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Eusebius of Caesarea, NPNF II.1

Book 7, The Perversive Heresy of the Manicheans Which Began at This Time

At this time, the madman,¹ named from his demoniacal heresy, armed himself in the perversion of his reason, as the devil, Satan, who himself fights against God, put him forward to the destruction of many. He was a barbarian in life, both in word and deed; and in his nature demoniacal and insane. In consequence of this he sought to pose as Christ, and being puffed up in his madness, he proclaimed himself the Paraclete and the very Holy Spirit;² and afterwards, like Christ, he chose twelve disciples as partners of his new doctrine.

And he patched together false and godless doctrines collected from a multitude of long-extinct impieties, and swept them, like a deadly poison, from Persia to our part of the world. From him the impious name of the Manicheans is still prevalent among many. Such was the foundation of this “knowledge falsely so-called,”³ which sprang up in those times.

Notes

The name Manes, or Mani, is not of Greek, but of Persian or Semitic origin. It has not yet been satisfactorily explained. The Greek form is Μανης or Μανιχαιος; the Latin form, Manes or Manichaeus. In this place Eusebius instead of giving him his true name makes a play upon it, calling him ο μανεις τας θρενας, “the madman.” This does not imply that Eusebius supposed his name was originally Greek. He perhaps-as others of the Fathers did-regarded it as a sign of divine providence that the Persian name chosen by himself (Mani was not his original name) should when reproduced in Greek bear such a significant meaning. See Stroth’s note on this passage.
Beausobre maintains that Mani did not pretend to be the Paraclete, but merely a man, the messenger of the Paraclete. The Fathers generally, however agree with Eusebius in asserting that his claims were of the very highest sort. The point cannot be satisfactorily settled.
See 1 Tim. vi. 20.