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| The Perversive Heresy of the Manicheans which began at this Time. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter XXXI.—The Perversive
Heresy of the Manicheans which began at this Time.
1. At
this time, the madman,2433
2433 The name Manes, or Mani, is not of Greek, but of Persian or
Semitic origin. It has not yet been satisfactorily explained. The Greek
form is Μ€νης or
Μανιχαῖος; the Latin form, Manes or Manichæus. In
this place Eusebius instead of giving him his true name makes a play
upon it, calling him ὁ
μανεὶς
τὰς φρένας, “the madman.” This does not imply that
Eusebius supposed his name was originally Greek. He perhaps—as
others of the Fathers did—regarded it as a sign of divine
providence that the Persian name chosen by himself (Mani was not his
original name) should when reproduced in Greek bear such a significant
meaning. See Stroth’s note on this passage.
Eusebius’ brief
account is the first authentic description we have of Manes and
Manichæism. It is difficult to get at the exact truth in regard to
the life of Manes himself. We have it reported in two conflicting
forms, an Oriental and an Occidental. The former, however,—though
our sources for it are much later than for the latter—is
undoubtedly the more reliable of the two. The differences between the
two accounts cannot be discussed here. We know that Mani was a
well-educated Persian philosopher of the third century (according to
Kessler, 205–276 a.d.; according to the
Oriental source used by Beausobre, about 240–276), who attempted
to supersede Zoroastrianism, the old religion of Persia, by a
syncretistic system made up of elements taken from Parsism, Buddhism,
and Christianity. He was at first well received by the Persian king,
Sapor I., but aroused the hatred of the Magian priests, and was
compelled to flee from the country. Returning after some time, he
gained a large following, but was put to death by King Varanes I, about
276 a.d. His sect spread rapidly throughout
Christendom, and in spite of repeated persecutions flourished for many
centuries. The mysteriousness of its doctrine, its compact
organization, its apparent solution of the terrible problem of evil,
and its show of ascetic holiness combined to make it very attractive to
thoughtful minds, as, e.g. to Augustine. The fundamental principle of
the system is a radical dualism between good and evil, light and
darkness. This dualism runs through its morals as well as through its
theology, and the result is a rigid asceticism. Christianity furnished
some ideas, but its influence is chiefly seen in the organization of
the sect, which had apostles, bishops, presbyters, deacons, and
traveling missionaries. Manichæism cannot be called a
heresy,—it was rather an independent religion as Mohammedanism
was. The system cannot be further discussed here. The chief works upon
the subject are Beausobre’s Hist. Crit. de Manichée et du
Manichéisme, Amst. 1734 and 1739, 2 vols.; Baur’s Das
Manichäische Religionssystem, Tüb. 1831;
Flügel’s Mani, Seine Lehre und seine Schriften, aus den
Fihrist des Abî Jakub an-Nadûn, Leipzig, 1882; and two
works by Kessler (Leipzig, 1876 and 1882). See also the discussions of
the system in the various Church histories, and especially the
respective articles by Stokes and Kessler in Smith and Wace’s
Dict. of Christ. Biog. and in Herzog. | named from
his demoniacal heresy, armed himself in the perversion of his reason,
as the devil, Satan, who himself fights against God, put him forward to the
destruction of many. He was a barbarian in life, both in word and deed;
and in his nature demoniacal and insane. In consequence of this he
sought to pose as Christ, and being puffed up in his madness, he
proclaimed himself the Paraclete and the very Holy Spirit;2434
2434 Beausobre maintains that Mani did not pretend to be the Paraclete,
but merely a man, the messenger of the Paraclete. The Fathers
generally, however agree with Eusebius in asserting that his claims
were of the very highest sort. The point cannot be satisfactorily
settled. | and afterwards, like Christ, he chose
twelve disciples as partners of his new doctrine.
2. And he patched together false
and godless doctrines collected from a multitude of long-extinct
impieties, and swept them, like a deadly poison, from Persia to our
part of the world. From him the impious name of the Manicheans is still
prevalent among many. Such was the foundation of this “knowledge
falsely so-called,”2435 which sprang up
in those times.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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