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Re: Manichaeism (was OT LWII etc)

From:John Leland <leland@...>
Date:Tuesday, June 24, 2003, 14:53
On Thu, 19 Jun 2003, Roger Mills wrote:

> > The Religion of Light = Manichaeism? > > The question was not entirely out of order, though I don't know if M. was > ever actually called the Religion of Light. Mani did consider himself the > "Prophet of Light", and his syncretic religion apparely became very popular > in Central Asia-- my source goes on to say: "In 719 there was a Manichean > church in Peking and the Manichees were strong in central and western Asia > until the 13th C. when it would appear that they were wiped out during the > Mongol conquests."
IIRC, there were Manichees in China who survived the Mongol conquests. I have seen it said (though I do not have the source) that the Ming dynasty who replaced the Mongols had Manichean affinities in its early days, hence the name Ming (Bright), though as far as I know they were not Manichaean when in power--it was more a matter of their having had connections with a Manichaean-influenced secret society in the days of the anti-Mongol revolt.