The death of Mani, from a thirteenth-century history book

(Or Ms 161 fol.91r Death of Mani, from ‘The Chronology of Ancient Nations’ by Al-Biruni / Edinburgh University Library, Scotland / With kind permis-
sion of the University of Edinburgh / The Bridgeman Art Library International)
484 Milestone Documents of World Religions
 Mani: Evangelium
“Welfare and blessing upon the children of well-being and on the
speakers and hearers of the true word.”
Overview
Written sometime in the latter half of the
third century, Mani’s Evangelium, or “Liv-
ing Gospel,” which survives only in frag-
mentary form, is thought to present the
main features of the author’s creation myth,
the origin of his prophetic mission, and his
experiences traveling among other religious
cultures. It served as one of the main scriptural texts of the
emerging Manichaean religion, which began in Mesopota-
mia (in the region of modern-day Iraq) and spread westward
into Egypt, the rest of North Africa, and parts of southern
Europe and eastward along the Silk Road into Central Asia
and eventually medieval China. Evidence of the text’s exis-
tence has been found in most of these geographic contexts,
marking the Evangelium as one of the most widely read
Manichaean texts.
Ironically, even though Mani intentionally wrote his own
scriptures for his new religion, very little of this material
has survived into modern times. In the case of the Evan-
gelium, there remain only a few Greek quotations, some
manuscript fragments in Middle Persian, and an as-yet un-
published Coptic manuscript from Egypt, which contains
readings from Mani’s gospel meant for the community’s lit-
urgy. In particular, a number of key passages from this work
are quoted in a later Manichaean text called On the Origin
of His Body, found in a miniature Greek manuscript that
was probably worn as an amulet and which tells the story
of Mani’s early life.
Context
Mani “the Living” (Mani hayya in Aramaic), or Man-
ichaeus, as he was known to Westerners, was a Persian
prophet of the third century ce who lived in the early years
of the Sassanian Empire and founded what might be called
the first self-consciously world-oriented religion in history.
Persia (modern-day Iran) at this time was home to a number
of different religious groups, including Zoroastrians, Jews,
and various Christians sects as well as Buddhists on the
eastern frontiers. While Zoroastrianism was the traditional
Mani: Evangelium
ca. 240
–270
Persian religion, and Judaism  had been present for many
centuries, Christianity was rapidly expanding throughout
the Persian Empire, which had only recently reestablished
itself after a long period of decline. Some thought that this
diversity of “foreign” religions was a threat to the traditional
Zoroastrian priests, while others believed that the empire
should be unified under a single faith. It was in this context
that Mani was able to present himself as the culmination
of all previous prophecies and revelations and as a unifying
force within Persian society.
Mani harshly criticized the various religious communi-
ties of his time for, in his view, imperfectly preserving and
thus distorting the revelations delivered by their founders.
As such, one of the key aspects of his divine mission was to
leave an authentic record of his own revelation written in
his own hand. The first of these religious works was written
in Middle Persian and was addressed to the Persian king
Shapur I, from whom Mani sought and eventually received
imperial support. The others were written in Aramaic, the
common language of the ancient Near East at the time.
In these works, Mani described his unique and highly
imaginative religious vision of the world as a battleground
between forces of light and darkness. Human beings, he
taught, are at the center of this epic struggle and would
ultimately be the key to its eventual resolution, as long as
they heeded his divinely revealed wisdom.
About the Author
Born somewhere in Persia in 216 ce to members of
the aristocracy, Mani must have had what can only be de-
scribed as an unusual childhood for his time. Removed
from his mother at an early age and taken by his father
to live in an insulated sectarian religious community, Mani
nevertheless seems to have been able to achieve a high
degree of literacy and education, even honing his artistic
skills. Evidence indicates that he was widely versed in sto-
ries and traditions from more than one religious group. His
father, Pattik, seems to have been the ancient equivalent of
a spiritual “seeker,” as he joined a Judeo-Christian baptiz-
ing sect known as the Elchasaites after hearing a voice in a
temple commanding him to refrain from consuming meat
485
 his own religious message based upon a complex myth
Time Line about the creation of the world out of two eternally op-

216 ■ Mani is born in Mesopotamia.

posed principles—light and darkness. The conflict between
these two principles, Mani taught, resulted in the creation
of the world and the imprisonment of light particles within
ca. 240–270 ■ Mani writes the Evangelium, or
“Living Gospel.”
matter. Human beings, who symbolize this struggle on a
microcosmic scale, can serve as engines of cosmic salvation
by consuming foods thought to contain a high proportion of

