hi ;)

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Manichean

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hello im new and glad to be a part of this forum, i'm what you would call a neo-Manichean follower of the ancient prophet Mani. "Neo" because Manichaeism as a worldwide functioning faith is no longer around anymore, it became extinct around the 15th or 16th centuries...due to massive persecution. It was once the great rival of Christianity and other widespread faiths.

but it's not totally vanished, there are plenty of texts that survive describing what the faith was like, and its history.....although most texts have been destroyed there is enough to understand alot about how the average Manichean Hearer would have practiced their faith..which is what i seek to try and do :)

i would love to find others interested in Manichaeism too
 
well i could not figure out any sort of small answer to your question lol, so wrote out a bit of a summary :)

i would say the main ideas would be knowledge of the total duality between Soul and Matter and striving to release the Soul (the World Soul is everywhere within Matter, and its light sparks are trapped in every person, place, and thing) from Matter so it can enter into the heavenly paradise of the Good God (or Good Spirit) and his Kingdom of Light.

To Manicheans God is All-Good, he can do no evil nor would he ever want to. So they also believed in an All-Evil Spirit, who rules over Matter and in his Kingdom of Darkness. Both of these Gods exist eternally and have no origin. This universe is a mixture of Light from the Good Kingdom above, and Darkness from the Evil Kingdom below....this happened when the Evil Spirit invaded the Kingdom Of Light, and some of the Light became contaminated with Darkness......

The Good God devised a plan to save the Light Sparks from within Matter, he emanated from Himself various Powers called Luminaries or Aeons who fashioned the universe out of chaos and who help to liberate the Light Sparks that are in various things and places from the world.

Most Light Sparks are reincarnated again and again into the world, until they are awakened by the Luminaries and prophets. God sends various prophets out into the world to awaken people to faith, purity, and knowledge. Jesus Christ was the greatest of all these prophets. He was also one of the great Aeons who came to the world being not really a human, only in appearance. Jesus promised in the Gospel of John to send a Comfortor in a later age. This person came to the world as Mani, who always called himself the Apostle of Jesus. Jesus is the Great Saviour Aeon and Rescuer of Good Souls within Manichean faith.

Putting the Faith in practice was quite simple for the masses of Manichean followers, who were called Hearers or Auditors...They chanted and said allowed 4 daily prayers, and they fasted on Sundays. They lived normal lives for the most part. The month of April had a special holiday called the Bema (a Bema is a special altar or table located in the prayer hall of Churches) Festival, a kind of Manichean Easter, where they honored Mani's spiritual ascent into Paradise. The chief duty of a Hearer though was to give offerings of food and drink and gifts like new clothes to the Elect, who were the Priests and Priestesses of the Faith. The Elect were ascetic monks who fasted daily, sung hymns and prayers, and had no permament residence.

Their entire lives were to be set apart from worldly life. They werent allowed to eat any meat or have any sexual relations, but were to remain completely pure. In Manichaeism however, liberation of the Soul is not done by us alone, but through penitential prayer, offerings to the Elect, and occasional fasting, the Hearers receive divine pardon and grace.
 
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well the main theological beliefs are similar to Zoroastrianism and Gnostic Christianity, it is the Dualism between the Good God and the Evil Spirit...And for each Soul to strive and free itself from the clutches of the material world and thus the endless chain of births and deaths.

Manicheans believed Souls are Emanations from God, that are trapped in the material world....when they turn back to God through their prayers, fasting, and spiritual longing instead of clinging onto worldly desires, which the Evil Spirit produced to keep us enslaved, they can at last be freed and ascend to the Kingdom of Light.
 
Salam Manichean

I too have never heard of it so enjoyed reading your posts. Welcome to the forum.
 
Manichean said:
Their entire lives were to be set apart from worldly life. They werent allowed to eat any meat or have any sexual relations, but were to remain completely pure. In Manichaeism.
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Ah we had our shakers I believe here in the states with similar notions...

And the fact that these types of religions have a tendency to 'die out' has a lot to do with simple biology eh?
 
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