St. Augustine's Writings Against The Manichaeans And Against The Donatists E-Book
St. Augustine of Hippo
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- Herausgeber: Jazzybee Verlag
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
This edition contains the following writings: Of the Morals of the Catholic Church. On the Morals of the Manichaeans. Concerning Two Souls, Against the Manichaeans. Acts or Disputation Against Fortunatus, the Manichaean. Against the Epistle of Manichaeus Called Fundamental. Reply to Faustus the Manichaean. Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichaeans. On Baptism, Against the Donatists In Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist, Bishop of Cirta. A Treatise Concerning the Correction of the Donatists
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St. Augustine's Writings Against The Manichæans And Against The Donatists
St. Augustine of Hippo
Contents:
Saint Augustine – A Biography
ST. AUGUSTINE'S WRITINGS AGAINST THE MANICHÆANS AND AGAINST THE DONATISTS
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY ON THE MANICHAEAN HERESY,
Preface to the Anti-Manichaean Writings.
Of the Morals of the Catholic Church.
Chapter I.-How the Pretensions of the Manichaeans are to Be Refuted. Two Manichaean Falsehoods.
Chapter 2.-He Begins with Arguments, in Compliance with the Mistaken Method of the Manichaeans.
Chapter 3.-Happiness is in the Enjoyment of Man's Chief Good. Two Conditions of the Chief Good: 1st, Nothing is Better Than It; 2d, It Cannot Be Lost Against the Will.
Chapter 4.-Man-What?
Chapter 5.-Man's Chief Good is Not the Chief Good of the Body Only, But the Chief Good of the Soul.
Chapter 6.-Virtue Gives Perfection to the Soul; The Soul Obtains Virtue by Following God; Following God is the Happy Life.
Chapter 7.-The Knowledge of God to Be Obtained from the Scripture. The Plan and Principal Mysteries of the Divine Scheme of Redemption.
Chapter 8.-God is the Chief Good, Whom We are to Seek After with Supreme Affection.
Chapter 9.-Harmony of the Old and New Testament on the Precepts of Charity.
Chapter 10.-What the Church Teaches About God. The Two Gods of the Manichaeans.
Chapter 11-God is the One Object of Love; Therefore He is Man's Chief Good. Nothing is Better Than God. God Cannot Be Lost Against Our Will.
Chapter 12.-We are United to God by Love,in Subjection to Him.
Chapter 13.-We are Joined Inseparably to God by Christ and His Spirit.
Chapter 14.-We Cleave to the Trinity, Our Chief Good, by Love.
Chapter 15.-The Christian Definition of the Four Virtues.
Chapter 16.-Harmony of the Old and New Testaments.
Chapter 17.-Appeal to the Manichaeans, Calling on Them to Repent.
Chapter 18.-Only in the Catholic Church is Perfect Truth Established on the Harmony of Both Testaments.
Chapter 19.-Description of the Duties of Temperance, According to the Sacred Scriptures.
Chapter 20.-We are Required to Despise All Sensible Things, and to Love God Alone.
Chapter 21.-Popular Renown and Inquisitiveness are Condemned in the Sacred Scriptures.
Chapter 22.-Fortitude Comes from the Love of God.
Chapter 23.-Scripture Precepts and Examples of Fortitude.
Chapter 24.-Of Justice and Prudence.
Chapter 25.-Four Moral Duties Regarding the Love of God, of Which Love the Reward is Eternal Life and the Knowledge of the Truth.
Chapter 26.-Love of Ourselves and of Our Neighbor.
Chapter 27.-On Doing Good to the Body of Our Neighbor.
Chapter 28.-On Doing Good to the Soul of Our Neighbor. Two Parts of Discipline, Restraint and Instruction. Through Good Conduct We Arrive at the Knowledge of the Truth.
Chapter 29.-Of the Authority of the Scriptures.
Chapter 30.-The Church Apostrophised as Teacher of All Wisdom. Doctrine of the Catholic Church.
Chapter 31.-The Life of the Anachoretes and Coenobites Set Against the Continence of the Manichaeans.
Chapter 32.-Praise of the Clergy.
Chapter 33.-Another Kind of Men Living Together in Cities. Fasts of Three Days.
Chapter 34. -The Church is Not to Be Blamed for the Conduct of Bad Christians, Worshippers of Tombs and Pictures.
Chapter 35.-Marriage and Property Allowed to the Baptized by the Apostles.
On the Morals of the Manichaeans.
Chapter 1.-The Supreme Good is that Which is Possessed of Supreme Existence.
Chapter 2.-What Evil is. That Evil is that Which is Against Nature. In Allowing This, the Manichaeans Refute Themselves.
Chapter 3.-If Evil is Defined as that Which is Hurtful, This Implies Another Refutation of the Manichaeans.
Chapter 4.-The Difference Between What is Good in Itself and What is Good by Participation.
Chapter 5.-If Evil is Defined to Be Corruption, This Completely Refutes the Manichaean Heresy.
Chapter 6.-What Corruption Affects and What It is.
Chapter 7.-The Goodness of God Prevents Corruption from Bringing Anything to Non-Existence. The Difference Between Creating and Forming.
Chapter 8.-Evil is Not a Substance, But a Disagreement Hostile to Substance.
Chapter 9.-The Manichaean Fictions About Things Good and Evil are Not Consistent with Themselves.
Chapter 10.-Three Moral Symbols Devised by the Manichaeans for No Good.
Chapter 11.-The Value of the Symbol of the Mouth Among the Manichaeans, Who are Found Guilty of Blaspheming God.
Chapter 12.-Manichaean Subterfuge.
Chapter 13.-Actions to Be Judged of from Their Motive, Not from Externals. Manichaean Abstinence to Be Tried by This Principle.
Chapter 14.-Three Good Reasons for Abstaining from Certain Kinds of Food.
Chapter 15.-Why the Manichaeans Prohibit the Use of Flesh.
Chapter 16.-Disclosure of the Monstrous Tenets of the Manichaeans.
Chapter 17.-Description of the Symbol of the Hands Among the Manichaeans.
Chapter 18.-Of the Symbol of the Breast, and of the Shameful Mysteries of the Manichaeans.
Chapter 19.-Crimes of the Manichaeans.
Chapter 20.-Disgraceful Conduct Discovered at Rome.
Concerning Two Souls, Against the Manichaeans.
Chapter I.-By What Course of Reasoning the Error of the Manichaeans Concerning Two Souls, One of Which is Not from God, is Refuted. Every Soul, Inasmuch as It is a Certain Life, Can Have Its Existence Only from God the Source of Life.
Chapter 2.-If the Light that is Perceived by Sense Has God for Its Author, as the Manichaeans Acknowledge, Much More. The Soul Which is Perceived by Intellect Alone.
Chapter 3.-How It is Proved that Every Body Also is from God. That the Soul Which is Called Evil by the Manichaeans is Better Than Light.
Chapter 4.-Even the Soul of a Fly is More Excellent Than the Light.
Chapter 5.-How Vicious Souls, However Worthy of Condemnation They May Be, Excel the Light Which is Praiseworthy in Its Kind.
