On Marcellina Prima
1:1 Against Heresies1.25.6.1 Carpocratians mark their own disciples by branding them on the back part of the right ear. And so Marcellina, who came to Rome under Anicetus, since she was of these doctrines, led many to ruin.
1:2 Against Heresies1.25.6.2 They called themselves "gnostics."
1:3 Against Heresies1.25.6.3 And they have certain images, some painted, and some also fashioned from other material, saying that the form of Christ was made by Pilate at that time when Jesus was with men.
1:4 Against Heresies1.25.6.4 And these they crown, and display them alongside images of the philosophers of the world, namely with the image of Pythagoras and Plato, and Aristotle and the rest, and they perform the remaining observance concerning them in like manner as the gentiles do.
On The Demiurge(s)
1:5 Against Heresies1.25.1.1 But Carpocrates and those who follow him say that the world and the things which are in it were made by angels greatly inferior to the unbegotten Father.
1:6 Against Heresies1.25.4.4 The accuser is one of those angels who made the world, and that he was formed for this purpose: to lead the souls of the dead to the judge. Upon judgement, the accuser then delivers souls to another angel, the jailer, who transfers each soul into new bodies appropriate for their sentence;
On Metempsychosis
1:7 Against Heresies1.25.4.4 Carpocratians say the body is "a prison" for the soul.
1:8 Against Heresies1.25.4.4 They affirm that for this reason Jesus spoke the following parable: "While you are with your adversary on the way, give all diligence, that you may be delivered from him, lest he give you up to the judge, and the judge surrender you to the officer, and he cast you into prison. Verily, I say unto you, you shall not go out thence until you pay the very last farthing."
1:9 Against Heresies1.25.4.2 They deem it necessary, therefore, that by means of transmigration from body to body, souls should have experience of every kind of life as well as every kind of action. Unless, indeed, by a single incarnation, one may be able to prevent any need for others, by once for all, and with equal completeness, doing all those things.
1:10 Against Heresies1.25.4.3 It is necessary to insist upon this, lest, on account of some one thing being still wanting to their deliverance, they should be compelled once more to become incarnate.
1:11 Against Heresies1.25.4.5 When nothing is longer wanting to him, then his liberated soul should soar upwards to that God who is above the angels, the makers of the world. In this way also all souls are saved.
On Christology
1:12 Against Heresies1.25.1.2 Carpocratians believe that Jesus was the son of Joseph and Mary, born from sexual relations like the rest of us.
1:13 Against Heresies1.25.1.3 A power descended upon him from heaven, and with this power, he escaped from this world. After evading the angels and remaining a free spirit, he ascended to the Father. And a Carpocratian who emulates Jesus is capable of the same thing.
1:14 Against Heresies1.25.1.4 Jesus, despite having been raised Jewish and mastering The Law, regarded its instruction with contempt.
1:15 Against Heresies1.25.2.3 This is why Carpocratians act without concern for God's judgement: so that very same power could descend upon them, as it did for Jesus.
On Soteriology
1:16 Against Heresies1.25.5.1 I can hardly believe that all the ungodly, unlawful, and forbidden things of which we read in their books are really done among them.
1:17 Against Heresies1.25.5.2 And in their books we read as follows, this is their own explanation [of their views],
1:18 Against Heresies1.25.5.3 ‘We are saved, indeed, by means of faith and love; but all other things, while in their nature indifferent, are reckoned by the opinion of men—some good and some evil, there being nothing really evil by nature.’
1:19 Against Heresies1.25.4.1 So unbridled is their madness, that they declare they have in their power all things which are irreligious and impious, and are at liberty to practise them; for they maintain that things are evil or good, simply in virtue of human opinion.
On Magic
1:20 Against Heresies1.25.3.1 They practise also magical arts and incantations; philters, also, and love-potions; and have recourse to familiar spirits, dream-sending demons, and other abominations, declaring that they possess power to rule over, even now, the princes and formers of this world; and not only them, but also all things that are in it.
1:21 Against Heresies1.25.3.2 These people, like the pagans, were sent by Satan to disgrace the name of the Church—so that outsiders, hearing their teachings and assuming all Christians are alike, would turn from the truth; or seeing their conduct, would condemn us all.
1:22 Against Heresies1.25.3.3 We share nothing "in commonality" with them: neither doctrine, nor morals, nor way of life.