276/277 ■ Mani is executed by the Persian

king Bahram II.
297 ■ The Roman emperor Diocletian
issues an edict against the
Manichaeans.
373 ■ Augustine of Hippo joins the
Manichaean Church.
387 ■ Augustine of Hippo converts
to Christianity, to become a
renowned theologian and a
canonized saint after his death.
405 ■ Further anti-Manichaean
legislation is introduced in the
Roman Empire.
ca. 675 ■ Manichaeans enter China.
763 ■ Manichaeanism becomes the
official religion of the Turkish
Uighur Empire.
843 ■ Chinese Manichaean temples
and monasteries are ordered
closed.
1292 ■ Marco Polo meets Manichaeans
in Zaitun (now Quanzhou), China.
light substance, such as fruits and vegetables.
These teachings resulted in the development of the cen-
tral Manichaean ritual, during which the elite members of
the community, known as the elect, consume food prepared
for them by the laity, known as the catechumens or hear-
ers. Eventually, when enough light particles have been lib-
erated, the matter of darkness will collapse inward upon
itself and be burned in a “Great Fire” lasting 1,486 years.
Sometimes referred to as the religion of the Two Principles
and the Three Times, Manichaeanism saw the final sepa-
ration of light and darkness as permanent. At the heart of
Mani’s myth is a trinitarian pattern of Father-Mother-Child
in which God sacrifices a part of his essence for the libera-
tion of all light-beings. This parallels in a highly mytholo-
gized sense the basic dynamic of early Christian salvation
discourse and provides further evidence of the movement’s
fundamentally Christian origins.
After receiving a certain degree of official support
from Shapur I, Mani was allowed to spread his message
throughout the Persian Empire and to send missionaries
to points beyond—into the Roman Empire and Central
Asia. When the king died, however, jealousy among the
traditional Zoroastrian priesthood led to Mani’s arrest and
execution in either 276 or 277, which his followers com-
memorated as his symbolic “crucifixion.” In the wake of
Mani’s death, the Manichaean Church was scattered, al-
though its missionaries continued to bring his message
to the far corners of the world, translating Manichaean
writings into a multitude of languages as they went. This
dissemination explains the diverse linguistic profile of
Manichaean source material, which is preserved in Latin,
Greek, Coptic, Syriac, Middle Persian, Turkish, Arabic,
and Chinese.

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

or wine. The exact nature of his religious orientation before
that event remains unclear.
Mani, it would appear, was never quite comfortable in this
religious setting and is portrayed by his biographers as having
grown increasingly dissatisfied with the teachings of his elders
in the community. While he was still a boy, he had a profound
experience of the suffering experienced by the plants harvest-
ed by his coreligionists and began to receive divine messages
from a being called the “Father of Truth” by means of his ce-
lestial “twin,” who counselled him to remain patient. Eventu-
ally, the time arrived to break with his home community and
fulfill his own destiny as a prophet and religious reformer.
After a series of journeys, including one to study the
traditions of India, Mani began to formulate and express
Even though a growing number of authentic Manichae-
an texts have been discovered, most consist of writings from
later generations of disciples. Often, these works reflect the
concerns of the later times and incorporate new develop-
ments in Manichaean teaching. Little remains from Mani’s
own “canonical” writings, meaning that scholars are at a
distinct disadvantage in trying to reconstruct an accurate
picture of his religious thought. Moreover, the variety of
ancient languages in which the source material is found
makes the study of Manichaeanism one of the most chal-
lenging theological research specializations. Nonetheless, a
much clearer picture of Mani’s motives and experiences as
a religious leader has slowly begun to emerge.

486 Milestone Documents of World Religions

 The fragments included here represent all the passag-
es from Mani’s Evangelium that have been identified and
published from a variety of different sources. Much more
material remains unpublished, in particular, the passages
found in the Coptic manuscript from Egypt. The extremely

Milestone Documents
poor condition of this manuscript, along with a number of
intervening historical circumstances, has delayed the pub-
lication of its contents. The few available passages from the
Evangelium provide a glimpse into the tradition founded by
one of the most important religious figures of late antiquity.
Owing to their age, the manuscripts in which these texts
are found are badly damaged. The pages have often dete-
riorated, and therefore parts of the original text are missing.
Sometimes the missing words can be reconstructed based
on what is being said before or after the gap, especially if a
few letters can be still seen. In this case the reconstructed
words are marked by square brackets. Frequently, howev-
er, we cannot fill in the blanks, so the missing passage is
marked with an ellipsis in square brackets. Finally, the fact
that the grammar of the original ancient language can be
difficult to translate into English means that the transla-
tor sometimes has to insert words not found in the original
text, just so it will read more smoothly in English. These
words are surrounded by parentheses. If the translator is
unsure of the reconstruction, a question mark is used to
indicate this uncertainty.

