Manichaean practice unfolded within a carefully ordered way of life, divided between the Elect, who embraced full asceticism, and the Hearers, who supported them while living more conventional lives. Both groups shared a dualistic vision in which every action either aided the liberation of light or further entangled it in darkness. The Elect observed the “three seals”: of the mouth (abstaining from meat, wine or other intoxicants, and guarding speech), of the hands (avoiding violence, killing, and harmful work), and of the breast or heart (celibacy and strict control of thoughts and desires). Hearers followed a similar ethical code in a moderated form, keeping commandments against killing, lying, theft, sexual immorality, idolatry, and harmful magic, while remaining engaged in family life and ordinary occupations. In this shared moral discipline, everyday conduct became a liturgy of separation between light and darkness.

Prayer and fasting structured the rhythm of each day and week. Manichaeans observed fixed times of prayer, turning toward sources of light such as the sun, moon, or a lamp, and offering praise, confession, and petitions for deliverance from the world of darkness. The Elect were strictly bound to these prayer times, while Hearers participated as they were able. Regular fasting days, especially early in the week, and more extended fasts at certain times of the month or year, were understood as a way to weaken the hold of matter and purify the inner life. These disciplines were not merely acts of renunciation but were seen as active participation in the cosmic struggle, aligning the practitioner with the realm of light.

Diet and ritual meals expressed this same cosmology in concrete form. The Elect followed a rigorously vegetarian or near‑vegetarian diet, living mainly on fruits, vegetables, and grains, and refraining from meat and alcohol. Food was prepared and offered by the Hearers as a meritorious act, and the Elect ate it within a ritual framework of blessings, hymns, and conscious intention to release the light believed to be bound within living substances. Hearers themselves were encouraged to moderation in food, to reduce meat, and to practice non‑violence as far as their worldly responsibilities allowed. In this way, even eating became a sacramental act, understood as cooperation with the divine work of liberation.

Communal and liturgical life further deepened this pattern. Regular confession to members of the Elect, accompanied by words of repentance and purification, allowed believers to acknowledge their complicity with darkness and to seek restoration. Hymn singing, chanting, and the public reading and exposition of sacred texts formed the core of gatherings, while the copying and preservation of scriptures were treated as holy tasks. The central annual observance was the Bema festival, marked by fasting, solemn prayer, and the symbolic enthronement of Mani, commemorating his death and exaltation. Through these intertwined practices of prayer, fasting, ethical restraint, ritual meals, and communal worship, Manichaeans sought to live as participants in a vast drama of light and darkness, shaping every aspect of daily life into a disciplined path toward liberation.