1

Augustine and the Manichaeans: their Church,

Books, and Impact*

1. Introduction

And so I fell among men who were proudly raving.

They were very carnal and loquacious. In their
mouths were the snares of the devil and a birdlime
compounded of a mixture of the syllables of Your
name, and that of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that of
the Paraclete, our Comforter, the Holy Spirit. These
names were never absent from their mouths. But it
was only sound and noise of the tongue, for their
heart was void of truth. They used to say Truth,
Truth, and they had plenty to tell me about it, yet it
was nowhere in them (cf. 1 John 2,4). But they
uttered false statements, not only about You, who
truly are the Truth, but also about the elements of
this world, Your creation. Even the philosophers who
said true things of those elements I should have
passed by because of my love for You, my Father,
Supremely Good, Beauty of all things beautiful. O
Truth, Truth, how inwardly did even then the very
marrow of my soul sigh for You when those people, so
many times and in so many ways, sounded off about
You to me by their voice alone and by many and huge
books. And these were the dishes in which to me,
hungering for You, they, in stead of You, served up the
sun and the moon ... (conf. 3,10)

The tone of Augustines description of his earliest

acquaintance with the Manichaeans is conspicuously
vibrant with emotion. Some thirty years after, he still has
a cristal-clear recollection of the decisive event.

*AUGUSTINE AND THE MANICHAEANS: THEIR CHURCH, BOOKS, AND IMPACT' =

Ch. 12 in forthcoming book: Augustine and Manichaeism. Studies on Augustine, Mani,
Manichaeism and Augustinianism,Leiden-Boston: Brill 2017/18.
 2

Somewhere in the streets and the marketplaces of the

metropolis of Carthage he will have stumbled upon
people in white garments and with austere faces. They
proclaimed a type of Christianity that was completely
new to him. Essential elements of it he calls to mind:
these people professed a Trinitarian form of Christianity;
they constantly spoke of truth and truth; they claimed
to know the truth not only in theological matters, but
also in matters of physics. Apparently they adhered to a
holistic worldview in which all things were explained as
being part of an integrated whole. Besides, they
demonstrated their doctrines by means of many and
huge books.
In this chapter we will come to perceive the full
correctness of Augustines description of the
Manichaeans. Time and again the accuracy of his
memory turns out to be astonishing and sometimes even
unique (though, in matters Manichaean, his reports are
nearly always marked by a very polemical tone). Using
Augustines recollections and other references as main
sources, this chapter will successively describe the
Manichaean type of Christianity, or church, and
Augustines acquaintance with it; and the canonical and
other books of the Manichaeans, with special attention to
Augustines knowledge of these writings and to the
lasting impact of Manichaeism upon his mind.

2. The Manichaean Church

In numerous popular descriptions (many of them being

very influential due to easy access via the internet)
Manis religion is depicted as being, in essence, some
form of Persian religion. The often cited article
 3

Manichism in The Catholic Encyclopedia starts as

follows:

Manichism is a religion founded by the Persian

Mani in the latter half of the third century. It
purported to be the true synthesis of all the religious
systems then known, and actually consisted of
Zoroastrian Dualism, Babylonian folklore, Buddhist
ethics, and some small and superficial additions of
Christian elements.1

Several modern descriptions are still in the same vein.

Indicative is, for instance, the opening of Wikipedias
article Manichaeism (when last consulted):
Manichaeism ... was one of the major Iranian gnostic
religions.
From recent excavations, however, such as those in
Egyptian Kellis,2 from many texts discovered in the late
1920s in Medinet Madi in Egypt,3 and even from the
finds made about one century ago in Turfan and Tun-
huang in Central Asia and China,4 we know for certain
that the Christian element was Manichaeisms hallmark.
To be sure, the Central Asiatic remains of Manis
religion, dating from some eight hundred and more years
after the prophet made his appearance and originating
1
J. Arendzen, Manichism, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 9, New York: Robert
Appleton Company 1910, 591. Retrieved 9 Sept. 2010 at
www.newadvent.org/cathen/09591a.htm.
2
I. Gardner, A. Alcock & W.-P. Funk (eds.), Coptic Documentary Texts from Kellis, vol. 1,
Oxford: Oxbow 1999 (= P. Kell. Copt.); I. Gardner & S.N.C. Lieu, Manichaean Texts from the
Roman Empire, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2004.
3
C.R.C. Allberry (ed., transl.), A Manichaean Psalm-Book, Part II, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer
1938.
4
E. Waldschmidt & W. Lentz. Die Stellung Jesu im Manichismus (APAW 4), Berlin:
Akademie der Wissenschaften 1926.
 4

from an environment dominated by Buddhism and other

Eastern religions, at first sight give the impression of
being non-Christian. But even in such late medieval
and, evidently, syncretistic Manichaean texts the figure
of Christ occupies a special place.5 Quite recently, this
remarkable fact has been demonstrated even in the case
of Manichaean art newly discovered in China and dating
from the 12th or 13th century.6
A close reading of Augustines writings reveals the
same basic datum: Manichaeism is always dealt with as a
Christian heresy. This means that Augustine considered it
to be Christian in essence, though of a very dangerous
heretical cast. The Manichaean teacher Felix signs the
acts of the first day of his public debate with Augustine
as being Felix, a Christian, worshiper of the law of
Mani.7 Bishop Faustus disparagingly speaks of the
Catholics as the semi-Christians8 while in all of his
Capitula he considers himself to be a full and real
Christian. The main theme of Augustines twin treatises
The morals of the Catholic Church and the morals of the
Manichaeans is a confrontation of two ways of Christian
life practiced in two kinds of Christian churches.
Augustine time and again makes a marked distinction
between being a Catholic Christian and being a
Manichaean.9 In his letter to Augustine, the Roman

