# Manichaeism · The Cult Dossier · The Atlas · The Congregation of Tomorrow

Source: https://congregationoftomorrow.org/atlas/library/cults/013-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 Cult Dossier: all 182
The Cult Dossier · No. 013 · Syncretic / Other Nrm
Manichaeism
The Religion of Light
c.240 – 14th c. CE in China · Sasanian Persia; spread from Roman North Africa to Tang China
I. ANTIQUITY — THE MYSTERY CULTS
Fully religious — a world religion, not a sect
### Who led it
### What it worshipped and taught
### Who was in it
### How it ended, or where it stands
### The dead
### Of note
### Its timeline
- c.228–240 CE Mani receives revelations from his Twin (syzygos) and begins preaching.
- c.240 CE Missionary journey to India; converts the Turan Shah.
- 242 CE Gains the patronage of Shapur I; writes the Shabuhragan for him.
- 274 or 277 CE DIED IN PRISON AT GUNDESHAPUR after 26 DAYS IN CHAINS. THE FAMOUS ACCOUNT IS A LEGEND. The story that he was flayed alive, stuffed with straw and crucified above the city gate HAS NO HISTORICAL BASIS. What more plausibly happened is post-mortem mutilation — decapitation, with the head displayed. THE CRUCIFIXION IMAGE CAME FROM HIS OWN FOLLOWERS, who depicted his death that way in DELIBERATE ANALOGY TO THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS; the embellishment then passed into the historical record. The date is uncertain: 2 March 274 or 26 February 277, the underlying record being an Aramaic lunar date whose year was never written down.
- 297 CE Diocletian's edict against the Manichaeans — burning of leaders and books.
- 762 CE Uyghur Khaganate adopts Manichaeism as state religion — the only state ever to do so.
- 843–845 CE Tang persecution; Uyghur collapse.
- 1368 onward Chinese Manichaeism survives underground as Ming-jiao; the Cao'an temple in Fujian, built 1339, still stands.
### Its people
### Mani
the Apostle of Light; the Seal of the Prophets
Founder, Manichaeism · c.216 – 274/277 CE · active c.240–274 CE
Before the law. Imprisoned by the Sasanian state at the urging of the Zoroastrian high priest Kartir, and died in chains. He was not, on the evidence, executed by flaying or crucifixion — that account is a later embellishment.
Where things stand. Deceased. His religion was later persecuted by four separate civilisations and is extinct.
- c.228–240 CE Receives revelations; begins preaching.
- c.240 CE Missionary journey to India.
- 242 CE Gains Shapur I's patronage.
- 274 or 277 CE Dies in prison at Gundeshapur after 26 days in chains, probably followed by post-mortem decapitation and display of the head.
Checked
The Atlas The Door