Manichaeism is Description, history, canons and interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:53

History is constantly confronted with various religious movements arising from Christian teachings, which distorted it in one way or another. The founders of such philosophical schools considered themselves enlightened messengers of God, who were given to own the true. Mani was one of them. He became the ancestor of the strongest philosophical school of its time, Manichaeism, which captured the minds of a large number of people, despite somewhat fabulous and childish views on being.

The origin of teaching as heresy in Christianity

The religious and philosophical doctrine called "Manichaeism", which was widely spread in its time in the East and West, existed hidden, changed and exists in such forms to this day. There was a period when it was believed that Manichaeism was a Christian heresy or a renewed parsism.

At the same time, there are authorities, such as Harnack, who recognize this trend as an independent religion, putting it on a par with traditional world beliefs (Buddhism, Islam and Christianity). The man who founded Manichaeism is Mani, and his place of origin isMesopotamia.

Distribution

Gradually, this direction throughout the 4th century spread throughout Central Asia, up to Chinese Turkestan. It was especially established in Carthage and Rome. But the influence of Manichaeism did not bypass other cultural centers of the West either. It is known that Blessed Augustine of Hippo was a member of this philosophical society for ten years, until he converted to Christianity. Even though Islam was the dominant religion in the East, Mani's philosophy had followers there for many centuries. After it was eradicated. In the West and in the Byzantine Empire, it was not allowed to exist as an independent religious direction and was subjected to severe persecution.

Persecution and secret communities

As a result of this situation, religion could only survive in the form of secret communities under different names. It was these communities that began to support the new heretical currents that penetrated into Europe from the East in the 11th and 12th centuries. All the persecutions to which Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism were subjected in the East and in the West could not prevent the development of this philosophy. It grew into Paulicianism, Bogomilism, and then, already in the West, it was transformed into the heretical Albigensians.

The doctrine and essence of Manichaeism in the light of the history of the development of religious schools

Manichaeism can be interpreted as a transformed Zoroastrianism, in which there are many admixtures of other philosophies, from ancient Iranian to Christian. Part by partdualistic views, this philosophy is reminiscent of Gnosticism, which represented the world as two forces fighting each other - the forces of light and darkness.

This idea, different from other philosophies, is professed by Manichaeism, Gnosticism and some other religious schools. For the Gnostics Spirit and matter are the two extreme expressions of being. But Mani defines his teaching in a religious-historical position as the completion of all revelations, or a seal. He spoke about the fact that the teaching of kindness and wisdom came into the world continuously in the form of various teachings through God's messengers.

As a result, the philosophy of "Manichaeism" came. Other testimonies say that the founder called himself the comforter that Christ promised in the Gospel of John.

The teaching of Mani (and Manichaeism) is based on this opinion: our reality is a mixture of two main opposites - good and evil, light and darkness.

But the nature of True Light is one and simple. Therefore, she does not allow any positive indulgence for the unkind. Evil does not follow from good and must have its own beginning. Therefore, it is necessary to recognize two independent principles, unchanged in their essence and forming two different and separate worlds.

Being and light

According to Mani's theory, Manichaeism is the doctrine of the simplicity of the essence of light, which does not interfere with distinguishing forms. However, in the field of good being, the philosopher first distinguishes the Deity itself as the "King of Light", its "light ether" and the kingdom (paradise) - "land of lordship". The king of light has five attributesmorality: wisdom, love, faith, loy alty and courage.

Light ether is immaterial and is the bearer of the five properties of the mind: knowledge, calmness, reasoning, secrecy, understanding. Paradise has five special ways of being, which are similar to the elements of the real world, but only in a good quality: air, wind, light, water, fire. Each quality of the Deity, ether and light corporality is endowed with its own sphere of blissful being, where it prevails.

On the other hand, all the forces of good being (light) come together to produce one first man - heavenly Adam.

Opposites

The dark world, Mani and Manichaeism, are also divided into its constituent parts: poison (opposite to air), storm (whirlwind), opposition to wind, darkness (antithesis to light), fog (against water) and flame (devouring) as the antithesis of fire.

All elements of darkness gather together and concentrate forces for the prince of darkness, the essence of whose being is negative and unable to be satisfied, filled. Therefore, Satan seeks beyond the boundaries of his possessions, towards the light.

Heavenly Adam rushes to fight against the dark prince. Having in its essence ten foundations of the Divine and ether, it perceives five more elements of the “land of lordship” as clothing and weapons.

