THE EGYPTIAN FOUNDATIONS OF GNOSTIC THOUGHT

south, a more “worldly” stance was unavoidably assumed in the Delta. 71
This
traditional split was further enhanced in Ptolemaic times by the Proximity of
Memphis to Alexandria, and by the secessionist activities of the south. 72
On the level of popular religion there is strong evidence to suggest the
development of an Egyptian Manichaean sect with distinct characteristics of its own:
the negative confessions, apocalypticism, and in particular a pronounced
heliocentrism injected with heliolatrous sentiments, all are quintessentially Egyptian.
This again suggests Upper Egypt as the primary milieu within which Egyptian
Manichaeism evolved. The great Ptolemaic temples of the south all demonstrate the
perpetuation of vital Egyptian theological concerns far removed from the extraneous
languages of power of Greek and later Roman rulers. Here, too, we might suppose
that a significant number of Egyptians, most especially priests, were disposed to seek
out a new evolution of their religious experience, one that might explain the failure of
ma’at in Egypt.
While preserving the supra-national characteristics of their theology,
Manichaeism likely became increasingly Egyptianised during the time following the
death of Mani in 274 C.E.. In this they duplicated the fate of previous foreign
religious movements in Egypt, the last being the Egyptianisation of the Ptolemaic
state: only the Romans, with their centralised bureaucracy and Emperor-by-proxy,
were able to withstand in large measure the powerful pull of Egyptian culture.
Amongst the Egyptians the Manichaeans were extremely high-profile and effective in
their frequent debates, leading lives of impressive self-discipline.
So effective was this last factor that one might say that the Christian desert
fathers were obliged to assume the same role in their bid to convert Egypt to
orthodoxy. For the precursors of early Christian monasticism we look to the strict
didacticism of the native priesthoods and the Manichaean missionaries in Egypt, both
armed with their venerable texts scrolled in compelling calligraphics, and especially
the extreme asceticism of the Manichaeans. Diocletian’s edict drove Manichaeism in
Egypt underground to some extent although it was able to function in a reduced
capacity for centuries. One important result of this must have been the eradication of
Manichaean monasteries in the cities and towns, thus creating an opening for an
orthodox Christian substitution. The Annales of Eutychius gives strong evidence for
the existence of the Manichaean Elect and their Listeners in Egypt at this time. 73
The
patriarch of Alexandria also mentions that in the late 4th century the majority of the
metropolites and bishops of Egypt were Manichaean. 74
The Manichaean church was
71
Again, the fact that the Coptic dialects used in the Pistis Sophia and the Manichaean
Kephalia are both from the south, while not conclusive, in itself reinforces this impression.
72
Crawford, “Ptolemy, Ptah and Apis in Hellenistic Memphis,” 8.
73
This text was used by Ém. de Stoop, “Essai sur la diffusion du manichéisme dans l’Empire
Romain,” ReT 38 (1909): 74-75.
74
In noting certain apparent doctrinal differences mentioned in Eutychius’ testimony, Jacques
Jarry, “Le Manichéisme en Égypte byzantine,” BIFAO 66 (1968): 121-37, comes to the
unlikely conclusion that “the majority of the Christian clergy at the time of Timothy were
Marcionite and not Manichaean,” (131). As well, there is a Coptic sermon, attributed to
Cyril of Alexander, from the ninth or tenth century, which clearly mentions the Manichaeans
in Egypt in the same period. This “Sermon sur la Pénitence,” is edited and translated by M.
Chaîne, in the Mélanges de la Faculté Orientale de l’Université Saint Joseph 6 (1913): 493-