5
Waldschmidt & Lentz, Stellung Jesu; E. Rose, Die manichische Christologie,
Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 1979.
6
Z. Gulcsi, A Manichaean Portrait of the Buddha Jesus: Identifying a Twelfth- or
Thirteenth-Century Chinese Painting from the Collection of Seiun-Ji Zen Temple, Artibus Asiae
69 (2009) 138.
7
C. Fel. 1,20.
8
C. Faust. 1,2.
9
 5

Manichaean Secundinus presents himself as a

(Manichaean) Christian and for this reason he constantly
appeals to Biblical texts.10 Quite similar is the
presentation given by Fortunatus, priest of the
Manichaean congregation in Hippo, in his disputation
with Augustine: in the statement of his own belief (c.
Fort. 2) the place allotted to a Redeemer (i.e., the
Christ!) is remarkable, as is Fortunatus constant appeal
to the New Testament, in particular the Gospels and
Pauline letters. At that time (392), early in his
ecclesiastical career, the newly ordained Catholic
presbyter Augustine feels himself not well versed in the
Biblical writings and therefore expresses his preference
for rational arguments (e.g. c. Fort. 19).
But was this Christian element perhaps only typical
of western Manichaeism, and was the latter some sort of
adaptation of a gnostic-dualistic and, in essence,
Persian religion to its Christian environment? Former
research has often opted for this view,11 and more than
one researcher even proposed the idea of of a Numidian
Manichaeism.12 But we must be wary of such
formulations. Although it cannot be denied that, in the
course of its diffusion in the East and the West,
See, for instance, c. ep. Man. 12,14, and in c. Fel. 1,20 note his explicitly antithetical
subscription of the acts of the debate with the Manichaean Christian Felix as he himself being
bishop of the Catholic Church.
10
J. van Oort, Secundini Manichaei epistula: Roman Manichaean Biblical Argument in
the Age of Augustine, in: J. van Oort, O. Wermelinger & G. Wurst (eds.), Augustine and
Manichaeism in the Latin West: Proceedings of the FribourgUtrecht International Symposium
of the International Association of Manichaean Studies (NHMS 49), Leiden-Boston: Brill 2001
(repr. Brill: Leiden-Boston 2012), 161173 [new edition in this volume, ch. *].
11
G. Widengren, Mani and Manichaeism, New York: Holt, Reinhart and Winston 1965.
12
L.H. Grondijs, Numidian Manicheism in Augustinus Time, NTT 9 (1954: 2142; L.H.
Grondijs, Analyse du manichisme numidien au IVe sicle, in: AM 3 (1955) 391410; L.J. van
der Lof, Der numidische Manichismus im vierten Jahrhundert, SP 8 (1966) 118-129.
 6

Manicheism accommodated itself to its surroundings, its

essential and fundamental characteristic everywhere
remained the Christ-centered message of salvation.
Since the discovery of the Cologne Mani Codex
(CMC), a miniature fourth-century parchment codex from
Egypt now kept in German Cologne and published from
1970 onwards,13 it has become irrefutably clear that its
founder Mani himself stemmed from a Jewish-Christian
environment. He was brought up in Southern Babylonia
in the early part of the third century CE, near present-
day Baghdad in Iraq, in a community of Jewish Christians
(or Christian Jews). After receiving revelations from his
heavenly Twin, he considered himself the promised
Paraclete14 and new Prophet.15 In 240 CE he started his
mission travels inside and even outside the Persian
Empire. During his lifetime (216-277), Mani also sent out
his own disciples on missionary journeys as far as Egypt
in the West and Chorasan and the Sogdiana in the East.
In Graeco-Roman antiquity the Manichaean Church
expanded into Syria, Palestine, Arabia, Asia Minor, the
Balkans, Roman Africa, Spain, Italy, and Gaul. In the
East, Manichaeism was made the state religion among
the Uighurs of Turkestan by Bg Qan in 762/63, and
ultimately diffused along the Silk Road as far as the
Chinese Sea.16

13
A. Henrichs & L. Koenen (eds. and trans.), Ein griechischer Mani-Codex (P. Colon. inv.
nr. 4780), ZPE 5 (1970) 97216; last editions: L. Koenen & C. Rmer (eds. and trans.), Der
Klner Mani-Kodex, Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag 1988; C.E. Rmer (ed. and trans.), Manis
frhe Missionsreisen nach der Klner Manibiographie, Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag 1994.
14
Cf. John 14,16.26; 15,16; 16,7.
15
J. van Oort, The Paraclete Mani as the Apostle of Jesus Christ and the Origins of a New
Christian Church, in: A. Hilhorst (ed.), The Apostolic Age in Patristic Thought (VCS 70),
Leiden-Boston: Brill 2004, 139157 [new edition in this volume, ch. *].
16
 7

