# A 302 edict against Manichaeans orders leaders burned and books destroyed

Date: 302

## The fact

A rescript of 31 March 302, as later transmitted, ordered Manichaean leaders burned and their scriptures destroyed, treating the cult as a Persian-adjacent crime. [Diocletian](/people/diocletian)’s government is the heading.

It is one event.

## Context

This predates the 303 Christian edicts and shows a wider coercive cult policy. Medium confidence on exact wording versus later copy.

Diocletian’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below. Sharing a field with them is not a reason to drop a documented act, and it is not a reason to assign later consequences done in the name after death.

Named person as heading of the dated public instrument. Later editors, museums, printers, or offices share publication. Complex where later carriers date the row.

## Evidence and sources

Cambridge and Catholic Encyclopedia/Britannica independently record the anti-Manichaean measure in this cluster.

Official or archival record: Catholic Encyclopedia — Diocletian (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05007b.htm; New Advent).

## Significance

Burning a named sect’s leaders and books is a minority-rights harm.

Manichaeans are not the 303 church edict, though the method rhymes.

Burning a named sect’s leaders and books is a minority-rights harm.

## What is established and what is not

Established: received 302 anti-Manichaean edict. Not established: a unique Manichaean death series in Egypt as Factrail’s census.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Established here: a sourced, dated public instrument with a named contribution by Diocletian.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date, signatory, or non-occurrence; a demonstrated forgery; or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of other causes.

Contribution type is direct. They are not a public rating.

## People

- Diocletian: https://factrail.ai/people/diocletian

## Drivers

- Protection of Minority Rights: https://factrail.ai/drivers/protection-of-minority-rights

## Sources

- https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05007b.htm
- https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-ancient-history/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/di-manichaean-edict