It was precisely 31 of March 296, when Diocletian issued his Edict demanding the Proconsul of Africa to exterminate all the Alexandrian Manichaeans, who were accused of Persian origin and recent arrival. The Roman Emperor wanted the Manichaean Primates and Auditores physically exterminated, their books burnt, and their goods confiscated. I asked Hermas why the Romans and the Persians, although very inimical one to another, desired so passionately to exterminate his co-religionists, their leaders – called the Perfects, and the adepts – called the Hearers, 'Catechoumenoi' in Greek. First published: 31/3/2007

1. Alexandria in Blue Moon
Colours
By Prof. Muhammad
Shamsaddin Megalommatis

2. First published on 31 March 2007
http://www.afroarticles.com/article
-dashboard/Article/Alexandria-in-
Blue-Moon-Colours/18085

3. An itinerary in Blue Moon
Alexandria brings us face to face
with Hermas Encratites, and the
sublime horizons of Alexandria,
permanently central in an eternally
Manichaean world.

4. I still remember that humid
summer night when people went
back home long after midnight;
as Alexandrians hate Alexandria
during June, July and August
when millions of Cairenes invade
the city for a wave of vacations, I
behaved as the most Alexandrian!

5. I had spent early morning hours
in the Corniche,
noon time in Montaza,
and early afternoon hours
in Abuqir.

6. There is nothing better than an empty
Corniche in humid summer
Alexandria, and this is within reach at
7:30 in the morning;
walk from the Raml station to the
Library (20 minutes of fast walking),
and then turn your back to the Eastern
Harbour and the Qaytbey castle to
enjoy the infinite coast line until Sidi
Bashr!

7. Keep walking by the seaside, and let
Alexandria reveal its sleepy face at
Shatby, Kamp Shezar, Cleopatra!
You will drink cappuccino at Half
Moon cafeteria, leaving your eyesight
plunge to the endless horizon of the
blueish – whitish summertime
Mediterranean.

8. You will then reach the 'modern'
Mustafa Kamel buildings that are
mainly inhabited by families of the
military, as the nearby Mustafa
Kamel hospital is open only for army
officers. And then, you will reach the
bridge of Rushdy, precisely after one
hour of fast walking from the
Library. Make it 1h 15m, if you allow
15 minutes for the coffee break.

9. On your right, you will distinguish
the famous San Giovanni Hotel, an
early 20th century glory. In the
Rushdy bridge, you can stop and see
far the Qaytbey castle in the West, and
then envision images of Ottoman and
French galleys; if your imagination is
stronger, you will surely discern few
Roman navigators sailing to the East,
to Tyre, to Byblus, to Laodicea, to
Tarsus.

10. You will need one more hour to walk
until you reach Sidi Beshr, the turning
point from where you can see the
Montaza gardens. You will go past
Mercury hotel and the various clubs,
namely those of the Engineers and the
Judges where you have no access, and
you will reach Glym. Strange name
you will say; not quite! The entire area
belonged to a Greek merchant,
Glymenopoulos.

11. You can have your coffee break here,
if you did not like Half Moon. Prefer
Afendina that offers a nice view over
the Glym beach and the huge San
Stefano mall/hotel/residence complex.
Keep walking on and on, and you will
reach Mahroussa Hotel, preferred by
Egyptian administrators and the
military. You will be close to the Abu
Heif beach.

12. Advancing further to the East, you
will reach the Renaissance (Marriott)
hotel, and next to it the Danish
Trianon café and snack restaurant (in
Cairo you will find many properties
of the brand, but certainly the one
next to Sheraton Dokki overlooking
the Nile is the most impressive one).

13. From that location, you will have 10 –
15 m to walk until reaching the
turning point of Sidi Beshr from
where you will see far the Montaza
Palace and Gardens. Still you need
one hour to walk until there (a total of
3h20 minutes from Raml Station in a
non-stop all-out effort)!

14. The successive Sidi Beshr, Asafra and
Mandara beaches are the best public
beaches of modern Alexandria. If your
appetite runs high, stop by the Gad
Asafra restaurant on the Corniche! It
offers good food and wonderful
views;

15. passing merchants will provide you
with the fruits, anything from mango
to bananas and from guavas to figues
de Berberie (prickly pears). A merry
wanderer will tell you that you have
to call them Tin Shouki in Arabic, and
Frangosyka in Greek.