Chapter 6.-Whether Even Vices Themselves as Objects of Intellectual Apprehension are to Be Preferred to Light as an Object of Sense Perception, and are to Be Attributed to God as Their Author. Vice of the Mind and Certain Defects are Not Rightly to Be Counted Among Intelligible Things. Defects Themselves Even If They Should Be Counted Among Intelligible Things Should Never Be Put Before Sensible Things. If Light is Visible by God, Much More is the Soul, Even If Vicious, Which in So Far as It Lives is an Intelligible Thing. Passages of Scripture are Adduced by the Manichaeans to the Contrary.
Chapter 7.-How Evil Men are of God, and Not of God.
Chapter 8.-The Manichaeans Inquire Whence is Evil and by This Question Think They Have Triumphed. Let Them First Know, Which is Most Easy to Do, that Nothing Can Live Without God. Consummate Evil Cannot Be Known Except by the Knowledge of Consummate Good, Which is God.
Chapter 9.-Augustin Deceived by Familiarity with the Manichaeans, and by the Succession of Victories Over Ignorant Christians Reported by Them. The Manichaeans are Likewise Easily Refuted from the Knowledge of Sin and the Will.
Chapter 10.-Sin is Only from the Will. His Own Life and Will Best Known to Each Individual. What Will is.
Chapter II.-What Sin is.
Chapter 12.-From the Definitions Given of Sin and Will, He Overthrows the Entire Heresy of the Manichaeans. Likewise from the Just Condemnation of Evil Souls It Follows that They are Evil Not by Nature But by Will. That Souls are Good Bynature, to Which the Pardon of Sins is Granted.
Chapter 13.-From Deliberation on the Evil and on the Good Part It Results that Two Classes of Souls are Not to Be Held to. A Class of Souls Enticing to Shameful Deeds Having Been Conceded, It Does Not Follow that These are Evil by Nature, that the Others are Supreme Good.
Chapter 14.-Again It is Shown from the Utility of Repenting that Souls are Not by Nature Evil. So Sure a Demonstration is Not Contradicted Except from the Habit of Erring.
Chapter 15.-He Prays for His Friends Whom He Has Had as Associates in Error.
Acts or Disputation Against Fortunatus, the Manichaean.
Disputation of the First Day.
Disputation of the Second Day.
Against the Epistle of Manichaeus Called Fundamental.
Chapter I.-To Heal Heretics is Better Than to Destroy Them.
Chapter 2.-Why the Manichaeans Should Be More Gently Dealt with.
Chapter 3.-Augustin Once a Manichaean.
Chapter 4.-Proofs of the Catholic Faith.
Chapter 5.-Against the Title of the Epistle of Manichaeus.
Chapter 6.-Why Manichaeus Called Himself an Apostle of Christ.
Chapter 7.-In What Sense the Followers of Manichaeus Believe Him to Be the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 8.-The Festival of the Birth-Day of Manichaeus.
Chapter 9.-When the Holy Spirit Was Sent.
Chapter 10.-The Holy Spirit Twice Given.
Chapter 11.-Manichaeus Promises Truth, But Does Not Make Good His Word.
Chap 12.-The Wild Fancies of Manichaeus. The Battle Before the Constitution of the World.
Chapter 13.-Two Opposite Substances. The Kingdom of Light. Manichaeus Teaches Uncertainties Instead of Certainties.
Chapter 14.-Manichaeus Promises the Knowledge of Undoubted Things, and Then Demands Faith in Doubtful Things.
Chapter 15.-The Doctrine of Manichaeus Not Only Uncertain, But False. His Absurd Fancy of a Land and Race of Darkness Bordering on the Holy Region and the Substance of God. The Error, First of All, of Giving to the Nature of God Limits and Borders, as If God Were a Material Substance, Having Extension in Space.
Chapter 16.-The Soul, Though Mutable, Has No Material Form. It is All Present in Every Part of the Body.
Chapter 17.-The Memory Contains the Ideas of Places of the Greatest Size.
Chapter 18.-The Understanding Judges of the Truth of Things, and of Its Own Action.
Chapter 19.-If the Mind Has No Material Extension, Much Less Has God.
Chapter 20.-Refutation of the Absurd Idea of Two Territories
Chapter 21.-This Region of Light Must Be Material If It is Joined to the Region of Darkness. The Shape of the Region of Darkness Joined to the Region of Light.
Chapter 22.-The Form of the Region of Light the Worse of the Two.
Chapter 23.-The Anthropomorphites Not So Bad as the Manichaeans.
Chapter 24.-Of the Number of Natures in the Manichaean Fiction.
Chapter 25. -Omnipotence Creates Good Things Differing in Degree, in Every Description Whatsoever of the Junction of the Two Regions There is Either Impropriety or Absurdity.
Chapter 26.-The Manichaeans are Reduced to the Choice of a Tortuous, or Curved, or Straight Line of Junction. The Third Kind of Line Would Give Symmetry and Beauty Suitable to Both Regions.
Chapter 27.-The Beauty of the Straight Line Might Be Taken from the Region of Darkness Without Taking Anything from Its Substance. So Evil Neither Takes from Nor Adds to the Substance of the Soul. The Straightness of Its Side Would Be So Far a Good Bestowed on the Region of Darkness by God the Creator.
Chapter 28.-Manichaeus Places Five Natures in the Region of Darkness.
Chapter 29.-The Refutation of This Absurdity.
Chapter 30.-The Number of Good Things in Those Natures Which Manichaeus Places in the Region of Darkness.
Chapter 31.-The Same Subject Continued.
Chapter 32.-Manichaeus Got the Arrangement of His Fanciful Notions from Visible Objects.
Chapter 33.-Every Nature, as Nature, is Good.
Chapter 34.-Nature Cannot Be Without Some Good. The Manichaeans Dwell Upon the Evils.
Chapter 35.-Evil Alone is Corruption. Corruption is Not Nature, But Contrary to Nature. Corruption Implies Previous Good.
Chapter 36.-The Source of Evil or of Corruption of Good.
Chapter 37.-God Alone Perfectly Good.
Chapter 38.-Nature Made by God; Corruption Comes from Nothing.
Chapter 39.-In What Sense Evils are from God.
Chapter 40.-Corruption Tends to Non-Existence.
Chapter 41.-Corruption is by God's Permission, and Comes from Us.
Chapter 42.-Exhortation to the Chief Good.
Chapter 43.-Conclusion.
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean.
Book I.
Book II.
Book III.
Book IV.
Book V.
Book VI.
Book VII.
Book VIII.
Book IX.
Book X.
Book XI.
Book XII.
Book XIII.
Book XIV.
Book XV.
Book XVI.
Book XVII.
Book XVIII.
Book XIX.
Book XX.
Book XXI.
Book XXII.
Book XXIII.
Book XXIV.
Book XXV.
Book XXVI.
Book XXVII.
Book XXVIII.
Book XXIX.
Book XXX.
Book XXXI.
Book XXXII.
Book XXXIII.
Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichaeans.
