History is constantly confronted with various religious movements arising from Christian doctrine, which in one way or another distorted it. The founders of such philosophical schools considered themselves enlightened messengers of God who are given to possess the true. One of those was Mani. He became the founder of the strongest philosophical school of Manichaeism in its time, which took possession of the minds of a large number of people, despite several fabulous and children's views on life.
The origin of doctrine as heresies in Christianity
Religious and philosophical doctrine called "Manichaeism" , widely spread in its time in the East and the West, existed in disguise, changed and in such forms exists 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 is Mesopotamia.
Spread
Gradually, this direction throughout the IV century spread throughout Central Asia, up to Chinese Turkestan. Especially it was established in Carthage and Rome. But other cultural centers of the West, the influence of Manichaeism was not spared. It is known that Blessed Augustine of Ipponius was a member of this philosophical society for ten years, until he converted to Christianity. Even though Islam was the dominant religion of the East, Mani's philosophy has had followers there for many centuries. After it was eradicated. In the West and in the Byzantine Empire, she was not allowed to exist as an independent religious movement and was brutally persecuted.
Persecution and Secret Communities
As a result of this situation, religion was able to survive only in the form of secret communities under different names. It was these communities that began to support new heretical movements that penetrated Europe from the East in the 11th and 12th centuries. All the persecutions that Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism suffered in the East and in the West could not prevent the development of this philosophy. It grew into Pavlikianism, bogomilstvo, and after that, already in the West, it was transformed into the heretical course of the 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 a lot of impurities of other philosophies, from ancient Iranian to Christian. In terms of dualistic views, this philosophy resembles Gnosticism, which presented the world as two forces fighting each other - the forces of light and darkness.
This idea, distinct from other philosophies, is professed by Manichaeism, Gnosticism and some other religious schools. For the Gnostics, Spirit and matter are two extreme expressions of being. But Mani defines his teaching in a religious-historical position as the completion of all revelations, or the seal. He said 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 whom Christ promised in the Gospel of John.
The teachings of Mani (and Manichaeism) are based on such an opinion: our reality is a mixture of two main opposites - good and evil, light and darkness.
But the nature of the True Light is one and simple. Therefore, she does not allow any positive condescension to unkindness. Evil does not flow from good and must have its own beginning. Therefore, two independent principles must be recognized, unchanged in their essence and forming two different and separate worlds.
Being and light
According to Mani's theory, Manichaeism is a doctrine of the simplicity of the essence of light, which does not interfere with distinguishing forms. However, in the field of good life, the philosopher first distinguishes between the Divine itself as the “King of the Light”, its “light ether” and the kingdom (paradise) - the “land of lordship”. The king of the world has five attributes of morality: wisdom, love, faith, loyalty and courage.
The light ether is immaterial and is the carrier of the five properties of the mind: knowledge, calm, 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 property: air, wind, light, water, fire. Each quality of the Divine, ether and light corporeality is endowed with its own sphere of blissful being, where it prevails.
On the other hand, all the forces of good being (light) converge together for the work of one primitive man - the heavenly Adam.
Opposites
The dark world, Mani and Manichaeism , is also divided into its component parts: poison (opposite to air), storm (whirlwind), opposition to wind, gloom (antithesis to light), fog (against water) and flame (devouring) as an antithesis to fire.
All the elements of darkness gather together and concentrate their forces for the prince of darkness, whose essence is negative and unable to be satisfied, filled. Therefore, Satan strives beyond the borders of his possessions, to the light.
Against the dark prince rushes to the battle of heaven Adam. Having in its essence ten foundations of the Divine and the ether, he perceives five more elements of the “land of lordship” as clothing and weapons.
The first man puts on his inner carapace - “quiet movement”, and on top is clothed with a robe of light. Then the heavenly Adam is covered with a shield of water clouds, takes a spear from the wind and a fire sword. After a long struggle, he is defeated by darkness and imprisoned at the bottom of hell. Then sent by the very paradise earth (the mother of life), the forces of good liberate the heavenly Adam and place them in the heavenly world. During a difficult struggle, the first man lost his weapon: the elements from which it was composed mixed with the dark.
World car
When the light nevertheless triumphed, this chaotic matter remained in the possession of darkness. The Supreme Deity wants to extract from it that which belongs to the light. Angels sent by light arrange the visible world as a complex machine for extracting the components of light. Manicheanism (the religion of Mani) sees the main part of the world machine in light ships - the Sun and the Month.
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 purified, go to the highlands. Angels, having arranged a physical universe, leave. But in the material sublunar world, both principles are still preserved: light and darkness. Therefore, in it there are forces from the dark kingdom that once swallowed up and held the luminiferous carapace of heavenly Adam.
Earthly people and their descendants
These dark princes (archons) took possession of the lunar area and their behavior influenced the origin of earthly people - Adam and Eve. These people have particles of a heavenly "shell" and imprints of darkness. After all this description, a biblical legend about the division of humanity into Cain and Seth descendants begins.
It is the immigrants from the Seth family (Shitil) who are under the constant care of celestial forces, which periodically manifest their action through the elect (for example, Buddha). Such is the philosophical essence of the teaching 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 reports, he believed that the heavenly Christ acts in the world through the man Jesus. However, they are not internally connected. It is for this reason that Jesus remained abandoned during the crucifixion. According to another version, a man named Jesus was not at all. There was only the heavenly spirit Christ, having the ghostly appearance of man. Mani wanted to eliminate the idea of the embodiment or actual union of divine and human nature in Christ.
However, the result of his efforts was a teaching where they were eliminated equally ... If we reveal Manichaeism briefly (in the light of Christian teaching), we can say that the angels must extract and collect all the light elements that are contained in the earthly (human) world. When the completion of this process is nearing, the whole physical universe will be kindled. The purpose of this fire is to isolate the last light particles still remaining in it.
The result will be the eternal affirmation of the limits of the two worlds, which will both remain in unconditional and complete separation from each other.
Manichaeism about the future
The life that will come after the events described above will be based on the principles of dualism: the struggle between good and evil, spirit and matter. Souls of heaven, partially purified even in earthly life, and partially after death (at various ordeals, which consist of terrible and disgusting visions), are placed in the Paradise of Grace.
Souls with a hellish dispensation forever entrenched in the kingdom of darkness. The bodies of both categories of souls will be destroyed. The resurrection of the dead, as in Christianity, in Mani is excluded.
Asceticism and the 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 not able to accommodate this, should not be among the believers, but also have the opportunity to save themselves. To do this, the Manichaean community needs to be helped in various ways.
Believers are divided into three categories:
- Announced.
- Favorites.
- Perfect.
The priesthood institute was never destined to establish itself in Manichaeism. 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 laying on of hands called “consolation”, and at prayer meetings special hymns were performed with accompaniment of instrumental music and the reading of sacred books that remained from the founder of religion was carried out.
Fragments of Manichaean writings were found at the end of the 19th century. The place of discovery was Chinese Turkestan. And in 1930, papyrus was 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.