ABSTRACT
Manichaeans frequently defined themselves in relation to the suffering of Jesus, Mani, and other Apostles of Light. Building upon Early Christian narratives, like the apocryphal acts of the apostles, their worldview was defined by the threat of persecution. This threat was both real and imaginary. As a minority religious movement, they suffered from various forms of maltreatment at the hands of representatives of the state and other religious groups. The histories of the persecution of Manichaeans in the Persian, Roman, and Chinese empire are well known and described in both insider and outsider sources. This has led to the characterization of the Manichaeans as the most persecuted of all heretics.
Persecution and suffering, however, were also discursive constructs used in the Manichaean self-representation. Coptic Manichaean sources from fourth- and fifth-century Egypt accentuate this religious maltreatment as a signpost of the truth and strength of their message. In their list of ten advantages of the Manichaean church, suffering was stressed as a defining characteristic, in contrast to other religions of their time. Such textual constructions hardly ever reflect on a specific historical situation, but mainly focus on the exemplary suffering of the Apostles of Light, especially the passion of Mani, in light of the cosmological battle between Light and Darkness.
This chapter will explore how the rhetoric of suffering and persecution was used in Coptic Manichaean sources to evoke a Manichaean group-identity. After highlighting the interconnectedness of several themes in the Manichaean discourse of suffering, the social reality of Manichaeans in an Egyptian village will be examined. The personal letters and business accounts from fourth-century Kellis contain some indications of local maltreatment, but barely attest to systematic persecution. Still, a fundamental feeling of unease loomed large in these personal letters. By bringing theological representation of persecution together with documentary evidence for maltreatment, this contribution seeks a nuanced reinterpretation of the narrative of “persecution” and suffering within Manichaean religious imagination.
