Bulletin of Catholic University of Peking

CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF PEKING 61

sensual soul. Jesus, whom God sent into the world, isa substance of celestial light, who assumed a phantom body and suffered only in appearance. Mani identified Jesus with Mithras, and -gave him his dwelling in the sun. The Holy Ghost is also a celestial substance, but inferior to Christ. Mani is the Paraclete promised by Christ and empowered by him to communicate to men the treasure of doctrine, which the teaching of Christ and the Apostles had left incomplete. The souls of the Manichzan elect pass through the sun and moon after death, and being wholly purified are received into the Kingdom of Light; the souls of the Manichean hearers or catechumens transmigrate into the bodies of other men or of animals until such time as they have reached perfection. The souls of the rest of mankind are tormented for a time in evil but purgative fire, and then pass into other bodies. If after that they do not live according to the teaching of Mani, they are detained in the aforesaid fire until the end of the world. At the end of the world, the Kingdom of Light is completely separated from the Kingdom of Darkness with its inhabitants, namely, the demons and the incorrigible souls; the latter are then stationed on the confines of the Kingdom of Darkness to prevent any further incursion of the demons into the Kingdom of Light.

Regarding the ascetical aspect of Manicheism, its most important precept was that of treating the body severely inasmuch as it was made of evil matter. The religion prescribed frequent fasts and the inviolable conservation of the Three Seals. The Seal of the Mouth forbade blasphemy, which included all utterances contrary to the doctrine of Mani. The Seal of the Hand prohibited the killing of any animal. The Seal of the Bosom forbade the procreation of children, but permitted sexual intercourse, Procreation was forbidden because it involved the re-imprisonment of the light substance in matter, and thus continued the work of Satan (the Lord of the Kingdom of Darkness). Manichzan asceticism, therefore, forebade marriage, the eating of meat, the drinking of wine, manual labor, and the possession of property. But it was only the elect or perfect who were bound to observe the rules of this rigid asceticism, and their number was always relatively small. The bulk of the Manicheans were mere hearers or calechu-

mens, who were not obliged to practice such austerities; neither were the secrets of esoteric Manicheism communicated to the latter, but only to the elect.

The Manichzan Scriptures comprised the following seven books: (1) ‘‘The Book of Mysteries;” (2) ‘‘The Book of Giants;”’ (3) “The Book of Precepts for Hearers,’’ which is probably identical with ‘‘The Book of Chapters” of the Acta Archelai; (4) The Persian book entitled Shahpurakan (‘‘Epistle to King Shapur’’?); (5) ‘‘The Book of Quickening,’’? which may be identical with the Thesaurus (vite) of the Acta Archelai; (6) the book of Pragmateia (Upaparela); (7) the Evangel (‘‘Gospel’”’) of the Acta Archelaz. The tradition of a sevenfold Manichzan Scripture was also current in China; for Mr. Ch’en Yiian quotes Ho Ch’iao-yuan as saying (in the Minshu): ‘' Their Scripture comprises seven parts.” Besides these books, however, there were also 26 Epistles of which the first was the ‘‘ Treatise of the Two Elements,’’ which Arendzen considers identical with the Epistola Fundamenti of St. Augustine. Duchesne, on the contrary, identifies the Epistola Fundamenta with ‘‘ The Precepts for Hearers."’ (Cf. Histoire Ancienne de l’Eglise, 5th edit., Tome I, c. XXVH, p. 564.) The ‘Treatise of the Two Elements” is doubtless the same as the ‘‘Scripture of the ‘‘Two Principles,” of which Mr.

Ch’en speaks in the beginning of the article.

As regards the organization of the Manichzean sect, it had at its head a Pope or Supreme Pontiff, whom Arabic writers call the Immate. He was reputed to be the successor of Mani and his residence was at Babylon. Five hierarchical classes of the Manichzans are mentioned by St. Augustine, who was himself, for a time, a Manichzean hearer or catechumen. The five classes enumerated by him are: (1) Teachers; (2) Bishops; (3) Priests; (4) Elect; (5) Hearers. This is evidently a christianized terminology; for Manichzism adopted many of the externals of Christianity in the West, just as it adopted the externals of Buddhismin China. Mr. Ch’en Yiian finds mention of three grades of the Manichzan hierarchy in Chinese literature: (1) Mani Shih or ‘‘ Priests of Mani,’’ called also Yin Yang Jen (‘Men of Darkness and Light’’); (2) Mushas, identical, apparently, with the Elect; (3) Butofans, a term which evidently signifies Manichean Hearers.