Film and music

Art and symbols

MANICHEAN ART, the term referring to objects with aesthetic appeal that were made for used in association with the Manichean religion. The history of Manichean art, since not only are the surviving artistic sources limited, but they also derive from complex and often poorly documented cultural, linguistic, and religious contexts. The Manichean symbol--> This is the revealed symbol of the Religion of Light. There are 5 Rays representing the Five Shekhinas of Abba d'Rabbuta, the Five Sons of Rukha Khaya, and the Five Excellences all Manichaeans are called to develop within themselves.

Character biography

MANI Mani believed that the teachings of Buddha, were incomplete, and that his revelations were for the entire world, calling his teachings the "Religion of Light."Manichaean writings indicate that Mani received revelations when he was 12 and again when he was 24, and over this time period he grew dissatisfied with the Elchasaite sect he was born into.Mani began preaching at an early age and was possibly influenced by contemporary Babylonian-Aramaic movements such as Mandaeanism, and Aramaic translations of Jewish apocalyptic writings similar to those found at Qumran. It also became clear that he was raised in a Jewish-Christian baptism sect, the Elcesaites, and was influenced by their writings as well. According to biographies, he allegedly received a revelation as a youth from a spirit, whom he would later call his Twin, his Syzygos, his Double, his Protective Angel or Divine Self. It taught him truths which he developed into a religion. His divine Twin or true Self brought Mani to Self-realization and thus he became a gnosticus, someone with divine knowledge and liberating insight. He claimed to be the Paraclete of the Truth, as promised in the New Testament.

Worship and prayer

Manichaean worship The Manichees had no sacrifices, but four daily prayers, preceded by ablutions and accompanied by prostrations. They observed Sunday, with the intention of honouring the sun, for them equivalent with the redeemer. They had weekly, monthly and yearly fasts. They rejected all festivals but in March they celebrated the martyrdom of their appointed teacher, Mani. They sacraments were mysteries of the elect alone, so little information has come down to us concerning these. Their worship, then, has little or no resemblance with Christian worship, in which the preaching of the Word, prayer, singing of hymns, and the observance of the ordinances are prominent.

Gods from vinyet98

Geographic Location

Geographic Location The religion’s expansion to the East had already begun in the 7th century with the reopening of caravan routes there after China’s conquest of East Turkistan. A Manichaean missionary reached the Chinese court in 694, and in 732 an edict gave the religion freedom of worship in China. Manichaeism itself probably survived in East Turkistan until the Mongol invasion in the 13th century. In China it was forbidden in 843, but, although persecuted, it continued there at least until the 14th century.

Presentation

MANICHAESIM Manichaeism in Modern Persian was a major gnostic religion, originating in Sassanid era Babylonia.The religion founded by the Persian Mani in the latter half of the third century. It purported to be the true synthesis of all the religious systems then known, and actually consisted of Zoroastrian Dualism, Babylonian folklore, Buddhist ethics, and some small and superficial, additions of Christian elements.