Bulletin of Catholic University of Peking

62 BULLETIN NUMBER FOUR

The passage quoted by Mr. Ch’en Yiian from the Minshw makes mention of another characteristic of the Manichzans, namely, their custom of facing the sun when they prayed during the day, and the moon when they prayed at night. When neither the sun nor the moon was visible, they prayed facing the Polar Star. The prayers of the elect were

regarded as efficacious for purging away the -

sins of the hearers, who accordingly venerated the former and gave them food, in order to obtain their intercession—ilac autem purgari nos ab 1stis sordibus expetentes, cum eis, qui appellarentur electit et sancti, afferentes escas, de quibus nobis in officina aqualiculi sui fabricarent angelos et deos, per quos liberaremur. (“Confessions’”’ of St, Augustine, Book tv, Chapter 1.)

The Rt. Hon. Mr. Ch’en Yiian, Vice Rector of the Catholic University of Peking