Antinomian (which derives from anti, meaning against, and nomos, meaning law) groups embraced a doctrine of unlimited licentiousness in opposition to the rigid ascetic practices of some of the other Gnostic sects. Their doctrine refuted and rejected the ancient Hebrew Mosaic Law that governed the ethical and moral actions of Jews. Basically, antinomians took the idea that just as good works do not bring salvation, neither do evil works prevent it. Once people become Christians, they are sanctified and cannot lose that sanctification.

Carpocratians

The Gnostic Carpocratians are one group of antinomians mentioned by several of the heresiologists for their disregard of human laws and lack of respect for good works. They were thought to be libertine in the extreme and believed that the God of Good secretly was to be found within the human spirit. They believed that humans, in order to free themselves from the trap of material existence, had to go through every possible human experience. They practiced magic and manipulation of the demigods, and had sex with whomever they wanted. Patristic father Tertullian called them fornicators. The Carpocratians believed that if they went through the entire gamut of all of human experience in one lifetime, they would never again have to reincarnate. Action was of little significance, they believed, if individual intent was right. Reincarnation was the Devil's work and his way of keeping humans in bondage. Human fate dictated the imprisoning of the immortal spirit and it was only through the teachings of beings like Jesus and Carpocrates that humans could find their way to their divine home again.

Carpocrates did not give much credence to the idea that God would impregnate the Virgin Mary or that Jesus would enter the world through virgin birth. He declared what he believed was obvious, that Jesus was Joseph's son. Carpocrates saw God manifested in the Greek philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, and Pythagoras. He held Jesus in high esteem and saw him as a man of purity and godliness, qualities Carpocrates attributed to the divine wisdom Jesus possessed. Carpocratians believed that Jesus remembered his bodiless soul in the divine realm of the Unbegotten from which he came. Salvation for Carpocratians was not through Jesus but by becoming a Jesus themselves, remembering their true home as Jesus did.

Much of what is known about the Carpocratians today comes from those who opposed the sect's beliefs, including Clement of Alexandria and Irenaeus of Lyons, the latter writing in Against Heresies. Both polemicized against them. Allegedly, the Carpocratians possessed two items of interest to the church and also to modern scholars: a painting supposedly of Jesus by Pilate and a copy of the Secret Gospel of Mark. Patristic father Clement accused Carpocrates of stealing the Gospel from the library in the Alexandrian church and then manipulating its text to suit his own “carnal” teachings. As noted in a previous chapter, the Secret Gospel of Mark has only been known about since 1958 through a mention in a letter by early church father Clement that was discovered by scholar Morton Smith.

Simonians

Simon Magus, a magician, was the founder of the Gnostic sect known as the Simonians. Early Christians took note of his ideas at variance with orthodox beliefs. Several patristic fathers, including Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Hippolytus, and Clement, excoriated him as being a heretic, and, in fact, called him the patriarch of the heretics. However, Simon's followers believed he was God incarnate, perhaps because he portrayed himself as a kind of divine emanation. He had a reputation as a great sorcerer. He once offered money to purchase the Holy Spirit from the Apostles. (This is the origin of the term “simony,” which is the buying or selling of sacred objects.)

Simonism blended paganism with Greek and Babylonian religious elements and practices and syncretized them into Christianity. Simon was a contemporary of Peter and Paul and was baptized by Philip, so had intimate contact with the earliest versions of Christianity. He attempted to set up a universal religion, calling it Christianity because he was a Christian. Simon and his cult represented a major challenge for the Apostles and early church orthodox fathers because his brand of Christianity was greatly at odds with the teachings of the Apostles. They and generations of patristic fathers after them would work to discredit Simon and eliminate his cult as a wild offshoot.

Simonians' theological view of good versus evil asserted that nothing in and of itself was necessarily good or bad. Simonians believed that to be blessed in the world after death was to have the grace of Simon (as the god Zeus) and his female counterpart Helena (Athene) imparted to them. The Simonians as a sect thrived in Syria, and also in parts of Asia Minor and Rome. At least two strong groups grew out of Simonism — Dositheans and Menandrians. Dositheans followed Dositheus, the Samaritan teacher of Simon Magus. He did not believe in Simon's doctrine of rejecting the Hebrew scriptures. Dositheus claimed to be sent by God and was considered by his followers to be a great prophet. Menander asserted that the architects or angels sent by Ennoia (the Divine Mind) created the material world. Salvation of Menandrians came through baptism (by Menander) and the perfection of the art of magic.

According to one story, Simon supposedly could levitate and fly at will. Flying, inevitably became the means for meeting his death. He soared in the air while performing in a stunt to prove to the Emperor Claudius that he was a god. While he was still airborne, the Apostles Peter and Paul prayed for his flying to stop. Simon fell to his death. The event became immortalized in the painting of an altarpiece for the Compagnia di San Marco in the mid-fifteenth century.