/ [ 




3/ [ 




4/ [ 


/p. 


1/1/ [ 




2/ [ 




3/ [ 




4/ [ 


/p. 


2/1/ [ 




2/ [ 




3/ [ 




4/ [ 



pr]w(r)d(g)[y]h J V 'sm'(h)[ 
](n) kym 'b(')g xwys gy(')[n 
](')byr rwsn pyd'g o [ 106 
](. frzynd J )n y (pr)y(st)[g 

letjters 107 to you (Pl.)[ 

] whom I, together with my own Sou[l 

]...?... light visible. [ 

] children of the Apostl[e 108 

](.)w(...)wgyy 109 wy(...g)[ 
]( c )y J rw J n J n (r)[']y (m) J zy(nd)[r 
] d bys Vd J q J mg V(d . .) [ 
](. J )g m , (zy)ndr , [n] J wd (...)[ 



104 Following line empty. 

105 May the ](r)'n at the beginning of line 3 be restored as m'zyndr'n who are men- 
tioned in the fourth fragment? 

106 End of line empty. 

10? pi ura [ formation with the late Middle Persian ending -iha instead of -an. Or as 
an adverb "by letter"? 

los Or Apostles? 

log j re g re j no j ( k e a y e ( gj ve a plausible reading and translation of this relatively 
well readable word: first letter k or x, second: w or k or x, third: d or r. 



A MANIC HAEAN COLLECTION OF LETTERS - APPENDIX 



275 



/p. 2/1/ [ 

2/ I ] for [ ] of the souls the Mdzendar[dn no 

3/ | ] pain and unwilling and [ 

4/ J ] Mazendaran and [ 



1 



It seems possible that the third and fourth fragment belong to one and 
the same sheet and preserve parts of the same lines of text without 
joining, however. The matching parts are lines 1 to 4 on both sides. 
They can be arranged as follows: 



/p. 1/1/ 
2/ 
3/ 

4/ 

/p. 1/1/ 
2/ 

3/ 

4/ 

/p. 2/1/ 
2/ 
3/ 

4/ 



/p. 2/1/ 
2/ 

3/ 

4/ 



pr]w(r)d(g)[y]h J V 'sm'(h)[ 
](p)ryh J n Vd (dw)s[yst'](n) kym 'b(')g xwys gyQ[n 
](h) J mtng hyd [h'mJQbyr rwsn pyd'g o [ 
njcyhym [ ±6 ](przynd J )n y (pr)y(st)[g 

Jletters to you[ 

] beloved and dearest ones whom I together with 
my own soul [ 

] being of one body [you are] a visible [tow]er of 
ight. [ 

] I [tjeach [ ] children of the Apostl[e 

](.)w(...)wgyy wy(...)[ 

]( c )y J rw J n J n (r)[ J ]y m'zy(nd) [r'n .] (. .rd) Vd y(z)d"[n 
]d bys Vd 'q'mg Vd (m 1 ) [zynd] (r)'n p'dfr'h Q[y 
](.')g m'(zy)ndr > [n] Vd (. ..)[ ±5 ](.) dwr 
ph(ryz) [yd 



] for the [ ] of the souls he [ ] the Mazendaran 
and the gods [ 

with] pain and unwillingly and the [ ] punishment 
of the Mazendaran [ 

from ] the Mazendaran and [ ] keep away! 111 [ 



110 The demonic archonts and "watchers" imprisoned in the skies (cf. Sundermann 
2001, 699). 

111 Or: he keeps, they keep away, etc.? 



276 WERNER SUNDERMANN 

Bibliography 

Alfaric, P. 

1919 Les ecritures manicheennes II (Paris). 
Andreas, F. C. and W. [B.] Henning 

1934 Mitteliranische Manichaica aus Chinesisch-Turkestan, III. SPAW, Phil. -hist. 
KL, 1934: 846-912. 
Asmussen, J. P. 

1982 A Zoroastrian 'De-Demonization' in Judeo-Persian, Irano-Judaica 1982: 
112-121. 
Bartholomae, Chr. 

1904 Altiranisches Worterbuch (Stxassburg). 
Boyce, M. 

1960 A Catalogue of the Iranian Manuscripts in Manichean Script in the German Turfan 

Collection (Berlin). 
1968 The Manichaean Literature in Middle Iranian, Handbuch der Orientalistik, 1. 

Abt, 4. Bd., 2. Abschnitt, Lieferung 1 (Leiden, Koln): 67-76. 
1975 A Reader in Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian, Acta Iranica 9 (Leiden). 
Dodge, B. 

1970 The Fihrist of al-Nadim (New York, London). 
Durkin-Meisterernst, D. 

2004 Dictionary of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian, Corpus Inscriptionum 
Iranicarum, Dictionary of Manichaean Texts III (Turnhout). 
Feldmann, E. 

