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Carpocrates

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1240:” appears most paradoxical, for guilt is indeed something. Nevertheless, it is true that as long as guilt is the object of anxiety, it is nothing. The ambiguity lies in the relation, for as soon as guilt is posited, anxiety is gone, and repentance is there. The relation, as always with the relation of anxiety, is sympathetic and antipathetic. This in turn seems paradoxical, yet such is not the case, because while anxiety fears, it maintains a subtle communication with its object, cannot look away from it, indeed will not, for if the individual wills it, repentance is there. That someone or other will find this statement difficult is something I cannot help. He who has the required firmness to be, if I dare say so, a divine prosecutor, not in relation to others but in relation to himself, will not find it difficult. Furthermore, life offers sufficient phenomena in which the individual in anxiety gazes almost desirously at guilt and yet fears it. Guilt has for the eye of the spirit the fascinating power of the serpent’s glance. The truth in the Carpocratian view of attaining perfection through sin lies at this point. It has its truth in the moment of decision when the immediate spirit posits itself as spirit by spirit; contrariwise, it is blasphemy to hold that this view is to be realized in 1092:: "Only one group of early Christians, the heretical Carpocratians, are known to have owned portraits of Christ". However, early Christian art from the early third century depicting Jesus is widespread and cannot be limited only to the Carpocratians. Furthermore, the fact that depictions of Jesus are mentioned by multiple early Christian authors, whether in a positive or negative manner, is an indication that these depictions were popular enough to be noticed and must have received the acceptance of some Christian authorities. Moreover, Christianity is rooted in Judaism, which generally forbids religious depictions, and the reluctance of some authors to accept depictions of Jesus could be ascribed to the Jewish roots of Christianity rather than to any non-Jewish Christian doctrine. 315: 43: 1244:. It is precisely by the anxiety of guilt that Judaism is further advanced than Greek culture, and the sympathetic factor in its anxiety-relation to guilt may be recognized by the fact that it would not at any price forego this relation in order to acquire the more rash expressions of Greek culture: fate, fortune, misfortune. p. 103-104 1166:
But since the foul demons are always devising destruction for the race of men, Carpocrates, instructed by them and using deceitful arts, so enslaved a certain presbyter of the church in Alexandria that he got from him a copy of the secret Gospel, which he both interpreted according to his blasphemous
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Carpocratians derived from a native of Asia, Carpocrates, who taught his followers to perform every obscenity and every sinful act. And unless one proceeds through all of them, he said, and fulfils the will of all demons and angels, he cannot mount to the highest heaven or get by the principalities
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Irenaeus then goes on to provide his further, slightly different, explanation. The followers of Carpocrates, he says, believed that in order to leave this world, one's imprisoned eternal soul must pass through every possible condition of earthly life. Moreover, it is possible to do this within one
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focusing on the episode where Jesus brings a youth back from the dead. The letter's writer (perhaps Clement) tells Theodore that the secret version of Mark does not contain references to "the many other which you wrote" including the specific phrase "naked with naked."
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It is usually said that Judaism is the standpoint of the law. However, this could also be expressed by saying that Judaism lies in anxiety. But here the nothing of anxiety signifies something other than fate. It is in this sphere that the phrase “to be
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bent. It claims that differences in class and the ownership of property are unnatural, and argues for property and women to be held in common. Clement insists on the alleged licentiousness of the Carpocratians, claiming that at their
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while cataloging books at the Monastery of Mar Saba in 1958. This document was examined by several other scholars in the preceding decades, including Quentin Quesnell. The letter details how Carpocrates obtained the copy of
997:. As these writers strongly opposed Gnostic doctrine, there is a question of negative bias when using this source. While the various references to the Carpocratians differ in some details, they agree as to the 1054:
lifetime. As a result, the Carpocratians did "all those things which we dare not either speak or hear of" so that when they died, they would not be compelled to incarnate again but would return to God. (
