View source for Carpocratians (Gnostic sect)

{{Short description|Gnostic-platonic early Christian heretic sect}}
{{Infobox religion|name=Carpocratians|native_name=Καρποκρατιανοὶ|native_name_lang=el|main_classification=[[Early Christianity]]|orientation=|scripture=[[New Testament]]|theology=[[Gnosticism]]|founder=[[Carpocrates|Carpocrates of Alexandria]]|founded_date=2nd century [[AD]]|founded_place=[[Alexandria]]|defunct=6th century AD}}{{Gnosticism}}
The '''Carpocratians''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: Καρποκρατιανοὶ) was a [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] sect partially based on [[Platonism]] that was established in the 2nd century [[Anno Domini|AD]] and existed until the 6th. It was named after [[Carpocrates|Carpocrates of Alexandria]], its founder, and gained its final form in the writings of his son, [[Epiphanes (Gnostic)|Epiphanes]]. Only fragmentary sources remain about their beliefs and practices, and [[Proto-orthodox Christianity|proto-orthodox]] Christians of the time mischaracterised their [[theology]] to discredit them, accusing them of debauchery.
== Theology ==
The Carpocratians were [[Gnosticism|Gnostics]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/carpocratians |title=Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology |publisher=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale]] |year=1870 |editor-last=Shepard |editor-first=Leslie |language=en |access-date=2023-08-11 |via=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref> believing in a [[Dualism in cosmology|dualism]] of evil matter and good spirit, and pursuing ''[[gnosis]]'', the [[Western esotericism|esoteric]] knowledge needed for [[salvation]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Carpocratian |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Carpocratians |access-date=2023-08-11 |website=Britannica |language=en}}</ref> As others of the belief system, they believed all beings in the world strove towards Monas, the Supreme Principle or Primal Being,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |editor-last=McClintock |editor-first=John |editor-link=John McClintock (theologian) |editor2-last=Strong |editor2-first=James |editor2-link=James Strong (theologian) |title=Carpocratians |url=https://www.biblicalcyclopedia.com/C/carpocratians.html |access-date=2023-08-11 |website=McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia Online |language=en}}</ref> whom Carpocratians called the Father of All, or the One Beginning.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kröger |first=G. |url=https://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc02/htm/iv.vi.cxxxv.htm |title=The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge |publisher=[[Baker Book House]] |year=1952 |editor-last=Jackson |editor-first=Samuel Macauley |volume=II |location=Grand Rapids |language=en |access-date=2023-08-11 |via=[[Christian Classics Ethereal Library]]}}</ref> The visible world was created not by him but by inferior [[Angel|angels]] far removed from the divine source, known as the 'fabricating powers' or the 'builders'.<ref name=":2" />
Human souls [[Pre-existence|existed before]] being trapped in material bodies, orbiting around a 'spiritual sun' on the 'plain of truth'. After initially working with God, souls were imprisoned by the 'builders' in bodies and can only be free after living every form of life and committing every possible act. Based on [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]] 12:58, Carpocrates said that the [[Devil]], or 'the accuser', dragged souls to the highest 'builder', who then gave them over to a messenger angel. This being imprisoned souls in bodies until they 'paid the uttermost farthing' ([[Matthew 5:26]], [[King James Version]]), won freedom and re-joined God.<ref name=":3" />
Every imprisoned soul retained the capacity for [[Anamnesis (philosophy)|remembering their natural state]] ({{Langx|el|ἀνάμνησις|translit=anamnesis}}) to a different degree. This knowledge is the only one through which humans can be [[Salvation in Christianity|saved]], every other [[Moral reasoning|moral judgment]] being [[Objectivity and subjectivity|subjective]].<ref name=":3" />
Carpocratians rejected the material world, which they believed to have been created and ruled by evil. To prove their belonging to a superior spiritual realm, they claimed to communicate with [[Demon|demonic spirits]]. They also practiced a form of [[Magic (supernatural)|magic]], making [[Love potion|love potions]]<ref name=":1" /> and using [[Theurgy|theurgic]] [[Incantation|incantantions]],<ref name=":0" /> as they considered themselves above the 'builders'. This also gave them the power to exorcise, understand dreams, and cure disease.<ref name=":3" /> For [[worship]], they erected statues and painted brightly coloured<ref name=":1" /> [[Icon|icons]] of Christ, the apostles, and other eminent men such as [[Plato]], [[Pythagoras]], and [[Aristotle]],<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> becoming the first known Christians to depict Christ.<ref name=":1" /> They honoured these figures in a [[temple]] on [[Cephalonia]].<ref name=":2" />
They professed the [[Metempsychosis|transmigration of souls]] ''({{Langx|el|μετεμψύχωσις|translit=metempsychosis}})'',<ref name=":0" /> which they might have lifted from [[Religion in India|Indian]] or [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagorean]] sources,<ref name=":1" /> believing that a soul could only be freed if he remembered his former, better existence. Then, he could defy the evil spirits of the world and reach eternal rest in [[Contemplation|contemplating]] the Supreme Being.<ref name=":2" /> They rejected the idea of bodily [[resurrection]],<ref name=":0" /> and the entirety of the [[Old Testament]].<ref name=":2" />
=== The role of Jesus ===
Carpocratians revered [[Jesus]] as a man whose soul had not forgotten its origins in the higher sphere of the perfect God. Believing that Jesus had been a Gnostic,<ref name=":1" /> they strove to imitate him, but considered him to have been an ordinary human being, not the [[son of God]]. In the Carpocratian world view, Jesus was seen as excellent in [[Sacredness|holiness]] and [[virtue]], and possessing a great elasticity of mind that enabled him to remember his (and all other humans') previous existence with the Primal Being.<ref name=":2" /> With his extraordinary strength of soul and through the power of contemplation, he obtained [[Theurgy|divine power]] to perform [[Miracle|miracles]] which he then used to overturn the evil religion and break free from the control of the [[God in Judaism|Jewish God]] who had dictated it.<ref name=":2" />
