Zurvan - A Historical Name of God in Manichaeism

Central Asiatic Journal, 2006

The seventh book of the canonical works ascribed to Mani, 1 believed to have been composed in his mother tongue, an Aramaic dialect, appears to be, in the Coptic lists, a collection of prayers and two psalms. 2 In the most extensive of these lists (Homilies, 25.2-6) 3 the seven canonical books are "the Gospel and the Treasure of Life, the Pragmateia and the Book of the Mysteries, the Book of the Giants and the Epistles, the Psalms and the Prayers of my Lord," followed by the Image and other texts, while the two references to Mani's scriptures given in the Coptic Psalms (Sarakoton 2, 4 and Bema Psalms) 5 refer to ⲡⲥⲛⲉⲩ ⲯⲁⲗⲙⲟⲥ "the two Psalms." Moreover, in the list in the third article of the Chinese Compendium of the Doctrines and Styles of the teaching of Mani, the Buddha of Light, after the Epistles the Prayers are mentioned, quoted in Chinese script as a-fu-yin, which represents Middle Persian āfrīn "blessing." 6 Although none of Mani's prayers can be identified, a caption in a Sogdian text in Sogdian script establishes that a long hymn-cycle called 1 During the compilation of the final version of the present paper I greatly benefited from Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst's (Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Turfanforschung) collaboration and work on these texts, in view of a full edition of the fragments of the Middle Iranian versions of Mani's Psalms which we are preparing, and which will soon be published (Durkin-Meisterernst & Morano forthc.). To him and to all the staff of the Akademienvorhaben Turfanforschung my warmest thanks for the kind hospitality they gave me in Berlin. I am very grateful to the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy and to the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz for their kind permission to consult and edit the Turfan fragments of their collection.

Armin Lange, et al., eds., Light Against Darkness: Dualism in Ancient Mediterranean Religion and the Contemporary World (Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011), 249-265, 2011

2020

Indices preceded by a Manichaean Bibliography, with special emphasis on Terms and Concepts: Bibliography of Manichaean Sources 555; Index of Manichaean Sources 559; Index of Works of Augustine 567; Index of Biblical Texts 579; Index of Other Ancient Sources 584; Index of Ancient and Modern Names 588; Index of Terms and Concepts 603-612.

Prolegomena to a History of Islamicate Manichaeism

Mani established his religion on very broad syncretistic grounds, in the hope that it could conquer the whole oikumene, East and West, by integrating the religious traditions of all peoples-except those of the Jews. Although Manichaeism as an organized religion survived for more than a thousand years, and its geographical realm extended from North Africa to Southeast China, this ambition never came close to being realized, and the Manichaeans remained, more often than not, small and persecuted communities.1 Yet, in a somewhat paradoxical way, Mani did achieve his ecumenical goal. For more than half a millennium, from its birth in the third century throughout late antiquity and beyond, his religion was despised and rejected with the utmost violence by rulers and thinkers belonging to all shades of the spiritual and religious spectrum. In this sense, Manichaeism, an insane system, a "mania,"2 appeared as the outsider par excellence. It thus offered a clear reference point, a convenient negative l For the best overview of Manichaeism in its roots and developments East and West, see now S.

Matsangou, R. (2021, April 28). Eastern Roman Manichaeism. Database of Religious History, Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia., 2021

Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, was born in third-century Mesopotamia (April 14, 216 AD), which, since 226 AD, was a part of the Sassanian Empire. Living in the pluralistic environment of Mesopotamia, the religion he instituted contains elements of many religious traditions with which he was familiar, such as Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Christianity. Actually, Mani regarded himself as the last prophet in a long chain of prophets, which included Zoroaster, Buddha, and Christ. The most notable feature of Manichaeism is its dualism. At the foundation of the Manichaean religion lies the doctrine of the two principles (also called roots or natures), which correspond to light and darkness, good and evil, spirit and matter. The Manichaean community itself consisted of two classes: the hearers or catechumens (the lay believers), and the highest echelons of the Manichaean Church, the Elect. Mani envisioned that his religion would surpass preceding ones by creating an ecumenical religion ...