The interior organization of this Church was a

strictly hierarchical one: it was headed by Manis deputy
or Leader, called in Greek and Coptic texts the archgos;
in Latin, the princeps; in Arabic, the imam). This leader
had his residence in Babylon until the beginning of the
tenth century, when it was moved to Samarkand.
Immediately below the Leader were three ranks: 12
apostles or teachers, 72 bishops, and 360 presbyters. The
fourth rank of the Church was constituted by the strict-
ascetically living Elect, both men and women. Many of
the scribes, illuminators of books, and church musicians,
for example, will have belonged to these Elect. An official
fifth rank consisted of the many male and female Hearers
(auditores, in Latin, also called catechumens). In On
Heresies, the very well-informed Augustine, formerly a
Hearer among the Manichaeans in Roman Africa and
Italy, describes the essentials of the Manichaean Church
and its origins as follows:

The Manichaeans assert that the promise of the Lord

Jesus Christ regarding the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit,
was fulfilled in the leader of their heresy Manichaeus.
Therefore, he calls himself in his writings the apostle
of Jesus Christ, since Jesus Christ had promised to
send the Holy Spirit, and had sent Him in him. For
this reason Manichaeus also had twelve disciples like
the number of the Apostles, a number the
Manichaeans still keep. For they have twelve of their
Elect whom they call Teachers, and a thirteenth who
is their Leader, seventy-two bishops who are ordained
by the Teachers, and innumerable priests who are
ordained by the bishops. The bishops also have
deacons. The rest are only just called the Elect. But
even they, when they seem to be suitable, are sent

S.N.C. Lieu, Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China, 2nd edn.,
Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck 1992.
 8

out to strengthen and make grow this error where it

exists, or to disseminate it where it does not. 17

3. The Manichaean Books

As regards the Manichaean books, Augustines

description in Heresies 46 is rather brief:

Surely, the Manichaean books are unquestionably

common to all of them, and in these books are
described these dreadful things relating to the
transformation of males into females, and of females
into males to attract and to loosen through
concupiscence the princes of darkness of both sexes
so that the divine substance which is imprisoned in
them may be set free and escape.18

The reference here is to an episode in the Manichaean

myth called the Seduction of the Archons, an episode
well known to Augustine and to which we will return
shortly.
From how early on in his life did Augustine have a
personal knowledge of Manichaean writings, and how
much did he know of them? These are hotly debated
questions.19 When Augustine, in the retrospective
overview in Heresies, written near the end of his life,
17
Haer. 46,16.
18
Haer. 46,10.
19
J.K. Coyle, What Did Augustine Know about Manichaeism When He Wrote His Two
Treatises De Moribus?, in: Van Oort a.o. (eds.), Augustine and Manichaeism in the Latin West
[n. 10], 4356 [repr. in J.K. Coyle, Manichaeism and Its Legacy [NHMS 69], Leiden: Brill 2009,
251263]; J.K. Coyle, Saint Augustines Manichaean Legacy, AS 34 (2003) 122 [repr. in
Coyle, Manichaeism and Its Legacy, 307328]; J. van Oort, Young Augustines Knowledge of
Manichaeism: An Analysis of the Confessiones and Some Other Relevant Texts, VC 62 (2008)
441466 [new edition in this volume, ch. *]; idem, Manichaean Christians in Augustines Life
and Work, CHRC 90 (2010) 505546 [new edition in this volume, ch. *].
 9

remarks that the Manichaean books are unquestionably

common to all of them, he evidently has in mind the
Elect among a number of different kinds of Manichaeans
(he mentions the so-called Catharists or Purifiers, the
strict Mattarians or Matters, and the especially
Manichaeans20). But does this mean that he, the former
hearer, while a hearer, did not have access to the
documents on which all Manichaeans based their
doctrines?
The passage in the Confessions in which Augustine
recalls making acquaintance with the Manichaeans
already mentions their many and huge books.21
Augustine tells us that these impressive books were used
as the dishes in which they served up the sun and the
moon instead of the true God, and he continues by
calling to mind that the Manichaeans placed these
dishes before him and that they contained splendid
hallucinations.22 Apart from the oral transmission of
their message by means of discourses and, as we will
see, disputes, there was thus an additional illustration of
Manichaean doctrine by means of books. Augustines
account of his first encounters with the Manichaeans
even provides a unique piece of information, namely that,
even in Roman Africa, the so-called Image of Mani
(Greek: Eikn; Persian/Parthian: rdahang)the famous
painted picture book illustrating the most essential
aspects of his doctrinewas in use.23

20
Specialiter Manichaeos: Haer. 46,10.
21
Conf. 3,10, quoted in the Introduction.
22
Phantasmata splendida: Conf. 3,10.
23
Van Oort, Young Augustines Knowledge [n. 19], 449-450.
 1

Soon afterwards in his life story in the Confessions,

Augustine also tells that he actually read the books of the
Manichaeans. His account of Monnicas meeting with an
African bishop seems to be already relevant in this
context.24 This Catholic bishop is reported to have said
that Augustine by his reading will discover what that
error (the heresy of the Manichaeans) is and how vast an
impiety. Reading almost certainly refers to their books
and not, as is often supposed, to the Biblical scriptures:
Augustine goes on to relate the bishops own experience
as a former Manichaean who, without argument or proof
from anyone, discovered from their own books that the
Manichaeans should be shunned; therefore the bishops
answer to Monnica25 was: leave him there, namely in
that heresy so that he would have the same experience. A
further indication of Augustines personal reading of
Manis own writings appears in conf. 5,3,6: he compared
philosophers statements based on calculations, the order
of seasons, and the visible manifestations of the stars
with the sayings of Mani, which he has written on these
subjects very copiously and foolishly. Likewise, at conf.
5,7,12-13, where he relates his initial estrangement from
the Manichaeans after he had met their bishop Faustus,
Augustine states that the books of the Manichaeans are
full of immensely lengthy fables about the heaven and
stars and sun and moon. The story of the meeting with
Faustus is concluded with the explicit statement: My
study of the writings of Mani was thus checked.
In his earlier work Against Manis Fundamental
Letter (396/7), Augustine had said quite similar things
regarding his study of the Manichaean writings, at the
24
Conf. 3,21.
25
All ancient manuscripts have Monnica.
 11