The first man puts on an inner shell - a “quiet breath”, and is clothed on top with a robe of light. Then heavenly Adam is covered with a shield of water clouds, takes a spear from the wind and a fiery sword. After a long struggle, he is defeated by darkness andimprisoned at the bottom of hell. Then, sent by the heavenly earth itself (the mother of life), the forces of good free the heavenly Adam and place him in the heavenly world. During a hard struggle, the first man lost his weapon: the elements from which it was composed mixed with the dark ones.

World Machine

When the light nevertheless won, this chaotic matter remained in the possession of darkness. The Supreme Deity desires to extract from it that which belongs to the light. The angels sent by the light arrange the visible world as a complex machine for extracting the components of light. Manichaeism (the religion of Mani) sees the main part of the world machine in light ships - the Sun and the Moon.

The latter continuously draws particles of heavenly light from the world under the moon. He gradually transmits them to the Sun (through invisible channels).

After they, already sufficiently cleansed, go to the heavenly world. Angels, having arranged the physical universe, leave. But in the material sublunar world, both principles are still preserved: light and darkness. Therefore, there are forces from the dark kingdom in it, which once absorbed and kept the luminous shell of heavenly Adam.

Earth people and their descendants

These dark princes (archons) took possession of the sublunar region and their behavior influenced the origin of earthly people - Adam and Eve. These people have in themselves particles of the heavenly "shell" and imprints of darkness. After all this description, a story similar to the biblical one begins about the division of mankind into Cain and Seth.descendants.

It is the people from the Sif family (Shtil) who are under the constant care of the heavenly forces, which periodically manifest their action through the chosen ones (for example, the Buddha). Such is the philosophical essence of the doctrine that Manichaeism has. This, at first glance, is a childish idea of being.

Contradictions with Christianity

Mani's views on Christianity and the person of Christ himself are very contradictory.

According to some sources, he believed that the heavenly Christ acts in the world through the man Jesus. However, they are not connected internally. It is for this reason that Jesus was left forsaken at the time of the crucifixion. According to another version, there was no man named Jesus at all. There was only the heavenly spirit Christ, having the ghostly appearance of a man. Mani wanted to eliminate the idea of the incarnation or actual union of the divine and human natures in Christ.

However, the result of his efforts was the teaching, where they were equally eliminated … If we briefly reveal Manichaeism (in the light of Christian teaching), we can say that angels must extract and collect all the bright elements contained in the earthly (human) world. When the completion of this process is near, the entire physical universe will ignite. The purpose of this ignition is to release the last remaining light particles in it.

The result will be the eternal affirmation of the limits of the two worlds, which both will be in unconditional and complete separation from each other.

Manichaeism about the future

The life that comes after the events described above will be based onprinciples of dualism: the struggle between good and evil, spirit and matter. Heavenly souls, partially cleansed during earthly life, and partially after death (during various ordeals, which consist of terrible and disgusting visions), will settle in Paradise of Grace.

Souls with a hellish dispensation will forever be entrenched in the kingdom of darkness. The bodies of both categories of souls will be destroyed. The resurrection of the dead, as in Christianity, is excluded from Mani.

Asceticism and ritual side

In Manichaeism, as in any teaching, there is a theory and there is a practice that comes down to an ascetic way of life.

For this, the ascetic abstains from meat, wine and intimate sexual relations. Those who are unable to accommodate this should not be included in the number of believers, but also have the opportunity to save themselves. To do this, help the Manichean community in various ways.

Believers are divided into three categories:

• Announcements.
• Favorites.
• Perfect.

The institution of the priesthood in Manichaeism was never destined to establish itself. However, according to the Brockhaus dictionary, there are indications of bishops and the supreme patriarch who were in New Babylon.

In Manichaeism, the church side did not achieve much development.

It is known that in the Late Middle Ages there was a ceremony of the laying on of hands called "consolation", and at prayer meetings special hymns were performed to the accompaniment of instrumental music and there was a reading of sacred books that remained from the founder of the religion.

Fragments of the Manichaeanwritings were found at the end of the 19th century. The place of discovery was Chinese Turkestan. And in 1930, papyri were found with a Coptic translation of the writings of Mani, as well as his first students. It happened in Egypt. The finds made it possible to clarify some details from the life of the founder of Manichaeism and the essence of the doctrine.