16. Montaza

17. Like this, leaving as early as 7:30 a.m.
from Raml, you reach Montaza around
11:00, which is fine, because in the
humid summer days, the millions of
Egyptian tourists do not wake up
before 11:00 am or 12:00 noon time!
After this exercise, you will need 2
hours relaxation in the Montaza
gardens, before the masses arrive
(between 13:00 and 14:00).

18. Prefer anything! From a strawberry
juice (asir fraoula in Arabic), when
sitting in the Cafeteria of the
sumptuous Salamlek hotel, to a
Bacardi Cola, while in the lobby of
Helnan Palestine hotel. Or you can
buy a cola and drink it while relaxing
for an hour under the wonderful,
elegantly leaning pine trees of
Montaza.

19. Personally, I advance further on, cross
the bridge beyond Venissia restaurant
and go to a small cafeteria at the very
edge of Montaza, next to the Nautical
Club. From there, I enjoy - for an hour
or two - one of Egypt's most dramatic
coastal views over the Maamoura bay
and the palm trees forest beyond, up
to the first buildings at Abuqir.

20. In the afternoon, when the Egyptians
invade Montaza gardens en masse, I
pick up a taxi and for 10 Egyptian
pounds, I arrive at Abuqir, straight to
the correct place: Zephyrion
Restaurant.

21. Abuqir

22. As you correctly deduced it already,
Mattaam (‘restaurant’ in Arabic)
Zephyrion belongs to a Greek. I
always loved this fish-tavern that
reminds me of taverns in the Greek
islands back in the 1960s. In the
afternoon hours, when my eyesight is
lost in the silver colored sea, I wonder
how I cannot see Paros! … As if this
tavern is located in Naxos island!

23. Sometimes, when in Zephyrion, I find
myself lost in a vain effort to discern
Armathia Island, as if I were in a
tavern at Fry in Cassos Island, where
my maternal grandmother spent most
of her childhood 100 years ago!
Yet, I am in Alexandria! The tavern
owner, Mr. Pericles, comes and talks
to you friendly, while you enjoy the
best cooked fish in Egypt.

24. At 5 o'clock in the afternoon in the
humid summertime Alexandria, only
a taxi can save you, if you want to
avoid merging with millions of
Cairenes who invade the Corniche
and all the adjacent streets, beaches,
cafeterias and restaurants.

25. The minibuses and the buses, as well
as the tramway look like clusters of
grapes with hands, legs, foot and
entire bodies leaning out of the
windows and the doors! Back to your
hotel, take a shower, sit in the balcony
and enjoy the view of the endless
Mediterranean. Spend hours enjoying
the unusual view, admiring the
sunset, reading or sleeping!

26. In the evening, you must start late,
and then you will have several places
to go, if you want to keep yourself far
from the overwhelming millions of
Cairene tourists! For instance, the
Chinese restaurant atop Cecil Hotel; it
offers some of the most dramatic
views over the Corniche from Raml
Station until the Qaytbey Castle.

27. Do not think of walking in the Corniche
before 1:00 a.m.! Then, everything
becomes possible, even a moonlit swim
in a beach that has just been evacuated
by the millions of Cairenes who stay
hours after the sunset in the seawater!
For instance, you can be sure that at 2:30
a.m. you will be the only to enjoy
swimming in Shatby beach, 100 m from
the Library!

28. The people have gone, and
you are alone with the deep,
the true Alexandrian
palpitations, and spirits.

29. I had gone deep,
and then coming back to surface,
I faced a wonderful Blue Moon,
a few meters below the sea level!

30. What was that aquatic miracle of the
Blue Moon?
What would it signify to me?
What blue mysteries would I
encounter, when back on … terra
firma?
I felt as cold and as faraway as a
quenched star; who was I?

31. Dried, dressed, and compressed in
the Blue Moon thoughts, I decided
to walk in the empty Corniche of
nocturnal Alexandria.
And then a second Moon appeared in
front of me, this time in great
propinquity; and in great blue
luminosity!

32. This manly Moon was a merry
wanderer on the night; dressed in
traditional white cloth and with a
traditional white turban on his head,
he appeared in front of me at a
moment when the Moon was behind
his head, and gave him indeed a
most blueish aspect of outer
existence.

