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ManichaeismenUK
Man·i·chae·ism M0080000 (măn′ĭ-kē′ĭz′əm) also Man·i·chae·an·ism (-kē′ə-nĭz′əm)n.1. The syncretic, dualistic religious philosophy taught by the Persian prophet Mani, combining elements of Zoroastrian, Christian, and Gnostic thought and opposed by the imperial Roman government, Neoplatonist philosophers, and orthodox Christians.2. A dualistic philosophy dividing the world between good and evil principles or regarding matter as intrinsically evil and mind as intrinsically good.
[From Late Latin Manichaeus, Manichaean, from Late Greek Manikhaios, from Manikhaios, Mani.]
Man·i·chae·an (măn′ĭ-kē′ən) n. & adj.Manichaeism (ˈmænɪkiːˌɪzəm) or Manicheismn1. (Other Non-Christian Religions) the system of religious doctrines, including elements of Gnosticism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Buddhism, etc, taught by the Persian prophet Mani about the 3rd century ad. It was based on a supposed primordial conflict between light and darkness, or goodness and evil2. (Theology) chiefly RC Church any similar heretical philosophy involving a radical dualism[C14: from Late Latin Manichaeus, from Late Greek Manikhaios of Mani] ˈManichee nManichaeism, Manicheism, Manicheanism1. the doctrines and practices of the dualistic religious system of Manes, a blending of Gnostic Christianity, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and other elements, especially doctrines of a cosmic conflict between forces of light and darkness, the darkness and evilness of matter, and the necessity for a sexual, vegetarian asceticism.
2. any similar dualistic system, considered heretical by orthodox Christian standards. Cf. Gnosticism. — Manichean, n., adj. — Manicheistic, adj.See also: HeresyThesaurus| Noun | 1. | Manichaeism - a religion founded by Manes in the third century; a synthesis of Zoroastrian dualism between light and dark and Babylonian folklore and Buddhist ethics and superficial elements of Christianity; spread widely in the Roman Empire but had largely died out by 1000Manichaeanismfaith, religion, religious belief - a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny; "he lost his faith but not his morality" |
TranslationsManichaeismenUK
Manichaeism (măn`ĭkēĭzəm) or Manichaeanism (mănĭkē`ənĭzəm), religion founded by Mani (c.216–c.276). Mani's Life Mani (called Manes by the Greeks and Romans) was born near Baghdad, probably of Persian parents; his father may have been a member of the Mandaeans. After wandering for several years as a meditative ascetic he came forward (c.240) as the inspired prophet of a new religion. He went to Bactria in NW India, where he came in contact with Buddhism. He returned to Persia after the coronation (241) of Shapur IShapur I
or Sapor I
, d.272, king of Persia (241–72), son and successor of Ardashir I, of the Sassanid, or Sassanian, dynasty. He was an able warrior king.
..... Click the link for more information. , who was tolerant of new religious movements; at the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon he began preaching (c.242) the doctrine that was to become Manichaeism, a great synthesis of elements from GnosticismGnosticism
, dualistic religious and philosophical movement of the late Hellenistic and early Christian eras. The term designates a wide assortment of sects, numerous by the 2d cent. A.D.
..... Click the link for more information. , ZoroastrianismZoroastrianism
, religion founded by Zoroaster, but with many later accretions. Scriptures
Zoroastrianism's scriptures are the Avesta or the Zend Avesta [Pahlavi avesta=law, zend=commentary].
..... Click the link for more information. , other Persian religions, Christianity, Buddhism, and Taoism, as well as from the teachings of MarcionMarcion
, c.85–c.160, early Christian bishop, founder of the Marcionites, one of the first great Christian heresies to rival Catholic Christianity. He was born in Sinope. He taught in Asia Minor, then went (c.135) to Rome, where he perfected his theory.
..... Click the link for more information. . Rejecting all of the Old Testament and parts of the New Testament, Mani claimed Buddha, Zoroaster, Hermes, and Plato as his predecessors. He always called himself "Mani, Apostle of Jesus Christ" and held that he was the Paraclete promised by Jesus. During the long reign of Shapur I (d. 272), Mani was free to travel about the realm making converts. However, the accession of Bahram I brought a reaction against the Manichaeans (or Manichees) from orthodox Zoroastrian religious circles, and, after 272, Mani and his followers met with increasing persecution. He died while imprisoned (c.276) in SW Persia. The Religion Due to Mani's organizational abilities, the simplicity of his dualistic theology, and his incorporation of elements from other religions, Manichaeism spread rapidly, and it was soon disseminated throughout the Roman Empire and into China. Beliefs Basic to the religion's doctrine was the conflicting dualism between the realm of God, represented by light and by spiritual enlightenment, and the realm of Satan, symbolized by darkness and by the world of material things. To account for the existence of evil in a world created by God, Mani posited a primal struggle in which the forces of Satan separated from God; humanity, composed of matter, that which belongs to Satan, but infused with a modicum of godly light, was a product of this struggle, and was a paradigm of the eternal war between the forces of light and those of darkness. Christ, the ideal, light-clad soul, could redeem for each person that portion of light God had allotted. Light and dark were seen to be commingled in our present age as good and evil, but in the last days each would return to its proper, separate realm, as they were in the beginning. The Christian notion of the Fall and of personal sin was repugnant to the Manichees; they felt that the soul suffered not from a weak and corrupt will but from contact with matter. Evil was a physical, not a moral, thing; a person's misfortunes were miseries, not sins. Classes of Followers Mani's followers were divided into two classes: the elect, or perfect, were assured of immediate felicity after death because of the resource of light they had acquired through strict celibacy, austerity, teaching, and preaching; and the auditors, or hearers, the laity who administered to the elect, and who could marry. Believing in metempsychosis (see transmigration of soulstransmigration of souls
or metempsychosis
[Gr.,=change of soul], a belief common to many cultures, in which the soul passes from one body to another, either human, animal, or inanimate.
