The Marcionites | WYA

That in the early 2nd century A.D., there was a Christian sect known as the Marcionites? They were Docetic ( they disbelieved in Christ's humanity). According to their branch of religious philosophy, material/physical matter was evil.. while spirit alone, was good/holy/sacrosanct. If Jesus was the Christ, He could NEVER therefore have possessed a physical body. He had only appeared to.

Obviously, then, the birth, crucifixion, and death of Christ...were fictitious, or badly misconstrued by the orthodox Church...and its teachings. They also opined that the God of the Old Testament, was an inferior, whimsical, vengeful and evil deity. completely undeserving of worship. Marcion, their founder, revamped the Scriptures, leaving out the Old Testament completely, and portions of the New Testament...such as the Pauline pastoral letters, and sections that alluded to the humanity of Jesus Christ. They were ascetics and consequently, neither married nor bore offspring. They believed in reincarnation.and strangely enough, partook of the Lord's Supper, though they substituted water in place of the customary emblem of wine. This practice of water for wine...came to be known as Aquarianism. They permitted women to preside in positions of leadership, which was quite contrary to the orthodox churches rules/regulations. They were antagonistic toward the Jews ( some opine that it was because they…Jews...were the chosen people of the Demiurge or evil, inferior God.. while others cite as reason, the rebellious tendency of the Jews toward the Romans, which brought with it deadly reprisals and deportations).

The word Christology, means quite simply. what is known about Christ.

The Marcionites had what is termed, a Docetic Christology. This may explain why they endorsed asceticism. If Christ had no physical body...then pleasuring the fleshly appetites...would most probably have been deemed 'utter vanity'. When, Marcion was excommunicated from the Church in 144A.D. neither the Church leaders at the time...nor Marcion himself, probably ever imagined what a great rival body had just been spawned. Marcion's church and followers rivaled the Great Church until the 5th century.