38. On the Origin of His Body
Mani Codex, a miniature parchment manuscript written in
Greek and dated to the late fourth or early fifth century. The
text's chief significance is what it says about the life of Mani, including his
time, early in his life, among the Jewish-Christian Elkesaites. The Elkesaites,
named after their legendary prophet and founder Elkesai (or Elchasai; his
name is said to designate the "hidden power of god"), constituted a baptizing
religion with Jewish and Christian affinities. Like Jews for Jesus or Messianic
Jews of the present day, the Elkesaites and other Jewish Christians tried to
practice both Jewish and Christian piety, thereby seeking to avoid having to
choose one and reject the other. Christian Jewish observance was—and is to
the present day—a creative piety, but one that is hard to maintain in the face
of religious, social, and political pressures. Mani's father belonged to an Elke-
saite community, and Mani himself was initiated into this baptizing group
when he was four years old. The Mandaeans are also a part of this Middle
Eastern world of baptizing religions.
On the Origin of His Body may be so named because of its concern for
the life and body of Mani, or it may be given its title in reference to the
Manichaean church (according to the apostle Paul the church is the body of
Christ). According to the portion of this text translated here, Mani declares
in his own writings that he came to a knowledge of secrets and the truth, and