a branch of the ancient Gnostics, so called from Carpocrater, who in the second century revived and improved upon the errors of Simon Magus, Menander, Saturninus, and other Gnostics. He owned, with them, one sole principle and father of all things, whose name as well as nature was unknown. The world, he taught, was created by angels, vastly inferior to the first principle. He opposed the divinity of Jesus Christ; making him a mere man, begotten carnally on the body of Mary by Joseph, though possessed of uncommon gifts which set him above other creatures. He inculcated a community of women; and taught, that the soul could not be purified, till it had committed all kinds of abominations, making that a necessary condition of perfection.