33. I felt obliged to engage into an
unusual discussion with that man
whose characteristics reminded me of
a Manichaean high priest depicted on
the famous wall paintings of Turfan,
Eastern Turkestan, thousands of
kilometers far from Mediterranean
Alexandria.
But who said that distances matter?

34. Hermas Encratites,
the
Manichaean
Alexandrian

35. His name was Hermas, and he
insisted that it is pertinent to call the
people with the names they are given,
only when consciously baptized in
mature age.
He was therefore Hermas Encratites.
He reminded me of the great
Manichaean past of Alexandria,
when the city was full of adepts of
Mani and his doctrine.

36. 31 March, 296

37. It was precisely 31 of March 296,
when Diocletian issued his Edict
demanding the Proconsul of Africa
to exterminate all the Alexandrian
Manichaeans, who were accused of
Persian origin and of recent arrival.

38. The Roman Emperor wanted the
Manichaean Primates and
Auditores physically exterminated,
their books burnt, and their goods
confiscated.

39. I asked Hermas why the Romans and
the Persians, although very inimical
one to another, desired so
passionately to exterminate his co-
religionists, their leaders – called the
Perfects, and the adepts – called the
Hearers, 'Catechoumenoi' in Greek.

40. In that eldritch, nocturnal,
summertime Alexandria that I had
never encountered before, Hermas
revealed to me all the reasons why all
the political leaders, all the emperors,
all the other religious authorities were
and had to be totally committed to
their anti-Manichaean hysteria.

41. Manichaeism is the only system able
to empty, to clear the world from all
evil acts, all evil things, all evil
thoughts, and all evil beings.
Manichaeism can achieve this
without major wars and conflicts
involved.

42. By letting adepts understand the real
nature of the evil surrounding world,
Manichaeism calls them to self-
restrain (Engrateia in Greek), which is
the only peaceful way of changing
the world and eliminating evil.

43. The elites of an evil world can only be
evil;
it is therefore normal that they react
ferociously to what represents the
worst danger to their continuation
and proliferation.

44. I asked Hermas to give me an
insightful understanding of the
world that was created by the Good
and ruled by the Evil.
He then narrated to me the most
incredible story that I had ever heard.

45. Before the existence of Heaven and
Earth, there were two Principles, the
one Good, the other Bad.
The Good Principle dwells in the
realm of light and is called
'Father of Majesty'
('Megethos' in Greek), and
'Father with the Four Faces‘
('Tetraprosopon' in Greek);

46. these four Faces are
the Time,
the Light,
the Force, and
the Goodness.

47. The Father of Majesty
procreated
Five Tabernacles
in which
He can be found:

48. Intelligence,
Reason,
Thought,
Reflection, and
Will.

49. They are eternal;
that is why they are called
in Greek 'Aiones'
and
in Latin 'Beata Secula'.

50. The Father of Majesty together with
the light-air, the light-earth and their
attributes constitute the Pleroma, the
entirety.
As the light world is of infinite
extent, so is its counterpart, the realm
of Darkness that was originally
distinct from the world of light.

51. The King of Darkness was never
Father – or God.
His realm, the dark Pleroma is also of
triple dimension, involving
firmament, air, and earth.
They have their attributes, for
instance the Air of Darkness has the
Pestilent Breath, the Scorching Wind,
the Gloom, the Mist, and the
Consuming Fire.

52. The Primordial Evil

53. All the problems of the world started
when the King of Darkness decided
to invade the realm of light.
Diavolos Protos, the Primordial Evil,
in the appearance of a monster half
fish, half bird, yet with four feet and
lion-headed, threw himself upward
toward the confines of light.

54. The echo of the thunder went
through the blessed Aions and
reached the Father of Majesty, who
decided to engage in war.

55. He then procreated
the Spirit, namely the Mother of Life,
who gave birth to the first man,
the Protanthropos.

56. Consequently, he procreated
the Clear Air,
the Refreshing Wind,
the Bright Light,
the Life-Giving Waters, and
the Warming Fire,
to attack the five Aions of Darkness.

57. Nahashbat, the Angel of Victory,
went before him.
Then,
the First Man projected his light
before the King of Darkness,
which was an incalculable error.

58. The struggle went ultimately in
favor of the King of Darkness.
The First-Man, overcome, gave
himself and his five sons as food
to the five sons of Darkness.

59. When these five resplendent beings
of light had been absorbed by the
sons of Darkness, reason was taken
away from them, because of the
poisonous admixture with the sons of
Darkness.
Thus, evil prevailed for a moment.

