The Church Fathers · c. 330–348; survives complete in Latin
The Acts of Archelaus
Hegemonius
What it is
A staged public debate in Mesopotamia between a bishop and Mani, judged by pagan referees, followed by a hostile biography in which Mani is made the heir of a line of frauds and dies flayed at the Persian king's order.
Why it lasted
The main channel through which the West learned what Manichaeism was, and the source Augustine's opponents and defenders both drew on. Its quotations preserve genuine Manichaean material inside a wholly invented frame.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
Read next