Chapter 1.-God the Highest and Unchangeable Good, from Whom are All Other Good Things, Spiritual and Corporeal.
Chapter 2.-How This May Suffice for Correcting the Manichaeans.
Chapter 3.-Measure, Form, and Order, Generic Goods in Things Made by God.
Chapter 4.-Evil is Corruption of Measure, Form, or Order.
Chapter 5.-The Corrupted Nature of a More Excellent Order Sometimes Better Than an Inferior Nature Even Uncorrupted.
Chapter 6.-Nature Which Cannot Be Corrupted is the Highest Good; That Which Can, is Some Good.
Chapter 7.-The Corruption of Rational Spirits is on the One Hand Voluntary, on the Other Penal.
Chapter 8.-From the Corruption and Destruction of Inferior Things is the Beauty of the Universe.
Chapter 9.-Punishment is Constituted for the Sinning Nature that It May Be Rightly Ordered.
Chapter 10.-Natures Corruptible, Because Made of Nothing.
Chapter 11.-God Cannot Suffer Harm, Nor Can Any Other Nature Except by His Permission.
Chapter 12.-All Good Things are from God Alone.
Chapter 13.-Individual Good Things, Whether Small or Great, are from God.
Chapter 14.-Small Good Things in Comparison with Greater are Called by Contrary Names.
Chapter 15.-In the Body of the Ape the Good of Beauty is Present, Though in a Less Degree.
Chapter 16.-Privations in Things are Fittingly Ordered by God.
Chapter 17.-Nature, in as Far as It is Nature, No Evil.
Chapter 18.-Hyle, Which Was Called by the Ancients the Formless Material of Things, is Not an Evil.
Chapter 19.-To Have True Existence is an Exclusive Prerogative of God.
Chapter 20.-Pain Only in Good Natures.
Chapter 21.-From Measure Things are Said to Be Moderate-Sized.
Chapter 22.-Measure in Some Sense is Suitable to God Himself.
Chapter 23.-Whence a Bad Measure, a Bad Form, a Bad Order May Sometimes Be Spoken of.
Chapter 24.-It is Proved by the Testimonies of Scripture that God is Unchangeable. The Son of God Begotten, Not Made.
Chapter 26.-That Creatures are Made of Nothing.
Chapter 29.-That God is Not Defiled by Our Sins.
Chapter 30.-That Good Things, Even the Least, and Those that are Earthly, are by God.
Chapter 31.-To Punish and to Forgive Sins Belong Equally to God.
Chapter 32.-From God Also is the Very Power to Be Hurtful.
Chapter 33.-That Evil Angels Have Been Made Evil, Not by God, But by Sinning.
Chapter 34.-That Sin is Not the Striving for an Evil Nature, But the Desertion of a Better.
Chapter 35.-The Tree Was Forbidden to Adam Not Because It Was Evil, But Because It Was Good for Man to Be Subject to God.
Chapter 36.-No Creature of God is Evil, But to Abuse a Creature of God is Evil.
Chapter 37.-God Makes Good Use of the Evil Deeds of Sinners.
Chapter 38.-Eternal Fire Torturing the Wicked, Not Evil.
Chapter 39.-Fire is Called Eternal, Not as God Is, But Because Without End.
Chapter 40.-Neither Can God Suffer Hurt, Nor Any Other, Save by the Just Ordination of God.
Chapter 41.-How Great Good Things the Manichaeans Put in the Nature of Evil, and How Great Evil Things in the Nature of Good.
Chapter 42. -Manichaean Blasphemies Concerning the Nature of God.
Chapter 43.-Many Evils Before His Commingling with Evil are Attributed to the Nature of God by the Manichaeans.
Chapter 44.-Incredible Turpitudes in God Imagined by Manichaeus.
Chapter 45.-Certain Unspeakable Turpitudes Believed, Not Without Reason, Concerning the Manichaeans Themselves.
Chapter 46.-The Unspeakable Doctrine of the Fundamental Epistle.
Chapter 47.-He Compels to the Perpetration of Horrible Turpitudes.
Chapter 48.-Augustin Prays that the Manichaeans May Be Restored to Their Senses.
ANTI-DONATIST WRITINGS
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
Preface
On Baptism, Against the Donatists
Book I.
Book II.
Book III.
Book IV.
Book V.
Book VI.
Book VII.
In Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist, Bishop of Cirta.
Book I.
Book II.
Book III.
A Treatise Concerning the Correction of the Donatists
Chapter 1.
Chapter 2.
Chapter 3.
Chapter 4.
Chapter 5.
Chapter 6.
Chapter 7.
Chapter 8.
Chapter 9.
Chapter 10.
Chapter 11.
St. Augustine's Writings Against The Manichæans And Against The Donatists, St. Augustine
Jazzybee Verlag Jürgen Beck
86450 Altenmünster, Germany
ISBN: 9783849621094
www.jazzybee-verlag.de
SaintAugustine– A Biography
Augustine(Aurelius Augustinus) was a Saint, a doctor of the Latin church, born at Tagaste, a small town of Numidia in Africa, not far from Carthage, Nov. 13, 354, died Aug. 28, 430. His father, Patricius, was a pagan nobleman of moderate 'fortune, while his mother, Monica, who has been canonized by the church, was an earnest Christian. Augustine was sent to the best schools of Madaura and Carthage. His own "Confessions" tell us that his conduct at this period of his life was far from exemplary. His studies, chiefly in the heathen poets, were more favorable to the development of his fancy and his style than to his Christian growth. The death of his father, which threw him upon his own resources, and the influence of some philosophical works, especially the Hortensius of Cicero, roused him to a diligent search after truth. Unable to find this in the writings of the Greek and Roman sages, and dissatisfied with what seemed to him the crude and fragmentary teachings of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, he adopted the dualism of the Manichgeans. At the age of 29 he went to Rome. There his reputation as a teacher of eloquence soon rivaled that of Symmachus, then at the height of his renown. On the recommendation of that orator, he was called to Milan as a teacher of rhetoric.
Ambrose was then bishop of Milan, and Augustine's first care was to know so famous a preacher. After repeated interviews with Ambrose, the conversion of his own illegitimate son, and the entreaties of his mother, he resolved to embrace Christianity. The history of his conversion forms the most striking chapter in his "Confessions." After eight months of seclusion, which he spent with his mother and brother and son, preparing for his confirmation in the church, and maturing his plans for the future, Augustine in the Easter week of 387 was baptized, together with his son and brother, by the hand of Ambrose. He at once set out on his return to Africa. On the way his mother died, and a small chapel among the ruins of Ostia marks the traditional spot of her burial. The death of his son, which took place soon after his return, confirmed his inclination to the monastic life. He retired to Tagaste, and passed nearly three years in studious seclusion, varied only by occasional visits to the neighboring towns. On one of these visits, when he was present at the church in Hippo, a sermon which the bishop Valerius delivered, asking for a priest to assist him in his church, turned all eyes toward this famous scholar. No refusals were allowed, and Augustine was ordained.
