Manichaean texts

9th-century manuscript book on divination written in Old Turkic

3rd-century gnostic gospel written by Mani

apocryphal Jewish book expanding a narrative in the Hebrew Bible, discovered at Qumran

5th century Manichean manuscript

The Arzhang (/; ; , meaning "Worthy"), also known as the Book of Pictures, was one of the holy books of Manichaeism. It was written and illustrated by its prophet, Mani, in Syriac, with later reproductions written in Sogdian. It was unique as a sacred text in that it contained numerous pictures designed to portray Manichaean cosmogony, which were regarded as integral to the text.

The Shabuhragan ( Shāpuragān), which means "dedicated to Šābuhr", also translated in Chinese as the was a sacred book of Manichaeism, written by the founder Mani (c. 210–276 CE) himself, originally in Middle Persian, and dedicated to Shapur I (c. 215272 CE), the contemporary king of the Sasanian Empire. This book is listed as one of the seven treatises of Manichaeism in Arabic historical sources, but it is not among the seven treatises in the Manichaean account itself. The book was designed to present to Shapur an outline of Mani's new religion, which united elements from Zoroastrianism, Chris

Xuastvanift is a Manichaean text written in the Uyghur language containing a prayer of repentance. The text is important for understanding the lives of Manichaean communities in the East and confirms many concepts found in other Manichaean, Christian, and Muslim writings. The name Xuastvanift comes from Uyghur and means "confession" or "repentance". This text was widely used by Uyghur Manichaeans and has been preserved in many manuscripts and fragments. It had a possible influence on Buddhist texts of the time.

Kephalaia (Koine Greek and ) is a genre of Manichaean literature represented mainly by two large papyrus codices containing Coptic translations from 5th-century Roman Egypt. The kephalaia are sometimes seen as the actual words or teachings of the prophet Mani, but are probably better viewed as later discourses and interpretations laid upon "an authoritative oral tradition" ostensibly going back to Mani and thus analogous to the Talmud in Judaism and the ḥadīth in Islam.

Religious text of Manichaeism