Manichaeism Restored: The Fulfillment of Prophecy

The Prophecy:

It was once prophesied that:

“A thousand books will be preserved ... they will come into the hand of the just and the faithful [the] Gospel and the Treasury of Life, the Pragmateia and the Book of Mysteries, the Book of Giants and the Epistles, the Psalms and [the] Prayers of my Lord, his Icon and his Revelations, his Parables, and his Mysteries ... How many will be lost? How many will be destroyed? A thousand lost, another thousand recovered; for they will find them at the end. They will kiss them, and say: "O Wisdom of Greatness, O Armor of the Apostle of Light! When you were lost ... where did they find you?" ... And you shall find them reading them aloud, uttering the name [of each book] among them: the name of its Lord … and the name of those who gave all [for it to be written] and the name of the scribe who wrote it... and of the one who punctuated it....” (Homilies 23.13-25.19)

Today with the founding of the Modern Manichean Church, Ekkelsia of Light, this prophecy has bas been fulfilled!

The Apostle Mani:

The Prophet Mani was born in April of 216 AD in the Sasanian Empire. He was born into a Jewish Christian sect known today as the Elkasaites. At the ages of 12 and 24 Mani had visionary experiences of his Heavenly Twin (Syzygos) telling him to leave the sect of his birth and spread a new message and religion to mankind. The Prophet Mani was ordered to spread the Religion of Light, the True Religion that is superior to all the previous Divine Messages delivered to mankind. Manichaeism honored as prophets the Buddha, Zoroaster, and Jesus the Christ among others. The Prophet Mani was to be the Final Prophet sent by the Father of Greatness to perfect the messages given to the prophets of old. The Prophet Mani was the only Divine Messenger sent by the Kingdom of Light to write down his teachings himself. Mani and his followers traveled all over the known world of that time to spread his teachings.

The Ancient Manichean Church:

The Ancient Manichean Church spread rapidly around the world, spreading across the Roman Empire, Sasanian Empire, and throughout the Middle East and Asia all the way to China. The Manichean Church at this time was a web of loosely connected Manichean Communities in communication with each other and helping each other to spread the religion in their regions. Although not a completely unified movement, the Manicheans supported each other in the spread of the religion and the running of their local churches and communities. Unfortunately, due to the large popularity of the Message of Mani the Manicheans came under extreme oppression in multiple countries. Eventually with time this persecution led to the banning of the religion in most areas. Over time the popularity of Manichaeism began to wane, and it almost disappeared. Small communities of Manicheans still exist in parts of China, but these groups are very secretive due to historic persecution in China and do not share their religious beliefs with outsiders.

Ekklesia of Light, the Modern Manichean Church:

Throughout history there have been numerous oppressions and suppressions on the Manichean religion. This situation has led to a situation where in modern day times Manichaeism is seen as a dead religion. However, that has not stopped one person from trying to change that situation. Oscar Manzano first got interested in Manichaeism when he was around 16 years old. He is an avid reader and was reading the book Candide by Voltaire. This was when he first saw the term “Manichean”. He read that it was a historic religion that was now considered dead. This piqued his interest and he decided to do more research on the topic.

Over time as Oscar learned more about Ancient Manichaeism he became more and more interested in the topic. He started noticing that many of the teachings of Mani appealed to him and made more sense to him than many of the “modern” religious movements of today. Oscar officially converted to Manichaeism at the age of 17 in 2022. Gradually he started forming the basics of the Modern Manichean Church (Ekklesia of Light) and found others who were also interested in the teachings of the Prophet Mani. One of the most notable helpers was Ryan Appleyard who was one of the first people to believe in Mani along with Oscar. Meanwhile Oscar began to work at compiling all the known Manichean Texts and Fragments into one book or “Compendium”. On August 2nd, 2023, The Manichean Compendium was first published. This was a major turning point for the Modern Manichean Church.

Prophecy Fulfilled:

With the publication of The Manichean Compendium, Ekklesia of Light has fulfilled the Manichean Prophecy. Interestingly enough, this prophecy is known to us today from the writings of Christian theologians who were intolerant of Manichaeism and its followers. Little did they know that they would be helping to preserve Mani’s teachings for a new generation of believers. We in Ekklesia of Light find great consolation that the Father of Greatness has allowed us to recover much of our sacred scripture. We hold on to these texts as our guidebook to lead us back to the Kingdom of Light. The Prophet Mani predicted that his teachings would be lost, and that the religion would die out. But he also predicted that the holy texts would be found again, and the religion restored to a new group of people.

Future Plans for the Church:

Ekklesia of Light has many plans going forward in our struggle to restore the Manichean Church and religion. The Church is currently commissioning art restorations of Ancient Manichean artwork that has been discovered. Art was a big part of the Ancient Manichean teachings, and the Prophet Mani was a known artist who even created a book of his works explaining the Manichean Teachings. This commissioned artwork will eventually be published in a new book of Manichean artwork. The Church is also in the process of establishing Ekklesia of Light as an LLC in the State of Texas. Once the LLC is established this will make the process of becoming recognized as an official church much easier. Eventually Ekklesia of Light hopes to establish multiple local churches across the United States and at least one large church headquarters to maintain and organize the growing movement.

Invitation:

If you are interested in learning more about the Prophet Mani, Manichaeism, and the new Manichean Church (Ekklesia of Light), please feel free to reach out to us at the following email address: contact@ekklesiaoflight.com. We will reach out to you as soon as possible to answer your questions and get you involved in our growing community. We look forward to hearing from all of you and together we will bring Manichaeism back to life!