Preaching was soon added to his duties, an exception being made in his case to the usual rule, and the periods of the African orator, in harsh Latin or the harsher Punic tongue, were received with vehement applause. He was soon called to be assistant bishop, and then, on the death of the elder prelate, the whole charge of the church of Hippo was entrusted to his care. He retained the office until his death, a period of 35 years. The details of his episcopal life are minutely related by his friend Possidius. He preached every day and sometimes twice in the day; was frugal in his domestic arrangements, being a strict ascetic, and requiring of his attendant priests and deacons an equal simplicity of diet and dress; given to hospitality, yet without display; warmly interested in every kind of charity; courteous in his bearing, welcoming even infidels to his table; bold against all wickedness and wrong, whatever the rank of the transgressor; and untiring in his visits to widows and orphans, to the sick and the afflicted. He disputed with Manichajans, Arians, the followers of Priscillian, of Origen, and Tertullian, the Donatists, and the Pelagians, and allowed no doubtful utterance of doctrine to pass without his questioning.
To his industry in controversy must be added his vast correspondence with emperors, nobles, doctors, missionaries, bishops, in every quarter of the globe, on questions of dogma, of discipline, and of policy his solid works of commentary, criticism, morality, philosophy, and theology, and even his poetry, for to him are attributed several of the sweetest hymns of the Catholic anthology. The titles alone of the works of Augustine make a long catalogue. The single volume of "Sermons" contains nearly 700 pieces, shorter indeed and less ornate than the celebrated sermons of Basil and Chrysostom, but justifying Augustine's reputation for sacred oratory. The volume of "Commentaries on the Psalms" is more rich in practical remarks than in accurate learning. His remarks upon the "Four Gospels" are more valuable. His work on the "Care that should be taken for the Dead" contains some striking views concerning the relation of the living to disembodied souls. The volume of his "Epistles" is remarkable, as illustrating his best style and the finest traits in his character.
The name of Augustine, in the dogmatic history of the church, is best known in connection with the heresy of Pelagius; but his works which are most widely known are the "Confessions" and "The City of God." In the former, written just after his conversion, he gives a history of his life up to that time, not so much in its outward circumstance as in its inward experience and change. It has been translated into every Christian tongue, and is classed with the choicest memorials of devotion, both in Catholic and Protestant oratories. His treatise on "The City of God" (De Civitate Dei) is the monument of highest genius in the ancient church, and in its kind has never been surpassed. Its immediate purpose was to vindicate the faith of the gospel against the pagans, who had just devastated Rome. The first five books confute the heathen thesis that the worship of the ancient gods is essential to human prosperity, and that miseries have only come since the decline of this worship. The five following books refute those who maintain that the worship of pagan deities is useful for the spiritual life.
The remaining twelve books are employed in setting forth the doctrines of the Christian religion, under the somewhat fanciful form of "two cities," the city of the world and the city of God. The influence of Augustine upon his own age, and upon all succeeding ages of Christian history, cannot be exaggerated. It is believed that he was at once one of the purest, the wisest, and the holiest of men; he was equally mild and firm, prudent and fearless; at once a philosopher and a mystic, a student and a ruler. Of his singular humility manifold instances are recorded. His severe self-discipline matches the strictest instances of the hermit life. In his " Retractations," begun after the close of his 70th year, he reviews his writings, taking back whatever is doubtful or extravagant, and harmonizing discordant opinions. The aid of a coadjutor relieved Augustine in his latter years of a portion of his responsibility; yet questions of conscience were constantly presented to him. When Genseric and his Vandals showed themselves on the coasts of Africa, the question was put to him if it were lawful for a bishop at such a season to fly and leave his flock. The answer which he made was illustrated by his own course.
He calmly waited for the threatened approach, and when the fleet of the foe was in the bay of Hippo, and the army was encamped before the walls, exerted himself only to quiet the fears and sustain the faith of his brethren. He died of fever before the catastrophe. The bishop Possidius, who watched at his bedside, gives an edifying account of his last days, and of the grief of the people at his loss. His relics were transported to Italy, and mostly rest at present in the cathedral of Pavia. Within the present century the bone of his right arm has, with solemn pomp, been returned to the church of Bona in Algeria, which occupies the site of ancient Hippo. The best edition of Augustine's works is that of the Benedictines, published at Paris and at Antwerp' at the close of the 17th century, in 11 vols, folio. An edition in 11 volumes was also published in Paris in 1836-'9. An additional volume of sermons, before unpublished, found at Monte Casino and Florence, was published at Paris in 1842. An English translation by various hands has been undertaken at Edinburgh, under the editorship of the Rev. Marcus Dods, the 3rd and 4th volumes of which appeared in 1872.
ST. AUGUSTINE'S WRITINGS AGAINST THE MANICHÆANS AND AGAINST THE DONATISTS
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY ON THE MANICHAEAN HERESY,
By Albert H. Newman, D.D., LL.D.
--------
Chapter 1.-Literature.
I. Sources.
The following bibliography of Manichaeism is taken from Schaff's History of the Christian Church, vol. II. pp. 498-500 (new edition). Additions are indicated by brackets.
1. Oriental Sources: The most important, though of comparatively late date.
(a) Mohammedan (Arabic): KitaÆb al Fihrist. A history of Arabic literature to 987, by an Arab of Bagdad, usually called Ibn Abi Jakub An-NadîM; brought to light by Flügel, and published after his death by Rödiger and Müller, in 2 vols. Leipz. 1871-'72. Book IX. section first, treats of Manichaeism. Flügel's translation, see below. Kessler calls the Fihrist a "Fündstätte allerersten Ranges." Next to it comes the relation of the Mohammedan philosopher, Al-Shahrastani (d. 1153), in his History of Religious Parties and Philosophical Sects, Ed. Cureton, Lond. 1842, 2 vols. (I. 188-192); German translation by Haarbrücker, Halle, 1851. On other Mohammedan sources, see Kessler in Herzog, IX., 225 sq.
(b) Persian Sources: relating to the life of Mani, the Shâhnâmeh (the King's Book) of Firdausi; ed. by Jul. Mohl, Paris, 1866 (V. 472-475). See Kessler, ibid. 225.
[Albiruni's Chronology of Ancient Nations, tr. by E. Sachau, and published by the Oriental Translation Fund, Lond. 1879. Albîrunî lived 973-1048, and is said to have possessed vast literary resources no longer available to us. His work seems to be based on early Manichaean sources, and strikingly confirms the narrative preserved by the Fihrist. See also articles by West and Thomas in Journal of the Asiatic Society, 1868, 1870, 1871.]
(c) Christian Sources: In Arabic, the Alexandrian Patriarch Eutychius (d. 916). Annales, ed. Pococke, Oxon. 1628; Barhebraeus (d. 1286), in his Historia Dynastiarum, ed. Pococke. In Syriac: Ephraem Syrus (d. 393), in various writings. Esnig or Esnik, an Armenian bishop of the 5th Century, who wrote against Marcion and Mani (German translation from the Armenian by C. Fr. Neumann, in Illgen's Zeitschrift für die Hist. Theologie, 1834, pp.77-78).