1987 Die „Epistula Fundamenti" der nordafrikanischen Manichder (Altenberge). 
Fliigel, G. 

1862 Mani, seine Lehre und seine Schriften (Leipzig). 
Funk, W. P. 

1997 The reconstruction of the Manichaean Kephalaia, Emergingfrom Darkness. Studies 
in the Recovery of Manichaean Sources, P. Mirecki and J. BeDuhn, eds. (Leiden), 
143-159. 
1999 Kephalaia I, zweite Hdlfte, Lieferung 13/14 (Stuttgart). 
Gardner, I. 

1997 Personal letters from the Manichaean community at Kellis, Atti del Terzo 
Congressio Internazionale di Studi "Manicheismo e Oriente Cristiano Antico, L. Cirillo 
and A. van Tongerloo, eds. (Lovanii, Napoli), 77-94. 
2001 The reconstruction of Mani's Epistles from three Coptic codices, The Light 
and the Darkness. Studies in Manichaeism and its World, P. Mirecki and J. BeDuhn, 
eds. (Leiden), 93-104. 
Gardner, I., A. Alcock, W.-R Funk 

1999 Coptic Documentary Texts from Kellis I (Oxford-Oakville). 
Gardner, I., S. N. C. Lieu 

2004 Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire (Cambridge). 
Gharib, B. 

1995 Sogdian Dictionary. Sogdian — Persian — English (Tehran). 
Gignoux, Ph. 

1972 Glossaire des Inscriptions Pehlevies et Parthes, Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum, 
Suppl. Ser. I (London). 
Henning W. B. 

1934 Ein manichaisches Henochbuch, SPAW, Phil.-hist. KL, 1934, 5: 27-35. 
1937 Ein manichaisches Bet- und Beichtbuch, APAW, Phil.-hist. KL, 10 (Berlin). 
1945 Warucan-Sah, Journal of the Greater India Society 11: 85—90. 



A MANIGHAEAN COLLECTION OF LETTERS 277 

1947 Two Manichaean Magical Texts with an Excursus on The Parthian ending 

-endeh, BSOAS 12: 39-66. 
1977 Selected Papers I - II, Acta Iranica 14—15 (Leiden). 
Henning, W. B. and G. Haloun 

1952 The Compendium of the Doctrines and Styles of the Teaching of Mani, 
the Buddha of Light, Asia Major, ns, 3: 184-212. 
MacKenzie, D. N. 

1971 A concise Pahlavi Dictionary (London). 
Reck, Chr. 

2006 Mitteliranische Handschriften I, Berliner Turfanfiagmente manichdischen Inhalts in sogh- 
discher Schrift (Stuttgart). 

Robinson, J. M. 

1992 The fate of the Manichaean codices of Medinet Madi, Studia Manichaica. II. 
Inter nationaler Kongrefi zum Manichdismus , G. WieBner, H.-J. Klimkeit, eds. 
(Wiesbaden), 19-62. 
Schmidt, C. and H.J. Polotsky 

1933 Ein Mani-Fund in Agypten, SPAW, Phil.-hist. Kl., 1933: 1-89. 
Stein, M. 

1998 Manichaica latina 1, epistula ad Menoch (Wiesbaden). 
2002 Manichaica latina 2, Manichaei epistula fundamenti (Paderborn). 
Steingass, F. 

1963 A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary (London [repr. of 1892 ed.]). 
Sundermann, W. 

1974 Iranische Lebensbeschreibungen Manis, Acta Orientalia (Havniensia) 36: 

125-149. 
1984 Probleme der Interpretation manichaisch-soghdischer Briefe, From Hecataeus 

to Al-Huwarizmi, J. Harmatta, ed. (Budapest), 289—316. 
1986 Studien zurkirchengeschichdichen Literatur der iranischen Manichaer, I— II, 

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2001 Manichaica Iranica. Ausgewdhlte Schriften, I— II, Chr. Reck, D. Weber, CI. Leurini, 
A. Panaino, eds. (Roma). 

2007 Eine Re-Edition zweier manichaisch-soghdischer Briefe, Iranian Languages and 
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Weber, D. 

