CHAPTER XXXI

THE ERROR OF THE MANICHEES, WHICH COMMENCED AT THIS TIME

IN the mean time, also, that madman (μανεις τας φρενας) Manes, as he was called, well agreeing with his name, for his demoniacal heresy, armed himself by the perversion of his reason, and at the instigation of Satan, to the destruction of many. He was a barbarian in his life, both in speech and conduct, and in his nature was as one possessed and insane. Accordingly, he attempted to form himself into a Christ, and then also proclaimed himself to be the very Paraclete and the Holy Spirit, and with all this was greatly puffed up with his madness. Then, as if he were Christ, he selected twelve disciples, the partners of his new religion, and after patching together false and ungodly doctrines, collected from a thousand heresies long since extinct, he swept them off like a deadly poison, from Persia, upon this part of the world. Hence the impious name of the Manichees spread among many, even to the present day. Such was the occasion of this knowledge, as it was falsely called, that sprung up in these times.