2.Greek Sources: [Alexander of Lycopolis: The Tenets of the Manichaeans (first published by Combefis, with a Latin version, in the Auctararium Novissimum, Bibl. S. S. Patrum; again by Gallandi, in his Bibl. Patrum, vol. IV. p. 73 sq. An English translation by Rev. James B. H. Hawkins, M . A ., appeared in Clark's Ante-Nicene Library, Vol. XIV. p. 236 sq.; Am. ed. vol. VI. p. 237 sq. Alexander represents himself as a convert from Paganism to Manichaeism, and from Manichaeism to Orthodoxy. He claims to have learned Manchceism from those who were intimately associated with Mani himself, and is, therefore, one of the earliest witnesses.] Euesebius H. E. VII. 31, a brief account). Epiphanius (Haer 66). Cyril of Jerusalem (Catech. VI. 20 sq.). Titus of Bostra (pro/j Mantgai/ouj, ed P. de Lagarde, 1859). Photius: Adv. Manichaeos (Cod. 179, Biblioth.). John of Damascus: De Haeres. and Dial. [Petrus Siculus, Hist. Manichaeorum.]
3. Latin Sources: Archelaus (Bishop of Cascar in Mesopotamia, d. about 278): Acta Disputationis cum Manete Haeresiarcha; first written in Syriac, and so far belonging to the Oriental Christian Sources (Comp. Jerome, de Vir. Ill. 72), but extant only in a Latin translation, which seems to have been made from the Greek, edited by Zacagni (Rome, 1698), and Routh (in Reliquiae Sacrae, vol. V. 3-206); Eng. transl. in Clark's Ante-Nicene Library (vol. XX. 272-419). [Am. ed. vol. VI. p. 173 sq.]. These Acts purport to contain the report of a disputation between Archelaus and Mani before a large assembly, which was in full sympathy with the orthodox bishop, but (as Beausobre first proved), they are in form a fiction from the first quarter of the fourth century (about 320), by a Syrian ecclesiastic (probably of Edessa), yet based upon Manichaean documents, and containing much information about Manichaean doctrines. They consist of various pieces, and were the chief source of information to the West. Mani is represented (ch. 12), as appearing in a many-colored cloak and trousers, with a sturdy staff of ebony, a Babylonian book under his left arm, and with a mien of an old Persian master. In his defense he quotes freely from the N. T. At the end, he makes his escape to Persia (ch. 55). Comp. H. V. Zittwitz: Die Acta Archelai et Manetis untersucht, in Kahnis' Zeitschrift fur d. Hist.Theol. 1873, No. IV. Oblasinski: Acta Disput.Arch., etc. Lips. 1874 (inaugural dissert.). Ad. Harnack: Die Acta Archelai und das Diatessaron Tatians, in Texte und Untersuchungen zur Gesch. der altchristl.Lit.. vol. I. Heft 3 (1883), p. 137-153. Harnack tries to prove that the Gospel variations of Archelaus are taken from Tatian's Diatessaron.
St. Augustin (d. 430, the chief Latin authority next to the translation of Archelaus). [Besides the treatises published in Clark's series, Contra Fortunatum quendam Manichaeorum Presbyterum Disput.I. et II., Contra Adimantum Manichaei discipulum, Contra Secundinum Manichaeum, De Natura Boni, De duabus Animabus, De Utilitate Credendi, De Haeres.XLVI. Of these, De duabus Animabus, Contra Fortunatum, and De Natura Boni are added in the present edition, and De Utilitate Credendi has been included among Augustin's shorter theological treatises in vol. III. of the present series. In the Confessions and the Letters, moreover, the Manichaeans figure prominently. The treatises included in the present series may be said to fairly represent Augustin's manner of dealing with Manichaeism. The Anti-Manichaean writings are found chiefly in vol. VIII. of the Benedictine edition, and in volumes I. and XI. of the Migne reprint. Augustin's personal connection with the sect extending over a period of nine years, and his consummate ability in dealing with this form of error, together with the fact that he quotes largely from Manichaean literature, render his works the highest authority for Manichaeism as it existed in the West at the close of the fifth century.] Comp. also the Acts of Councils against the Manichaeans from the fourth century onwards, in Mansi and Hefele [and Hardouin].
II. Modern Works.
Isaac de Beausobre (b. 1659 in France, pastor of the French church in Berlin, d. 1738): Histoire Crit. de Manichée et du Manichéisme, Amst. 1634 and '39, 2 vols. *2. Part of the first volume is historical, the second doctrinal. Very full and scholarly. He intended to write a third volume on the later Manichaeans. F. Chr. Baur: Das Manichäische Religions-system nach den Quellen neu untersucht und entwickelt Tüb. 1831 (500 pages). A comprehensive, philosophical and critical view. He calls the Manich. system a "glühend prächtiges Natur-und Weltgedicht." [An able critique of Baur's work by Schneckenburger appeared in the "Theol. Studien u. Kritiken," 1833, p. 875 sq. Schneckenburger strives to make it appear that Baur unduly minifies the Christian element in Manichaeism. Later researches have tended to confirm Baur's main position. The Oriental sources employed by Flügel and Kessler have thrown much light upon the character of primitive Manichaeism, and have enabled us to determine more precisely than Beausobre and Baur were able to do the constituent elements of Mani's system. A. V. Wegnern: Manichaeorum Indulgentiae, Lips. 1827. Wegnern points out the resemblance between the Manichaean system, in accordance with which the "hearers" participate in the merits of the "elect" without subjecting themselves to the rigorous asceticism practiced by the latter, and the later doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Roman Catholic church] Trechsel: Ueber Kanon, Kritik und Exegese der Manichäer, Bern, 1832. D. Chwolson: Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus, Petersb. 1856, 2 vols. G. Flugel: Mani, seine Lehre und seine Scrtften.Aus dem Fihrist des Abî Jakub an-Nadîn(987), Leipz. 1862. Text, translation and commentary, 440 pages. [Of the highest value, the principal document on which the work is based being, probably, the most authentic exposition of primitive Manichaean doctrine.] K. Kessler: Untersuchungen zur Genesis des Manich. Rel. Systems, Leipz. 1876. By the same: Mânî oder Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Religionsmischung im Semitismus, Leipz. 1887. See also his thorough article, Mânî und die Manichaer, in "Herzog," new ed. vol. IX. 223-259 (abridged in Schaff's "Encyclop." II. 1396-1398). [Kessler has done more than any other writer to establish the relation between the Manichaeans and the earlier Oriental sects, and between these and the old Babylonian religion. The author of this introduction wishes to express his deep obligation to Kessler. The article on the "Mandäer" in "Herzog," by the same author, is valuable in this connection, though his attempt to exclude all historical connection between this Babylonian Gnostic sect and Palestine can hardly be pronounced a success. J. B. Mozley: Ruling Ideas in Early Ages; lecture on "The Manichaeans and the Jewish Fathers," with special reference to Augustin's method of dealing with the cavils of the Manichaeans.] G. T. Stokes: Manes and Manichaeans, in "Smith and Wace," III. 792-801. A. Harnack: Manichaeism in 9th ed. of the "Encycl. Britannica," vol. XV. (1883), 481-487. [Also in German, as a Beigabe to his Lehrbuch d. Dogmengeschichte, vol. I. p. 681 sq. Harnack follows Kessler in all essential particulars. Of Kessler's article in "Herzog" he says: "This article contains the best that we possess on Manichaeism." In this we concur. W. Cunningham: S. Austin and his Place in the History of Christian Thought, Hulsean Lectures, 1885, p. 45-72, and passim, Lond. 1886. This treatise is of considerable value, especially as it regards the philosophical attitude of Augustin towards Manichaeism.] The accounts of Mosheim, Lardner, Schröckh, Walch, Neander, Gieseler [and Wolf].
