Part of a series on
New Testament apocrypha
First page of the Gospel of Judas (Page 33 of Codex Tchacos)
Apostolic Fathers 1 Clement 2 Clement Epistles of Ignatius Polycarp to the Philippians Martyrdom of Polycarp Didache Barnabas Diognetus The Shepherd of Hermas
Apocryphal gospels Jewish–Christian gospels Ebionites Hebrews Nazarenes Infancy gospels James Thomas Syriac Pseudo-Matthew History of Joseph the Carpenter Gnostic gospels Judas Mary Philip Truth Secret Mark The Saviour Other gospels Thomas Marcion Nicodemus Peter Barnabas Lost gospels Bartholomew Matthias Cerinthus Basilides Mani Gospel of the Hebrews
Apocalypses Paul Peter Pseudo-Methodius Thomas Stephen 1 James 2 James 2 John
Epistles Apocryphon of James Apocryphon of John Epistula Apostolorum Pseudo-Titus Peter to Philip Paul and Seneca Lost epistles Alexandrians Laodiceans
Acts Andrew Andrew and Bartholomew Barnabas John Mar Mari The Martyrs Paul Peter Peter and Andrew Peter and Paul Peter and the Twelve Philip Pilate Thaddeus Thomas Timothy Xanthippe, Polyxena, and Rebecca
Misc. Other apocrypha Clementine literature Diatessaron Doctrine of Addai Pilate cycle Prayer of the Apostle Paul Questions of Bartholomew Resurrection of Jesus Christ Related topics Nag Hammadi library
Christianity portal
v t e

The Living Gospel (also Great Gospel, Gospel of the Living and variants) was a 3rd-century gnostic gospel written by the Manichaean prophet Mani. It was originally written in Syriac and called the Evangelion (Classical Syriac: ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ), from the Greek εὐαγγέλιον ("good news")^[1] and was one of the seven original scriptures of Manichaeism. A number of fragments are preserved in the Cologne Mani-Codex (discovered 1969) and on manuscript fragments found in Turfan beginning in 1904.^[2] Some Coptic manuscript fragments recovered at Fayyum appear to contain a sort of commentary or homily on the gospel.

The Iranian scholar Al-Biruni (973–after 1050), who still had access to the full text at his time of writing, commented that it was a "gospel of a special kind", unlike any of the gospels of the Christians, and that the Manichaeans insisted that theirs was the only true gospel, and that the various gospels of the Christians misrepresented the truth about the Messiah.^[3]

There is a tendency in historical scholarship to confuse the Mani's Living Gospel with another of his works,^[4] known as Ertenk or Ardhang/Arzhang (ancient Persian: artha-thanha, approximately "message of truth") or The Picture Book. The Ardhang was in fact a picture-book,^[5] given the name of Eikōn in Greek and Coptic. This was a book containing illustrations to accompany and facilitate the understanding of Mani's cosmology. Photius (or pseudo-Photius) comments on the text, saying that it contains a falsified account of some of the acts of Jesus,^[6] while Peter of Sicily insists that it contained no such material.^[7]

It is known that the gospel had 22 parts, each labelled by a different letter of the Aramaic alphabet. The combination of two Turfan fragments allows the reconstruction of the text of the first part (alaph). The section deals with the nature of the "King of the World of Light" who resides at the "Navel of the World" but is also present on his whole earth, from without as from within, having no limits except where his earth borders on that of his enemy, the "Kingdom of Darkness". Schneemelcher (1990) suggests tentatively that the text may have been designed as a gospel of the gnostic type, perhaps intended to comment on or replace the Christian gospel.