♦♦ Fragment 1 Fragment of manuscript from Turkestan, showing

In this fragment from the Evangelium, Mani presents Manichaean priests
his prophetic credentials as an “apostle of Jesus Christ” (Manichaean Priests, Manichaean miniature with text in Uigur (vellum),

sent on behalf of the “Father of Truth.” The Father is de- Turkestan School / Ruins of Idikut-Shahri, Turfan, Turkestan / Archives

scribed as an eternal being who exists before and after the Charmet / The Bridgeman Art Library International)

creation of “everything.” While this could be read simply as

religious rhetoric in veneration of the Father, it neverthe-
less appears to contradict or at least mediate Mani’s teach-
ing that, as documented elsewhere, two eternally opposed
principles lay at the foundation of the universe. Whether
or not Mani was a cosmic dualist in the strictest sense has
been debated by scholars, since he appears equally insis-
tent on both the primacy of the Father, as lord of the light
realm, and the reality of darkness and its material prison.
Ultimately, however, it is the Father and his powers of light
who will triumph at the end of time.
Mani also presents himself as the revealer of “truth.”
For Mani, this is a truth not found in other religious tradi-
tions, since their founders did not record their wisdom in
writing and therefore allowed it to be distorted. He reveals
this truth only to a select group of individuals, variously de-
scribed as his “companions,” the “children of peace,” “the
undying generation,” and the chosen “elect.” While Mani’s
religious vision was universal in tone, it was elitist in ap-
plication. Only members of the Manichaean community
had access to the core teachings. The word hope (written
in Greek in this fragment) reflects a basic wordplay in Ara-
maic, the language of Mani and his earliest followers, by
which the same root can mean both “hope” and “gospel.” In
this sense, there is a fundamental optimism in Mani’s mes-
sage, since the “[good] news” that he preaches in his “gos-
pel” is the eventual triumph of light over darkness. In this
way, Manichaeanism cannot be stereotyped with the same
pessimistic outlook often attributed to Gnostic groups.
The passage also contains an argument that was com-
monplace in Mani’s writings, namely, that he himself re-
corded the revelation given to him by the Father, thereby
insulating his followers from any charges of corrupting and
altering his words. Scholars have long suggested that be-
cause of this foundation,  Manichaean teaching remained
consistent through all the geographic areas and time peri-
ods in which it existed. Recent research, however, suggests
that this was not the case and that certain aspects of Man-
ichaean discourse were altered as the movement developed.
One puzzling aspect of this passage concerns the form
used for Mani’s name, which was normally rendered in
Greek and Coptic as Manichaios or in Latin as Manichaeus
but in this case occurs as Mannichaeus, with two n’s. This
has been interpreted as Greek wordplay whereby Mani’s
Aramaic honorific Mani hayya, meaning “Mani the Living,”
comes to mean “source of Manna,” that is, the bread that
nourished the Hebrews during the Exodus, their legendary
departure from ancient Egypt. It seems doubtful that Mani
would have applied such Greek wordplay to himself. It is
possible, then, that this citation from his gospel has experi-
enced some light editorial coloring.

Mani: Evangelium 487

 Essential Quotes

“I Mannichaeus, apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God, the

Father of Truth, from whom I also came into being.”

“For if [the whole] world and all men obeyed [him], I would be able, with
this possession and advantage which my father has given me, to enrich
them and render the wisdom sufficient for the whole world.”

“I have distinguished the light-gods from the archons.”

“Welfare and blessing upon the children of well-being and on the

speakers and hearers of the true word.”

