Carpocrates, Marcellina, and Epiphanes

Three Early Christian Teachers of Alexandria and Rome

M. David Litwa

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000606089
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia antica

Carpocrates, Marcellina, and Epiphanes is the definitive study of the early Christian theologian Carpocrates, his son Epiphanes, and the leader of the Carpocratian movement in Rome, Marcellina.

It contains the first full-length study of and commentary on the fragments of Epiphanes, the earliest reports on Carpocrates and Marcellina, as well as the Epistle to Theodore (containing the so-called Secret Gospel of Mark). Readers also encounter an up-to-date history of research on the Carpocratian movement, and three full profiles of all we can know from the earliest Carpocratian leaders. Written in an accessible style, but based on the most careful historical and linguistic research, this volume is a landmark, helping to redefine the field of early Christian history.

Carpocrates, Marcellina, and Epiphanes is a welcome addition to the libraries of all students of early Christian theology, researchers investigating early Christian diversity, and scholars of Gnostic, Nag Hammadi and related materials.

1 Text, translation, and commentary on Epiphanes, On Justice

DOI: 10.4324/b22945-2

The manuscript tradition

The excerpts from Epiphanes’s On Justice are embedded in Clement of Alexandria’s Stromata 3.2. The text of the Stromata is preserved in the manuscript Laurentianus Pluteus V,3 (eleventh century), which is hereafter labeled “L.” A copy of this manuscript, which does not present significant variants, dates to the sixteenth century and is now in Paris (Suppl. Gr. 250).¹

The edition of the Stromata followed here is the GCS edition of Otto Stählin, Ludwig Früchtel, and Ursula Treu.² I have rejected a few unnecessary emendations and have made minor alterations in the punctuation of the Greek text. The GCS text is also followed, with modifications, in the more recent edition published by Patrick Descourtieux and Alain Le Boulluec.³

I begin with a critical edition and initial translation only of the excerpts from Epiphanes’s On Justice. Afterward, I will present the framing context in Clement’s Stromata before turning to comment on Stromata 3.2 as a whole.

Critical text and translation of Epiphanes, On Justice

Key to the apparatus

• He = D. Heinsius
• Hiller = Eduard Hiller
• Ma = Joseph B. Mayor
• St = O. Stählin
• Sy = Friedrich Sylburg
• Wi = Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Möllendorff

Excerpt 1: Justice as equal sharing, a law both cosmic and divine

• 1 3.2.6.1. ἡ δικαιοσύνη τοῦ θεοῦ κοινωνία τις ἐστίν μετ’ ἰσότητος.
  ἴσος γέ τοι πανταχόθεν ἐκταθεὶς οὐρανὸς κύκλῳ τὴν γῆν περιέχει πᾶσαν, καὶ πάντας ἡ νὺξ ἐπ’ ἴσης ἐπιδείκνυται τοὺς ἀστέρας, τόν τε τῆς ἡμέρας αἴτιον καὶ πατέρα τοῦ φωτὸς ἥλιον ὁ θεὸς ἐξέχεεν ἄνωθεν ἴσον ἐπὶ γῆς ἅπασι τοῖς
• 5 βλέπειν δυναμένοις, οἵ δὲ κοινῇ πάντες βλέπουσιν, 3.2.6.2. ἐπεὶ μὴ διακρίνει πλούσιον ἤ πένητα, δῆμον ἤ ἄρχοντα, ἄφρονάς τε καὶ τοὺς φρονοῦντας, θηλείας ἄρσενας, ἐλευθέρους δούλους· ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ τῶν ἀλόγων παρὰ τοῦτο ποιεῖται τι, πᾶσι δὲ ἐπ’ ἴσης τοῖς ζῷοις κοινὸν αὐτὸν ἐκχέας ἄνωθεν.
• 10 ἀγαθοῖς τε καὶ φαύλοις τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἐμπεδοῖ μηδενὸς δυναμένου πλεῖον ἔχειν, μηδὲ ἀφαιρεῖσθαι τὸν πλησίον, ἵν’ αὐτὸς κἀκείνου τὸ φῶς διπλασίασας ἔχῃ. 3.2.6.3. ἥλιος κοινὰς τροφὰς ζῷοις ἅπασιν ἀνατέλλει, δικαιοσύνης [τε] τῆς κοινῆς ἅπασιν ἐπ’ ἴσης δοθείσης, καὶ εἰς τὰ τοιαῦτα βοῶν γένος ὁμοίως γίνεται ὡς αἱ βόες καὶ συῶν ὡς οἱ σύες καὶ προβάτων ὡς τὰ πρόβατα καὶ τὰ
• 15 λοιπὰ πάντα· 3.2.6.4. δικαιοσύνη γὰρ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀναφαίνεται ἡ κοινότης. ἔπειτα κατὰ κοινότητα πάντα ὁμοίως κατὰ γένος σπείρεται, τροφή τε κοινὴ χαμαὶ νεμομένοις ἀνεῖται πᾶσι τοῖς κτήνεσι καὶ πᾶσιν ἐπ’ ἴσης, οὐδενὶ νόμῳ κρατουμένη, τῇ δὲ παρὰ τοῦ διδόντος κελεύσαντος χορηγίᾳ συμφώνως ἅπασι δικαιοσύνῃ παροῦσα. 3.2.7.1. ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ τὰ τῆς γενέσεως νόμον ἔχει
• 20 γεγραμμένον, μετεγράφη γὰρ ἄν· σπείρουσι δὲ καὶ γεννῶσιν ἐπ’ ἴσης, κοινωνίαν ὑπὸ δικαιοσύνης ἔμφυτον ἔχοντες.
  κοινῇ πᾶσιν ἐπ’ ἴσης ὀφθαλμὸν εἰς τὸ βλέπειν ὁ ποιητής τε καὶ πατὴρ πάντων δικαιοσύνῃ νομοθετήσας τῇ παρ’ αὐτοῦ παρέσχεν, οὐ διακρίνας θήλειαν ἄρρενος, οὐ λογικὸν ἀλόγου, καὶ καθάπαξ οὐδενὸς οὐδέν, ἰσότητι δὲ καὶ
• 25κοινότητι μερίσας τὸ βλέπειν ὁμοίως ἑνὶ κελεύσματι πᾶσι κεχάρισται.
• 6 δῆμον ἤ St: ἤ δήμου L 9 αὐτὸν St: αὑτὸν L 11 κἀκείνου τὸ Wi: τὸ κἀκείνου L 12 ἀνατέλλει Sy, St: ἀνατέλλειν L; [τε] Hiller 18–19 χορηγίᾳ … δικαιοσύνῃ St: χορηγία … δικαιοσύνη L

