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Mani's Writings
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MANI'S WRITINGS

"We now possess genuine primary Manichaean texts in considerable quantity from the former major Silk Road settlements and from various sites in Egypt. These comprise texts written in: Middle Iranian (mainly in Middle Persian, Parthian, Sogdian, Bactrian, and early New Persian);  Tocharian and Old Turkish from the Turfan Oasis, China; in Chinese from Tunhuang, China; in Coptic from Medinet Madi, Egypt; and in Latin (the Tebessa Codex ) from Algeria, as well as small fragments in Syriac from Egypt. Furthermore, in a series of ongoing excavations since 1990, Australian and Canadian archaeologists under the direction of Dr Colin Hope (Monash University, Melbourne, Australia) have unearthed at Kellis (modern Ismant el-Kharab) in the Dakhleh Oasis (Egypt) what appears to have been a major Fourth Century AD Manichaean site consisting of at least four intact houses. A very large number of well preserved Manichaean texts in Greek, Coptic, and Syriac (including bilingual Syriac and Coptic word-lists) on wooden boards as well as smaller text-fragments on papyri have been recovered.

Many of the texts recovered from Central Asia and Egypt are in a fragmentary condition and many primary texts and fragments are still unpublished (especially many Turfan fragments) or have been published only in facsimile form (particularly the still unedited codices of the Medinet Madi corpus). However, systematic work has been undertaken on these texts in several major institutions of learning, especially in Germany, Great Britain, France, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Japan, China, and Australia." (From: http://www.museum.mq.edu.au/ahist/DocCtr/manics/CFMabout.html)

The sacred texts personally authored by Mani, as mentioned by him in the Kephalaia, are:

• Great Gospel
• Treasure of the Life (fate of Catechumens)
• The Treatise
• The One of the Mysteries
• The Writing (to Parthians)
• Epistles
• Psalms
• Prayers

"We now possess genuine primary Manichaean texts in considerable quantity from the former major Silk Road settlements and from various sites in Egypt. These comprise texts written in: Middle Iranian (mainly in Middle Persian, Parthian, Sogdian, Bactrian, and early New Persian);  Tocharian and Old Turkish from the Turfan Oasis, China; in Chinese from Tunhuang, China; in Coptic from Medinet Madi, Egypt; and in Latin (the Tebessa Codex ) from Algeria, as well as small fragments in Syriac from Egypt. Furthermore, in a series of ongoing excavations since 1990, Australian and Canadian archaeologists under the direction of Dr Colin Hope (Monash University, Melbourne, Australia) have unearthed at Kellis (modern Ismant el-Kharab) in the Dakhleh Oasis (Egypt) what appears to have been a major Fourth Century AD Manichaean site consisting of at least four intact houses. A very large number of well preserved Manichaean texts in Greek, Coptic, and Syriac (including bilingual Syriac and Coptic word-lists) on wooden boards as well as smaller text-fragments on papyri have been recovered. Many of the texts recovered from Central Asia and Egypt are in a fragmentary condition and many primary texts and fragments are still unpublished (especially many Turfan fragments) or have been published only in facsimile form (particularly the still unedited codices of the Medinet Madi corpus). However, systematic work has been undertaken on these texts in several major institutions of learning, especially in Germany, Great Britain, France, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Japan, China, and Australia." (From: http://www.museum.mq.edu.au/ahist/DocCtr/manics/CFMabout.html)

"Mani was the author of a series of greater writings, seven in number, and of many smaller tracts which dealt with individual points. His followers continued to imitate him in putting forth tracts (often as letters), and the Fihrist speaks of seventy-six titles of this character. Unfortunately Manichean literature has almost entirely perished, owing to the Literature. persecutions of the religion. Accounts of Mani's literary activity come from various sources, Syriac, Arabic, and Greco-Roman. Al-Nadim reports in the F%hrist that Mani wrote one. book in Persian and six in " Syriac," i.e., Babylonian Aramaic. Mani seems to have used a sort of cipher, but the Sassanian-Persian became the customary script of Manichean writings. The books alleged to be written in Syriac are:.

