Let the opportune moment arrive before your words.
Speak when silence would be cowardice, and remain silent when words would be vanity.
It is better for you to be vanquished speaking the truth than to vanquish others with deception.
Blessed is the one who leads in good works, inspiring others to follow.
Wisdom directs the soul to the dwelling place of God.
It is impossible for a faithful nature to be charmed by lying.
Faith does not belong to the fearful-it is the freedom of those who dare to live fully.
A faithful heart knows that the in listening is equal to the Wisdom in speaking.
A pleasure seeker is only useless when they hoard pleasure for themselves. Seek pleasure in ways that uplift others.
Do not speak of God as if you were free, when you still bind yourself to the law.
The ignorance of a student is not their shame, but the failure of their teachers to awaken them.
Those who cause God’s name to be blasphemed have already cut themselves off from divine joy.
A sage acts in harmony with creation, shaping the world through their deeds.
Let the conduct of your life agree with your words spoken before those who hear you.
If a path is laid to enslave you, do not walk it; if a thought ensnares you, let it go.
What you do not want to be done to you, do not do it yourself.
True freedom is to act without fear, for those who walk with are as free as God.
All things are given freely to those who understand that nothing is withheld.
A soul that rejects love flees from God to no avail, for God is universal love—freely giving all things equally to all beings.
That which stifles joy and freedom is the enemy of God.
What you feel inside you, say in your heart: “This is what makes me divine.”
Where your heart is, there also is your Wisdom.
The flesh is not separate from Wisdom but an extension of Her. The body is the instrument through which we experience divine joy.
After honoring God, honor the sage, because they are a servant of God.
Do not reject the body as a burden; it is the temple of the soul. Honor it and direct it with Wisdom.
If a persecutor tries to kill a sage, they do not liberate them—they only reveal their own ignorance. True freedom is in living fully, with nothing forbidden and all things explored.
Fear of death arises from an attachment to limitation. The soul’s journey continues beyond all boundaries, embracing new experiences.
One creates fear sows violence; one who offers love reaps peace.
One who pretends at faith will fall under the weight of their own falsehood, but the one whose heart is true walks freely.
A godly heart makes for a blessed life.
The one who plots harm against another will be the first to be harmed.
Let not someone unthankful cause you to stop performing good works.
When you give, give with joy, for the worth of a gift is not in the giving but in the love that accompanies it.
You will oversee much wealth if you give to the needy willingly.
The body thrives when it is embraced and celebrated, for movement is the soul’s song made visible.
It is better to serve others than to compel others to serve you.
If you assume guardianship of orphans, you will become a parent to many; you will be beloved of God.
Feast with joy, but do not let greed consume your soul. Share, and let the table be full for all.
The body is the soul’s celebration. Do not shame it—share it—and revel in its holiness.
The deeds of the soul are not lost—they accompany it beyond time, bearing witness to the love it has given.
Share Wisdom freely, but let Her be understood through love, not coercion.
Speak of God without fear, but let your life be the greatest testimony.
When you speak of God, do so as though you stand before the divine, for indeed, you always do.
Speak to crowds not with rigid doctrine, but with stories that stir the divine within them. Play, laugh, and let them see visions.
The body may be bound, but the spirit is free. Even under oppression, Wisdom cannot be chained.
Do not fear speaking of God. Speak boldly, but let your words be rooted in love and experience.
To know God is not to worship in fear, but to embrace life in love.
One who harms another cannot know God, for in every person, the divine is present.
The love of humanity is the beginning of godliness.
The one who cares for people, praying for all of them, this is the truth of God.
It is the prerogative of God to save us all; it is, however, the prerogative of the pious to pray that we awaken to salvation now.
A person who walks with God is God among people, and they are the child of God.
Better for a person to possess nothing than to own much while giving nothing to the needy.
Share not only your bread but your joy. A meal given with love is greater than a feast given with obligation.
Those who claim God is absent have only looked in the wrong places. God is revealed in generosity without measure—give until you have nothing left to withhold.”
The Divine lacks nothing, yet delights in our generosity, for giving is the practice of divinity.
A sage is not only learned but embodied. Let be known in words, lived in flesh, and revealed in joy.
Fragments of Ἐπιφανής "On Justice"
Though Καρποκράτης himself left no writings, a fragment survives from his son, Ἐπιφανής, who passed away at age 17. This short text guided our reconstruction of The Roman Carpocratic Church, providing historical grounding to our revived and reimagined theology of divine generosity, universal salvation, and the sacredness of embodiment.
The justice of God is a kind of sharing along with equality. There is equality in the heaven which is stretched out in all directions and contains the entire earth in its circle. The night reveals all the stars equally. The light of the sun, which is the cause of the daytime and the father of light, God pours out from above upon the earth in equal measure to all who have power to see. For all see alike, since here is no distinction between rich and poor, people and governor, stupid and clever, female and male, free men and slaves. Even the irrational animals are not accorded any different treatment; but in just the same way God pours out from above sunlight equally upon all the animals. He establishes his justice to both good and bad by seeing that none is able to get more than his share and to deprive his neighbor, so that he has twice the light his neighbor has.
The Sun causes food to grow for all living beings alike; the universal justice is given to all equally. In this respect there is no difference between the species of oxen and particular oxen, between the species of pigs and particular pigs, between the species of sheep and particular sheep, and so with all the rest. In them universality is manifest in justice. Furthermore all plants after their kind are sown equally in the earth. Common nourishment grows for all beasts which feed on the earth´s produce; to all it is alike. It is regulated by no law, but rather is harmoniously available to all through the gift of him who gave it and commanded it to grow.
And for birth there is no written law; otherwise it would have been transcribed. All beings beget and give birth alike, having received by justice an innate equality. The Creator and father of all with his own justice appointed this, just as he gave equally the eye to all to enable them to see. He did not make a distinction between female and male, rational and irrational, nor between anything else at all; rather he shared out sight equally and universally. It was given to all alike by a single command. As the laws could not punish men who were ignorant of them, they taught man to transgress. For particularity of the laws cut up and destroyed the universal equality of the divine law!
The ideas of Mine and Thine crept in through the laws which cause the earth, money, and even marriage no longer to bring forth fruit of common use. For God made vines for all to use in common, since they do not refuse the sparrow or the thief; and similarly wheat and other fruits. But outlawed sharing and the vestiges of equality generated the thief of domestic animals and fruits. For man God made all things to be common property. He brought the female to be with the male in common and in the same way united all the animals. He thus showed justice to be a universal sharing along with equality. But those who have been born in this way have denied the sharing which is the corollary of their origin and say, "Let him who has taken one woman keep her", whereas all can share her, just as the other animals show us. With view to the permanence of the race, he has implanted in males and females a strong and ardent desire which neither law nor custom nor any other restraint is able to destroy. For it is God´s decree!
Consequently you must understand the law "You shall not desire" as if the lawgiver was joking, to which he added even more comedy, "Your neighbors goods". For he himself gave the desire to sustain the race orders that it is to be restrained, though he restrains it from no other animals. And by the words, "Your neighbor's wife" he says something even more ludicrous, since he forces what should be common property to be treated as private possession.