Transcript Mani and Manichaeism - انسان‌شناسی و فرهنگ

Mani and Manichaeism
Manichaean Mythology
ELE Lecture presented by
Abolghasem Esmailpour Ph.D.
Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran
Moscow State University
21 November 2104
Chekhov Library, Moscow
Mani as a young Prophet
Born
216 -274 AD
Tisfun, Parthian Babylonia, died in Jundishapour
Life
His father Pateg from Hamedan a member of Elkhasai
sect with Christian origin. His mother Mariam from
Parthian royal family.
At the age of 12 and 24, Mani had visionary experiences
of a heavenly twin of his, calling him to leave his
father's sect and teach the true message of Christ.
Mani’s Missions
In 240–41, Mani travelled to India where he studied Hinduism
and was probably influenced by Greco-Buddhism. Returning in
242, he joined the court of Shapur I, to whom he dedicated his
only work written in Persian, known as the Shabuhragan.
Shapur was not converted to Manichaeanism and remained
Zoroastrian.
Mani’s death as Jesus Christ
Shapur's successor Hormizd I have patronized Mani, but his
successor Bahram I, a follower of the Zoroastrian reformer
Kartir, began to persecute the Manichaeans. He incarcerated
Mani, who died in prison within a month, in AD 274. Mani's
followers depicted Mani's death as a crucifixion in conscious
analogy to the death of Christ. Bahram also ordered killing of
many Manicheans.
Spread of Manichaeism
Three chief disciples, Thomas (in Egypt),
Adda (in Asia Minor and Rome), and
Hermas (with Mani himself).
Later Mar Ammo was the Leader of
Mani’s Execution
Mani is described as a painter who set up a sectarian movement in
opposition to Zoroastrianism. So, he was hanged or according to
Manichaeans he was crucified.
Bema Feast
Death id joyful and it should be celebrated!
A New Bema Feast in Mani’s Temple in China
Mani’s Spiritual Crown
Manichaean Pictorial Writings
Mani’s Teaching
Dualism of Light and Darkness, or Good and Evil, locked in
eternal struggle.
In his mid-twenties, Mani decided that salvation is possible
through education, self-denial, fasting and chastity. Mani
claimed to be the Paraclete promised in the New Testament.
Mani declared himself to be an "apostle of Jesus Christ".
Heaven and Earth: A painting depicting
Manichaeism's cosmic view shows what
appears to be heaven at the top, the moon on
the left and the sun on the right
Manichaean Cosmogony
Dualistic cosmology describing the struggle
between a good, spiritual world of light, and an
evil, material world of darkness. Creation of
Material world and Human Redemption
Tree of Life
Three Golden Eras: Absolute Light; Mixture of Light and Darkness;
Redemption of Light and Everlasting Paradise
The First Creation
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Good and Evil existed in two separate realms
World of Light and World of Darkness
Father of Greatness, King of Darkness
The Primordial Man
The Second Creation
Living Spirit or Mithra •
Release of The Primordial Man
Making the Material World
The Third Creation
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Third messenger and Light Virgin
Creation of the first Man and Woman
Radiant Jesus and Guiding the first Man
The End of the World with Great Fire
Appearance of Mani and Light Spirits
In front of Father of Greatness
Moon: a Manichaean Symbol
The waxing and waning of the
moon
As the moon filling with lights or
Spirits which passes to the sun
Then through the Milky Way, and
back to the World of Light,
Paradise
Moon: a Manichaean Symbol
The waxing and waning of the moon
As the moon filling with lights or Spirits which passes to
the sun
Judgment of Soul after Death
Paradise or Return into this World
Or finally Burning at Great Fire
Manichaeism at Present Time
In Fujian, China, the Last Mani’s Temple
Bogomiles in Bulgaria and Bosnia
New Cathars in France
My Book:
Manichaean Gnosis and Creation Myth
By
Abolghasem Esmailpour
Pennsylvania University
2005
Abolghasem Esmailpour
in
Facebook; Linkedin; Academia:
Website: www.sbu.ac.ir
e.mail: [email protected];
[email protected]
Biography in Wikipedia English
and Persian