same moment referring to his time with the Manichaeans

as nine years.26 Both this passage and the story of his
meeting with Faustus in the Confessions provide a
solution to the often observed inconsistency in
Augustines accounts of the duration of his Manichaean
years.27 Book 4 of the conf. opens with the well-known,
albeit puzzling remark: During this same period of nine
years, from the nineteenth year of my life to the twenty-
eighth one, we were seduced and we seduced .... This
statement is puzzling because, further on in the
Confessions, Augustine (born in 354) explicitly states
that, in the years 384385, when he was in Rome, he was
still a Manichaean.28 The solution seems to be that he
was a hearer who ardently studied the writings of the
Manichaeans for nine years, from his first acquaintance
with them in 373 until his meeting with Faustus at the
end of 382 (or the beginning of 383). After that he
remained a Manichaean, in any case during his first
Roman sojourn, but was no longer the ardent hearer who
enthusiastically studied Manichaean texts and tried to
convince others of the truth of the teachings they
contained. From 382/3 onward his mission zeal
decreased, and his study of Manichaean documents (such
as the newly written Capitula of Faustus and the main
part of the Disputationes of the Manichaean missionary
Adimantus) only resumed in later years, when he had
become a Catholic presbyter and then bishop.

26
C. ep. Man. 10,11.
27
P. Courcelle, Recherches sur les Confessions de saint Augustin, Paris: E. de Boccard
1950 (nouvelle dition augmente et illustre Paris: E. de Boccard 1968), 78; L.C. Ferrari,
Augustines Nine Years as a Manichee, Aug[L] 25 (1975) 210-216.
28
Conf. 5,18 ff.
 1

The early study of Manichaean writings may explain

Augustines detailed knowledge of Manis gnostic-
Christian religion, which is apparent from his own first
writings onwards. In mor. (c. 388) the second book in
particular testifies to an insiders knowledge. Nowhere
does Augustine say that he first sat down to study texts
of the Manichaeans in order to refute them. Instead he
expertly discusses the qualities of the kingdom of
darkness;29 he states that its supposed congruity
(congruentia) deceived your author [i.e., Mani] and led
him to compose lies,30 and he even objects at one point:

This is not what we find in the books of Mani: there it

is very often indicated and very often stated that God
took care that he would not be invaded.31

In his dispute with Fortunatus (392), Augustine

testifies to a thorough knowledge of (at least) Manis
Epistula Fundamenti and Thesaurus.32 With regard to his
treatise Against the Foundation Letter of Mani (396/7),
Augustine records that an annotated copy of Manis
Letter was at his disposal.33 Nowhere in his refutation
does he say, as suggested by Coyle,34 that he acquired

29
Mor. 2,14 ff.
30
Mor. 2,17.
31
Mor. 2,25.
32
J. van Oort, Heeding and Hiding Their Particular Knowledge? An Analysis of
Augustines Dispute with Fortunatus, in: T. Fuhrer (ed.), Die christlichphilosophischen
Diskurse der Sptantike: Texte, Personen, Institutionen. Akten der Tagung vom 22.25. Februar
2006 am Zentrum fr Antike und Moderne der Albert-Ludwigs-Universitt Freiburg, Stuttgart:
Steiner 2008, 113121 [new edition in this volume, ch. *].
33
Retr. 2,2,1
34
 1

this Letter recently, or does he give the impression that

its subject matter was new to him. On the contrary,
Augustine was criticizing a text with which he was
thoroughly familiar. One gets the same impression from
the disputation with Felix (404). In this case the
discussion is about the confiscated works of Mani:
codices containing the quinque auctores (five authors)
to which Manis Epistula Fundamenti and Thesaurus turn
out to belong.35 Nowhere is it suggested that Augustine,
in order to prepare himself for the dispute, studied these
confiscated codexes for the first time. At the beginning of
the public dispute, however, he presents a codex
containing Manis Fundamental Letter (perhaps the
personal one he already used in 396/7 for his Answer to
the Letter of Mani known as the Foundation), and all his
quotations in the course of the dispute come from this
codex. Moreover, in a striking way and evidently from
memory, Augustine quotes Manis Thesaurus in order to
prove that Mani has a doctrine of free will.36
The same expertise resounds throughout the
extensive work Against Faustus, written c. 400-404.
Although Bishop Faustus Capitula turn out to be new to
Augustine (because newly composed), he displays a
remarkable erudition in a wide range of typically
Manichaean themes and doctrines. Indicative is his
statement that all of Manis letters begin in this fashion:
Mani, apostle of Jesus Christ,37 and his remark
concerning a certain amatorium canticum in use in

J.K. Coyle, Epistulam Manichaei quam vocant fundamenti, Contra, Augustine through
the Ages: An Encyclopedia, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans 1999, 311312.
35
C. Fel. 1,14
36
C. Fel. 2,5
37
C. Faust. 13,4
 1