..... Click the link for more information. ), the auditors hoped to be reborn as elect. All other were sinners, doomed to hell. Decline Several Christian emperors, including Justinian, published edicts against the Manichees. St. Augustine, in his youth a Manichee, describes in his Confessions his conversion to Christianity. Little is heard of the Manichees in the West after the 6th cent., but their doctrines reappear in the medieval heresies of the CathariCathari
[Gr.,=pure], name for members of the widespread dualistic religious movement of the Middle Ages. Carried from the Balkans to Western Europe, Catharism flourished in the 12th and 13th cent. as far north as England.
..... Click the link for more information. , AlbigensesAlbigenses
[Lat.,=people of Albi, one of their centers], religious sect of S France in the Middle Ages. Beliefs and Practices
Officially known as heretics, they were actually Cathari, Provençal adherents of a doctrine similar to the Manichaean dualistic
..... Click the link for more information. , and BogomilsBogomils
, members of Europe's first great dualist church, which flourished in Bulgaria and the Balkans from the 10th to the 15th cent. Their creed, adapted from the Paulicians and modified by other Gnostic and Manichaean sources, is attributed to Theophilus or Bogomil, a
..... Click the link for more information. . It was the practice in the Middle Ages to call by the name of Manichaeism any dualist Christian heresy. The young religion of Islam was also challenged by the Manichean sect in Africa and Asia. The sect survived in the East, notably in Chinese Turkistan (Xinjiang), until about the 13th cent. Bibliography The prime sources for the study of Manichaeism are the so-called Turfan (Turpan) texts, named after the Dunhuang region where they were found in 1904–5. These include fragments of Mani's long-lost bible and portions of Manichaean literature written in Pahlavi, Saghdian, Old Turkish, and Chinese. Other sources are a collection of documents found in Egypt in 1933 and refutations of Manichaeism by Christian, Islamic, and Zoroastrian polemicists. See also F. C. Burkitt, The Religion of the Manichees (1925); A. V. W. Jackson, Researches in Manichaeism (1932, repr. 1965); S. Runciman, The Medieval Manichees (1947, repr. 1961); S. N. C. Lien, The Religion of Light (1979) and Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China (1985). Manichaeism a religious teaching that arose in the Near East in the third century as a synthesis of Chaldean-Babylonian, Persian (Zoroastrianism, Mazdaism, and Parsi), and Christian myths and rituals. It is usually linked with Gnosticism. The term “Manichaeism” is derived from the name of the founder of the religion, the semilegendary Mánes, or Mani (c. 216-c. 277). According to tradition he propagated his teaching in Persia, Middle Asia, and India. About seven works of religious and ethical content are attributed to him. The pessimistic notion that evil is coeternal with being provided the basic content of Manichaeism. Taking issue with Christianity, Manichaeism teaches that evil is as independent a principle as good. Although he linked evil with matter and good with light as spirit, Mánes—in contrast to the Neoplatonists—did not consider darkness or matter the consequence of the extinction of light. In Manichaeism the kingdom of darkness stands opposed to the kingdom of light as an equal. World history is seen as a struggle between light and darkness, between good and evil, between god and the devil. In the attack of darkness on light, part of the light was imprisoned by darkness. The meaning of subsequent history can be found in the liberation of the imprisoned light. According to Manichaeism, man has a dual nature—he is a creation of the devil, yet he was created in the image of a heavenly “luminous first man” and contains elements of light in himself. Manichaeism was persecuted everywhere for its opposition to the predominant religions; however, it spread as far as Spain in the West and China in the East. It was seen in the West by Christianity as a Christian heresy. In the eighth century it became the predominant religion in the Uighur kingdom. During the eighth and ninth centuries Manichaeism was persecuted by the followers of Islam. Later, it ceased to exist as a separate religion in both Europe and Asia. (It was definitely prohibited in China in the late 14th century.) The teaching concerning the dualism of good and evil that Manichaeism spread was later developed in Europe by the Paulicians, the Bogomils, and the Cathars and in the Orient by the Persian Mazdakites. REFERENCESD’iakonov, M. M. Ocherk istorii drevnego Irana. Moscow, 1961. (With bibliography.)
Alfaric, P. Les Ecritures manicheennes, vols. 1-2. Paris, 1918.
Burkitt, F. C. The Religion of the Manichees. Cambridge, 1925.
Schaeder, H. H. Urform und Fortbildungen des manichdischen Systems. Leipzig, 1927.
Jackson, A. V. W. Researches in Manichaeism. New York, 1932.
Puech, H. Le Manicheisme: Son Fondateur, sa doctrine. Paris, 1949. (With bibliography.)
Widengren, G. Mani und der Manichäismus. Stuttgart, 1961.
Ort, L. I. R. Mani: A Religio-historical Description of His Personality. Leiden, 1967.A. N. CHANYSHEV ManichaeismenUK
Related to Manichaeism: Donatism, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, PelagianismSynonyms for Manichaeismnoun a religion founded by Manes in the third centurySynonymsRelated Words- faith
- religion
- religious belief
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