• (1) The " Book of Secrets" mentioned by Titus as Mysteries, and among Christians it was described as the book which seeks to destroy the law and the prophets. It probably contained Mani's dogmatics and polemics. The titles of the chapters as given in the accounts which have been transmitted appear mere riddles, though some of them probably relate to recognized fundamentals in the system.
• (2) The " Book of Giants " dealt with cosmogony and demonology, and Gen. vi. 1-4 probably exerted an influence upon this conception. The Babylonian myth of the contest between gods and demons was not without effect.
• (3) The " Book of Chapters " is concerned with directions for the " elect," a sort of catechism, and was probably the book with which Augustine dealt in his celebrated Contra epistolam Manichoi quam vocand Fundamenti (Eng. transl. in NPNF, 1 ser., iv. 129-150). The Manichean Felix asserted that it contained " the beginning, middle and end," i.e., the entire teaching concerning the history of the gods to the end of men. It was written in epistolary form in imitation of Paul's method, and was designed by the author to be the fundamental book of instruction. It began with a description of the original relations of light and darkness before the commingling, and proceeded with a fantastic development of the pleroma of light, etc.
• (4) The title of the fourth work was probably Shapurakan (" for Shapur "). According to Biruni, Mani wrote this book for Shapur I., son of Ardashir, in order to win him to the faith. The Fihrist sums it up in three chapters dealing with the death of the adherent, of the apostate, and of the sinner. This book was probably not known in the western world.
• (5) The " Book of Making Alive " was probably that known to Epiphanius, Photius, and Augustine as Thesaurus. It was of considerable size, since Augustine cites a seventh book.
• (6) The Pragmdteia was possibly the original title of another work which is otherwise unknown.
• (7)The seventh of Mani's main works, written in Persian, was his Engeliun (Evangelion, " Gospel "). Biruni says of it that it was of a character entirely different from the Christian Gospels, that the Manicheans regarded it as the only correct one and called it the " Gospel of the Seventy," and that it was arranged in the order of the twenty-two letters of the old Aramaic alphabet. It was written during the author's exile in Turkestan, and the initial capitals were, in Persian fashion, worked in ornamental designs, from which among the Persians Mani was known as " the painter," a charaoterizatibn not known to the Arabs or in the West. Possibly the reference in this title has something to do with the pictorial character of Mani's representations of heaven and hell.
• Biruni ascribes to Mani also a " Book of Books."

The first, third, fifth, and last of the works named above were ascribed to Scythianus (§ 2 above); part of Mani's work may have originated with his father and been enlarged by himself. Not to be overlooked in this survey is the Canticum amatorium, a liturgical hymn to the eternal father of light often mentioned by Augustine.  Of the lesser Manichean writings those issued by Mani and those by later writers can not be distinguished. Some are directed to cities or regions; thus three are to India, six to Kashgar (Chitral), seven to Armenia, ten to Ctesiphon, etc. Others are directed to persons who are otherwise unknown. The subjects dealt with are very varied and range from the theories of the system to the conduct of life.
Greco-Roman sources recognize a like number of lesser writings, but the titles given do not afford data for identification with those mentioned in the Fihriat. A collection of these minor documents was made later and was known as " the Book . of Epistles."

V. MANICHÆAN WRITERS

"Manichæism, like Gnosticism, was an intellectual religion, it despised the simplicity of the crowd. As it professed to bring salvation through knowledge, ignorance was sin. Manichæism, in consequence, was literary and refined, its founder was a fruitful writer, and so were many of his followers. Of all this literary output only fragments are at present extant. No Manichæan treatise has come down to us in its entirety. Mani wrote in Persian and Babylonian Aramaic, apparently using either language with equal facility. The following seven titles of works of his have come down to us:

"Shapurakan", I.e. "Princely", because it was dedicated to Peroz, the brother of Sapor I (written in Syrian). It was a kind of Manichæan eschatology, dealing in three chapters with the dissolution of Hearers, Elect, and Sinners. It was written about A.D. 242.