Chapter II.-Philosophical Basis, and Antecedents of Manichaeism.
"About 500 years before the commencement of the Christian era," writes Professor Monier Williams,"a great stir seems to have taken place in Indo-Aryan, as in Grecian minds, and indeed in thinking minds everywhere throughout the then civilized world. Thus when Buddha arose in India, Greece had her thinkers in Pythagoras, Persia in Zoroaster, and China in Confucius. Men began to ask themselves earnestly such questions as-What am I? Whence have I come? Whither am I going? How can I explain my consciousness of personal existence? What is the relationship between my material and immaterial nature? What is the world in which I find myself? did a wise, good and all-powerful Being create it out of nothing? or did it evolve out of an eternal germ? or did it come together by the combination of eternal atoms? If created by a Being of infinite wisdom, how can I account for the inequality of condition in it-good and evil, happiness and misery. Has the Creator form or is he formless? Has he any qualities or none?"
It is true that such questions pressed themselves with special importunity upon the thinkers of the age mentioned, but we should be far astray if we should think for a moment that now for the first time they suggested themselves and demanded solution. The fact is that the earliest literary records of the human race bear evidence of high thinking on the fundamental problems of God, man, and the world, and the relations of these to each other. Recent scholars have brought to light facts of the utmost interest with reference to the pre-Babylonian (Accadian) religion. A rude nature-worship, with a pantheistic basis, but assuming a polytheistic form, seems to have prevailed in Mesopotamia from a very early period. "Spirit everywhere dispersed produced all the phenomena of nature, and directed and animated all created beings. They caused evil and good, guided the movements of the celestial bodies, brought back the seasons in their order, made the wind to blow and the rain to fall, and produced by their influence atmospheric phenomena both beneficial and destructive; they also rendered the earth fertile, and caused plants to germinate and to bear fruit, presided over the births and preserved the lives of living beings, and yet at the same time sent death and disease. There were spirits of this kind everywhere, in the starry heavens, in the earth, and in the intermediate region of the atmosphere; each element was full of them, earth, air, fire and water; and nothing could exist without them... As evil is everywhere present in nature side by side with good, plagues with favorable influences, death with life, destruction with fruitfulness: an idea of dualism as decided as in the religion of Zoroaster pervaded the conceptions of the supernatural world formed by the Accadian magicians, the evil beings of which they feared more than they valued the powers of good. There were essentially good spirits, and others equally bad. These opposing troops constituted a vast dualism, which embraced the whole universe and kept up a perpetual struggle in all parts of the creation."This primitive Turanian quasi-dualism (it was not dualism in the strictest sense of the term) was not entirely obliterated by the Cushite and Semitic civilizations and cults that successively overlaid it. So firmly rooted had this early mode of viewing the world become that it materially influenced the religions of the invaders rather than suffered extermination. In the Babylonian religion of the Semitic period the dualistic element was manifest chiefly in the magical rites of the Chaldean priests who long continued to use Accadian as their sacred language. "Upon this dualistic conception rested the whole edifice of sacred magic, of magic regarded as a holy and legitimate intercourse established by rites of divine origin, between man and the supernatural beings surrounding him on all sides. Placed unhappily in the midst of this perpetual struggle between the good and bad spirits, man felt himself attacked by them at every moment; his fate depended upon them.... He needed then some aid against the attacks of the bad spirits, against the plagues and diseases which they sent upon him. This help he hoped to find in incantations, in mysterious and powerful words, the secret of which was known only to the priests of magic, in their prescribed rites and their talismans.... The Chaldeans had such a great idea of the power and efficacy of their formulae, rites and amulets, that they came to regard them as required to fortify the good spirits themselves in their combat with the demons, and as able to give them help by providing them with invincible weapons which should ensure success."A large number of magical texts have been preserved and deciphered, and among them "the `favorable Alad,' the `favorable Lamma,' and the `favorable Utug,' are very frequently opposed... to the `evil Alad,' the `evil Lamma,' the `evil Utug.' "It would be interesting to give in detail the results of the researches of George Smith, Lenormant, A. H. Sayce, E. Schrader, Friedrich Delitzsch and others, with reference to the elaborate mythological and cosmological systems of the Babylonians. Some of the features thereof will be brought out further on by way of comparison with the Manichaean mythology and cosmology. Suffice it to say that the dualistic element is everywhere manifest, though not in so consistent and definite a form as in Zoroastrianism, to say nothing of Manichaeism.
The Medo-Persian invasion brought into Babylonia the Zoroastrian system, already modified, no doubt, by the Elamitic (Cushite) cult. Yet the old Babylonian religion was too firmly rooted to be supplanted, even by the religion of such conquerors as Darius and Cyrus. Modifications, however, it undoubtedly underwent. The dualism inherent in the system became more definite. The influence of the Jews in Mesopotamia upon the ancient population cannot have been inconsiderable, especially as many of the former, including probably most of the captives of the Northern tribes, were absorbed by the latter. As a result of this blending of old Babylonian, Persian, and Hebrew blood, traditions, and religious ideas, there was developed in Mesopotamia a type of religious thought that furnished a philosophical basis and a mythological and cosmological garnishing for the Manichaean system. Dualism, therefore, arising from efforts of the unaided human mind to account for the natural phenomena that appear beneficent and malignant, partly of old Babylonian origin and partly of Persian, but essentially modified by Hebrew influence more or less pure, furnished to Mani the foundation of his system. We shall attempt at a later stage of the discussion to determine more accurately the relations of Manichaeism to the various systems with which correctly or incorrectly it has been associated. Suffice it to say, at present, that no new problem presented itself to Mani, and that he furnished no essentially new solution of the problems that had occupied the attention of his countrymen for more than 2500 years. Before proceeding to institute a comparison between Manichaeism and the various systems of religious thought to which it stands related, it will be advantageous to have before us an exposition of the Manichaeean system itself, based upon the most authentic sources.
Chapter III.-The Manichaean System.