Translation

• 3.2.6.1. The justice of God is a certain communality joined with equality.
• Heaven, surely, is equally spread out on every side and encompasses the earth in a circle. Night, moreover, equally manifests all the stars. God has poured out the sun from above upon earth equally as cause of the day and father of the light for all who can see. And all see in common, 3.2.6.2. since he (God) does not discriminate a rich person from a poor one, a citizen from a ruler, fools from sages, females, males, free people, slaves (Gal 3:28; Col 3:11). Not even in the case of non-reasoning animals does anything count against this point.
• He (God) has equally poured out (the sun) from above as common to all animals. He confirms his justice for good and evil people; none are able to have more or deprive their neighbor so that one has twice the light of another. 3.2.6.3. The sun brings up common nourishment for all animals, since a common justice is equally bestowed on all. The same applies for the species of cows as for cows, the species of pigs as for pigs, the species of sheep as for sheep, and all the rest. 3.2.6.4. This is because communality is manifest as justice among them.
• Then, on the basis of communality, all are sown according to species. Common food rises from the soil for all cattle who graze, and for all equally. It is not controlled by any law. Rather, it is harmoniously present to all through the abundance of the Giver and Commander by means of justice. 3.2.7.1. Nor is there a law written for matters of reproduction, for it would be copied out. Animals sow their seed and reproduce with equality, having communality inborn at the hands of Justice.
• Upon all in common, the creator and father of all equally bestowed the eye for seeing, legislating with Justice beside him. He did not differentiate female from male (Gal 3:28), rational from irrational—in short, anything from anything else. Rather, with equality and communality, he distributed the ability to see. In the same manner, and with one command, he bestowed it on all.

Excerpt 2: Human laws introduce corruption

• 3.2.7.2. οἱ νόμοι δέ ἀνθρώπων ἀμαθίαν κολάζειν μὴ δυνάμενοι παρανομεῖν ἐδίδαξαν· ἡ γὰρ ἰδιότης τῶν νόμων τὴν κοινωνίαν τοῦ θείου νόμου κατέτεμεν καὶ παρατρώγει, … ‘διὰ νόμου τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἔγνων’· 3.2.7.3. τὸ τε ἐμὸν καὶ τὸ σόν, διὰ τῶν νόμων παρεισελθεῖν, μηκέτι εἰς κοινότητα, κοινά τε γὰρ,
• 5 καρπουμένων μῆτε
• γῆν μήτε κτήματα.
• 3.2.7.4. κοινῇ γὰρ ἅπασιν ἐποίησε τὰς ἀμπέλους, αἵ μή<τε> στρουθὸν μήτε κλέπτην ἀπαρνοῦνται, καὶ τὸν σῖτον οὕτως καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους καρπούς. ἡ δὲ κοινωνία παρανομηθεῖσα καὶ τὰ τῆς ἰσότητος, ἐγέννησε θρεμμάτων καὶ καρπῶν κλέπτην.
• 4 [κοινά τε γὰρ] Ma 6 μή<τε> St: μὴ L