1970 Die Stellung der sog. Inchoativa im Mitteliranischen (Gottingen). 
Yoshida, Y. et al. 

2000 Studies in the new Manichaean texts recovered from Turfan (Beijing). 



INDEX 



Abe Takeo 62, 68 
Abu'lfaradj 110 

Acta Archelai 74 

Acts of Thomas 58-59 

Adda 6-7 

Alcock, A. 260 

Alfaric, Prosper 103, 107, 170, 263 

Amin, al- 139-140 

Amita Sutra 201 

Ammo 206 

Andrea of Perugia 192 

Apocalypse of Adam 53, 55 

Arat, R. R. 71 

Arda Wiraz ndmag 82 



' wifras 253-254 
AsmussenJ. 76,78,79-80,84,93, 

262 
Aubineau, Michel 31-33 
Augustine of Hippo (incl. his 

works) 1-28, 37, 50, 73, 82, 88, 94, 

103-113, 169, 260 
Ayin I'-Ardaslr 91 

Babylonian Talmud 82 

Baraies 45 

Bardenhewer, Otto 31 

Barmakids 135-140 

Bartholomae, Ch. 83, 221, 271 

Baruch, Book of 56—57 

Baur, F. C. 112 

Beausobre, I. de 109 

Beck, H. 30-31, 34 

Beck, H.-G. 30 

BeDuhnJason 6, 19, 27, 103, 125, 

146, 169, 170, 237 
Bennett, Byard 32 
Bet- and Beichtbuch (BBB) 84, 85, 

225-226, 237 
Betz, H. D. 107 
Biruni, al- 77, 132, 246 
Bistami, Bayazid al- 140 
Blois, F. de 77, 175 
Bohlig, A. 49, 73, 79, 80, 112, 116 
Bousset, W. 113 
Bovon, F. 51 
Boyce, Mary 175,207,209,213,215, 

226-227, 260-261, 266-267 



Brandt, W. 45 

Brockelmann, C. 139 

Browne, E. G. 129, 130-131 

Bruce, L. D. 104 

Brunner, Ch. 266 

Bryder, Peter 184-185, 189, 207 

Biigu Khan 61-62, 68-70 

Bultmann, R. 56 

Busti, Abu'l-Qasim al- 139 

Cantera-Glera, A. 90 

Carneades 9-11, 24 

Ch5554+Ch/U6914+Sol5000(5) 75 

Ch/So20501+Ch/U6546 216-217 

Ch/So20507b 237 

Chappell, David 201 

Chavannes, Eduard 3 

Chen Yuan 182, 183 

Chwolson, D. 196 

Cicero 2, 9-12, 14, 16, 19-21, 23, 26 

Cidag handarz T poryotkesdn 88-89, 92 

Clark, Larry 61, 69-70, 237, 247 

Clitomachus 9 

Colditz, Iris 74, 78, 80, 81, 82, 83, 

92, 241 
Cologne Mani Codex [CMC) 45-46, 

50-51, 56, 58, 115-116, 118-119, 

126 
Compendium 80, 88, 213, 248 
Contemplation Sutra 203, 204 
Cope, Glenn Melvin 34 
CoyleJ. Kevin 101, 106, 107, 113 
Cumont, F. 46 
Czegledy, K. 67 

Darrouzes, J. 32 

Decret, Francois 2, 5, 7, 8, 24, 

101-114, 170 
Denkard 83, 89, 94 
ps.-Didymus 33 
Dodge, B. 263, 265 
Drijvers, Han J. 59 
Drower, E. S. 125 
Dschi Hian-lin 251 
Durkin-Meisterernst, Desmond 213, 

228, 245, 268, 270-273 
Dyobouniotes,_Konstantinos 3 1 
Dzumagulov, C. 196-197 



280 



INDEX 



Ebert.Jorinde 148, 190, 253 
Eccles, Lance 194, 195, 197 
Ecke, Gustave 191, 193 
Eismann, Katrin 145, 149 
Elchasaites 45, 47, 54, 56, 118-121, 

170 
Enoch, Books of 48 

Epiphanius (incl. his works) 53, 56-57 
Epistula Fundamenti 50, 88, 107, 218, 

260 
Eulogy of the Light-world 205-209 
Evodius of Uzala 104, 113 

Faustus of Milevis 1-28, 103-104, 

106, 108-112 
Feldmann, E. 107, 109, 110, 113, 

260 
Felix 106 
Festugiere, A. J. 46 
Fihmt of an-Nadim 73, 76, 77, 78, 

86, 88, 92, 129, 131-132, 138, 140, 

143-144, 259, 263, 265-267 
Fliigel, G. 110,263,265 
Fortunatus of Hippo 106, 107, 108, 

110-111 
Foster, John 192 
Franzmann, Majella 196, 197 
Frend, W. H. C. 106, 107, 108, 110, 

113 
Fujita Kotatsu 202-203 
Funk, Wolf-Peter 260 

Gabain, A. von 63 

Gardner, Iain 193, 227, 260, 263 

Gathas 90, 92, 94 

Geerlings, W. 110 

GengShimin 64, 196, 251 

Gharib, B. 172,209 

Giants, Book of 107,213,247 

Gignoux, Ph. 262 

Gospel of Truth 53 

Great Hymn to Mani 247 

Greenhalgh, Michael 146 

Gregory of Nyssa 33 

Grignaschi, M. 91 

Grondijs, Lodewijk 102,108-114 

Gulacsi, Zsuzsanna 147, 157, 164, 

189, 247 
Cyan wifras 92 

Hallaj, al- 129-131, 142-144 
Halleux, A. de 32 
Haloun, G. 213, 226, 229 
Hamilton, J. 64-66, 198-199 



Hananishu, Mar 197 

Handarz i Adurbad i Mahraspandan 89 

Harnack, Adolf von 5 1 

Harrison, G. 103, 169, 170 

Harun ar-Rashid 136-140 

Hazar dadestan 82 

Henning, W. B. 49, 78, 79, 80, 82, 84, 
87, 88, 92, 173, 174, 176, 207, 209, 
213, 225-226, 228, 229, 241, 245, 
247-248, 259, 261-263, 266, 271 

