The divine beings of Manichaeism, the third-century dualist religion founded by the Persian prophet Mani, arranged around a cosmic struggle between the Realm of Light and the Realm of Darkness rather than a single created order. The transcendent Father of Greatness presides over the Light and, when the Prince of Darkness invades it, calls forth a sequence of emanated evocations, among them the Mother of Life, Primal Man, the Living Spirit and the Third Messenger, to contain the assault and begin separating the light that became mixed with darkness. Later evocations, including Jesus the Splendour, the Maiden of Light and the Great Builder, complete the cosmic and moral apparatus by which trapped particles of light are gradually reclaimed. Manichaean missions carried this cosmology from Roman North Africa to Central Asia and southern China, but the religion did not survive as a living tradition.
Facts
Structure
Structure of the PantheonMany deities understood as forms of one supreme reality 1 Divine HeadshipA supreme creator who withdrew from active rule and receives little direct cult 1 Succession Between Divine GenerationsThe senior god withdrew and left the world to junior powers 1 The Creator and the Ruling GodsA supreme creator stands outside and above the gods of the pantheon 1 Creation AccountA transcendent Father of Greatness presides over the Realm of Light; when the Prince of Darkness invades it, he calls forth a sequence of emanated evocations, among them the Mother of Life, Primal Man, the Living Spirit and the Third Messenger, to contain the assault and begin separating the light that became mixed with darkness. 1 Attestation
Era of Attestation Era of AttestationAttested from the teachings of Mani, who began preaching in Sasanian Persia in 240 CE, spreading from North Africa to China before its suppression in most regions, with the last known communities surviving in southeastern China into the seventeenth century CE. 1 Veneration TodayHistorically attested; no continuous cult 1 Cult
Principal Cult CentreNo single centre; Manichaean communities and monasteries were established from Roman North Africa and Egypt to Central Asia and, latest of all, southern China. 2 Organisation
Membership of the PantheonThe roster is fixed by a written canon 1 How Mortals Enter the PantheonNo recognised route from mortal to god 1 Sources
Primary SourceThe Kephalaia and the Shabuhragan, along with fragments of Mani's own writings preserved in Coptic, Parthian, Sogdian and Chinese translation. 2 Disputed
Era of AttestationThe date of the last identifiable Manichaean religious communities, in southern China, is not settled in the scholarship; proposals range from the fourteenth into the sixteenth or seventeenth century CE. 1600 is used here as an approximate, conservative marker of the tradition's latest well-attested activity, not a precise endpoint. Correspondences & Relations
Connections
Associated With
This source names Africa directly: "Manichaean missions carried this cosmology from Roman North Africa to Central Asia and southern China, but the religion did not survive as a living tradition."
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
This source names Asia directly: "from Roman North Africa to Central Asia and southern China, but the religion did not survive as a living tradition."
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
This source names China directly: "Africa to Central Asia and southern China, but the religion did not survive as a living tradition."
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
This source names Mani the Prophet directly: "The divine beings of Manichaeism, the third-century dualist religion founded by the Persian prophet Mani, arranged around a cosmic struggle between the Realm of Light and the Realm of Darkness..."
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
This source names Persians directly: "The divine beings of Manichaeism, the third-century dualist religion founded by the Persian prophet Mani, arranged around a cosmic struggle between the Realm of Light and the Realm of Darkness..."
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
This source names The Maiden directly: "Later evocations, including Jesus the Splendour, the Maiden of Light and the Great Builder, complete the cosmic and moral apparatus by which trapped particles of light are gradually reclaimed."
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
This source names The Mother directly: "of emanated evocations, among them the Mother of Life, Primal Man, the Living Spirit and the Third Messenger, to contain the assault and begin separating the light that became mixed with darkness."
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Sources
1. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005the Manichaeism entryView the Source 2. Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China, 2nd edition
Samuel N. C. Lieu, Mohr Siebeck, 1992on Manichaean cosmology and the sequence of divine evocations
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