MANICHAEAN LITERATURE 579
commitment could only be expected from himself and a few choice believers,
Mani divided his church into two basic classes, the elect and the auditors.
The elect are required to keep the "five commandments" (to be pure and
poor and not to lie, kill, or eat flesh) and to adhere to the "three seals." First,
the seal of the mouth (signacula oris) includes the avoidance of evil speech, the
drinking of alcohol, and the eating of meat. The vegetarian requirement was
imperative for the elect because plants contain more light particles than flesh.
The light particles are digested through the bodies of the vegetarian elect, re-
leased through their belches into the atmosphere, distilled by the cosmic ma-
chine of the three wheels, and finally sent on their homeward journey along
the column of glory (Milky Way) to the kingdom of light. For this belief here-
siologists ridiculed the Manichaean elect as "saviors of god" (salvatores dei).
Second, the seal of the hands {signacula manuum) forbids the elect from any
activity that might injure material objects containing light particles. Thus
killing animals, planting, harvesting, or even walking over the smallest plants
could prevent the liberation of the light particles (the divine suffering Jesus).
Because the procuring and preparation of vegetable foodstuffs often required
the damaging or partial destruction of light-bearing plants, the elect were not
permitted to prepare their own meals, and instead were served by the auditors,
who were pardoned for the unavoidable destruction of plants. Even bathing
with water was not allowed for the elect, since water could be defiled by con-
tact with material bodily substances. Third, the seal of the breast {signacula
sinus) focused especially on the avoidance of sexual intercourse, since the
process of birth, copulation, and rebirth was directly related to Adam's lower
material nature and was meant by the evil creator to enslave light particles in
material bodies. The "three seals" were required for all Manichaean elect,
while the auditors were given lesser requirements, allowing them to acquire
wealth and to marry and maintain mistresses, but were urged to avoid sexual
relations. Only the elect would return to the kingdom of light directly after
death, while the auditors could only hope to enter into the bodies of vegeta-
bles after death and finally be freed through the digestive systems of later elect.
All humans who are not awakened by the great mind will be forever damned
into an inescapable cycle of reincarnation in the bodies of animals, culminat-
ing in their permanent entrapment in the kingdom of darkness.
The leadership of the Manichaean church comprised the elect. Extant
Manichaean texts in Latin, Greek, Middle Persian, and Chinese are unani-
mous in documenting the four classes within the church hierarchy: the central
figurehead or pope (Greek, archegos; Latin,princeps), who is Mani's successor;