Manis Church (Do you recall your Song of the Lovers, in

which you describe the supreme reigning monarch,
forever sceptre-bearing, crowned with flower garlands
and radiant of face?) is completely new.38 In answer to
this last question, Hippos catholic bishop displays his
intimate knowledge of Manichaean theology by
describing from this source both the supreme God and
the twelve eons (saecula) surrounding Him.
In several of his other writings, such as ciu.,39
Augustine also evinces a distinctive expertise in
Manichaean doctrines, which is evidently based on first-
hand knowledge of the texts. In On Heresieswhich was
composed near the end of his life, sometime in the years
42830he gave the succinct but highly accurate
account of the Manichaeans from which we already
quoted. He manages to describe their main doctrines,
church organization, and ethics in fewer than 1,700
words. It was also near the end of his life that he gave
another proof of his expertise, in the long-winded and
never to be finished work against the catholic Bishop
Julian of Eclanum. After Julian had brought to his
knowledge a letter of Mani to a certain Menoch,
Augustine, on the basis of his intimate knowledge of the
Manichaean writings, was able to express his surprise
and to state that, until that moment, he absolutely did
not know this letter of Mani.40 Such a statement of
surprise, rather than being taken as a sign of distrust,
must be evaluated against the background of Augustines

38
C. Faust. 15,5.
39
J. van Oort, Manichaeism in Augustines De civitate Dei, in: E. Cavalcanti (ed.), Il De
civitate Dei: Lopera, le interpretazioni, linflusso, Rome: Herder 1996, 193214 [new edition in
this volume, ch. *].
40
C. Iul. imp. 3,172.
 1

explicit reference, made earlier in his anti-Manichaean

writings, to all of Manis letters.41 Most recent research
rightly stresses that Augustine did not deny the
genuineness of the new letter, said to have been recently
discovered in Constantinople, but only claimed that he
did not know its contents earlier.42
One may conclude from these and other relevant
43
data that Augustine had a thorough knowledge of the
Manichaean writings. A considerable part of this
knowledge seems to stem from the years he was a
Manichaean Hearer. Was the eager student Augustine,
though only a Manichaean of the fifth rank, an
exceptional case? In his own uvre we find other hearers
(such as Constantius,44 Honoratus45 and Secundinus46),
all of whom give the impression of having some
knowledge of original Manichaean texts. The bishop with
whom Monnica once discussed her concerns for her son
is also an interesting figure. We do not know his name
(although he is sometimes mistaken for Ambrose), but we
do know that he was a catholic bishop in Roman Africa
and a former Manichaean. Augustine provides some
important details about his former status: as a young boy
(parvulus) he was consigned by his mother to the
41
C. Faust. 13,4.
42
G. Harrison & J.D. BeDuhn, The Authenticity and Doctrine of (ps.-)Manis Letter to
Menoch, in: P. Mirecki and J.D. DeBuhn (eds.), The Light and the Darkness: Studies in
Manichaeism and Its World (NHMS 50), Leiden: Brill 2001, 128172.
43
Van Oort, Young Augustines Knowledge [n. 19]; idem, Mani(chaeus), Augustinus-
Lexikon 3: 11211132 ; idem, Manichaean Christians [n. 19].
44
C. Faust. 5,5; cf. mor. 2,74.
45
Util. cred.; cf. ep. 140.
46
C. Sec.
 1

Manichaeans and, during the years when he was a

hearer, he had not only read nearly all their books, but
had even copied them.47 The recent discoveries of
Manichaean texts in the Dachleh Oasis in Egypt, at the
site of ancient Kellis, some 900 km SSW of Cairo, provide
valuable corroboration of one detail of Augustines
account. A number of manuscripts have been unearthed
in Kellis that strongly suggest that Manichaean Hearers
(as well as Manichaean Elect) were involved in the
copying of texts. Young Hearers involvement may be
inferred from the wide range of Manichaean psalms often
written in an unpracticed hand,48 and in particular from
one of the personal letters sent by a certain father
Makarios to his son Matheos. This Matheos, obviously a
young Hearer, is encouraged not only to copy
Manichaean books (apparently including books of Mani
himself), but also to study them.49
Of course we would like to know exactly what
Augustine, referring to the unknown catholic bishops
former reading and copying, meant by the words nearly
all their books (omnes paene [...] libros eorum). Does he
suppose that a certain fixed amount of Manichaean
books, perhaps even some sort of canon, was circulating
in Roman Africa? And does his remark refer to the
writings of Mani alone, or to other books of the
Manichaeans as well? The same intriguing questions are
raised by Augustines observation that Faustus had
read ... some volumes (uolumina) of his own sect insofar