Henrichs, A. 50-51,53 

Heraclion 55-56 

Herbedestdn 9 1 

HertelJ. 251 

HoeckJ. M. 31 

Homilies 213 

Hsuan Tsang 138 

Humbach, H. 90, 94 

Hunter, Erica 125 

Hutter, M. 176 

Huyadagman 207-208 

Hymnscroll 73, 85, 171, 204-206, 
208-209 

Iamblichus 46 
Irenaeus 47, 52 

Jacob of Ancona 186 
Jahiz, al- 135, 137, 140 
John of Caesarea (the 

Grammarian) 31-32 
John of Damascus 30-32 
John of Montecorvino 192 
Jonas, H. 53 
Jugie, Martin 30-31 
Justin (the Gnostic) 56-57 
Juvaini 63-64, 66 

Kalila wa Dimna 25 1 

Karabalgassun Inscription 69—70, 80 

Kasai Yukiyo 62-65, 68, 228, 251 

Kauz, R. 187, 188 

Kephalaia 73, 77, 78, 84, 87, 109-110, 

112-113, 122, 199, 246, 248, 259 
Khaldun, ibn 138-139 
King, K. 116, 121 
Klein, Wolfgang Wassilios 32, 196 
Klima, O. 82 
Klimkeit, H.-J. 73, 92, 93, 147, 173, 

196, 207, 209, 251 
Knibb, M. A. 48 
Koenen, Ludwig 50-51,120,169, 

170 
Koschorke, K. 54 



L44 249 

Laffan, M. 265 

Lagarde, P. A. de 34 

Langen, Joseph 30, 34 

LautJ.-P. 196,251 

Lazard, G. 273 

Le Coq, A. von 61, 62, 65, 147, 148 

207, 247 
Lee, Kam-lun Edwin 3 
Lentz, W. 117,209 
Letter of the Seal 226-227, 231-232, 

237-238 
Letters (of Mani) 107, 213, 259-267 
Leurini, C. 176 
Lieu, Samuel N. C. 103, 104, 105, 



106, 107, 169, 170, 183, 189, : 
197, 199, 227, 260, 263 

Lim, Richard 101-102, 107 

Lin Wenming 189 

Lin Wushu 181, 209 

Living Gospel 107,116-123,213, 
226-227, 259 

Lof, L.J. van der 77, 113 

Luthi, M. 250 

Ml 80, 84 

M7 91 

Mil 173 

Ml 4 172 

M17 218 

M37 173 

M39 74 

M42 246 

M49 78, 83-84, 86 

M52 111 

M61 Til 

M77 75 

M95 91-92 

MIOla-n 247 

Ml 01/ 80 

M114 85, 247 

M129 246 

M135 87-88, 92, 93 

Ml 78 171-176, 208 



94, 



M183 II+M3404 
M209 213 
M258 253 
M299a 248 
M333 83 
M378 131 
M379b 218-220 
M410 Til 
M454 226 
M496a 91 



175 



INDEX 


'zi- 


M501p 


261, 271-273 


M548 


174 


M564 


91-92 


M608b 


215-217 


M644 


218 


M720c 


226 


M729 


173 


M731 


266 


M733 


267 


M738 


172-173 


M782 


84 


M798a 


172 


M801a 


73, 226, 228-231 


M882c 


261, 271-273 


M895b 


215-217 


M895e 


216 


M911 


247 


M915 


266-267 


M1221 


267 


M1312 


227-231, 238 


M1313 


226-231, 238 


Ml 402 


261, 271-273 


Ml 87 6 


91-92 


Ml 87 7 


91-92 


M1963 


91 


M5770 


261, 268-271 


M5771 


261, 268-271 


M5772 


261, 268-271 


M5779 


84, 237 


M5098+M9056 267 


M5860 


78-79 


M6020 


80 


M6330 


247-248 


M6470 


252 


M6604 


261, 268-271 


M6935 


261, 273-274 


M6944 


261, 274-275 


M7981 


174 


M8202 


273 


M8251 


81 


M9152 


261, 271-273 


MacKenzie, D. N. 218, 269, 273 


MacKerras, C. 71 


Macuch 


, M. 82, 83 


Ma'mur 


i, al- 139-140 


Mandaeans 125-126 


Marcior 


i 51 


Marco Polo 181, 186, 191, 195 


Mason, 


Herbert 129 


Massignon, Louis 129-131, 143-144 


Mas'udi 


138 


Maximus (the Confessor) 32-33 


Mazdak, Book of 137 


Meer, E 


van den 1 1 



282 



INDEX 



Menander 47 

Menard, J. 53 

MenasceJ. de 89, 169 

Merkelbach, R. 45, 103, 170 

MIK III 4859 164 

MIK III 4947 +III 5d 1 6 1 , 1 63- 1 64, 

247 
MIK III 4959 152,155,159 
MIK III 4970c 247 
MIK III 4971 157 
MIK III 4974 146, 172 
MIK III 4979 148,152,153,155,157 
MIK III 4990 171 
MIK III 6257 152, 153 
MIK III 6258a 152 
MIK III 6279a-h 253 
MIK III 6286 155, 189 
MIK III 6368 153 
MIK III 7283 152 