♦ Fragment 2
This passage speaks to the issue of Mani’s intended
audience. Given the universalizing nature of his message,
he presumably intended his message for the entire world,
which he saw as languishing in sectarian error. Mani, how-
ever, was keenly aware of the hostility that his religious
critique was likely to inspire; thus, the “secrets” of the Fa-
ther are said to be reserved for the members of his religious
community of believers, thereby reinforcing an esoteric
tendency common among ancient Gnostic groups. Never-
theless, Mani does express his wish that the whole world
might do the will of the Father.
The notion that Mani preached a universal message
intended to complete and correct all previous prophecies
provided a significant template for later Islamic ideas about
the finality and supremacy of Muhammad’s revelation.
While there is evidence of a Manichaean presence in Ara-
bia in late antiquity, just how widespread the religion’s ideas
would have then been remains uncertain.
♦ Fragment 3
In this passage, Mani expresses gratitude to the Fa-
ther for sending him the “Syzygos,” or “companion”
(referred to as the “twin” in the tenth-century Islamic
literary survey Kitab al-fihrist, or Book of the Index, by
Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn al-Nadim), who served as ce-
lestial messenger and agent of revelation. This being,
he states, liberated him “from the error of those of that
rule,” meaning the erroneous doctrines of the sect in
which he was brought up. Mani’s break with the Elcha-
saites is central to the narrative of On the Origin of His
Body in its surviving form, with the break portrayed as
the springboard from which he then launches his mis-
sionary career.
♦ Fragment 4
This fragment is from the “First Discourse” of the Evan-
gelium, known as the aleph chapter; some accounts suggest
that Mani’s original gospel was divided according to the let-
ters of the Aramaic alphabet. In this passage, Mani affirms
his dualistic vision of the cosmos, which divides beings into
two camps: those derived from the light realm belonging
to the Father and those who are the progeny of darkness.
It also highlights the fact that Mani conceived of the light
realm as existing in the lofty sphere of the heavens, while
the kingdom of darkness was relegated to the depths of
the abyss, where its “archons,” or rulers, exist in a state of
perpetual war and chaos. Mani alludes to the “light-gods”
in the plural, because in Manichaean discourse the light
realm is inhabited by a multiplicity of divine beings. Some
of them have specific functions within the Manichaean
creation myth, while others simply populate the Father’s
celestial court, of which he is ultimately sovereign. This,
too, highlights the often perplexing nature of Manichaean
theology. As mentioned, Mani is said to have taught the
existence of two eternally opposed principles, yet he some-
times speaks of the Father in rather monotheistic tones.
Similarly, even though the Father is the supreme ruler of
the light realm and the source of divine power, his world
is populated by a number of divine beings and essences,
verging on polytheism. In this sense, Manichaeanism is a
religion that is extremely difficult to classify.
♦ Fragments 5 and 6
In these fragmentary passages, Mani alludes to “the
dogma,” or sectarian teaching, and “the nomos,” or religious
law, of his home community, philosophies that he came to
distrust and ultimately to reject. Both terms imply a cer-
tain degree of strictness and inflexibility, especially nomos,

