# Manichaeism · The Canon · The Atlas · The Congregation of Tomorrow

Source: https://congregationoftomorrow.org/atlas/library/canon/manichaeism/ · The Congregation of Tomorrow · the Atlas · language: en
The same words a person sees on this page, nothing more and nothing hidden.
Our own words are free to use under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), naming the Congregation of Tomorrow. Words of others keep their own terms.
Every page of the site, listed: https://congregationoftomorrow.org/ai/pages.json · the whole site in one file: https://congregationoftomorrow.org/llms-full.txt

← The Canon: all 125
The Canon · No. 034
Manichaeism
The religion of Light
c.240 – c.1600 CE · Iranian · Extinct · From Roman Africa to China
IV. THE CLASSICAL & IMPERIAL WORLD — c.200 BCE – 500 CE
### How many
### Who began it
### What it is for
### What it worships
### What it holds
### What it does
### After death
### Its texts
### Its branches
### Of note
### Its timeline
- c.240 CE Mani begins preaching in the Sasanian empire; travels to India.
- c.274–277 CE Executed under Bahram I at Zoroastrian instigation; the body displayed.
- 297 CE Diocletian orders Manichaean leaders burned with their books — one of Rome's earliest anti-religious edicts.
- 373–382 CE Augustine of Hippo is a Manichaean Hearer; his later anti-Manichaean writings preserve the doctrine and also shape Christian ideas of evil.
- 694 CE Manichaeism reaches Chang'an, the Tang capital.
- 763–840 CE Adopted as the state religion of the Uyghur Khaganate — the only state in history to do so.
- 843, 845 CE Suppressed in China alongside Buddhism.
- c.1300–1600 CE Survives underground in Fujian; the Cao'an temple near Jinjiang, still standing, holds a Mani statue reclassified as a buddha.
- 1900s CE Turfan and Egyptian manuscript discoveries allow Manichaeism to be studied from its own texts.
### Sources
Not yet checked against named sources. This entry is the house's reading; until it is checked, treat each claim as unverified. Correct it, with a source.
The Atlas The Door