Marcellina (Gnostic)

Marcellina was an early Christian Carpocratian religious leader in the mid-second century AD known primarily from the writings of Irenaeus and Origen. She originated in Alexandria, but moved to Rome during the episcopate of Anicetus ( 157 – 168). She attracted large numbers of followers and founded the Carpocratian sect of Marcellians. Like other Carpocratians, Marcellina and her followers believed in antinomianism, also known as libertinism, the idea that obedience to laws and regulations is unnecessary in order to attain salvation. They believed that Jesus was only a man, but saw him as a model to be emulated, albeit one which a believer was capable of surpassing. Marcellina's community appears to have sought to literally implement the foundational Carpocratian teaching of social egalitarianism. The Marcellians in particular are reported to have branded their disciples on the insides of their right earlobes and of Jesus as well as Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle. Although the Marcellians identified themselves as "gnostics", many modern scholars do not classify them as members of the sect of Gnosticism. Women played prominent roles in many early Christian sects as prophets, teachers, healers, missionaries, and presbyters. Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany were female followers of Jesus who are mentioned in the gospels and were believed to know the "mysteries" of the kingdom of God. Women like Mary and Martha were the explicit role models for Marcellina and her fellow female preachers. A creed that may have been recited at Christian initiation ceremonies is quoted by the apostle Paul in Galatians 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." In the late first century, Marcion of Sinope ( 85 – 160) appointed women as presbyters on an equal basis as men. In the second century, the Valentinians, a Gnostic sect, regarded women as equal to men. The Montanists regarded two prophetesses, Maximilla and Prisca, as the founders of their movement.