60. As soon as the First Man
recovered his reason,
he prayed seven times to the
Father of Majesty,
for Salvation.

61. The Father of Majesty procreated
then the Friend of the Light,
who gave birth to the Great Ban,
and through the latter emanated the
Spirit of Life,
to Zoon Pneuma, as the Greeks call
it.

62. He became the Demiourgos,
the form giver,
and procreated
five personalities.

63. From His intelligence,
He generated
the Ornament of
Splendour.

64. From His reason,
He created
the Great King of Honour.

65. From His thought,
He made
Adamas,
the Sublime Diamond
Light.

66. From His self-reflection,
He procreated
the King of Glory.

67. And from His will,
He shaped
the Supporter.

68. The five sublime beings were powerful
enough to descend into the realm of
Darkness,
find the First Man (Protanthropos) in
his degradation,
and ultimately rescue him.

69. At this moment started the
Creation of the material
Universe.
Some of the sons of the Spirit of
Life kill the sons of Darkness;

70. the Spirit of Life forces the sons of
Darkness to surrender some of the
light which they had absorbed from
the five elements and out of this he
forms the sun and the moon
(vessels of light) and the stars.
The Spirit of Life further makes
the wheels of the wind under the
earth near the Supporter.

71. Following this early success, the
Mother of Life, the Protanthropos,
and the Spirit of Life beg the Father
of Majesty for a third creation,
whereby
He gives birth to the Messenger,
whom the Romans call Legatus
Tertius.

72. The Messenger creates twelve
virgins, namely,
Royalty, Wisdom, Victory,
Persuasion, Purity, Truth,
Faith, Patience, Righteousness,
Goodness, Justice, and Light.

73. He dwells in the sun and, coming
toward these twelve virgins, he
commands his three attendants to
make them revolve; they soon reach
the height of the heavens.
As soon as the heavens rotate, the
Messenger commands the Great Ban
to renovate the earth and make the
Great Wheels (Air, Fire, and Water) to
mount.

74. Adam
and
Luminous Jesus

75. The process of creation of the
vegetation, the animal, and the
rational life on earth involves
successive fights
between the Messenger and the sons
and daughters of Darkness.

76. At the end, Naimrael and Ashaklun,
two female and male devils, bring
forth two children, Adam and Eve.
Consequently, in Adam's body a vast
number of germs of light were
imprisoned.
As a matter of fact, he was the great
captive of the Power of Evil.

77. To oppose this development, the
Powers of Light sent a Savior, the
luminous Jesus, who was apparently
able to approach the otherwise
innocent Adam, awake him from his
sleep of death, and make him move.

78. Adam reflected on himself and knew
that he existed.
Luminous Jesus instructed Adam and
showed him the Father's dwelling in
the celestial heights.
He then made Adam stand up and
taste of the tree of life.

79. Adam then looked around and
wept.
He mightily lifted up his voice as
a roaring lion.

80. Adam tore his hair and struck his
breast and said, "Cursed be the
creator of my body and he who bound
my soul and they who have made me
their slave".

81. He thus realized that Man's duty is
to keep his body pure from all
bodily stain,
by practicing self-denial and to help
also in the great work of purification
throughout the universe.

82. I was astounded; I asked therefore
Hermas how could possibly any
person obtain Salvation;
he answered me that, mainly
through the activity of the elect, and
the self denial of the Catechoumenoi,
all light particles will be gathered
together, and the Messenger, or
Legatus Tertius will appear again.

83. The Spirit of Life will come from the
west,
the First Man with his hosts will
come from north, south, and east,
along with all light aeons, and all
perfect Manichæans.

84. Then, the Supporter will throw his
burden away, and
the Ornament of Splendour will let
the heaven and earth go,
whereby everything will sink into
the abyss.

85. A universal conflagration will then
take place, lasting 1486 years, during
which the torments of the wicked are
the delights of the just.
When the separation of light from
darkness is finally completed, all
angels of light will return on high;

86. the dark souls will sink away in the
depth, which will then be closed
forever and
eternal calm will reign in the realm of
light that will no more be invaded by
Darkness.

87. At that moment, the Blue Moon face
of Hermas Encratites disappeared,
and in the empty Corniche of
Manichaean Alexandria,
I realized that it would soon be
Dawn.