488 Milestone Documents of World Religions

which was the Greek equivalent of torah—the Jewish law.
Part of the Elchasaite teaching seems to have involved the
classification of plants according to their worth and ritual
purity. When Mani established his own religious commu-
nity, the classification of plants according to their light con-
tent played a central role in ritual activities.
In Fragment 5, Mani makes repeated reference to his
“body” and its origin, which resonates with the title of the
work On the Origin of His Body from the miniature Greek
manuscript. The term body is thought by some to represent
the Manichaean community as a whole. Therefore, when
the text refers to the origin of Mani’s “body,” it may carry
the double meaning of both his early life and the begin-
nings of his movement.
♦♦ Fragment 7
In this passage, Mani recounts his travels to India, which
he seems to have undertaken both to study the doctrines of
the Brahmans and to spread his own religious message, al-
though it is unclear how much he had formulated his mes-
sage at this point. In India, which bordered on the Persian
Empire, he found a country with a variety of ancient and
well-established “sects” and “castes,” although the Brah-
mans, in particular, he found too settled in their ways to
accept any kind of new teaching. They, he claims, appear
to listen only to their own teachers and forefathers. This
insular and conservative religious perspective appeared to
startle Mani, who was attempting to build a universal and
transnational church for all of humanity.
Mani’s missionary journey to India may have some sort
of connection to the alleged missionary journey of the
apostle Thomas to the same region. Scholars have noticed
a number of significant points of contact between Man-
ichaeanism and the literature associated with Thomas and
the Christian traditions he inspired. At the very least, Man-
ichaeans and Thomasine Christians were active in the same
Mesopotamian environment, which appears to have lead to
a certain degree of cross-fertilization.
♦♦ Fragment 8
In this fragment, Mani relates a peculiar bit of Jewish lore
related to the Exodus story. This, in itself, is exceptional be-
cause it has often been assumed that Mani had little interest
in mainstream Jewish traditions. Yet in this instance he ex-
plains that the name of “Mount Sinai” was derived from the
type of thistle, sina, found in its vicinity. It is interesting to
note that in this recounting of the episode from the Exodus
story, no mention appears to be made of Moses, the central
figure of the Jewish narrative. Rather, the “seed of Abraham”
are described as “Babylonians” and “Chaldaeans,” both peo-
ples from Mani’s homeland of Mesopotamia, although the
motive for this identification remains unclear. Perhaps Mani
was attempting to appeal to a common “Babylonian” origin
for himself and the Jews. After all, Mani is elsewhere (in Abu
Raihan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Beruni’s eleventh-century
cultural investigation Kitab fi tahqiq ma li’l-Hind, translated
as India) quoted as identifying himself as the messenger of
“the God of Truth to Babylonia.”
Mani: Evangelium
♦♦ Fragment 9
This excerpt from the aleph chapter of the Evangelium is
found in a Middle Persian liturgical text evoking the Maid-
en of Light, the being who in Manichaean cosmogony as-
sists the First Man in his battle against the powers of dark-
Milestone Documents
ness. It is important to note the unique mode of Trinitarian
language employed here, which mentions the Maiden be-
ing praised by a Father, Mother, and Son. Each of these be-
ings plays a central role in the unfolding of the Manichaean
creation story, with the basic framework of that story and
of early Manichaean theology in general apparently built
upon the alternative notion of the Trinity found here and
in other examples of Gnostic literature. This concept of the
Trinity, based on an idea of Father, Mother, and Child, ap-
pears to have rivaled the proto-orthodox doctrine of Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit—which is itself placed in remarkable
juxtaposition with the Manichaean Trinity in the ensuing
sentences. Thus, two different concepts of the Trinity un-
derlie the same passage. In the fragment’s last paragraph
(which may, in fact, not form part of the original Evange-
lium), Mani reaffirms his status as an “apostle of Jesus the
friend” and reiterates that he owes his wisdom to “the Fa-
ther, the true God.”
♦♦ Fragment 10
This bilingual passage, alternating versions of lines in
Middle Persian and in Sogdian, resembles the previous frag-
ment in that it constitutes a litany of praise, although this
time Jesus, the Maiden of Light, the “holy church,” and the
“hearers of the true word” are venerated. Within the context
of Central Asia, it appears as though Sogdian was the lan-
guage most commonly understood by the merchant class, by
which the religion was spread and took root. This explains
the bilingualism of the manuscript fragment. The Sogdian
version of the litany gives insight into Manichaean mission-
ary practices, where the Father is equated with “Zurwan,”
or Zurvan, the Iranian high god favored by members of the
Sassanian court. Unlike some of its religious rivals, Man-
ichaeanism never placed great importance on one particular
language as a sacred literary vehicle. Instead, Manichaeans
used a multiplicity of dialects to transmit their message and
disseminate their texts as widely as possible.
Audience
Like most religious literature, Mani’s Evangelium was
likely intended for consumption within the Manichaean
tradition, unlike his first known work, Shaburagan, which
was addressed specifically to the Persian court of King
Shapur I. Still, it is entirely possible that portions of the
gospel were used in or adapted to literature aimed at re-
cruiting new members. While it is conceivable that a text
such as On the Origin of His Body could have been read
as a sort of introductory biography by outsiders interested
in the movement, the passages from the Evangelium con-
tained in the unedited Coptic manuscript were certainly
intended for liturgical use within the community itself. Yet
489
given the fragmentary nature of the text, it remains difficult
to ascertain its full function and intended audience. Pre-
sumably that function parallels the purpose of other early
Christian Gospels or at least Mani’s idea of how those Gos-
pels functioned, in that the Evangelium probably provided
a primary vehicle for Mani to communicate the central nar-
rative of his life and revelation, aspects that are essentially
inseparable, much as they are in the mainstream Christian
understanding of Jesus.
Still, given the range of primary Manichaean sources dis-
covered so far and the fact that so little comes from Mani’s
own works, it is difficult to tell how the community’s litera-
ture was used among its various hierarchies. For instance,
it is possible that some literature was reserved for the elite
members of the community, the elect, while other texts were
read by the laity, known as catechumens or hearers. This is
certainly the impression given by some recently discovered
Manichaean personal letters from Egypt. A third possibility
could be that later Manichaean tradition shaped the dis-
course in ways divergent from Mani’s own writings and thus
led to a deemphasis of the canonical writings. At the same
time, the Evangelium itself appears to be one of the canoni-
cal texts that continued to be read with some regularity.
Thus, modern scholars can assume that the Evangelium
was intended to be read by members of the Manichaean
community, whether elect or catechumen, and that it was
read in at least four known linguistic settings—the origi-
nal Aramaic (no longer extant), Greek, Coptic, and Middle
Persian. This means that the text was known and actively
used in the liturgies of western, eastern, and central Man-
ichaean communities.
While there are no known Manichaeans in the present
day—at least none that can trace their origins to the an-
cient Manichaean Church—the Evangelium is an impor-
tant witness to an alternative stream of Christianity that
had a rich and varied history. Certainly many past Christian
authorities would have been content to see the Manichae-
an tradition erased from historical memory, but there can
be no denying the immense and widespread impact of this
great rival to the mainstream church. Religious historians
can only hope that the unedited portions of the Evangelium
will be published in the near future, thereby giving a more
complete picture of its content and message.
Impact
Although it initially escaped the attention of Roman of-
ficials, the Persian origins of Manichaeanism led to it being
declared an illegal sect by Emperor Diocletian in 297. Nev-
ertheless, the movement continued to grow, attracting new
followers, such as, most notably, Augustine of Hippo, who

