Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire

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Iain Gardner, Samuel N. C. Lieu
Cambridge University Press, Jun 3, 2004 - History - 312 pages
Founded by Mani (c. AD 216-276), a Syrian visionary ... who lived in Persian Mesopotamia, Manichaeism spread rapidly into the Roman Empire in the third and fourth centuries AD and became one of the most persecuted heresies under Christian Roman emperors. The religion established missionary cells in Syria, Egypt, North Africa and Rome and has in Augustine of Hippo the most famous of its converts. The study of the religion in the Roman Empire has benefited from discoveries of genuine Manichaean texts from Medinet Madi and from the Dakhleh Oasis in Egypt, as well as successful decipherment of the Cologne Mani-Codex which gives an autobiography of the founder in Greek. This first ever single-volume collection of sources for this religion, which draws from material mostly unknown to English-speaking scholars and students, offers in translation genuine Manichaean texts from Greek, Latin and Coptic.

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Contents

Introduction
1
The life of Mani
46
79
60
Manis conflicts and break with the baptist community
66
Mani at the court of the Shahanshah King of Kings
73
The last days and death of Mani
79
The death of Mani compared to the trial and crucifixion of Jesus
94
The Manichaean church under Sisinnios and his successor Innaios
102
Mani discusses astrology
205
The Coptic treatise on the Light Mind
208
The descent of Jesus
218
Augustine on Manichaean Christology
219
The great war and the last judgement
220
Four recently edited Kephalaia
226
Manichaean and other errors concerning the destiny of the soul after death Christian polemic
229
Worship and ethic
231

Manichaeism in the Roman Empire
109
Alexander of Lycopolis on the Manichaean mission in Egypt
115
Manichaeism in the Levant Asia Minor and Greece
121
The conversion of the Manichaeans at Ziph
129
Select legislations against the Manichaeans from Theodosius
145
The scriptures of Mani
151
Manis canon according to the Kephalaia
153
Canon lists from an Arabic and a Chinese source
154
From The Living Gospel
156
From The Treasure of Life
159
From an unnamed work of Mani probably The Pragmateia
160
From The Psalms and Prayers ?
163
The titles of Manis Epistles
165
A quotation from The Letter to Edessa
166
The Fundamental Epistle
168
The Letter to Menoch
172
Spurious letters attributed to Mani
174
Teachings
176
Alexander of Lycopolis on the Manichaean system
179
The Acta Archelai on cosmogony
182
Augustines summary of the teaching
187
An account of the evocation of the gods
191
The prayer of the emanations
194
Concerning the coming of the soul
196
The five worlds of the kingdom of darkness
199
The three days and the two deaths
202
The seven works of the Living Spirit
204
The archetypes of ritual action
232
The three seals
236
Augustine on the bema festival
237
The profits of fasting
240
Augustine on Manichaean ethics
244
Augustine on the redemption of the light particles
245
A psalm of the universal soul
246
A psalm to glorify the Mind
247
Manis discourse on the assent and the amen
249
The nature of love
252
A psalm in praise of Jesus
253
A psalm to the Trinity
254
A prayer for the ascent of the soul
256
Community texts
259
The advent of Mani
260
On the ten advantages of the Manichaean religion
265
An apologia for the distinction between elect and hearer
268
A father instructs his young son
272
The son writes to his mother
275
An elect encourages a sick catechumen
277
A Manichaean scribe sends a spell to a colleague
278
Horion discusses preparations for the agape
280
List and concordance of texts
282
Glossary
290
Bibliography
298
Index
307
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About the author (2004)

Dr Iain Gardner is Chair and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Studies in Religion, Sydney University. He has published widely in Coptic and Manichaean studies, including the standard The Kephalaia of the Teacher (1995). He is also editor for the newly found Manichaean texts from the Dakhleh Oasis. Samuel Nan-Chiang Lieu is Professor of Ancient History and Co-Director of the Ancient History Documentary Research Centre, Macquarie University. He is the author of many books including The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars II AD 363-630 (with G. Greatrex, 2002), From Constantine to Julian: Pagan and Byzantine Views (with D. A. S. Montserrat, 1996), The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars AD 226-363 (with M. Dodgeon, 1991, revised 1994, 1996).

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