570 MANICHAEAN LITERATURE
the angel ordered him to begin his public ministry by openly preaching the
newly revealed doctrine. This novel public teaching put Mani at odds with
the traditional community, and he was forced to leave with only the support
of his father and two faithful followers. Although Mani's new doctrine con-
tained many elements that were rejected by the baptismal community, the
primary point of contention was probably his argument that ritual purity
through baptism was of no avail and that true redemptive purity comes only
from the physical and moral separation of light from darkness, spirit from
matter, and good from evil.
Mani proclaimed himself the messenger (or apostle) of light, the com-
forter (or paraclete) incarnate (see John 14:16,26), and the seal of the prophets
who would bring the final revelation to the world. Mani viewed all previous re-
ligious traditions as contaminated versions of the originally true though in-
complete teachings of the prophets Buddha, Jesus, and Zoroaster. Mani, as the
seal of the prophets, proclaimed the final revelation, the true universal religion
that would unite all people through his teaching. This grand plan required
propagandistic methods designed to overcome the cultural and linguistic bar-
riers that prevented the revelations of the earlier prophets from reaching a uni-
versal audience. Mani emphasized the need for the translation of Manichaean
texts into all languages in order to propagate his teaching as effectively and
quickly as possible. In contrast to the earlier prophets, whose teachings were
put into written form by their followers, who contaminated those teachings
with their own interpretations, Mani himself produced a corpus of seven
canonical works. Perhaps Mani's most effective propaganda tool was his abil-
ity to instill in his followers a sense of the absolute necessity to devote their
lives to propagating the religion. Mani himself traveled extensively during his
own lifetime and was influenced by the popular image of the Christian mes-
senger Thomas, who, tradition holds, traveled as far as India to spread the
Christian faith.
Mani's canon of seven works, written in the eastern Aramaic language,
consists of the Living Gospel, the Treasure of Life, the Pragmateia, the Book of
Mysteries, the Book of the Giants, the Letters, and the Psalms and Prayers.
Mani also wrote the Shaburagan, which replaces the Psalms and Prayers in
some canonical lists. None of these texts is known to survive today in a com-
plete form. Much previous research in Manichaeism has depended on a con-
siderable number of quotes and descriptions in the writings of heresiologists
and historians. The most important works were the Acta archelai, the writings