47
Conf. 3,21.
48
Gardner, Alcock & Funk, Coptic Documentary Texts 1 [n. 2], 77.
49
P. Kell. Copt. 19 in Gardner, Alcock & Funk, Coptic Documentary Texts 1, 156-165, esp.
160.
 1

as they were composed in Latin of good style.50

Augustine is here emphasizing the limitations of Faustus
reading, and one may take him to be saying that Faustus
had read ... only some volumes of his own sectthat is,
not all of them. Was he insinuating that, in comparison to
the Manichaean bishop, he himself had read more? Was
he also making a distinction between Manichaean texts
available in elegant Latin and others in a less polished
idiom? If so, this would appear to be the only place in the
whole of Augustines uvre where a difference of style is
signaled for Manichaean works available in Latin. Aside
from a number of other issues, one may discuss the
question of whether or not Augustine, here and
elsewhere, makes further distinctions between
Manichaean volumes (uolumina), codices, books (libri),
and writings (litterae). In any case, in the story of his
initial encounter with Manis followers, he tells us that he
was impressed by their many and huge libri;51 the
writings of Mani confiscated from Felix are indicated as
the five authorities52 and turn out to be written in five
codices;53 the passages discussed from Manis
Fundamental Letter were taken from a separate codex
(which in all probability had been in Augustines
possession for a long time, as shown above). In his work
Against Faustus, Augustine also speaks of the
Manichaeans use of impressive booksall those
parchments (membranae) and tasteful covers (tecturae)
exquisitely made from beautiful leather, and placed on
50
Conf. 5,11.
51
Conf. 3,10.
52
Auctores; cf. mor. 2,26: auctor vester, i.e., Mani.
53
C. Fel. 1,1.12;2,1.
 1

your dinner tables.54 From distant Turfan in modern

China we have concrete instances of the kind of deluxe
objects he had in view.55
One is left to wonder exactly what Augustines
indications about Manichaean books in Latin imply,
howevera question on which future studies and new
discoveries may be able to shed more light. Extant
Manichaean writings in Latin are scanty in comparison to
the many indicated in Augustines uvre. We have a
number of important fragments of Manis Epistula
fundamenti,56 of his Thesaurus,57 and to one of his other
letters seem to belong the fragments of the Epistula ad
Menoch. Apart from these remnants of the canonical
writings of Mani, we have Latin Manichaean texts such
as the Fragmenta Tabestina.58 Whether or not these
fascinating fragmentsdiscovered in 1918 in a cave
some 70 km SSW of Algerian Tbessa (ancient Theveste)
and presently kept in the Bibliothque Nationale in Paris
represent original work of Mani in translation, a Latin
translation of some other Manichaean work, or a writing
authored by a Latin-speaking Manichaean is still an open
issue. The same is true of the amatorium canticum

54
C. Faust. 13,18.
55
Z. Gulcsi, Mediaeval Manichaean Book Art: A Codicological Study of Iranian and
Turkic Illuminated Book Fragments from 8th11th Century East Central Asia (NHMS 57), Leiden-
Boston: Brill 2005, e.g. 30.
56
Collected in E. Feldmann, Die Epistula Fundamenti der nordafrikanischen
Manicher: Versuch einer Rekonstruktion, Altenberge: Oros 1987; and in M. Stein (ed.),
Manichaica Latina, vol. 2, Manichaei epistula fundamenti (PC 27/2), Paderborn: Schningh
2002.
57
See Augustine, nat. bon. 44.
58
Latest edition in M. Stein (ed.), Manichaica Latina, vol. 3 (in two parts): Codex
Thevestinus (PC 27/3, 1-2). Paderborn: Schningh 2004.
 1

mentioned earlier:59 it might be a Latin piece of some

canonical work of Mani, and in any case it is some sort of
liturgical hymn, in use in the Latin-speaking Manichaean
church of Roman Africa. One may perhaps see it as an
illustration of Augustines rather puzzling statement et
cantabam carmina.60 As a rule, these words are rendered
in English translations as indicating that Augustine
wrote poetry.61 But one might also suppose that, in the
context of Book 3 of the conf., Augustine means us to
understand that, during his stay with the Manichaeans,
he sang their songs; his further remarks on this point
seem to fit well with the metrical art of their liturgical
psalms and hymns.62
All things considered, it may be concluded that
Augustine had a far-reaching knowledge of original
Manichaean texts, both canonical and non-canonical.
Writings such as Faustus Capitula, Adimantus
Disputationes,63 and the letter of the Roman Manichaean
Secundinus64 indubitably belong to the second category.
With respect to the Song of the Lovers one may have
some doubts: the words Augustine quotes from it are
given so much weight that one might think of a canonical
work (and we know that Mani himself did compose
59
C. Faust. 15,5.
60
Conf. 3,14.
61
E.g. H. Chadwick (trans.), Saint Augustine: Confessions. Oxford: Oxford University
Press 1991, 45.
62
T. Sve-Sderbergh, Studies in the Coptic Manichaean Psalm-book: Prosody and
Mandaean Parallels. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell 1949.
63
J.A. van den Berg, Biblical Argument in Manichaean Missionary Practice: The Case of
Adimantus and Augustine (NHMS 70), Leiden-Boston: Brill 2010.
64
Van Oort, Secundini Manichaei epistula [n. 10].
 2

Psalms as well as Prayers). As regards the fully

canonical works, Augustine in any case displays his
knowledge of Manis Epistles (by far the most important
of which is the Fundamental Letter) and of the
Thesaurus. Whether or not he knew the contents of other
canonical writings of Mani is still difficult to say. On the
basis of various sources, Manis official canon can be
described as consisting of:
1. The Living (or Great) Gospel
2. The Treasure of Life
3. The Pragmateia (or Treatise or Essay)
4. The Book of Mysteries (Secrets)
5. The Book of the Giants
6. The Letters
7. The Psalms and Prayers.
They all survive, however, only in very fragmentary form.
Felixs conficated books consisted of quinque auctores,
and from the acts of Augustines disputation with him
one can infer that all these five authoritative books were
writings of Mani.65 There appears to have been a
tradition in the Latin West of counting Manis canonical
books as a Pentateuch (one directed against the Mosaic
one), and even a remote friend such as Paulinus of Nola
seems to have known of this custom. Some time before
the winter of 394 he and his wife Therasia gratefully
wrote to Augustine that they had received a work by him
consisting of five books directed against the
Manichaeans; this work, obtained through their common
friend (and former Manichaean) Alypius from Thagaste,
they explicitly call a Pentateuch against the
Manichaeans.66
65
E.g. c. Fel. 1,14.
66
Ep. 25,2.
 2