Questions for Further Study

1. Why do you think the Evangelium and the Manichaean religion essentially disappeared but Islam developed into
a major world religion—this despite the fact that both Mani and Muhammad based their religions on personal revela-
tions and neither broke entirely with earlier established faiths? For reference, see the entry on the Sahih al-Bukhari.

2. Mani’s vision is described as being one of an epic battle between the forces of light and darkness. Compare
his vision with that found in Dionysius the Areopagite: The Celestial Hierarchy. Why do you think images of light (and
darkness) are used frequently in writing about spiritual matters?

3. The following statement is made about Mani: “While he was still a boy, he had a profound experience of the
suffering experienced by the plants harvested by his coreligionists and began to receive divine messages from a
being called the ‘Father of Truth’ by means of his celestial ‘twin,’ who counselled him to remain patient.” Mani went
on to become a religious leader, and his work is being read some seventeen centuries later. What do you think the
response might be if Mani lived today and had similar views? What, in your opinion, accounts for the difference?

4. What is Manichaeanism? Why was it considered a threat? What was the reaction of the Catholic Church to
Manichaeanism and why? Why, “among Muslim scholars,” were Manichaeans “not accorded the same degree of
tolerance as was granted to Jews and Christians as ‘peoples of the book’”?

5. The Near East during this time was a swirl of cultures and religions: Christianity and various offshoots of Chris-
tianity, Judaism, the Roman Empire, Greeks, Persians, Zoroastrians, Arabs, and others. How would you describe the
position of Manichaeanism in this swirl of contending cultures and beliefs?

