Carpocratian
Gnostic sect
- Areas Of Involvement:
- gnosticism
Carpocratian, follower of Carpocrates, a 2nd-century Christian Gnostic, i.e., a religious dualist who believed that matter was evil and the spirit good and that salvation was gained through esoteric knowledge, or gnosis. The sect flourished in Alexandria. Carpocratians revered Jesus not as a redeemer but as an ordinary man whose uniqueness flowed from the fact that his soul had not forgotten that its origin and true home was within the sphere of the unknown perfect God. In other words, Jesus was to them a fellow Gnostic and as such a model for imitation. Carpocratians completely rejected the created world by ...(100 of 258 words)