4. The Impact of the Manichaeans

The many indications in Augustines uvre provide a

fairly complete overview of the essential aspects of the
Manichaean myth, ethic, cult, and church organization.
As a matter of fact, Augustine did not know of the
development of Manis Church into the gnostic world
religionwhich existed for centuries, and in increasingly
syncretistic forms, in Central Asia and China. But his
long stay with the Manichaeans, his study of their
writings, and his subsequent disputes with a number of
their leading spokesmen all contributed to a thorough
knowledge of Manis Church and its declared Christian
set of beliefs. Moreover, the many particulars that can be
reconstructed from the remnants of Manis writings,
from the Coptic Manichaean texts discovered in Egypts
Medinet Madi and Kellis, and from numerous Greek and
Syriac texts belonging to the age of Augustine or to the
immediately preceding and following centuries,67 cohere
well within the picture provided by the bishop of Hippo.
We had to wait until the discovery of the Cologne Mani
Codex to appreciate, for instance, the full sense of an
enigmatic remark by Augustine,68 namely that Manis
disciples called him Mannicheus, doubling the letter n,
as if he were one who pours out manna. From the CMC
we now understand that it was a very ancient tradition in
the Manichaean Church to see Mani as the one who
scatters manna69 and that, in this way, even Mani himself

67
Many of these can be found in translation in Gardner and Lieu, Manichaean Texts [n. 2].
68
In Augustines haer. 46,1 (cf. c. Faust. 19,22).
69
Cf. John 6, 31-58.
 2

claimed to be the new manifestation of the promised

Prophet or Messiahthat is, the Christ.70
Only a few of the many essential data in Augustines
works concerning Mani and his religion can be listed
here. Augustine provides information on the name of
Mani71 and on his origins;72 on his claim to be an apostle
of Jesus Christ;73 on the Manichaean doctrine of two
opposed natures or substances;74 on the qualities of the
supreme good God,75 on his possession of wisdom and
vital powers,76 on his splendid kingdom and its twelve
eons;77 on the pre-existent and eternal kingdom of
darkness;78 on hyle (matter) as the supreme evil79 which
reigns in the kingdom of darkness;80 on the five elements
of darkness;81 on the five dark elements in the caves of
70
J. van Oort, Mani and Manichaeism in Augustines De haeresibus: An Analysis of Haer.
46,1, in: R.E. Emmerick, W. Sundermann & P. Zieme (eds.), Studia Manichaica IV:
Internationaler Kongre zum Manichismus, Berlin, 14.18. Juli 1997. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag
2000, 451463 (460-461) [new edition in this volume, ch. *].
71
E.g. c. Faust. 19,22; haer. 46,1.
72
E.g. c. Faust. 28,2.4.
73
E.g. c. ep. Man. 5; c. Fel. 1,1; c. Faust. 13,4.
74
E.g. uera rel. 16; haer. 46,2.
75
E.g. mor. 2,3.11-12; c. Fort. 3.
76
E.g. c. ep. Man. 13.
77
C. Faust. 15,5; cf. c. ep. Man. 13,16.
78
E.g. cont. 9.
79
C. Faust. 20,3.14-15; 21,1.4.9-11.13.14.16; 22,22; cf. nat. b. 18.
80
E.g. c. Faust. 21,14.
81
E.g. mor. 2,14; c. ep. Man. 28; haer. 46,7.
 2

the kingdom of darkness;82 on the substance of evil or

race of darkness that waged war against God;83 on the
wedge of darkness;84 on the emanation of Primal Man
(Homo Primus)85 who plunged his five elements into the
nation of darkness in order to take them captive and was
defeated;86 on the emanation of the Powerful Spirit
(Spiritus Potens) who conquered the powers of evil,
liberated Primal Man and created the world out of the
mixture of the five good and the five evil elements.87 In
addition to the texts just mentioned, one may refer to the
data abounding in mor. and haer. 46.
Time and again, Augustine makes much of a curious and
abominable episode in the Manichaean myth: the so-
called Seduction of the Archons. This episode follows
the account of the construction of this world as a prison
for the forces of darkness and as a place where the
divine Soul is captured. In order to start the process of
the deliverance of divine Light, the Father of Greatness
calls forth the Third Messenger. This Messenger and his
female doublet, the Virgin of Light, take advantage of
the innate concupiscence of the male and female
archons, who are chained in the heavens, and make them
relinquish the light they have devoured. It is
concentrated, in particular, in their semen and in their

82
E.g. mor. 2,17.
83
E.g. agon. 4; cont. 14.
84
Uer. rel. 96.
85
E.g. c. Faust. 5,4; 11,3.
86
E.g. c. Faust. 2,3-4.
87
E.g. c. Faust. 20,9; cf. e.g. mor. 2,60; uer. rel. 16; agon. 4.
 2