MIK III 8259 153, 155, 157, 164, 250 
Mikkelsen, Gunner 204, 205 
Milik, J. T. 48 
Miller, Mary 146 
Minshu of He Qiaoyuan 182, 187, 

188 
Mirecki, P. 117 
Monastery Scroll 93 
Monceaux, P. 103 
Morano, Enrico 117,214-215, 

225-226, 228 
Moriyasu Takao 67, 182, 195 
Mosher, David 20-21 
Moule, A. C. 191 
Mourant, John 1 6 
Mukhtar ibn Abu 'Ubayd 

ath-Thaqafi 132-135 
Muqtadir, al- 129-131, 139, 142 
Murayama S. 194 
Mu'tazz, AbuT Abbas ibn 

al- 130-132, 142 
Mysteries, Book of 107,213 

Naassenes 56 
Nerangestan 9 1 
Niu Ruji 194-199 

Odes of Solomon 55 
O'Donnell, James 15 
Omont, H. 170 
Oort, Johannes van 2, 28, 170 
Origen 55 
Otam6151 228-231 
Oxyrhynchus 1 52 
Oxyrhynchus 654 52 



Oxyrhynchus 655 52 
Oxyrhynchus 840 51 

Pacioni, Vergilio 13 

Padndmag i ^ardust 88—89 

Pahlavi Rivdyat of the Dddestan i demg 83 

Panaino, A. 172, 174, 176 

Parable Book 241 

Paraphrase of Shem 54 

Parry, Kenneth 193 

Pas, Julian 201, 202 

Paul (the Persian) 32 

PC2988 65 

Pedersen, Nils Arne 34, 112, 113, 213 

Pelliot, Paul 3, 182, 183 

Pettipiece, Timothy 122 

Philip, Gospel of 52 

Philo of Larissa 9-10, 23 

Photinus (the Manichaean) 32 

Picture-Book 88, 213 

Pierre, M. J. 55 

Pistis Sophia 55 

Polotsky, H. J. 78, 88 

Possidius 106 

Pragmateixi 46, 88, 107, 213, 253-254 

Psalm-Book 73,79,87,119,126,171, 

208-209, 213 
Pseudo-Clementine Homilies and 

Recognitions 47-49 
Puech, H.-Ch. 31, 52, 169 
Pulleyblank, E. G. 66, 67 

Rachmati, G. R. 63 
Ranke, K. 251 

Reck, Christiane 78, 79, 80, 84, 93, 
207, 214-216, 225, 227, 264, 266 
Reeves, John C. 48,49,246 
Resch, A. 55 
Richard, Marcel 31-32 
Ries,J. 112-113 
Right Ginza 125 
Robinson, J. 116,260 
Rochow, I. 31 
Romer, C. 50, 120 
Rose, Eugen 109, 110, 112-113 
Rudolph, Kurt 45, 125 

SID/17 65-66 

Sdbuhragdn 91-92, 107, 246, 253 

Sacchi, P. 48 

Sahrastam, al- 246 

Save-Soderbergh, Torgny 126 

Sampsaeans 56 

Sander, Lore 189 



INDEX 



283 



Saturninus 47 

Sayist-ne-sayist 94 

Schaeder, H. H. 88 

Schmidt, C. 88, 259-260 

Schmidt-Glintzer, H. 204 

Scholarius, Gennadios 32-33 

Seah, Ingram 201 

Selbourne, D. 186 

Senga, T. 66-67 

Sermon of the Gospel 1 1 7 

Sermon of the Light-Nous 176 

Sermon of the Soul 250 

Sethians 57 

Sextus Empiricus 1 1 

Shaked, Sh. 83, 89 

Shandao 201 

Shi Pingting 201 

Sieg, E. 251 

Simon (the Magician) 46 

Simonetti, M. 32 

Sims-Williams, Nicholas 73, 74, 76, 

86, 93, 196, 207, 229-231, 243, 249 
Sinnige, Theo 104 
Skjaervo, P. O. 253, 270 
Sol 0200(5) 248-249 
Sol0700b+Sol0701b 85 
Sol3500 79 

