Editing Carpocrates (section)

==Irenaeus==
The earliest and most vivid account of Carpocrates and his followers comes from [[Irenaeus]] (died 202) in his ''[[On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis|Against Heresies]]''<ref>[http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/carpocra.stm Irenaeus: Against Heresies (Excerpt)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040513115803/http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/carpocra.stm |date=May 13, 2004 }}</ref> including an account of the theology and practice of the sect.

Irenaeus wrote that the Carpocratians believed that [[Jesus]] 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 [[Plato]]'s concept of [[Anamnesis (philosophy)|Anamnesis]]). Because of this, Jesus was able to free himself from the material powers (what other Gnostics call [[archon (Gnosticism)|Archons]], the [[Demiurge]], etc.). Carpocratians believed they themselves could transcend the material realm, and therefore [[Antinomianism|were no longer bound]] by [[613 Commandments|Mosaic law]], 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.

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 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. ([[Jorge Luis Borges|Borges]] depicts a fictional sect with this belief in his short story "[[The Theologians]]".)

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 [[Pontius Pilate]] during his lifetime, which they honoured along with images of [[Plato]], [[Pythagoras]] and [[Aristotle]] "in the manner of the Gentiles".

Some early Christian authors [[Iconoclasm|opposed representational art]], and statues and portraits and sculptures are crude and stylised. According to [[Robin Lane Fox]]: "Only one group of early Christians, the heretical Carpocratians, are known to have owned portraits of Christ".<ref>Lane Fox, pp. 392–93 </ref> 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.{{Fact|date=November 2017}}