Manichaeism

=== Persecution and suppression ===
{{See also|Manichaean schisms}}
Manichaeism was repressed by the [[Sasanian Empire]].<ref name="Andrew"/> In 291, persecution arose in the Persian empire with the murder of the apostle Sisin by [[Bahram II]], and the slaughter of many Manichaeans. In 296, the Roman emperor [[Diocletian]] decreed all the Manichaean leaders to be burnt alive along with the Manichaean scriptures and many Manichaeans in Europe and North Africa were killed. It was not until 372 with [[Valentinian I]] and [[Valens]] that Manichaeism was legislated against again.<ref>{{cite book|last=Coyle |first=J.K. |title=Manichaeism and its Legacy |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |date=2009 |page=19}}</ref>

[[Theodosius I]] issued a decree of death for all Manichaean monks in 382 AD.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/faithsacrosstime0001melt |url-access=registration |title=Faiths Across Time: 5000 years of Religious History |first=J. Gordon |last=Melton |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |year=2014 |page=[https://archive.org/details/faithsacrosstime0001melt/page/361 361] |isbn=978-1-61069-026-3}}</ref> The religion was vigorously attacked and persecuted by both the [[Catholic Church|Christian Church]] and the Roman state, and the religion almost disappeared from western Europe in the fifth century and from the eastern portion of the empire in the sixth century.<ref name="Wendy">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877790440 |url-access=registration |title=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions |first=Wendy |last=Doniger |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |year=1999 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877790440/page/689 689], 690 |isbn=978-90-6831-002-3 |author-link=Wendy Doniger}}</ref>

[[File:Conversion of Bögü Qaghan (759-780 CE) to Manicheism in 762 (detailed of Bögü Qaghan in a suit of armour, kneeling to a Manichean high priest).jpg|thumb|Conversion of [[Bögü Qaghan]], third Khagan of the [[Uyghur Khaganate]], to [[Manicheism]] in 762: detail of Bögü Qaghan in a suit of armour, kneeling to a Manichean high priest. 8th century Manichean manuscript ([[Leaf from a Manichaean book MIK III 4979|MIK III 4979]]).<ref name="RX577-578">{{cite book |last1=Rong |first1=Xinjian |title=The Silk Road and Cultural Exchanges between East and West |date=24 October 2022 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-51259-7 |pages=577–578 |language=en |chapter=Gaochang in the Second Half of the 5th Century and Its Relations with the Rouran Qaghanate and the Kingdoms of the Western Regions|doi=10.1163/9789004512597_006 }}</ref>]]
In 732, [[Emperor Xuanzong of Tang]] banned any Chinese from converting to the religion, saying it was a heretic religion that was confusing people by claiming to be Buddhism. However, the foreigners who followed the religion were allowed to practice it without punishment.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cO7g4WBBK9YC&pg=PA182 |title=Silk and Religion: An Exploration of Material Life and the Thought of People, AD 600–1200, Parts 600–1200 |first=Xinru |last=Liu |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1997 |page=182 |isbn=978-0-19-564452-4}}</ref> After the fall of the Uyghur Khaganate in 840, which was the chief patron of Manichaeism (which was also the state religion of the Khaganate) in China, all Manichaean temples in China except in the two capitals and [[Taiyuan]] were closed down and never reopened since these temples were viewed as a symbol of foreign arrogance by the Chinese (see [[Cao'an]]). Even those that were allowed to remain open did not for long.<ref name="S.N.C.L."/>

The Manichaean temples were attacked by Chinese people who burned the images and idols of these temples. Manichaean priests were ordered to wear [[hanfu]] instead of their traditional clothing, which was viewed as un-Chinese. In 843, [[Emperor Wuzong of Tang]] gave the order to kill all Manichaean clerics as part of the [[Huichang persecution of Buddhism]], and over half died. They were made to look like Buddhists by the authorities, their heads were shaved, they were made to dress like [[bhikkhu|Buddhist monks]] and then killed.<ref name="S.N.C.L."/>

Although the religion was mostly forbidden and its followers persecuted thereafter in China, it survives within syncretic sects throughout Fujian in a form of [[Chinese Manichaeism]] also called Mingjiao.<ref name="Li-2004" /><ref name="Chen-2004" /> Under the [[Song dynasty]], its followers were derogatorily referred to with the [[chengyu]] {{lang|zh|吃菜祀魔}} ({{zh|p=chī cài sì mó}}) "vegetarian demon-worshippers".

Many Manichaeans took part in rebellions against the Song dynasty. They were quelled by Song China and were suppressed and persecuted by all successive governments before the Mongol [[Yuan dynasty]]. In 1370, the religion was banned through an edict of the [[Ming dynasty]], whose [[Hongwu Emperor]] had a personal dislike for the religion.<ref name="S.N.C.L."/><ref name="Xisha2011"/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/manichaeisminlat00lieu |url-access=registration |title= Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China: A Historical Survey |first=Samuel N. C. |last=Lieu | author-link=Samuel N. C. Lieu|publisher=[[Manchester University Press]] |year=1985 |page=[https://archive.org/details/manichaeisminlat00lieu/page/261 261] |isbn=978-0-7190-1088-0}}</ref> Its core teaching influences many religious sects in China, including the [[White Lotus]] movement.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wLshRPD8lpsC&q=White+Lotus+movement.+manichaeism&pg=PA124 |title=The White Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious History |last=ter Haar |first=B. J. |date=1999 |publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]] |isbn=978-0-8248-2218-7 |language=en}}</ref>

According to [[Wendy Doniger]], Manichaeism may have continued to exist in the modern-[[East Turkestan]] region until the [[Mongol conquest of the Qara Khitai|Mongol conquest in the 13th century]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877790440 |url-access=registration |title=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions |first=Wendy |last=Doniger |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |year=1999 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877790440/page/690 690] |isbn=978-90-6831-002-3 |author-link=Wendy Doniger}}</ref>

Manicheans also suffered persecution for some time under the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad. In 780, the third Abbasid Caliph, [[al-Mahdi]], started a campaign of inquisition against those who were "dualist heretics" or "Manichaeans" called the ''zindīq''. He appointed a "master of the heretics" ({{lang-ar|صاحب الزنادقة}} {{lang|ar-latn|ṣāhib al-zanādiqa}}), an official whose task was to pursue and investigate suspected dualists, who were then examined by the Caliph. Those found guilty who refused to abjure their beliefs were executed.<ref name="Christine"/>

This persecution continued under his successor, Caliph [[al-Hadi]], and continued for some time during reign of [[Harun al-Rashid]], who finally abolished it and ended it.<ref name="Christine"/> During the reign of the 18th Abbasid Caliph [[al-Muqtadir]], many Manichaeans fled from [[Mesopotamia]] to [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]] from fear of persecution by him and about 500 of them assembled in [[Samarkand]]. The base of the religion was later shifted to this city, which became their new Patriarchate.<ref name="Wendy"/><ref name="Jacques">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YdUUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA658 |title=Papers in Honor of Professor Mary Boyce |first1=Jacques |last1=Duchesne-Guillemin |first2=Pierre |last2=Lecoq |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |year=1985 |page=658 |isbn=978-90-6831-002-3}}</ref>

Manichaean pamphlets were still in circulation in Greek in 9th-century [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] Constantinople, as the patriarch [[Photios I of Constantinople|Photios]] summarizes and discusses one that he has read by Agapius in his ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Bibliotheca]]''.