"The Book of Mysteries", polemical and dogmatic in character.

"The Book of the Giants", probably about cosmogonic figures and similar to the Dead Sea Scroll work of the same name..

"The Book of Precepts for Hearers", with appendix for the Elect.

"The Book of Life-giving", written in Greek, probably of considerable size.

"The Book of Pragmateia", contents totally unknown.

"The Gospel", written in Persian, of which the chapters began with successive letters of the alphabet.

Besides these more extensive works, no less than seventy-six letters or brief treatises are enumerated, but it is not always clear which of these are by Mani himself, which by his immediate successors. The "Epistola Fundamenti", so well known in Latin writers, is probably the "Treatise of the Two Elements", mentioned as first of the seventy-six numbers in Arabic sources. Small and often unintelligible fragments in Pahlevi and in Sogdian(?) have recently been found in Chinese Turkestan by T.W.K. Mueller. The "Epistola Fundamenti" is extensively quoted in St. Augustine's refutation and also in Theodore bar Khoni, and Titus of Bostra, and the "Acta Archelai". Of Manichæan writers the following names have come down to us: Agapius (Photius, Cod. 179), of Asia Minor; Aphthonius of Egypt (Philostorgium, "Hist. Eccl.", III, 15) Photinus refuted by Paul the Persian (Mercati, "Per la vita de Paulo il Persiano"), Adimantus, refuted by Augustine.

Sources. An unfortunate consequence of the dwindling presence of the Manicheans in Baghdad was the decreasing knowledge of their teachings. Ebn al-Nad^m names the books and letters by Mani and his followers known to him (tr. Dodge, pp. 797-801). They are:

• (1) Keta@b sefr al-asra@r (The Book of Secrets).
• (2) Keta@b sefr al-jaba@bera (The Book of Giants).
• (3) Keta@b fara@÷ezµ al-sama@¿^n (The Book of the Duties of Auditors) as well as Keta@b fara@÷ezµ al-mojtab^n (The Book of the Duties of the Elect; Ebn al-Nad^m, ed. Tajaddod, p. 399, l. 24). Flügel identified the first of these as the Kephalaia (Flügel, 1862, p. 363), but both titles listed have exact Iranian correspondents—Sogd. Ni©o@æa@ka@ne wi’va@© "The Homily of the Auditors" (Henning, 1944, p. 137) and Parth. Wi‘^daga@n saxwan "The Homily of the Chosen" (cf. Sundermann, 1984, p. 229).
• (4) The ˆa@buhraga@n (Ar. *ˆa@borqa@n).
• (5) Keta@b sefr al-eháya@ ("The Book of Animating" according to Flügel, Mani, pp. 367-68; the "Living Gospel," or, more probably, the "Treasure of Life").
• (6) Keta@b feraqma@táaya@ (The Book of Pragmateia).
• Then Ebn al-Nad^m names the titles of 76 (?) letters, which could have been the content of the collection of the Epistles of Mani, i. e. one of the canonical texts of the Manicheans (the seventh in this list). That does not necessarily mean that these are solely the letters of Mani, which would be grammatically possible but contradictory to Ebn al-Nad^m's words. Manichean sources mention a pentad or heptad of canonical texts but never include the Middle Persian ˆa@buhraga@n (Henning, 1952, pp. 204-5).

