Augustine and the Manichaeans

[D Rusak]

I was doing some unrelated research the other day and I came across a statement that piqued my interest: that Saint Augustine had gone to great pains to denounce Manichaeism after he converted to Christianity. I decided to follow this further and noted the following

Augustine countered that God had chosen the Jews as a special people, whilst he also deemed the scattering of Jews by the Roman empire as a fulfilment of certain Messianic prophecies. Augustine wrote in City of God:

The Jews who slew Him, and would not believe in Him, because it behooved Him to die and rise again, were yet more miserably wasted by the Romans, and utterly rooted out from their kingdom, where aliens had already ruled over them, and were dispersed through the lands (so that indeed there is no place where they are not), and are thus by their own Scriptures a testimony to us that we have not forged the prophecies about Christ.

....Augustine argued that God had allowed the Jews to survive this dispersion as a warning to Christians, thus they were to be permitted to dwell in Christian lands. Augustine further argued that the Jews would be converted at the end of time.

Do warning flags suddenly appear for anyone else? I smell damage control. I took a look at what Manachaeism was about and thought that its idea of duality could correlate, albeit in a corrupted way, to the idea of STS/STO.

Mani postulated two natures that existed from the beginning: light and darkness. The realm of light lived in peace, while the realm of darkness was in constant conflict with itself.

Interesting, yes?
I only found two passing references to this religion in SHOTW.

I'm wondering if anyone has any information on possble corruption of the original text as it was copied down through the ages. Was there a good reason for TPTB to suppress this? To this day the word Manachaeist carries a connotation of black vs. white duality. I'm not convinced that this was exactly the original idea.

Thoughts?

 

[Mr. Premise]

Augustine was an adherent to Manicheanism before he became a Catholic. He writes about it in the Confessions.

I don't know anything about the transmission of any texts of Mani.

There were quite a few dualist sects in the ancient world (often referred to as Gnostic). They also would keep popping up throughout the Middle Ages and beyond (e.g., Cathars and Bogomils and other heresies). Standard Catholic/Orthodox Christianity positioned itself against dualism even though it contained a lot of dualist tendencies.

 

[Yossarian]

The C's say that Augustine, I think reading between the lines anyway, was one of the chief Greek brotherhood enforcers that corrupted the message of the one called "Christ" to make it compatible with the plans of the "brotherhood of the serpent." Therefore, looking at Augustine could be helpful if one uses "the hermeneutic of suspicion" I think.

First, re: Mani, there was likely hyperdimensional manipulation involved ala Constantine and so many others:

Twice, as a boy and young man, he saw in vision an angel, the "Twin," who, the second time, called him to preach a new religion.

Second, there are interesting connections regarding Mani's religion and other teachings that seem to hold a level of "truth"

Teachings similar to Manichaeism resurfaced during the Middle Ages in Europe in the so-called neo-Manichaean sects. Groups such as the Paulicians (Armenia, 7th century), the Bogomilists (Bulgaria, 10th century), and the Cathari or Albigensians (southern France, 12th century) bore strong resemblances to Manichaeism and probably were influenced by it. However, their direct historical links to the religion of Mani are difficult to establish.

Mani viewed himself as the final successor in a long line of prophets, beginning with Adam and including Buddha, Zoroaster, and Jesus. He viewed earlier revelations of the true religion as being limited in effectiveness because they were local, taught in one language to one people. Moreover, later adherents lost sight of the original truth. Mani regarded himself as the carrier of a universal message destined to replace all other religions. Hoping to avoid corruption and to ensure doctrinal unity, he recorded his teachings in writing and gave those writings canonical status during his lifetime.

Mani sought to found a truly ecumenical and universal religion that would integrate into itself all the partial truths of previous revelations, especially those of Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus. However, beyond mere syncretism, it sought the proclamation of a truth that could be translated into diverse forms in accordance with the different cultures into which it spread. Thus, Manichaeism, depending on the context, resembles Iranian and Indian religions, Christianity, Buddhism, and Taoism.

At its core, Manichaeism was a type of Gnosticism-a dualistic religion that offered salvation through special knowledge (gnosis) of spiritual truth. Like all forms of Gnosticism, Manichaeism taught that life in this world is unbearably painful and radically evil. Inner illumination or gnosis reveals that the soul which shares in the nature of God has fallen into the evil world of matter and must be saved by means of the spirit or intelligence (nous). To know one's self is to recover one's true self, which was previously clouded by ignorance and lack of self-consciousness because of its mingling with the body and with matter. In Manichaeism, to know one's self is to see one's soul as sharing in the very nature of God and as coming from a transcendent world. Knowledge enables a person to realize that, despite his abject present condition in the material world, he does not cease to remain united to the transcendent world by eternal and immanent bonds with it. Thus, knowledge is the only way to salvation.

