According to the Fihrist, Mani made use of the Persian and Syriac languages; but, like the Oriental Marcionites before him, he invented an alphabet of his own, which the Fihrist has handed down to us.
They anathematized Mani, yet were dualists and affirmed two principles - one the heavenly Father, who rules not this world but the world to come; the other an evil demiurge, lord and god of this world, who made all flesh.
At the head stood the teachers (" the sons of meekness," Mani himself and his successors); then follow the administrators (" the sons of knowledge," the bishops); then the elders (" the sons of understanding," the presbyters); the electi (" the sons of mystery"); and finally the auditores (" the sons of insight").
The electi celebrated special feasts; but the principal festival with all classes was the Bema (31ima), the feast of the "teacher's chair," held in commemoration of the death of Mani in the month of March.
