The new compound MnP4 was prepared by reaction of the elemental components at pressures of 30-55 kbar in a tetrahedral anvil high-pressure device. It is a diamagnetic semiconductor with an activation energy of 0-14 eV and crystallizes with space group C2/c, a= 10.513 (1), b= 5.0944 (4), c= 21-804 (2) A, fl=94-71 (1) °, and Z= 16. The structure was determined from single-crystal counter data by Patterson and Fourier methods and refined to a conventional R of 0.051 for 1765 reflections. The Mn atoms are in octahedral P coordination, and the P atoms are tetrahedrally coordinated by Mn and P atoms. The Mn atoms have formal oxidation number 2 + (d 5 configuration). Four MnP6 octahedra share edges to form a linear array of four Mn atoms. The Mn atoms are displaced from the centers of the octahedra toward one another to form pairs with a resulting Mn-Mn bonding distance of 2.941 A, thus accounting for the diamagnetism. Average Mn-P and P-P distances are 2.282 and 2-225 ,£,, respectively. MnP4 can be described as an eight-layer stacking variant of the two-layer CrP4 structure, although bonding within and between the layers is of equal strength. Qualitative MO bonding models for the MnP4 and CrP4 structures are presented that allow rationalization of magnetic and conductive properties. A similar bonding proposal is made for the marcasite and arsenopyrite structures which, as is the case for CrP4 and MnP4, have TPo octahedra linked via edges, with transition metal atoms forming infinite strings and pairs, respectively.