490 Milestone Documents of World Religions

after nearly a decade with the sect would go on to become
one of the most influential Christian theologians of all time
and a canonized saint.
After the seventh century, the situation of Manichaeans
in the Islamic world was equally precarious. Although they
generated a great deal of curiosity among Muslim scholars,
Manichaeans were not accorded the same degree of toler-
ance as was granted to Jews and Christians as “peoples of the
book.” Sogdian traders carried the religion eastward along
the Silk Road, where it adapted to local Iranian and Bud-
dhist terminology. Although it was greeted with suspicion
by many, Manichaeanism would briefly be adopted as the
official religion of the Uighur Turks of Central Asia during
the eighth and ninth centuries. Gradually, the Manichaean
Church fades from the historical record, suppressed in the
west and disappearing once and for all in the late medieval
period along the southern coast of China. All that exists of
its fascinating history are the scattered literary remains that
include the Evangelium. Rumors of a small number of Man-
ichaean families in China persisted until recent times.
It is difficult to gauge the specific impact of Mani’s
Evangelium other than to say that it represents one of the
core  scriptural texts—if not the core text—of one of late
antiquity’s most widespread and influential religious move-
ments. From the fourth-century pages of Augustine’s Con-
fessions to the tenth-century Fihrist of the Muslim ency-
clopedist Ibn al-Nadim, Manichaeans are a persistent and
inescapable presence within late antique and early-medi-
eval religious discourse. Highly effective religious organiz-
ers and prolific publishers of religious literature, Manichae-
ans left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape of both
Eastern and Western religious cultures. More important,
however, is where Mani and his message stand in the chain
of the great revealed religions. After all, Mani proclaimed
Mani: Evangelium
himself “Seal of the Prophets” long before the age of the
Prophet of Mecca, Muhammad. This and other parallels
point to Manichaeanism as a pivotal and all-too-often ne-
glected link in the chain of religious ideas formed by the
great Abrahamic traditions.
Milestone Documents
Further Reading
■■ Books
Burkitt, Francis C. The Religion of the Manichees. Cambridge,
U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1925.
Funk, Wolf-Peter. “Mani’s Account of Other Religions according to
the Coptic Synaxeis Codex.” In New Light on Manichaeism: Papers
from the Sixth International Congress on Manichaeism, ed. Jason
David BeDuhn. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2009.
Gardner, Iain, and Samuel N. C. Lieu, eds. Manichaean Texts from the
Roman Empire. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Klimkeit, Hans-Joachim, ed. and trans. Gnosis on the Silk Road:
Gnostic Texts from Central Asia. New York: HarperCollins, 1993.
Lieu, Samuel N. C. Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and
Medieval China. Tübingen, Germany: J. C. B. Mohr, 1992.
Tardieu, Michel. Manichaeism, trans. M. B. DeBevoise. Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 2008.
—Timothy Pettipiece
491
 Document Text
Mani: Evangelium
♦ Fragment 1
(from the Greek Cologne Mani Codex 66–68)
He wrote [again and] said in the gospel of his most
holy hope: “I Mannichaeus, apostle of Jesus Christ,
through the will of God, the Father of Truth, from
whom I also came into being. He lives and abides for
all eternity. Before everything he is, and he remains
after everything. Everything which has happened and
will happen, is established through his power. From
him I have my being, and I exist also according to his
will. And from him all that is true was revealed to me
and from [his] truth I exist. I have seen [the truth of
eternity which he revealed.] And I declared the truth
to my companions; I preached peace to the children
of peace; I proclaimed hope to the undying genera-
tion; I chose the elect and showed the path leading
to the height to those who will go up according to
this truth. I have proclaimed hope and revealed this
revelation; and have written this immortal gospel, in
which I have put down these pre-eminent secret rites
and declared great deeds, indeed the greatest and ho-
liest of supreme deeds of power. [And] these things
which [he revealed] I have made known [to those who
live in accordance with] the vision of supreme truth
which I have seen, and the most glorious revelation
which was revealed to me.”
♦ Fragment 2
(from the Greek Cologne Mani Codex 68–69)
Yet again he said: “All the secrets which my fa-
ther gave me, I have hidden and sheltered from the
sects and gentiles and indeed the world, but to you I
have revealed them in accordance with the will of my
most blessed father. And if he should wish me to once
more, I will reveal them to you. For the gift which was
given to me by my father is very great and [rich]. For if
[the whole] world and all men obeyed [him], I would
be able, with this possession and advantage which my
father has given me, to enrich them and render the
wisdom sufficient for the whole world.”
♦ Fragment 3
(from the Greek Cologne Mani Codex 69–70)
Again he said: “When my father showed favour
and treated me with pity and solicitude, he sent from
492
there my never-failing Syzygos, the complete fruit of
immortality, who might ransom and redeem me from
the error of those of that rule. He came to [me and]
brought to me [the] noblest hope, the [redemption]
of immortality, true instructions and the laying on
of hands from my father. He came and chose me in
preference to others and set me aside, drawing me
away from the midst of those of that rule in which I
was brought up.”
♦ Fragment 4
(from the unpublished Coptic Synaxeis Codex)
(I have set apart,) … [the living] offspring [… from]
what is dead, the children of the light from [the] off-
spring of darkness. I have separated the children of
the height from the offspring of the abyss, the children
of God from the children of the enemy. I have distin-
guished the light-gods from the archons …
♦ Fragment 5
(from the unpublished Coptic Synaxeis Codex)
... the dogma and … in the nomos … among them
… and the birth/generation of the body … they nour-
ished my body alone … in that dogma … and its pres-
byters … my body … that I should do … thus I did
not trust them when I was small …
♦ Fragment 6
(from the unpublished Coptic Synaxeis Codex)
… in a … way, according to individual nomoi.
They did … They separated plant from plant, vegeta-
ble from vegetable, [herb] from herb (?). And so did
I. I separated (?) … their outrage, according to their
nomos … I took it from them, they being … consid-
eration. In this way, I chanced upon (?) … they … by
his/its schema, by his/its typos, thus … outside. I went
into the monasteries [which belonged [?]) to them.
They (?) desired … outside and [inside (?) …] … in it.
♦ Fragment 7
(from the unpublished Coptic Synaxeis Codex)
… little by little … the error of their nomos. But …
error … They have already dissolved [and …] them
in/by the bond of the nomos, by way of the … They
were … away on account of its error. Thus [I …] little
by little and I drew many away from the error [of the]
Milestone Documents of World Religions
 Document Text