It was taught that anyone could become equal to Jesus with enough effort, and that he could even be excelled by someone with an even purer soul, or who despised the material world even more than he had.<ref name=":2" /> Every Carpocratian believer was thought to resemble Jesus to a large degree, and it was claimed that their best believers attained his level of transcendence and rose above the [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostles]].<ref name=":2" />
The natural-born son of [[Saint Joseph|Joseph]] and [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Mary]], Jesus was known by them to have been raised among Jews, but they held that he detested them.<ref name=":2" /> They might have believed that Jesus had studied at the Temple of [[Isis]] in [[Egypt]] for six years, learning ''gnosis'' there, which he then taught to the apostles, ordering them to disseminate it among the 'worthy and believing'.<ref name=":3" /> Their founder, Carpocrates, was believed by them to have gained his knowledge of the religion from the apostles.<ref name=":0" />
=== Libertine Gnosticism ===
As Carpocratians taught that [[Biblical law|biblical laws]] had been imposed by the evil [[Angel|angels]] responsible for the material realm, they considered subverting them a religious responsibility. They hoped to achieve transcendence and spiritual freedom by having every possible experience,<ref name=":1" /> for which more than one lifetime might be necessary.<ref name=":1" /> They backed this claim by quoting the [[Sermon on the Mount]], where Jesus preached that '[t]ruly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny' (Matthew 5:26, [[English Standard Version]]).<ref name=":2" />
Carpocratians professed that nothing was inherently good or bad, and that questions of right and wrong depended entirely on human opinion. Because of this belief, they were accused by members of other Christian groups of living debauched lives,<ref name=":2" /> and given the name of 'libertine Gnostics';<ref name=":1" /> however, this accusation is not found in the oldest source on the sect, an account by [[Irenaeus|Irenæus]].<ref name=":2" />
==== The position of wives and views on sexuality ====
Since Carpocrates and his followers rejected private property,<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Whitley |first=Thomas |date=2015-01-21 |title=Who is Carpocrates? |url=https://www.ancientjewreview.com/read/2015/1/21/who-is-carpocrates |access-date=2023-08-11 |website=Ancient Jew Review |language=en-US}}</ref> they also held that women should be shared by all men of the community for [[Reproduction|procreation]].<ref name=":2" /> Epiphanes taught that God's righteousness was a 'communion together with equality', and this ideal would have been offended by privately 'possessing' a woman. Sexuality was seen as part of the material world, and the commandment against adultery a 'joke' by the God of the Jews, who first gave an urge then forbade humans from acting on it. Marriage was seen as this evil god 'forcing what is in common to be individual', taking away something from humans that he allowed all other creatures to have.<ref name=":4" />
Proto-orthodox Christians of the time such as [[Clement of Alexandria]] or [[Theodoret]] claimed this was merely an excuse for sinning. At the same time as other Christian groups embraced [[asceticism]] and [[celibacy]] in the 4th and 5th centuries, Carpocratians fostered a more liberal attitude. Their opponents therefore discredited them by accusing them of holding orgies and saying that they hoped to achieve salvation by committing every possible evil deed. Thomas Whitley characterises the Carpocratian movement as a sign of the opposition to the emerging ascetic demands of the early Christian religion.<ref name=":4" />
== History ==
Founded in the 2nd century by Carpocrates of Alexandria, the sect's belief system and community was solidified in the writings of his son, Epiphanes. Both men were well-educated in the writings and thought of Plato,<ref name=":3" /> and this background informed their theology. No original writings remain from Carpocrates, but some of his rhetoric can be traced from fragments in his son's works.<ref name=":4" />
According to Clement of Alexandria, Epiphanes died at the age of seventeen, after already having authored his books, and was subsequently worshipped as a god. This was refuted as a legend by 19th century scholars who argued that the cult of a local moon god ''(theos epiphanes)'' was mistakenly applied to him. While Philip Schaff's religious encyclopædia disputes this claim, its writers agree that Epiphanes had to have been an important writer of the sect.<ref name=":3" />
There is proof that Carpocratians were one of the best-developed among Gnostic cults,<ref name=":1" /> and they are known to have existed until the 6th century. Members had secret greetings, signs, and [[Symbol|symbols]], as well as a [[hierarchy]].<ref name=":2" /> They might have been [[Human branding|branded]] with a hot iron behind the right ear with a special mark.<ref name=":3" />
== See also ==
{{Portal|Religion|Christianity|Philosophy|History
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* {{Cite journal |last=Lechner |first=Gerhard |title=Carpocration Philosophical Magic |url=https://philarchive.org/archive/LECCPM-2 |journal=Rose+Croix Journal |volume=16 |access-date=2023-08-11 |via=[[PhilArchive]]}}
* {{Cite book |last=Litwa |first=M. David |title=Carpocrates, Marcellina, and Epiphanes: Three Early Christian Teachers of Alexandria and Rome |date=2022-06-24 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=9781032285351 |location=London |language=en}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Gnosticism]]
[[Category:Early Christianity]]
[[Category:Heresy in ancient Christianity]]
[[Category:Platonism]]
[[Category:Dualism (philosophy of mind)]]
[[Category:Spirituality]]
[[Category:Reincarnation]]
[[Category:2nd century]]
[[Category:Christian denominations established in the 2nd century]]
[[Category:History of Alexandria]]