Manicheism. Founded in the third century of our
era by the Persian Mani, Manicheism is one of the late,
syncretist forms of Gnosticism. Mani wanted to unite
Christianity (under its Gnostic form) with Zoroastrian-
ism, Buddhism, and Greek philosophy. In fact, the part
played by Gnostic Christianity is by far the most im-
portant part of his doctrine. But he made Gnostic
dualism more rigid and more systematic, reinforcing
it on the model of Zoroastrian dualism. With him the
two principles are truly independent and co-eternal.
Evil for him was identical with matter, but he de-
scribed evil as having traits which reminded one of
Ahriman.
Nobody was as consciously and voluntarily a dualist
as Mani. For him the positing of two principles was
the foundation of all true religion. By assembling
Gnostic myths, he constructed a great myth which
described the primitive separation of the two principles
(Light, the substance of the soul, and Darkness, that
is to say, matter); then their mixture, after Darkness
attacked Light and engulfed some of its parts; then
the way the particles of Light (souls) can be freed from
Darkness and return to their source. He announced that
some day all creatures would be brought back to their
origin, that the principles would once again be sepa-
rated, this time forever.
It is often believed that the Manicheans divided all
the creatures of the world into absolutely good or
absolutely evil beings. This tendency is, however,
rather typical of the Zoroastrians. For the Manicheans,
everything in the world was a mixture; pure goodness
and evil existed only in the principles. Moreover, the
Manicheans were neither violent nor intolerant; they
adapted their language to that of other religions,
thinking that there was something good in nearly all
of them. Salvation for them did not consist in fighting
against certain beings, but in fighting against matter
(Darkness) in themselves, and in escaping from the
world.