5014150 225-226, 228-232, 238 

5014151 225, 232-234, 238 

5014152 225-226, 228-232, 238 
Sol 41 52a 225, 231, 238 

5014153 225, 232, 235-236, 238 

5014154 225, 232, 238 

5014155 225, 231-234, 238 

5014156 225-226, 228-232, 238 

5014157 225, 232, 238 

Sol 4158 225,231-232,235-236,238 

Sol4159 225-226, 232-234, 238 

Sol4187+Sol4190 249 

Sol 4570 214-215 

Sol 5502 264 

Sol8056 226 

Sol8058 241-245 

Sol8140+Sol3425(l) 237 

Sol8151 226 

Sol 81 97 241-245 

Sol 82 48 245 

Sol8300 87 

Solomon, Mar 193-196 

Stausberg, M. 93, 94 

Stein, M. 103, 260 

Steingass, F. 270, 273 

Stern, S. 140 

Stiefenhofer, Dionys 31 



Stoop, E. de 113 
Sukhavatwyuhasutra, Larger 202, 205 
Sukhavatwyuhasutra, Smaller 202, 204 
Sundermann, Werner 7, 77, 78, 79, 
80, 83, 84, 87, 88, 92, 169, 170, 175, 
176, 189, 206, 207, 213, 226, 237, 
241, 243, 244, 246, 250, 252-253, 
262, 264-265, 268, 275 
Synaxeis Codex 116—124, 126 

TIID91 225 

T HID 27 Ik 264 

Tabari, al- 138 

Taiping kuangji 182 

Tang Huiyao 66 

Tardieu, M. 45, 73, 76, 79, 80, 88, 

102, 112, 170 
Tarrant, Harold 10 
Tebessa Codex 103, 108, 170 
Tertullian 49 

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 49 
Testimony of Truth 54, 58 
Theodore bar Khoni 46, 246-247 
Theodoret of Cyrrhus 29, 34-44 
Thierry, F. 67-68 
Thomas, Gospel of 51-52, 58 
Thomas, J. 45 
Titus of Bostra 29, 34-44 
TM47 (M919) 71 
TM417 71 

Tongerloo, A. van 170, 195 
Traite Pelliot 75, 205 
Treasury of Life 107, 213, 259 
Troje, L. 250 
Tsukamoto Zenryu 201 
Tubach, J. 174, 175, 176 

U01 61-64, 66-70 

U64a+Mam Z 435b 65, 247 

U72 69 

U73 69 

U140 237 

U251a 65 

U971 64 

Valentinians 52-53 
Van Fleteren, Frederick 23 
Van der Loon, Piet 184 
Videvdad 89-90, 94 

Waldschmidt, E. 117,209 

Wang Lianmao 193 

Weber, D. 270 

Widengren, Geo 169, 170, 172 



284 



INDEX 



WilkensJ. 65,237,241,247 
WuWenliang 183-184,188,190-193, 

195 
Wu Yuxiong 192-193 
Wurst, G. _ 78, 79, 103, 112, 248 
Wuzurgan Afriwan 2 1 4-2 1 5 

Xinxiu ivangshen zhuan 201-202 
Xwastwanift 73, 78, 84-86, 92, 93, 248 



Yabuki Reiki 202 
Yasna 90-91, 94 
Yoshida Yutaka 264 

Younger Avesta 94 

Zand i Wahman Yam 249-250 
ZhuangWeiji 183-184 
Zieme, Peter 64, 65, 207, 237 



Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 
(www.brill.nl/nhms) 

1 . Scholer, D.M. Nag Hammadi bibliography, 1948-1969. 1971. ISBN 90 04 02603 7 

2. Menard, J.-E. L'evangile de verite. Traduction franchise, introduction et commentaire par J.-E. 
Menard. 1972. ISBN 90 04 03408 

3. Krause, M. (ed.). Essays on the Nag Hammadi texts in honour of Alexander Bb'hlig. 1972. ISBN 90 04 03535 4 

4. Bohlig, A. & F. Wisse, (eds.). Nag Hammadi Codices III, 2 and IV, 2. The Gospel of the Egyptians. (The Holy 
Book of the Great Invisible Spirit). Edited with translation and commentary, in cooperation with P. 
Labib. 1975. ISBN 90 04 04226 1 

5. Menard, J.-E. L'Evangile selon Thomas. Traduction francaise, introduction, et commentaire par J.-E. 
Menard. 1975. ISBN 90 04 04210 5 

6. Krause, M. (ed.). Essays on the Nag Hammadi texts in honour of Pahor Labib . 1975. ISBN 90 04 04363 2 

7. Menard, J.-E. Les textes de Nag Hammadi. Colloque du centre d'Histoire des Religions, Strasbourg, 23- 
25 octobre 1974. 1975. ISBN 90 04 04359 4 

8. Krause, M. (ed.). Gnosis and Gnosticism. Papers read at the Seventh International Conference on Patristic 
Studies. Oxford, September 8th-13th, 1975. 1977. ISBN 90 04 05242 9 

9. Schmidt, C. (ed.). Pistis Sophia. Translation and notes by V MacDermot. 1978. ISBN 90 04 05635 1 

10. Fallon, FT. The enthronement of Sabaoth. Jewish elements in Gnostic creation myths. 1978. 
ISBN 90 04 05683 1 

11. Parrott, D.M. Nag Hammadi Codices V 2-5 and VI with Papyrus Berolinensis 8502, 1 and 4. 1979. 
ISBN 90 04 05798 6 

12. Koschorke, K. Die Polemik der Gnostiker gegen das kirchliche Christentum. Unter besonderer Berticksichti- 
gung der Nag Hammadi-Traktate 'Apokalypse des Petrus' (NHC VII, 3) und 'Testimonium Veritatis' 
(NHC IX, 3). 1978. ISBN 90 04 05709 9 