Earlier writers on Manichaeism have, for the most part, made the Acta Disp. Archelai et Manetis and the anti-Manichaean writings of Augustin the basis of their representations. For later Manichaeism in the West, Augustin is beyond question the highest authority, and the various polemical treatises which he put forth exhibit the system under almost every imaginable aspect. The "Acts of the Disputation of Archelaus and Manes," while it certainly rests upon a somewhat extensive and accurative knowledge of early Manichaeism, is partially discredited by its generally admitted spuriousness-spuriousness in the sense that it is not a genuine record of a real debate. It is highly probable that debates of this kind occurred between Mani and various Christian leaders in the East, and so Mani may at one time or other have given utterance to most of the statements that are attributed to him in this writing; or these statements may have been derived, for substance, from his numerous treatises, and have been artfully adapted to the purposes of the writer of the "Acts." It is certain that most of the representations are correct. But we can no longer rely upon it as an authentic first-hand authority. Since Flügel published the treatise from the Fihrist entitled "The Doctrines of the Manichaeans, by Muhammad ben Ishâk," with a German translation and learned annotations, it has been admitted that this treatise must be made the basis for all future representations of Manichaeism. Kessler. while he has had access to many other Oriental documents bearing upon the subject, agrees with Flügel in giving the first place to this writing. On this exposition of the doctrines of the Manichaeans, therefore, as expounded by Flügel and Kessler, we must chiefly rely. The highly poetical mythological form which Mani gave to his speculations renders it exceedingly difficult to arrive at assured results with reference to fundamental principles. If we attempt to state in a plain matter-of-fact way just what Mani taught we are in constant danger of misrepresenting him. In fact one of the favorite methods employed against Mani's doctrines by the writer of the "Acts of the Disputation," etc., as well as by Augustin and others, was to reduce Mani's poetical fancies to plain language and thus to show their absurdity. The considerations which have led experts like Flügel and Kessler to put so high an estimate upon this document, and the discussions as to the original language in which the sources of the document were written, are beyond the scope of this essay. Suffice it to say, that so far as we are able to form a judgment on the matter, the reasons for ascribing antiquity and authenticity to the representation of Manichaeism contained in the document are decisive.
1. Mani's Life. According to the Fihrist, Mani's father, a Persian by race, resided at Coche on the Tigris, about forty miles north of Babylon. Afterwards he removed into Babylonia and settled at Modein, where he frequented an idol-temple like the rest of the people. He next became associated with a party named Mugtasila (Baptizers), probably identical with or closely related to the Mandaeans and Sabeans, both of which parties made much of ceremonial bathings. Mani, who was born after the removal to Babylonia, is related to have been the recipient of angelic visitations at the age of twelve. Even at this time he was forewarned that he must leave the religion of his father at the age of twenty-four. At the appointed time the angel At-Taum appeared again and announced to him his mission. "Hail, Mani, from me and the Lord, who has sent me to thee and chosen thee for his mission. But he commands thee to invite men to thy doctrine and to proclaim the glad tidings of truth that comes from him, and to bestow thereon all thy zeal." Mani entered upon his work, according to Flügel's careful computation, April 1, 238, or, according to calculations based on another statement, in 252. Mani maintained that he was the Paraclete promised by Jesus. He is said, in this document, to have derived his teaching from the Magi and the Christians, and the characters in which he wrote his books, from the Syriac and the Persian. After travelling in many lands for forty years and disseminating his doctrines in India, China, and Turkestan, he succeeded in impressing his views upon Fîrûz, brother of King Sapor, who had intended to put him to death. Sapor became warmly attached to Mani and granted toleration to his followers. Afterwards, according to some accounts, Mani was imprisoned by Sapor and liberated by his successor Hormizd. He is said to have been crucified by order of King Bahraim I. (276-'7), and his skin stuffed with straw is said to have been suspended at the city gate. Eusebius (H. E. VII. 31) describes Mani as "a barbarian in life, both in speech and conduct, who attempted to form himself into a Christ, and then also proclaimed himself to be the very Paraclete and the Holy Spirit. Then, as if he had been Christ, he selected twelve disciples, the partners of his new religion, and after patching together false and ungodly doctrines collected from a thousand heresies long since extinct, he swept them off like a deadly poison from Persia, upon this part of the world." The account given in the Acta Archel (written probably about 330-'40), is far more detailed than that of the Fihrist and differs widely therefrom. It contains much that is highly improbable. Mani is represented as having for his predecessors one Scythianus, an Egyptian heretic of Apostolic times, and Terebinthus, who went with him to Palestine and after the death of Scythianus removed to Babylonia. The writings of Terebinthus or Scythianus came into the possession of a certain widow. who purchased Mani when seven years of age (then named Cubricus) and made him heir of her property and books. He changed his name to Mani (Manes), and, having become imbued with the teachings of the books, began at about sixty years of age to promulgate their teachings, choosing three disciples, Thomas, Addas and Hermas, to whom he entrusted the writings mentioned above, along with some of his own. Up to this time he knew little of Christianity, but having been imprisoned by the king for failure in a promised cure of the king's son, he studied the Christian Scriptures and derived therefrom the idea of the Paraclete, which he henceforth applied to himself. After his escape the famous dialogue with Archelaus and that with Diodorus occurred. Returning to Arabion he was arrested, carried to Persia, flayed alive, and his skin stuffed and suspended as above. Some additional facts from an Oriental source used by Beausobre have more or less verisimilitude. According to this, Mani was born of Magian parents about 240 A.D. He became skilled in music, mathematics, geography, astronomy, painting, medicine, and in the Scriptures. The account of his ascendancy over Sapor and his subsequent martyrdom is substantially the same as that of the Fihrist. Albîrunî's work (see bibliography preceding) confirms the account given by the Fihrist. The conversion of Sapor to Manichaeism (in A.D. 261) is said to be confirmed by Sassanian inscriptions (see Journal of Asiat, Soc. 1868 p. 310-'41, and ibid. p. 376, and 1871 p. 416).
The Fihrist's account contains a long list of the works of Mani, which is supplemented by other Oriental and Western notices. The list is interesting as showing the wide range of Mani's literary activity, or at least of the literature that was afterwards connected with his name.
2. Mani's System. As the life of Mani has been the subject of diversified and contradictory representations, so also have his doctrines. Here, too, we must make the account given by the Fihrist fundamental. It will be convenient to treat the subject under the following heads: Theology, Cosmogony, Anthropology, Soteriology, Cultus, Eschatology, and Ethics.
(1.) Theology. Mani taught dualism in the most unqualified sense. Zoroastrianism is commonly characterized as dualistic, yet it is so in no such sense as is Manichaeism. According to the Fihrist, "Mani teaches: Two subsistences form the beginning of the world, the one light the other darkness; the two are separated from each other. The light is the first most glorious being, limited by no number, God himself, the King of the Paradise of Light. He has five members: meekness, knowledge, understanding, mystery, insight; and five other spiritual members: love, faith, truth, nobleness, and wisdom. He maintained furthermore that the God of light, with these his attributes, is without beginning, but with him two equally eternal things likewise exist, the one the atmosphere, the other the earth. Mani adds: and the members of the atmosphere are five [the first series of divine attributes mentioned above are enumerated]; and the members of the earth are five [the second series]. The other being is the darkness, and his members are five: cloud, burning, hot wind, poison, and darkness. Mani teaches: that the light subsistence borders immediately on the dark subsistence, without a dividing wall between them; the light touches with its (lowest) side the darkness, while upwards to the right and left it is unbounded. Even so the darkness is endless downwards and to the right and left."
