4/29/19
Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church (The Complete Eight Volumes in One). Amazon Kindle Edition, 2014.
Volume 2, Ante-Nicene Christianity A.D. 100-325, “Chapter 11. The Heresies of the Ante-Nicene Age” Sections 112-136, Loc. 17655-18757.
§ 130. Carpocrates.
Carpocrates, probably from Alexandria, lived at the time of Hadrian. Schaff finds in his form of Gnosticism that Christ is on a level with other philosophers. Humans, like Jesus, came from a spiritual creation, but Jesus “remembered those things which he had witnessed within the sphere of the unbegotten God (Schaff 2014, Loc. 18525). This allowed him to escape the evil creators of this world. We can be like Jesus if we also despise those angelic creators of the world (Schaff 2014, Loc. 18533). This is apparently done by means of magical arts, potions, and communing with spirits, as well as by living a licentious life.