Translation

• 3.2.7.2. But the laws, incapable of punishing human ignorance, taught (people) to act unlawfully. For the individuality of the laws tore apart and chewed up the commonality of divine law … “Through law I have come to know sin” (Rom 7:7). 3.2.7.3. What is mine and yours, crept in through laws (Rom 5:20), when neither earth nor possessions—for they are common—were any longer enjoyed for common use—not even marriage.
• 3.2.7.4. For he (God) made vines for all in common, vines which are denied neither to the sparrow nor to the thief (cf. Matt 6:19–20, 26), along with wheat and other harvested products. When communality was legislated against, along with other matters of equality, it produced the thievery of animals and harvested products (Rom 7:7).

Excerpt 3: Equality in sexual relationships

• 3.2.8.1. κοινῇ τοίνυν ὁ θεὸς ἅπαντα ἀνθρώπῳ ποιήσας καὶ τὸ θῆλυ τῷ ἄρρενι κοινῇ συναγαγὼν καὶ πάνθ’ ὁμοίως τὰ ζῷα κολλήσας τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἀνέφηνεν κοινωνίαν μετ’ ἰσότητος.
• 3.2.8.2. οἵ δὲ γεγονότες οὕτω, τὴν συνάγουσαν κοινωνίαν τὴν γένεσιν αὐτῶν
• 5 ἀπηρνήθησαν καὶ φασιν· ‘ὁ μίαν ἀγόμενος ἐχέτω,’ δυναμένων κοινωνεῖν ἁπάντων, ὥσπερ ἀπέφηνε τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ζῷων.
• 3.2.8.3. τὴν γὰρ ἐπιθυμίαν εὔτονον καὶ σφοδροτέραν ἐνεποίησε τοῖς ἄρρεσιν εἰς τὴν τῶν γενῶν παραμονήν, ἥν οὔτε νόμος οὔτε ἔθος οὔτε ἄλλο <τι> τῶν ὄντων ἀφανίσαι δύναται. θεοῦ γάρ ἐστι δόγμα.
• 5 φασιν Hilg: φησὶν L; ὁ Sy: εἰ L 8 <τι> He

Translation

• 3.2.8.1. Accordingly, God made all things in common for humanity, bringing together female to male in common (Gen 1:27; 2:22), and by uniting all animals in the same way, he declared justice to be communality with equality.
• 3.2.8.2. But though these people are born in this way, they have denied both the communality that joins (couples) together and their own birth. By saying, “Let the man who marries one (woman) have her,” (1 Cor 7:2) even though all people can share in common just as he declared for the rest of the animals.
• For he (God) implanted vibrant and rather forceful desire in males for the persistence of human families, a desire which no law, custom, or anything else can destroy, for it is a decree of God.

Excerpt 4: A criticism of the Mosaic law

• 3.2.9.2. ἔνθεν ὡς γελοῖον εἰρηκότος τοῦ νομοθέτου ῥῆμα τοῦτο ἀκουστέον «οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις,» πρὸς τὸ γελοιότερον εἰπεῖν «τῶν τοῦ πλησίον»· αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν δοὺς ὡς συνέχουσαν τὰ τῆς γενέσεως ταύτην ἀφαιρεῖσθαι κελεύει μηδενὸς αὐτὴν ἀφελῶν ζῷου· τὸ δὲ ‘τῆς τοῦ πλησίον γυναικὸς’ ἰδιότητα τὴν κοινωνίαν ἀναγκάζων ἔτι γελοιότερον εἶπεν.

Translation

• 3.2.9.2. Therefore one must understand the legislator speaking this phrase as something comical: “Do not desire.” It is even more comical to say, “your neighbor’s property” (Exod 20:17/Deut 5:21). For the very one (God) who gave desire to sustain reproduction commands that it be removed, though he has not removed it from any animal. And by his phrase, “your neighbor’s wife” (Exod 20:17/Deut 5:21),...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Sigla and abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 Text, translation, and commentary on Epiphanes, On Justice
• 2 Commentary on the earliest Carpocrates reports
• 3 Carpocratianism in the Epistle to Theodore
• Conclusion: Contextualizing Carpocrates, Epiphanes, and Marcellina: An Attempt at a Profile
• Index