|
Manichæism
Manichaeism (; in ; ) is an endangered former major world religion currently only practiced in China around Cao'an,R. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''. SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century CE by the Parthian prophet Mani (216–274 CE), in the Sasanian Empire. Manichaeism teaches an elaborate dualistic cosmology describing the struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness. Through an ongoing process that takes place in human history, light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light, whence it came. Mani's teaching was intended to "combine", succeed, and surpass the teachings of Platonism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Marcionism, Hellenistic and Rabbinic Judaism, Gnostic movements, Ancient Greek religion, Babylonian and other Mesopotamian religions, and mystery cults.Arendzen, John (1 October 1910).Manichæi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mani (prophet)
Mani (; – 2 March AD 274 or 26 February AD 277) was an Iranian peoples, Iranian prophet and the founder of Manichaeism, a religion most prevalent in late antiquity. Mani was born in or near Ctesiphon (south of modern Baghdad) in Mesopotamia, at the time part of the Parthian Empire. Seven Scriptures of Mani, Seven of his major works were written in Syriac language, Syriac, and the eighth, dedicated to the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian emperor Shapur I, Shapur I, was written in Middle Persian.Henning, W.B., ''The Book of Giants'', BSOAS, Vol. XI, Part 1, 1943, pp. 52–74: "...Mani, who was brought up and spent most of his life in a province of the Persian empire, and whose mother belonged to a famous Parthian family, did not make any use of the Iranian mythological tradition. There can no longer be any doubt that the Iranian names of Sām, Narīmān, etc., that appear in the Persian and Sogdian versions of the Book of the Giants, did not figure in the original editio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
