M. David Litwa - Carpocrates, Marcellina, and Epiphanes: Three Early Christian Teachers of Alexandria and Rome

Carpocrates, Marcellina, and Epiphanes

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.

M. David Litwa is Research Fellow in Biblical and Early Christian Studies at the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic University in Melbourne. Litwa is the author of many books, most recently Posthuman Transformation in Ancient Mediterranean Thought , The Evil Creator: Origins of an Early Christian Idea , and Found Christianities: Remaking the World of the Second Century .

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Carpocrates, Marcellina, and Epiphanes

Three Early Christian Teachers of Alexandria and Rome

M. David Litwa

For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Studies-in-the-Early-Christian-World/book-series/SECW

Carpocrates, Marcellina, and Epiphanes

Three Early Christian Teachers of Alexandria and Rome

M. David Litwa

First published 2022
by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2022 M. David Litwa

The right of M. David Litwa to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book

ISBN: 978-1-032-28535-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-28536-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-29729-1 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/b22945

Typeset in Times New Roman
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For Stan Stowers, Harry Attridge, and Jos Verheyden
Models of scholarship

Translations of Greek and Latin texts are my own, unless otherwise noted. In making my translations, I have consulted, and have attempted to improve on, the most recent published translations available.

This book was written during Melbournes painfully long lockdown, and I am grateful to the librarians of my own university (especially Karen Campbell) and those at the Dalton McCaughey Library in Parkville, Victoria.

Here I gratefully acknowledge those who helped me by reading and commenting on portions of this work. Sincere thanks to my colleagues Kylie Crabbe, Michael Theophilos, Stephen Carlson, and Ben Edsall, for reading a draft of . Professor Outi Lehtipuu kindly provided comments on my concluding profile of Marcellina. I feel special gratitude toward Winrich Lhr, who read the entire manuscript and offered comments. Final thanks go to the reviewers, Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski and Dylan Burns, who provided helpful remarks on the Introduction and Conclusion.

Readers should note that small portions of this book adapt passages in my previous volume Found Christianities: Remaking the World of the Second Century CE (London: T&T Clark, 2021). These adaptations are flagged, along with page references, in the notes.

In the Greek and Latin texts:

• Words or letters in angled brackets<>represent editorial editions
• Words or letters in square brackets [ ] are deletions
• Words or letters in parentheses ( ) are faded or effaced in the manuscripts

In the English translations:

• Words or letters in parentheses ( ) fill out the sense of the original text.

Abbreviations of ancient texts and modern works in this volume follow the SBL Handbook of Style, second ed. (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2014). Other abbreviations are as follows: