Page:History of Zoroastrianism.djvu/372

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HERESIES

the sacred writings,[1] as they declaim against the established teachings.[2] They promote, in opposition to Ormazd, the wicked religion of Ahriman.[3] The heretic is possessed by the Evil Spirit.[4] He is the disciple of the demon of heresy.[5] The demons lodge in his body;[6] he is, in fact, a demon in human form.[7] Even during his lifetime, his body resembles a corpse and the faithful should refrain from coming in contact with him, lest they themselves become defiled.[8] Bad as is his lot in this world, it is worse in the world to come. His soul is doomed to everlasting torture. It becomes a darting snake, and there is no resurrection for it.[9] For these reasons, men are warned to guard themselves from anything that savours of heresy.[10] The Pahlavi writers, in every treatise, are unsparing in their denunciation of heretics, arraigning them for deception, lying, and perversion. The heretic Gurgi is called a disreputable impostor, full of avarice, and worthy of every opprobrium.[11] In a similar manner, the Pahlavi works swarm with invectives against Mani, an arch-heretic in the third century A.D., to whose account we now turn.

Mani

The arch-heretic of the Sasanian period. This remarkable man was born in the reign of Ardavan, the last of the Parthian kings.[12] He received his first revelation at the age of thirteen, and ultimately claimed to be a prophet, the very seal or the last messenger of God.[13] He began his propaganda under Ardashir, but worked with greater vigour under Shapur I, who embraced his faith.[14] Manichaeism flourished with varied suc-

  1. ↑ Dk., vol. 1, p. 3.
  2. ↑ Dk., vol. 1, p. 5.
  3. ↑ Dk., SBE, vol. 37, bk. 9 53. 2, p. 328.
  4. ↑ Dk., vol. 7, p. 474.
  5. ↑ Phl. Ys. 44. 14.
  6. ↑ Phl. Ys. 47. 4.
  7. ↑ Dk., vol. 1, p. 15.
  8. ↑ Dk., vol. 1, p. 31.
  9. ↑ SLS. 17. 7.
  10. ↑ Dk., vol. 11, bk. 6. 128, p. 35.
  11. ↑ Dk., vol. 5, p. 320.
  12. ↑ See Jackson's excellent work Researches in Manichaeism, New York, 1932; Bevan, Manichaeism in ERE. 8. 394–402.
  13. ↑ Al-Biruni, Chronology of Ancient Nations, tr. Sachau, p. 189, 190. London, 1879; Mirkhond, Rauzat-us Safa, tr. Rehatsek, part 1, vol. 2. p. 336, London, 1892.
  14. ↑ Mirkhond, p. 333, 336; al-Ya'qubi, quoted by Browne, Literary History of Persia, 1. 156, New York, 1902.
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