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| The Persian Prophet Mani |
http://inthecavityofarock.blogspot.com/2013/08/correlations-between-book-of-mormon-and.html
Manichaeism was a religion that was founded in modern day
Iran by the prophet Mani around 216-276 AD.
It actually consisted of Zoroastrian, Dualism, Babylonian folklore, and
Buddhism. It survived as a popular
religion in both the East and the West although it flourished mainly in the
east Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Turkestan, China and Northern India through 1000
A.D. but eventually died out at an uncertain date.
Mani is a title or term of respect rather than a personal
name thought to mean “Light King” or “the illustrious”. It is assumed that he
took the title and replaced his personal name.
Exactly what his personal name was is still unknown. Two Latin versions have been handed down
Cubricus and Ubricus. Some scholars have
stated that these are corrupt uses of the name Shuraik.
At the age of 12 is when Mani received his first revelation.
He was visited by an angel who appeared to him and advised him to leave the
Mandaeans and live chastely but to wait another 12 years before proclaiming
himself to the people. On Sunday March 20th 242 A.D. Mani finally
proclaimed his gospel in the royal residence, Gundesapor, on the coronation day
of Sapor I in Babylon. He taught, “As
once Buddha came to India, Zoroaster to Persia, and Jesus to the lands of the
West, so came I in the present time, this prophecy through me, the Mani, to the
land of Babylonia” a proclamation from this “Apostle of the true God”. With limited success Mani left Babylon and
set up Manichaean communities in Turkestan and India. He did eventually return to Persia and
converted the brother of Sapor I (Peroz).
During his travels Mani used epistles (encyclical letters) to spread his
doctrine and teachings. His popularity varied
with different leaders of Persia. He was
later imprisoned by Sapor I, released by Ormuzd I but under his successor
Bahram I he was crucified, had the corpse flayed, and the skin stuffed and hung
up at the city gate as a warning to his followers in roughly 276-277 A.D.
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| The Prophet Nephi |
Fast forward to 1969 when a group of four parchment palm sized
pieces of vellum were purchased by the University of Cologne. They were originally found in Asyut (Upper
Egypt) at an undetermined date. When
translated these documents contained a Greek translation of the earliest
Manichean teachings and the life of Mani including his youth and missionary
activity and his introduction into the Elkesaite Baptist sect entitled “On the
Origin of his Body”.
The first translations were done in 1969 and the first
English translations were done in 1979 roughly 149 years after Joseph Smith had
translated the Book of Mormon. I say
this because there is an interesting comparison to the content of Mani and his
visitation by an angelic being and Nephi from the Book of Mormon and his visitation
from an angelic being. In the Book of
Mormon in the book of 1Nephi the prophet Nephi while pondering on the meaning
of a vision his father Lehi had received was given the opportunity to have the
same vision opened to him. This took
place in Jerusalem in roughly 600 B.C.
We will now compare similarities between what Mani experienced to what
Nephi experienced. In doing this I will
put BOM next to the reference or scripture for 1 Nephi to represent the Book of
Mormon and I will put CMC next to the Cologne Mani Codex reference for ease in
comparison.
BOM-For
it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen
. . . as I sat pondering in mine heart (11:1)
CMC-I
was reflecting about how all the works came to be. As I pondered (43)
BOM-I
was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord (11:1)
CMC-The
Spirit snatched me up (41)
Suddenly
the living [Spirit] snatched me, [lifted me up] with greatest [force] (43)
BOM-yea,
into an exceedingly high mountain (11:1)
CMC-set
me [down] on [the pinnacle] of a [very] high mountain (43)
…and
carried me off to the mountain in silent power (41)
BOM-And
the Spirit said unto me: Behold, what desirest thou? (11:2) [Nephi wants to
have the "mysteries of God" revealed to him (10:17, 19)]
CMC-Now
he spoke with me and said: He who is eminently most powerful sent me to you so
that I may reveal to you the secrets which you pondered (43)
BOM-The
Spirit cried with a loud voice, saying: Hosanna to the Lord, the most high God;
for he is God over all the earth, yea, even above all (11:6)
CMC-The
living [Spirit] . . . said to [me: . . .] give glory to the greatest King of
honor (43)
BOM-[Nephi
beheld many things in a vision (11-14)]
CMC-There many great [visions] were revealed
to me (41)
BOM-And
it came to pass that I saw the heavens open; and an angel came down and stood
before me (11:14)
|CMC-I
saw a glorious throne room coming down from the highest height and a mighty
angel standing by it (43)
BOM-[Nephi
beheld many places in his vision (11:13; 12:1; 13:1; 14:11-27), including other
angels (11:30)]
CMC-[to
the] north and I beheld there enormous mountains and angels and many places
(43)
BOM-[Nephi
is questioned by the angel (11:14, 16, 21; 14:8)]
CMC-He
beheld everything and carefully questioned the angels (47)
BOM-[Nephi
is forbidden to write many of the things which he sees since others have and
will write them (14:28)]
CMC-Now all these things that are hidden,
write (43)
BOM-The
things which I have written sufficeth me [He writes only what the angel tells
him he can write] (14:28)
CMC-And whatever they said to him, he would
inscribe in his writings (47)
BOM-[Lehi's
family has "plates of brass" (13:23). Nephi makes plates of ore
(19:1-6). The Lord commands him to make another set of metal plates later in 2
Nephi 5:30]
CMC-Write
upon bronze tablets (43)
BOM-These
things shall be hid up, to come forth unto the Gentiles, by the gift and power
of the Lamb (13:35). [Records similar to Nephi's are "sealed up to come
forth" in a latter time (14:26)]
CMC-And
store them up in the desert land (43)
BOM-[The
Nephites] shall write many things which I shall minister unto them, which shall
be plain and precious (13:35)
CMC-All
that you write, write most clearly (43)
BOM-[John
sees "many things" which Nephi has seen, but Nephi only wrote
"but a small part" of the things he saw (14:24, 28)]
CMC-[Now
many other things] like these are in his writings, which tell about his rapture
and revelation (43)
BOM-These
plates should be handed down from one generation to another (19:4)
CMC-For all which he heard and saw he wrote
down and bequeathed to all posterity of the Spirit of Truth (43)
BOM-[Following
his vision Nephi is left weak from the experience and sorrows over his
brothers' unbelief (15:1-6)]
CMC-My
heart became heavy, all my limbs trembled, my backbone was shaken violently,
and my feet did not stand on their pins (41)
Although
the comparison between these two visions shows many correspondences between
them, critics may say that it doesn’t stand as physical evidence for the Book
of Mormon. They would be right if this
were the only case but when it is combined with the above mentioned Narrative
of Zosimus and other texts such as the next blog post on the Pistis Sophia we
can begin to see the Lord working in similar manner to his prophets and
apostles of old. These texts work as
literal voices from the dust within their own right.