The chapters of the aforementioned "Book of Secrets" and the ˆa@buhraga@n are named, so one must assume Ebn al-Nad^m had a detailed knowledge of these works. Certainly, further information on the "Book of Giants" and other texts could have been lost in the manuscript transmission. The eschatalogical chapters of the ˆa@buhraga@n on the fates of the auditors, the elect, and sinners after death are also mentioned (tr. Dodge, p. 798). This fits in with F. W. K. Müller's realization that an exact correspondence between the apocalyptic damnation of the sinners in the Fehrest and in the MP fragments of the ˆa@buhraga@n exists (Müller, pp. 20-22). B^ru@n^'s statement that a chapter "On the coming of the Prophet" (ba@b maj^÷ al-rasu@l) belonged to the ˆa@buhraga@n proves, however, that the eschatological fragments cannot be the whole work (AÚt¯a@r, p. 118, l. 15). Carsten Colpe justifiedly tried to derive whole sections of the Fehrest (individual, cosmic eschatology, role of the sons of the Living Spirit) from the ˆa@buhraga@n (Colpe, 1954, pp. 124, 218-20).

Before closing this chapter, we should briefly discuss the writings of Mani, only fragments of which have survived. These works were considered to be the "canon" of Manichaean Christians:< 52>

1) S_ hbuhrag_ n or Shapur-aquan was written in Persian expressly for King Shapur I in about A. D. 242, by Mani himself. This was the first publication in which Mani initially revealed his doctrine and contained Mani's cosmology. In it Mani wrote an account of his birth, calling and Prophethood.

2) The Living Gospel or The Great Gospel written in Syriac in 22 chapters. We know very little of the content of this book except that it was said to contain all truth and was written with illustrations. We possess a fragment of its alleged opening words: "I Mani, the Messenger of Jesus the Friend, in the love of the Father, of the Glorious One..." To this work seem to have belonged several surviving fragments on the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

3) The Treasure of Life dealt with, among other subjects, the condition of the dwellers in the Realm of Light, the so-called "Seduction of the Archons." This work consisted of seven books and dealt with anthropology, psychology and a detailed interpretation of man as microcosm.

4) The Pragmateia, i. e., "what ought to be done." This book is said to have contained the "commandments" and rules for entering into religion, precepts for the "Elect" governing clothing, diet, fasts, rituals, the liturgy of hymns and psalms to be sung at home and in the churches.

5) The Book of Mysteries in eighteen chapters was written to refute the false doctrines of the established sects and creeds in the world, including the sect of Bardesain or Bardesan. The book evidently dealt with the esoteric life of Jesus. The nature of Soul and Body was defined, and this work clearly taught reincarnation. A portion of the book was in the form of a dialogue between Jesus and his apostles.

6) The Book of the Giants contained stories of the fall of angels and Watchers of primeval times, of their offspring the "giants" and heroes. Two characters appear in this work, Sam and Nariman, dragon-killers. Both Seth and Enoch are mentioned in this work and are said to be "Messengers" of God.

7) The Book of Letters was a collection of Mani's letters about which we know very little, except to say that Mani dealt with doctrinal points organizational problems, much in the manner of Paul's epistles.

There are numerous pieces of non-canonical literature extant, such as the recently discovered Cologne Mani Codex. We, of course, possess voluminous tracts and writings from Church Fathers, Popes and Muslims refuting Mani's doctrine and quoting from Mani's works. It would take an entire volume to properly discuss and delineate the doctrines of this Christian movement, despised and misunderstood for centuries. Yet I can do nothing less than take "Manichaeism" at face value and accept it as a legitimate body of Christian teachings, as another "gnostic" revelation worthy of our study and assimilation. Only then can we rightly discern the nature of early Christianity. "

He has the antidote that is good for every affection:
His Great Gospel, the good tidings of all them that are of the Light.
His water-pot is the Thesaurus, the treasure of life.
In it there is hot water: there is some cold water also mixed with it.
His soft sponge that wipes away bruises is the Pragmateia.
His knife for cutting is the Book of the Mysteries.
His excellent swabs are the Book of the Giants.
The [...] of every cure is the Book of Letters..
[illegible section.] . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . hot, the two psalms, the lamentations
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cool also, his Prayers and all his Logia.