nomos. I led them from death to life, for I [am …] ♦ Fragment 8

against them (?) … according to their … for a time.
I … their (?) … in the countries of the land (?) of
the east, of [India]. In that place [I encountered (?)]
many sects (dogma) and castes [which (?) …] except
for [their] nomos, while the … through one another,
according to the … that place, the ones that I dis-
tinguished—caste by caste, dogma by dogma. In that
place I took a close look at the caste of the Brahmans
(and found out) that they were strong and settled in
their … in the land of the east. They are respected
in their [caste (?) …] … other dogma(ta). Now, their
nomos is the following. I took a close look at their
nomos and found that (?) the leaders and teachers …
in prophecy and ascesis, in special skills … 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 in such a man-
ner opposed and incapable of listening to any but
their own … and their nomos, that they are lined up
and are … their caste and did not search outside of
… their nomos. As soon as [I …] … my head, I sought
after … I travelled around in their countries … I …
the disposition which … their places which … I (?)
said (?), “Your nomos, which … which …”
Milestone Documents
(from the unpublished Coptic Synaxeis Codex)
… [he] chose the tribe … [the] entire [country] …
[He] … their … so that they … godhead. Later on,
[he] … in order to […], that is (?), the skhina … , in
order to seize … set free (?) her army. Finally, then, af-
ter having … the seed of Abraham, she (?) … them off.
They … and they … the slavery and the humiliation
… (forced?) labor. So they departed from Egypt [and
passed through (?)] the field of the mountain of sina
(that is, Mount Sinai). There were great [quantities
of] thistles [growing (?)] in that [place (?)]. Now, the
thistle is called sina in the language of that place …
… skhina, after the name of the thorn-tree with which
[the whole place (?)] is filled. ... These Babylonians
released … and they … in it. They seized [the land (?)
of] … and became kings in it … Euphrates … these
Chal[daeans (?)] … in Hebrew … in Babylon …
♦ Fragment 9
(from Middle Persian M17)
He teaches in the Gospel Aleph.
[She was praised and be praised), the Maiden
of Light, head of all wisdoms. It was praised and is
praised, the holy church, by the power of the Father,

Glossary

Aleph the prototypical first letter in various alphabets, including that of Hebrew, Arabic, and
the Phoenician
archons maleficent, world-governing powers created with the material world by a subordinate
god called the Demiurge, or creator
Brahmans the priestly caste in India
Chaldaea a region in the southern part of modern-day Iraq, frequently used at the time as a synonym
for Babylonia
dogma here, sectarian teachings

Euphrates a major river in modern-day Iraq

nomoi plural of nomos

nomos religious law

presbyters church elders

Ramratrux a Sogdian version of “Mother of Life,” possibly meaning “liberal with joy”

skhina probably a reference to a dish eaten by Jews, especially in Morocco

Sogdian pertaining to Sogdiana, an ancient Iranian civilization

Syzygos “companion”

Zurwan or Zurvan, the Iranian high god favored by members of the Sassanian court

Mani: Evangelium 493

 Document Text
by the praise of the Mother, and [by the wisdom of
the Son], and on the speakers and hearers of the true
word. [8 lines blank] Let there be praise and honour
to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost
and [to the holy book.][… ca. 15 lines lost … which
instructs the eye and] ear, and teaches the fruit of
truth. [8 lines left blank]
I Mani, apostle of Jesus the friend, by the will of
the Father, the true God, he from whom I came to be,
… is after all [things], and everything which has been
and will be stands by his power. The fortunate receive
this [good] news, the wise recognize [it], the strong
don [it] (as their armour), the learned [consider(?)]
(it to be) better …
♦ Fragment 10
(from bilingual Middle Persian [Pe.] and
Sogdian [Sogd.] M172)
… [Pe.] and the understanding of the wise. [Sogd.]
He has been praised and will be praised, the dearest-
of-the-dear son, the life-giving [saviour] Jesus, head of
all giving, support of the pure and perception of the
494
wise. [Pe.] She was praised and be praised the Maiden
of Light, head of all wisdoms. [Sogh.] She has been
praised and will be praised, the wonder-working Kani-
grosan [Maiden of Light], who is head of all wisdom.
[Pe.] It was praised and is praised, the holy church, by
the power of the Father, by the praise of the Mother,
and by the wisdom of the Son. [Sogd.] It has been
praised and will be praised, the holy church, righteous-
ness, by the power of the Father, god Zurwan, by the
praise of the Mother [of Life], god Ramratrux, and by
the wisdom of the Son Jesus. [Pe.] Welfare and bless-
ing upon the children of well-being and on the speak-
ers and hearers of the true word. [Sogd.] Welfare and
blessing upon the children of well-being and on the
speakers and hearers of the trustworthy holy word. [Pe.]
Let there be praise and honour to the Father and
to the Son and to the Holy Ghost and to the holy
book. [Sogd.] Likewise let there be praise and rev-
erence to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy
Spirit, and to the living scripture. [Pe.] The saying of
the living Gospel, which instructs eye and ear, and
teaches the fruit of truth.
Milestone Documents of World Religions