The saving knowledge of the true nature and destiny of humanity, God, and the universe is expressed in Manichaeism in a complex mythology. Whatever its details, the essential theme of this mythology remains constant: the soul is fallen, entangled with evil matter, and then liberated by the spirit or nous. The myth unfolds in three stages: a past period in which there was a separation of the two radically opposed substances-Spirit and Matter, Good and Evil, Light and Darkness; a middle period (corresponding to the present) during which the two substances are mixed; and a future period in which the original duality will be reestablished. At death the soul of the righteous person returns to Paradise. The soul of the person who persisted in things of the flesh-fornication, procreation, possessions, cultivation, harvesting, eating of meat, drinking of wine-is condemned to rebirth in a succession of bodies.

Only a portion of the faithful followed the strict ascetic life advocated in Manichaeism. The community was divided into the elect, who felt able to embrace a rigorous rule, and the hearers who supported the elect with works and alms.

The essentials of the Manichaean sacramental rites were prayers, almsgiving, and fasting. Confession and the singing of hymns were also important in their communal life. The Manichaean scriptural canon includes seven works attributed to Mani, written originally in Syriac. Lost after Manichaeism became extinct in the Middle Ages, portions of the Manichaean scriptures were rediscovered in the 20th century, mainly in Chinese Turkistan and Egypt.

The bottom line I think, is not to get too hung up on the past, except as it sheds light on the present, and to work on one's self while doing one's best to see objective reality and help others to see the same. As always, SOtT and Cassiopaea seem to provide the best information, network, and tools for the job, in my humble opinion.

 

[Mr. Premise]

The C's actually said that Luke was one of the "Greek Enforcers." Putting Augustine in that category is a stretch, since Augustine lived three hundred years after "Luke." By the time Augustine came around (end of the fourth, early fifth century) the damage had been done. Constantine converted to Christianity a century before Augustine, and had ordered the selection of Gospels and letters that became the canon of the New Testament from a larger group of texts that had already been distorted.

The C's say that Augustine, I think reading between the lines anyway, was one of the chief Greek brotherhood enforcers that corrupted the message of the one called "Christ" to make it compatible with the plans of the "brotherhood of the serpent." Therefore, looking at Augustine could be helpful if one uses "the hermeneutic of suspicion" I think.

 

[Yossarian]

Good points Donald, thank you. I admit I was (foolishly?) un-precise on some of my facts there. I think your statements essentially are correct, but my re-reading of the C material leads me to think that the tampering of the Biblical material could have gone on for 1,000 years (see below).

The more I think of it Augustine didnt' speak Greek, but Latin. But he was a slippery character for sure. Some of what was of value left in Christianity by Augustine's time, it appears that Augustine managed to distort it. For example, "Just War Theory," which history has proven to be Justification for War--a total perversion of Christ's message in my opinion--is based upon Augustine's thought. He's the originator of this fine theory which has served in-humanity so well through the years! If there was much of value in Manichaeism, Augustine was very successful in discrediting that as well, I think.

I'm reaching here, but I think Augustine had a hand in discrediting and undermining the gnostic branches of Christianity that were still somewhat flourishing during his time, I think.

Here's what I found from the C's

A: And who was Saint Augustine/San Augustin... Augustus, Augustine Monks, etc?
Q: Oh! Well, I never thought about that! I was going after St. Anthony and the Magdalene... St. Augustine was one of the early church 'fathers' who wrote a lot of things that became established church doctrine in general.
A: Or established early church "whitewash."

And here's what the C's said about the Bible and Luke in 941107
Q: (L) Why is Appolyon called the "destroyer" in Revelation?
A: Backward for sake of deception. Bible corrupted.
Q: (L) You have often stated that the Bible is corrupted, I would like to know who, exactly, corrupted the Bible and when and how they did this?
A: Illuminati brotherhood for a thousand earth years.
Q: (L) Does this mean that up until a thousand years ago the Bible was fairly accurate?
A: No.
Q: (L) Is there any possibility that the Catholic church had anything to do with this corrupting influence?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) Does the Catholic church have in its possession actual original texts of the Bible that have not been corrupted?
A: No.
Q: (L) Were there ever such texts in existence?
A: No.
Q: (L) Who wrote the book of Matthew?
A: Greek enforcers.
Q: (L) What are Greek enforcers?
A: Like your FBI.
Q: (L) Who wrote the book of Mark?
A: Same.
Q: (L) Luke and John?
A: Same?
Q: (L) Acts?
A: Same?
Q: (L) Are any books of the New Testament written by who they claim to be written by?
A: No. Remember this is 70% propaganda.
Q: (L) Is 30% then the truth or the actual teachings?
A: Close. Enough you must decipher from instinct through meditation.

 

[Ominous]

Interestingly enuff, the Manichaeans discouraged procreation (but sex was ok) because they didn't want to make more food for the evil creator god of the bible to feast on! PEACE

 

[OzRich]

I was doing some unrelated research the other day and I came across a statement that piqued my interest: that Saint Augustine had gone to great pains to denounce Manichaeism after he converted to Christianity.

You might find these links helpful _http://essenes.net/augustin.html; _http://essenes.net/bnei3.htm