Marcionism VS Manichaeism

An Assignment About

Early Church Heresies

by Alexa Di Biase

Manichaeism

Marcionism

• Also a dualistic belief system of the struggle between the good, spiritual world, and the evil material world
• Goes against the church teaching of salvation is earned through your relationship with God and the way you lead your life, instead of salvation being offered to those who aquire "secret" knowledge

Bibliography

• They believed that the "wrathful Hebrew god" of the Old Testament was inferior to the "all forgiving god" of the New Testament
• Goes agaisnt the church teaching that evil is not an independent object or thing, but the lack of good
• They had also created their own canon that contradicted the canon of the bible

1. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manichaeism#Later_movements_accused_of_.22Neo-Manichaeism.22

2. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcionism#Teachings

3. Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09591a.htm

Teachings

Marcionism: The basis of Marcionism is that what the church claims to be teacing does not match what is taught in the Old Testament, therefore this leads to the complete and total rejection of the OT.

They did not believe that Jesus was the messiah sent by the Lord, but a "spiritual entity" whose purpose was to expose the truths of the world to us, and expose how to avoid the demiurge.

They also partly denied the human nature of Christ, because they did not want to believe that he was the son of both God and the Demiurge.

Manichaeism: They denied the fact that God has unlimited power and knowledge because they believe that there is a good god and and evil god that are pitted again each other. They believe that our world is a result of the battle between the stronger real God and satan. More specifically the human body empowers both light and darkness. Furthermore, this explains that there was no intended evil when God created us, but evil arose because satan input it into us to try and destroy what God made.

Contradictions

Conclusion

Manichaeism: These beliefs differ from Marcionism in a few different ways, however it is still inconsistent with orthodox teachings. Similar to Marcionism, they have dualistic beliefs that the good God and the evil god are in a "war" with each other. This is immediately incorrect because Christianity teaches us to worship only one god. In addition, the biggest contradiction is the belief of how we obtain salvation. We know from the church teachings that we get to heaven by leading a life with no sin, and by having a strong relationship which means following God's will. They believe that to get to heaven, you must aquire secret knowledge. This also contradicts the teaching that all humans are created equally, and we all have the right to the same things.

Contradictions

Marcionism

Marcionism: There are multiple beliefs in this faith that contradict the true church teachings. For example, Jesus' purpose on Earth. The orthodox teaching is that Jesus was sent, as a human with 1 body, 2 natures, and 2 will's, to Earth to teach us the way of God, and how to live our lives so that we are eternally happen in heaven with Him. However, Marcionism firstly denies his human nature, because they do not want to believe that he is the son of both the demiurge, and the true God. Which leads to the next contradiction. Christianity is a monotheistic faith, and we only believe in one God our Lord. Whereas Marcionism believes that there are two gods, one inferior and one superior, but that is wrong. This can be very dangerous to an individual who desires salvation, because by believing in these two contradictions, one will break their relationship with God, straying further and further from his will until they lose sight of him all together.

In conclusion, Marcionism and Manichasism are considered heresies against Christianity because of the contradiction of the teachings and beliefs of God, how he is represented on earth, and what/ who Jesus represents. By believing in either of these heresies, we are endangering our relationship with God, because we are breaking our relationship with him. And if we continually believe that there is more than one God, which is the case in both beliefs, we will completely lose sight of God and his grace, meaning we will never be able to repair the relationship.

• Marcionism was prevalent from the 1st to the 5th century
• Constructed around Gnostic ideals of the Demiurge/god of the Old Testament vs. the god of love from the New Testament
• When Jesus was brought to Earth, his duty was to trigger the rise of the god of love, however he was killed by the demiurge before he could influence society
• They choose to reject the Old Testament, and most of the New Testament because of the Jewish influence. However kept Luke's gospel (least Jewish influence & least reliant on Old Testament), and some of Paul's letters
• Dualistic beliefs; one good superior entity vs. a lower inferior entity

Manichaeism

• Also originated from Gnostic ideals
• Believes in the god of light and god of darkness
• Believed that God was trying to communicate with us through astrology, therefore there was a strong reliance on the stars, and a focus on light.
• They also had a strong belief that material things belonged to satan and the god of darkness, and everything spiritual was good and pure
• In Manichaeism, Satan stole the light from God, and the only way to get it back to him is through secret knowledge that you aquire as you build your relationship with the spiritual world.

Marcionism VS Manichaeism