Mani and Manichaeism: A New World Religion in Sasanian Persia

Mani was a 3rd-century religious teacher from Mesopotamia who founded Manichaeism, a faith that taught a cosmic struggle between Light and Darkness. Beginning his public mission around AD 240 in the young Sasanian Empire, he sent missionaries east and west, and within a few centuries his religion stretched from North Africa to China. Persecuted almost everywhere, it eventually disappeared, but for a time it was one of the most widespread religions in the world.

Early life and revelations

Mani was born on 14 April 216 in northern Babylonia, near the city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, then part of the Parthian Empire. His father, Pattig (Patik), was of Iranian descent and joined a Jewish-Christian baptist community known as the Elchasaites, and Mani grew up among them.

According to Manichaean tradition, Mani received his first revelation at the age of 12 from a heavenly being he called his “twin” (syzygos). A second revelation at about the age of 24, around 240, called him to leave the community and preach a new message. He broke with the baptists, whose rituals of washing food and bodies he rejected, and began his mission.

Much of what is known about these early years comes from the Cologne Mani Codex, a tiny Greek parchment book of the 4th or 5th century found in Egypt and now in Cologne. It describes Mani’s childhood among the baptists and his break with them.

Mission and the court of Shapur I

Mani’s career unfolded as the Sasanians replaced the Parthians as rulers of Iran (see the Battle of Hormozdgan). Around 240–242 he travelled by sea to north-western India, probably the region of modern Baluchistan and Sindh, where he encountered Buddhist ideas and won converts.

On his return he gained an audience with the new king, Shapur I. Mani wrote a book in Middle Persian for him, the Shabuhragan, which set out his teachings. Shapur did not convert, but he allowed Mani to preach freely throughout the empire, and Mani may have accompanied the royal court for a time.

For about three decades Mani organised his church and sent out missionaries. Disciples went west into the Roman Empire, reaching Egypt and Syria, and east towards Central Asia. Mani wrote his scriptures himself, in Syriac and Middle Persian, so that his message would not be corrupted after his death, as he believed had happened to earlier prophets.

The teachings of Manichaeism

Manichaeism is a dualist religion. It taught that two eternal principles, Light (good, spirit) and Darkness (evil, matter), originally existed separately. In a primordial assault, Darkness invaded Light and swallowed part of it. The visible world, in this view, was created to recover and purify the particles of light trapped in matter.

Mani described history in three times: the past, when Light and Darkness were separate; the present, when they are mixed; and the future, when they will be separated again for ever.

Believers were divided into two classes. The Elect lived strict lives: celibate, vegetarian, without property and avoiding harm to plants and animals, since light was trapped in them too. The Hearers, or lay followers, supported the Elect with food and offerings and hoped to be reborn as Elect in a later life.

Mani saw himself as the last in a line of messengers that included Zoroaster, the Buddha and Jesus. He called himself the “Apostle of Jesus Christ” and was regarded by his followers as the promised Paraclete (Comforter). This deliberate blending of traditions helped the faith adapt to very different cultures, presenting itself in Christian terms in the Roman West and in Buddhist terms in China.

His writings included the Living Gospel, the Treasure of Life, the Book of Giants, letters and psalms. Mani was also remembered as a painter and produced an illustrated book of his teachings, known in Persian tradition as the Arzhang. None of his works survives complete.

Persecution and death

Mani’s freedom depended on royal favour. After Shapur I died around 270, his successor Hormizd I also tolerated him, but Hormizd reigned only briefly. The next king, Bahram I (reigned c. 273–276), was influenced by the powerful Zoroastrian priest Kartir, who opposed rival faiths.

Mani was summoned to the court at Gundeshapur (Belapat) in south-western Iran, accused and imprisoned in heavy chains. He died after 26 days, around 274 to 277; the exact year is debated. Manichaeans later commemorated his death in an annual festival, the Bema.

In an inscription carved on the monument known as the Ka’ba-ye Zartosht at Naqsh-e Rostam, Kartir lists Manichaeans (called zandiks) among the groups he persecuted, alongside Jews, Christians, Buddhists and others.

Spread across the world

In the Roman Empire

Manichaeism reached Roman Egypt within Mani’s lifetime. Coptic Manichaean books found at Medinet Madi around 1930, and letters and accounts found at the village of Kellis in the Dakhla Oasis, show active communities there.

The Roman authorities saw the faith as a Persian import. Around 302 the emperor Diocletian issued an edict ordering Manichaean leaders to be burned with their books. Later Christian emperors also passed harsh laws against them.

Its most famous Western follower was Augustine of Hippo, who was a Hearer for about nine years before his conversion to Christianity in 386. As a bishop he wrote several works attacking his former faith, which strongly shaped how Christians understood it.

In Central Asia and China

In the East, Manichaeism had a longer life. Communities flourished among the Sogdian merchants of the Silk Road. Manichaean missionaries reached Tang China, where a Manichaean teacher is recorded presenting a scripture at the court of Empress Wu Zetian in 694.

In 762–763 the ruler of the Uyghur Khaganate, Bögü Qaghan, adopted Manichaeism, making it the state religion of a major steppe power. Manuscripts and paintings from Uyghur sites near Turfan, such as Kocho, are among the most beautiful surviving Manichaean works.

After the fall of the Uyghur Khaganate, Manichaeism was banned in China in 843 during a wider persecution of foreign religions. It survived in southern China, particularly in Fujian, where it blended with Buddhist and Daoist practice. The Cao’an shrine near Quanzhou, with a stone statue of Mani as the “Buddha of Light”, is often described as the only surviving Manichaean temple.

Key people

• Mani (216–c. 274–277): founder of Manichaeism.
• Pattig: Mani’s father, a member of the Elchasaite baptist community.
• Shapur I (reigned c. 240–270): Sasanian king who allowed Mani to preach.
• Bahram I: king under whom Mani was imprisoned and died.
• Kartir: Zoroastrian high priest who promoted the persecution of other faiths.
• Augustine of Hippo (354–430): former Hearer who became the faith’s best-known critic.

Timeline

• 216, 14 April: Mani is born in northern Babylonia.
• c. 228: Mani’s first revelation, at about the age of 12.
• c. 240: Second revelation; Mani leaves the baptist community and begins his mission.
• c. 240–242: Mani travels to north-western India.
• c. 242: Mani is received by Shapur I and presents the Shabuhragan.
• c. 274–277: Mani dies in prison at Gundeshapur under Bahram I.
• c. 302: Diocletian’s edict against the Manichaeans.
• 386: Augustine leaves Manichaeism and converts to Christianity.
• 762–763: The Uyghur ruler Bögü Qaghan adopts Manichaeism.
• 843: Manichaeism is banned in Tang China.

Why it matters

Manichaeism was one of the first religions founded deliberately as a world faith, with written scriptures, organised missionaries and an openness to adapting its language to new cultures. Its rise and fall show how religion travelled along the trade routes of Eurasia, and its sharp division of the world into light and darkness lives on in the everyday word “Manichaean”.