This represents Mani's view of the eternally existent status quo, before the conflict began, and the endless state after the conflict ceases. What does Mani mean, when he enumerates two series of five attributes each as members of God, and straightway postulates the co-eternity of atmosphere and earth and divides these self-same attributes between the latter? Doubtless Mani's theology was fundamentally pantheistic, i.e., pantheistic within the limits of each member of the dualism. The God of Light himself is apparently conceived of as transcending thought. Atmosphere and Earth (not the atmosphere and earth that we know, but ideal atmosphere and earth) are the aeons derived immediately from the Ineffable One and coëternal with him. The ten attributes are aeons which all belong primarily to the Supreme Being and secondarily to the two great aeons, half to each. The question may arise, and has been often discussed, whether Mani meant to identify God (the Prince of Light) with the Kingdom of Light? His language, in this treatise, is wavering. He seems to struggle against such a representation, yet without complete success.
What do the other sources teach with reference to the absoluteness of the dualism and with reference to the identification of the Prince of Light with the Kingdom of Light? According to the Acts of the Disputation of Archelaus and Manes,Manes "worships two deities, unoriginated, self-existent, eternal, opposed the one to the other. Of them he represents the one as good, and the other as evil, and assigned the name of Light to the former, and that of Darkness to the latter." Again, Manes is represented as saying: "I hold that there are two natures, one good and another evil; and that the one which is good dwells in a certain part proper to it, but that the evil one is this world as well as all things in it, which are placed there like objects imprisoned in the portion of the wicked one "(I John 5, 19). According to Alexander of Lycopolis,"Mani laid down two principles, God and matter (Hyle). God he called good, and matter he affirmed to be evil. But God excelled more in good than matter in evil." Alexander goes on to show how Mani used the word Hyle, comparing the Manichaean with the Platonic teaching. Statements of substantially the same purport might be multiplied. As regards the identification of God (the King of Light) with the Kingdom of Light, and of Satan (the King of Darkness) with the Kingdom of Darkness, the sensuous poetical way in which Mani expressed his doctrines may leave us in doubt. The probability is, however, that he did pantheistically identify each element of the dualism with his Kingdom. He personifies the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness, and peoples these Kingdoms with fanciful beings, which are to be regarded as personified attributes of the principles of darkness and light.
A word on the Manichaean conception of matter or Hyle may not be out of place in this connection. It would seem that the Manichaeans practically identified Hyle or matter with the Kingdom of Darkness. At any rate Hyle is unoriginated and belongs wholly to this Kingdom.
(2.) Cosmogony. So much for the Manichaean idea of the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness before the great conflict that resulted in the present order of things. Why did not they remain separate? Let us learn from the Fihrist's narrative: "Mani teaches further: Out of this dark earth [the Kingdom of Darkness] arose Satan, not that he was in himself eternal from the beginning, yet were his substances in his elements unoriginated. These substances now united themselves out of his elements and went forth as Satan, his head as the head of a lion, his body as the body of a dragon, his wings as the wings of a bird, his tail as the tail of a great fish, and his four feet as the feet of creeping animals. When this Satan under the name Iblis, the (temporally considered) eternal (primeval), had arisen out of the darkness, he devoured and consumed everything, spread destruction right and left, and plunged into the deep, in all these movements bringing down from above desolation and annihilation. Then he strove for the height, and descried the beams of light; but they were opposed to him. When he saw later how exalted these were, he was terrified, shrivelled up, and merged himself in his elements. Hereupon he strove anew with such violence after the height, that the land of light descried the doings of Satan and how he was bent upon murder and destruction. After they had been apprised thereof, the world of Insight learned of it, then the world of Knowledge, then the world of Mystery, then the world of Understanding, then the world of Meekness. When at last, he further teaches, the King of the Paradise of Light had also learned of it, he thought how he might suppress Satan, and, Mani adds, those hosts of his would have been mighty enough to overpower Satan. Yet he desired to do this by means of his own might. Accordingly, he produced by means of the spirit of his right hand [i.e., the Gentle Breeze], his five worlds, and his twelve elements, a creature, and this is the (temporally considered) Eternal Man [Primordial Man], and summoned him to do battle with the Darkness. But Primordial Man, Mani adds, armed himself with the five races [natures], and these are the five gods, the Gentle Breeze, the Wind, the Light, the Water and the Fire. Of them he made his armor, and the first that he put on was the Gentle Breeze. He then covered the Gentle Breeze with the burning Light as with a mantle. He drew over the Light Water filled with atoms, and covered himself with the blowing Wind. Hereupon he took the Fire as a shield and as a lance in his hand, and precipitated himself suddenly out of Paradise until he reached the border of the region that is contiguous to the battle-field. The Primordial Devil also took his five races [natures]: Smoke, Burning, Darkness, Hot Wind and Cloud; armed himself with them; made of them a shield for himself; and went to meet Primordial Man. After they had fought for a long time the Primordial Devil vanquished the Primordial Man, devoured some of his light, and surrounded him at the same time with his races and elements Then the King of the Paradise of Light sent other gods, freed him, and vanquished the Darkness. But he who was sent by the King of Light to rescue Primordial Man is called the Friend of the Light. This one made a precipitate descent, and Primordial Man was freed from the hellish substances, along with that which he had snatched from the spirit of Darkness and which had adhered to him. When, therefore, Mani proceeds, Joyfulness and the Spirit of Life drew near to the border, they looked down into the abyss of this deep hell and saw Primordial Man and the angels [i.e., the races or natures with which he was armed], how Iblis, the Proud Oppressors, and the Dark Life surrounded them. And the Spirit of Life, says Mani, called Primordial Man with a loud voice as quick as lightning and Primordial Man became another god. When the Primordial Devil had ensnared Primordial Man in the battle, Mani further teaches, the five parts of the Light were mingled with the five parts of the Darkness."
Let us see if we can get at the meaning of this great cosmological poem as far as we have gone. The thing to be accounted for is the mixture of good and evil. The complete separation of the eternally existent Kingdoms of Light and Darkness has been posited. How now are we to account for the mixture of light and darkness, of good and evil, in the present order of things? Mani would account for it by supposing that a conflict had occurred between an insufficiently equipped representative of the King of Light and the fully equipped ruler of the Kingdom of Darkness. His view of the vastly superior power of the King of Light would not allow him to suppose that the King of Light fully equipped had personally contended with the King of Darkness, and suffered the loss and contamination of his elements. Yet he only clumsily obviates this difficulty; for Primordial Man is produced and equipped by the King of Light for the very purpose of combating the King of Darkness, and Mani saves the King of Light from personal contamination only by impugning his judgment.
We have now reached the point where, as a result of the conflict, good and evil are blended. We must beware of supposing that Mani meant to ascribe any kind of materiality to the members of the Kingdom of Light. The Kingdom of Light, on the contrary, he regarded as purely spiritual; the Kingdom of Darkness as material. We have now the conditions for the creation of the present order of things, including man. How does Mani picture the process and the results of this mixing of the elements?
