The Silk Road religion

 

Two "scholarly" YouTube clips about Manichaeism, an extinct creed which used to be a world religion during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. There were followers of the prophet Mani from the Roman Empire in the west to China in the east. Manichaeism was a "Persian" religion with Zoroastrian, Christian and Buddhist traits. It´s sometimes described as Gnostic. Mani himself was raised in a "heretical" Christian community in Mesopotamia.  

It´s possible that Manichaeism´s syncretistic character was the result of its world-wide spread, with believers in, say, Egypt being more "Christian", and those in Central Asia becoming more similar to Buddhism. The most well-known (ex)-Manichean is of course Augustine, who later became a famous Church Father.

The Manichean speculations sound both very exotic and strangely familiar at the same time...

Interesting contributions!