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Irenaeus says that they practised various magical arts as well as leading a licentious life. He also says that they possessed a portrait of Christ, a painting they claimed had been made by
1050:, which was based on the material powers, or by any other morality, which they held was mere human opinion. Irenaeus offers this belief as an explanation of their licentious behaviour. 1167:
and carnal doctrine and, moreover, polluted, mixing with the spotless and holy words utterly shameless lies. From this mixture is drawn off the teaching of the Carpocratians.
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was not divine; but because his soul was "steadfast and pure", he "remembered those things which he had witnessed within the sphere of the unbegotten God" (similar to
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of the sect, a charge commonly levied by pagans against Christians and conversely by Christians against pagans and heretics.
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Pagans and Christians in the Mediterranean World from the Second Century AD to the Conversion of Constantine
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Other references to Carpocrates exist but are likely to be based on the two already cited.
985:. As with many Gnostic sects, the Carpocratians are known only through the writings of the 904: 835: 621: 1382:
The Secret Gospel: The Discovery and Interpretation of the Secret Gospel According to Mark
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The earliest and most vivid account of Carpocrates and his followers comes from
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including an account of the theology and practice of the sect.
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during his lifetime, which they honoured along with images of
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depicts a fictional sect with this belief in his short story "
1207:, both of whom seem to rely on Irenaeus; and also perhaps by 1124: 1070: 1027: 1023: 977:: Καρποκράτης ήταν αλεξανδρινός) was the founder of an early 852: 765: 688: 409: 1171:
The letter mentions and quotes from the previously unknown
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sect from the first half of the 2nd century, known as
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Carpocrates is again mentioned in the controversial
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Irenaeus wrote that the Carpocratians believed that
67:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. 1526:. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 399. 1532: 1404: 1405:Hüller, Stephan; Gullotta, Daniel N. (2017). 951: 27:2nd century Egyptian philosopher and gnostic 1179: 1134:although his sect was primarily located in 1130:According to Clement, Carpocrates was from 958: 944: 127:Learn how and when to remove this message 1313: 1453: 14: 1533: 1466:. Watkins Media Limited. p. 73. 1459: 1379: 1384:. Lower Lake, CA: Dawn Horse Press. 1342:Irenaeus: Against Heresies (Excerpt) 1321:. London, UK: Penguin. p. 427. 65:adding citations to reliable sources 36: 24: 1463:The Secret History of the Gnostics 1110:. Clement quotes extensively from 25: 1557: 1541:2nd-century Christian theologians 1509:Carpocrates and the Carpocratians 1484: 1221:mentioned them in his 1844 book, 1199:Carpocrates is also mentioned by 1100:Carpocrates is also mentioned by 1081:"in the manner of the Gentiles". 1511:(New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia) 754:Gnosticism and the New Testament 313: 41: 1275:Fathers of Christian Gnosticism 52:needs additional citations for 1429: 1398: 1373: 1362: 1353: 1335: 1307: 13: 1: 1300: 1114:which he says was written by 1084:Some early Christian authors 1369:Clement’s Stromata, Book III 1086:opposed representational art 7: 1290:Neoplatonism and Gnosticism 1248: 1004: 900:Neoplatonism and Gnosticism 10: 1562: 1095: 895:Gnosticism in modern times 29: 1460:Smith, Andrew P. (2015). 971:Carpocrates of Alexandria 282: 277:Christian proto-communism 252: 242: 232: 225: 215: 207: 192: 170: 148: 141: 1180:Miscellaneous references 860:Wisdom (personification) 211:Alexandria of Cephalonia 30:Not to be confused with 1523:Encyclopædia Britannica 915:Theosophy (Blavatskian) 1380:Smith, Morton (2005). 1246: 1224:The Concept of Anxiety 1197: 1169: 816:Apocalyptic literature 1359:Lane Fox, pp. 392–93 1347:May 13, 2004, at the 1229: 1192: 1188:Epiphanius of Salamis 1164: 1159:Secret Gospel of Mark 1102:Clement of Alexandria 995:Clement of Alexandria 883:Esoteric Christianity 749:Clementine literature 726:List of Gnostic texts 446:List of Gnostic sects 233:Tradition or movement 1411:Vigiliae Christianae 1285:Marcellina (Gnostic) 1044:were no longer bound 905:Perennial philosophy 531:Christian Gnosticism 152:mid-late 1st century 61:improve this article 1517:"Carpocrates"  1270:Epiphanes (gnostic) 920:Western esotericism 888:Christian theosophy 836:Paul and Gnosticism 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Index

Carpocrations
Harpocrates

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Alexandria
Egypt
Roman Empire
Cephalonia
Epirus
Roman Empire
Gnostic
Cephalonia
Epiphanes
Gnosticism
Christianity
Anamnesis
Antinomianism
Archons
Demiurge
Reincarnation
Christian proto-communism

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