1 3. Schmidt, G. (ed.). The Books ofjeu and the untitled text in the Bruce Codex. Translation and notes by V Mac- 
Dermot. 1978. ISBN 90 04 05754 4 

14. McL. Wilson, R. (ed.). Nag Hammadi and Gnosis. Papers read at the First International Congress of 
Coptology (Cairo, December 1976). 1978. ISBN 90 04 05760 9 

15. Pearson, B.A. (ed.). NagHammadi Codices IX and X. 1981. ISBN 90 04 06377 3 

16. BarnSjJ.W.B., G.M. Browne, &J.C. Shelton, (eds.). Nag Hammadi Codices. Greek and Coptic papyri from 
the cartonnage of the covers. 1981. ISBN 90 04 06277 7 

17. Krause, M. (ed.). Gnosis and Gnosticism. Papers read at the Eighth International Conference on Patristic 
Studies. Oxford, September 3rd-8th, 1979. 1981. ISBN 90 04 06399 4 

18. Helderman, J. Die Anapausis im Evangelium Veritatis. Eine vergleichende Untersuchung des valentinia- 
nisch-gnostischen Heilsgutes der Ruhe im Evangelium Veritatis und in anderen Schriften der Nag- 
Hammadi Bibliothek. 1984. ISBN 90 04 07260 8 

19. FrickeI,J. Hellenistische Erlosung in christlicher Deutung. Die gnostische Naassenerschrift. Quellen, kritische 

Studien, Strukturanalyse, Schichtenscheidung, Rekonstruktion der Anthropos-Lehrschrift. 1984. 

ISBN 90 04 07227 6 
20-21. Layton, B. (ed.). NagHammadi Codex II, 2-7, together with XIII, 2* Brit. Lib. Or. 4926(1) and P. Oxy. 1, 654, 

655. I. Gospel according to Thomas, Gospel according to Philip, Hypostasis of the Archons, Indexes. 

II. On the origin of the world, Expository treatise on the Soul, Book of Thomas the Contender. 1989. 

2 volumes. ISBN 90 04 09019 3 

22. Attridge, H.W. (ed.). Nag Hammadi Codex I (The Jung Codex). I. Introductions, texts, translations, indices. 

1985. ISBN 90 04 07677 8 

23. Attridge, H.W. (ed.). NagHammadi Codex /(The Jung Codex). II. Notes. 1985. ISBN 90 04 07678 6 

24. Stroumsa, G.A.G Another seed. Studies in Gnostic mythology. 1984. ISBN 90 04 07419 8 

25. Scopello, M. L'exegese de Fame. Nag Hammadi Codex II, 6. Introduction, traduction et commentaire. 
1985. ISBN 90 04 07469 4 

26. Emmel, S. (ed.). Nag Hammadi Codex III, 5. The Dialogue of the Savior. 1984. ISBN 90 04 07558 5 

27. Parrott, D.M. (ed.) Nag Hammadi Codices III, 3-4 and V, 1 with Papyrus Berolinensis 8502,3 and Oxyrhyn- 
chus Papyrus 1081. Eugnostos and the Sophia of Jesus Christ. 1991. ISBN 90 04 08366 9 

28. Hedrick, C.W (ed.). Nag Hammadi Codices XI, XII, XIII. 1990. ISBN 90 04 07825 8 

29. Williams, M.A. The immovable race. A gnostic designation and the theme of stability in Late Antiquity. 
1985. ISBN 90 04 07597 6 

30. Pearson, B.A. (ed.). NagHammadi Codex VII. 1996. ISBN 90 04 10451 8 



31. SieberJ.H. (ed). NagHammadi Codex VIII. 1991. ISBN 90 04 09477 6 

32. Scholer, D.M. Nag Hammadi Bibliography 1970-1994. 1997. ISBN 90 04 09473 3 

33. Wisse, F. & M. Waldstein, (eds.). The Apocryphon of John. Synopsis of Nag- Hammadi Codices 11,1; 111,1; 
and IV,1 with BG 8502,2. 1995. ISBN 90 04 10395 3 

34. Lelyveld, M. Les logia de la vie dans I'Evangik selon Thomas. A la recherche d'une tradition et d'une redac- 
tion. 1988. ISBN 90 04 07610 7 

35. Williams, F. (Tr.). The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salanus. Book I (Sects 1-46). 1987. Reprint 1997. 
ISBN 90 04 07926 2 

36. Williams, E (Tr.). The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis. Books II and III (Sects 47-80, De Fide). 1994. 
ISBN 90 04 09898 4 

37. Gardner, I. The Kephalaia of the Teacher. The Edited Coptic Manichaean Texts in Translation with Com- 
mentary. 1995. ISBN 90 04 10248 5 