(inseminated) wombs.88 Augustine deals at length with

this episode,89 while at the same time relating that he
had heard in Rome that people in Paphlagonia and Gaul
had acted on this information by consuming not only
bread, vegetables, and fruit in order to release the divine
Light, but also human seed. Augustine describes this as
the logic of their wicked error90 and, not least in his
public disputes,91 he hints at the episode and the
supposed secret practice. Finally, near the end of his life,
he gives full vent to his suspicions by describing some
sort of eucharist involving human semen, apparently
practiced in Carthage.92
The impact of the Manichaeans upon Augustine beyond
his thorough knowledge of their doctrines and practices
can be discerned in a great variety of ways. Without a
doubt, Mani and his followers had a considerable
influence upon his biblical interpretationespecially his
struggle to find an appropriate exegesis of the first
chapters of Genesis;93 his defence of other parts of the
OT;94 and his insistence on the harmony of the Gospels.95
88
E.g. Lieu, Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire [n. 16], 18 ff.; Van Oort,
Mani(chaeus) [n. 43].
89
In nat. b. 44-47 (with extensive quotes from Manis Thesaurus and Epistula
Fundamenti).
90
Nat. b. 47.
91
C. Fort. 3; c. Fel. 2,7.13.22.
92
Haer. 46,9-10. Cf. ch. 7* in this volume: Human Semen Eucharist
Among the Manichaeans? The Testimony of Augustine Reconsidered in
Context.
93
Gn. adu. Man.; Gn. litt. imp.; Gn. litt.; conf. 11-13.
94
C. Adim.; c. Faust.; c. Sec.
95
 2

His curious interpretation of Pauls discourse about the

groaning of creation in Rm 8 as referring to rational
creation (angels and human beings) only, and not to the
whole created cosmos (including sun, moon, and stars),
seems to be inspired by his anti-Manichaean sentiment,
as is his downplaying of the cosmic significance of Christ.
It is through Augustine that western Christianity
developed a doctrine of Scriptures infallibility; but this
concept (and its basis in the idea of a fixed canon of
Biblical writings) was clearly also nourished by his anti-
Manichaean feelings. There are striking parallels
between Augustines and the Manichaeans doctrines of
sexual concupiscence and the transmission of sin,96 and
the same goes for their respective doctrines of two
antithetical kingdoms or cities.97 Most of these closely
parallel or similar doctrines can, it is true, be traced to a
common Jewish-Christian background.98 Nevertheless, a
description of the earthly city (terrena ciuitas)99 is clearly
inspired by details of the Manichaean account of the
kingdom of darkness,100 and the same may be said of

Cons. eu.
96
J. van Oort, Augustine and Mani on concupiscentia sexualis, in: J. den Boeft & J. van
Oort (eds.), Augustiniana Traiectina: Communications prsentes au colloque international
dUtrecht, 1314 novembre 1986, Paris: tudes Augustiniennes 1987, 137152 [new edition in
this volume, ch. *].
97
J. van Oort, Jerusalem and Babylon: A Study of Augustines City of God and the Sources
of his Doctrine of the Two Cities. LeidenNew YorkKbenhavnKln: Brill 1991 [repr. Leiden-
Boston: Brill 2013].
98
Ibid.
99
Such as we find in ciu. 11,33.
100
Van Oort, Jerusalem and Babylon, 223; idem, Manichaean Christians [n. 19].
 2

Augustines innovative, appealing, and Christ-centered

spirituality.101

Further reading

Augustines relation to Manichaeism has been

particularly well studied in the French-speaking world,
first in the excellent monograph by Alfaric102 and later on
by Decret.103 The studies by BeDuhn104 may be welcomed
as a highly original guide for English readers,105 being
the first two volumes in a projected three-volume
examination of Augustines career-spanning engagement
with Manichaeism. All the relevant Latin source material
from Augustines writings, accompanied by a modern
language translation and extensive commentary, is
scheduled to appear in the Series Latina of the Corpus
Fontium Manichaeorum (Turnhout: Brepols, 2004).

101
J. van Oort, Augustinus Confessiones: Gnostische en christelijke spiritualiteit in een
diepzinning document, Turnhout: Brepols, 2002.
102
Prosper Alfaric, Lvolution intellectuelle de saint Augustin, I: Du Manichisme au
Noplatonisme, Paris: mile Nourry 1918.
103
F. Decret, Aspects du manichisme dans lAfrique romaine. Les controverses de
Fortunatus, Faustus et Felix avec saint Augustin, Paris: tudes Augustiniennes 1970; F. Decret,
LAfrique manichenne (IVe-Ve sicles). tude historique et doctrinale, I: Texte, II: Notes, Paris:
tudes Augustiniennes 1978; F. Decret, Essais sur lglise manichenne en Afrique du Nord et
Rome au temps de saint Augustin. Recueil dtudes, Roma: Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum
1995.
104
J. D. BeDuhn, Augustines Manichaean Dilemma, I: Conversion and Apostasy, 373-388
C.E., Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2010 ; idem, Augustines Manichaean
Dilemma, 2: Making a Catholic Self, 388-401 C.E., Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press 2013.
105
J. van Oort, Augustines Manichaean Dilemma in Context, VC 65 (2011) 543567 [in
this volume, ch. *]; idem, Once again: Augustines Manichaean Dilemma, Aug[L] 66 (2016) *-*
[in this volume, ch. *].