38. Turner, M.L. The Gospel according to Philip. The Sources and Coherence of an Early Christian Collection. 

1996. ISBN 90 04 10443 7 

39. van den Broek, R. Studies in Gnosticism and Alexandrian Christianity. 1996. ISBN 90 04 10654 5 

40. Marjanen, A. The Woman Jesus Loved. Mary Magdalene in the Nag Hammadi Library and Related 
Documents. 1996. ISBN 90 04 10658 8 

41. Reeves, J.C. Heralds of that Good Realm. Syro-Mesopotamian Gnosis and Jewish Traditions. 1996. 
ISBN 90 04 10459 3 

42. Rudolph, K. Gnosis & spatantike Religionsgeschichte. Gesammelte Aufsatze. 1 996. ISBN 90 04 1 0625 1 

43. Mirecki, P. & J. BeDuhn, (eds.). Emerging from Darkness. Studies in the Recovery of Manichaean Sources. 

1997. ISBN 90 04 10760 6 

44. Turner, J.D. & A. McGuire, (eds.). The JVag Hammadi Library after Fifty Tears. Proceedings of the 1995 
Society of Biblical Literature Commemoration. 1997. ISBN 90 04 10824 6 

45. Lieu, S.N.C. Manichaeism in Central Asia and China. 1998. ISBN 90 04 10405 4 

46. Heuser, M & H.-J. Klimkeit. Studies in Manichaean Literature and Art. 1998. ISBN 90 04 107169 

47. Zockler, T.Jesu Lehren im Thomasevangelium. 1999. ISBN 90 04 1 1445 9 

48. Petersen, S. "Zerstbrt die Werke der Weiblichkeit!". Maria Magdalena, Salome und andere Jungerinnen Jesu 
in christlich-gnostischen Schriften. 1999. ISBN 90 04 1 1449 1 

49. Van Oort, J. , O. Wermelinger & G Wurst (eds.). Augustine and Manichaeism in the Latin West. Proceedings 
of the Fribourg-Utrecht International Symposium of the IAMS. 2001. ISBN 90 04 1 1423 8 

50. Mirecki, P. & J. BeDuhn (eds.). The Light and the Darkness. Studies in Manichaeism and its World. 
2001. ISBN 90 04 11673 7 

51. Williams, EE. Mental Perception. A Commentary on NHC, VI, 4: The Concept of Our Great 
Power. 2001. ISBN 90 04 11692 3 

52. Plese, Z. Poetics of the Gnostic Universe. Narrative and Cosmology in the Apocryphon of John. 2006. 
ISBN 90 04 11674 5 

53. Scopello, M. Femme, Gnose et manicheisme. De l'espace mythique au territoire du reel. 2005. 
ISBN 90 04 11452 1 

54. Bethge, H., S. Emmel, K.L. King, & I. Schletterer (eds.). For the Children, Perfect Instruction. Studies in 
Honor of Hans-Martin Schenke on the Occasion of the Berliner Arbeitskreis fur koptisch-gnostische 
Schriften's Thirtieth Year. 2002. ISBN 90 04 12672 4 

55. Van Oort, J. (ed.). Gnostica, Judaica, Catholica. Collected Essays of Gilles Quispel. With additional Prefaces by 
A. DeConick &J.-P Mahe. 2008. ISBN 978 90 04 13945 9 

56. Pedersen, N, 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. 2004. ISBN 90 04 13883 8 

57. Gulacsi, Z. Mediaeval Manichaean Book Art. A Codicological Study of Iranian and Turkic Illuminated 
Book Fragments from 8th-l 1th Century East Central Asia. 2005. ISBN 90 04 13994 X 

58. Luttikhuizen, G.P Gnostic Revisions of Genesis Stories and Early Jesus Traditions. 2005. ISBN 90 04 14510 9 

59. Asgeirsson, J.M., A.D. DeConick & R. Uro (eds.). Thomasine Traditions in Antiquity. The Social and Cul- 
tural World of the Gospel of Thomas. 2006. ISBN 90 04 14779 9 

60. Thomassen, E., The Spiritual Seed - The Church of the 'Valentinians'. 2006. ISBN 90 04 14802 7 

6 1 . BeDuhn, J. & P. Mirecki (eds.). Frontiers of Faith. The Christian Encounter with Manichaeism in the Acts 
ofArchelaus. 2007. ISBN 978 90 04 16180 1 

62. Scopello, M. (ed.). The Gospel of Judas in Context. Proceedings of the First International Conference on 
the Gospel of Judas Pans, Sorbonne, October 27th-28th, 2006. 2008. ISBN 978 90 04 16721 6 

63. Williams, E (tr.). The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book I. (Sects 1-46) Second Edition, Revised and 
Expanded. 2009. ISBN 978 90 04 17017 9 

64. BeDuhn, J.D. (ed.). New Light on Manichaeism. Papers from the Sixth International Congress on 
Manichaeism. 2009. ISBN 978 90 04 17285 2 

65. Scholer, D.M. Nag Hammadi Bibliography 1995-2006. 2009. ISBN 978 90 04 1 7240 1