EPIPHANIUS, PANARION 26.

4-5
Epiphanius of Salamis (315-403 AD); date of event: 325 AD (?) Panarion which means "Medicine-chest" (also known as Adversus Haereses, "Against Heresies"). Written between 374 and 377 AD.
Written about the Gnostic Borborians or Kod(d)ians (qodda) or Stratiotics or Phibionites or Zacchaeans or Barbelites or Carpocratians Christians. Get up and perform agape with the brother: It appears many Christians were married (thanks to 1 Corinthians 7), but that didnt preclude them from sexual sharing:
Agape and Eros, Anders Nygren, Part II, 1938: Compete Authorized Translation by Philip S. Watson, 1953, p. 309 (entire page), The Eros Type in Gnosticism | A Gnostic Love-Feast:

(The above citing is also at my HIPPOLYTUS OF ROME page): Early Christians apparently showed that they could be both married and have open sex with others. In addition to pagan pressures against it, the problem with open sex in marriage is there will still be lots of divorces caused by desires for the more attractive, because looks would still have precedence on who you would want to marry, unless youre a very strong true / full type of Christian. My diversity in looks idea would

be a much easier solution. An easy solution is much more realistically able to work, than a solution where one has to be strong.
http://www.piney.com/AgapeSummary.html, The Agape or Agapae Pagan and Biblical Background:

"Agape the ruler of sacred sexual rites with a brother. Some versions offered the man's ejaculate to the father and consume it. They also offer menstrul blood and consume it as part of the eucharist." ThePhibionites in Alexandria were a Gnostic sect described by Epiphanius. They gathered at banquets that became ecstatic orgies. Married couples changed partners for dramatic sexual performances. Sperm and menstrual blood were gathered and offered as a gift to God before being consumed as the Body and Blood of Christ. By such erotic communions they sought to regather the elements of the world-soul (psyche) from the material forms into which it had been dispersed through a cosmic tragedy at the beginning of time. The regathering amounted to salvation, for all things would be gathered up into the one glorious body of Christ.
http://www.wnblog.org/VinlandicSoldier, What They Dont Want You To Know About , Radical Nihilism by Richard McCulloch: One Christian gnostic sect, the Phibionites, engaged in agapic orgies as part of their religious rites. http://www.galha.org/ptt/lib/hic/dynes.html, Homosexuality, Intolerance, and Christianity: A Critical Examination of John Boswells Work, Christianity and the Politics of Sex:

Let us now glance at one of the typical gatherings of these libertines, according to a description of a horrified opponent, the Early Christian father Epiphanius. The votaries have gathered for a banquet, but this is no chaste agape feast. In fact it soon turns into an orgy. Since women are held in common, there is no need to restrict oneself to one partner. However you must take care not to deposit the semen in the womb, but instead offer it up in your hands to God, and then eat it. Some sects, again according to Epiphanius, were much given to masturbation; others, such as the Levites, restricted themselves to homosexual relations.
http://www.history.com/shows.do?action=detail&episodeId=391500 (History Channel), Seven Deadly Sins: Lust (documentary, aired 12-29-08):

Entire synopsis of the movie:

Christianity says lust is a sin but the Greek and Roman empires celebrated it. The history of the sin of lust reveals surprising twists--including Gnostic Christian orgies, Puritan anti-fornication laws, and exorcists who battled the demon of lust called Asmodeus. Today scientists believe the sin of lust maybe more genetics than choice... but can they prove it?

Transcript from movie:

The History Channel, 12-29-08, Seven Deadly Sins: Lust (documentary), counter: about 13:49:

One[sic] group of early Christians saw lust very differently. Around 325 A.D., it was said that a small group of devout Christians came together for worship. The service began with ritual disrobing, followed by anointing; then, group massage; and, culminated in a sex act between the priest and priestess. The sect was called the

Carpocratians part of a movement called Gnostic Christianity. Fourth century Bishop Epiphanius described the Gnostic orgy in detail: They fall into a frenzy among themselves, soiled their hands with their secretions, and raising pray stark naked. Theyll say that there were some Gnostics who would have sex with anybody they wanted. They had sex parties. They would consume bodily fluids from one another, and so forth. It seems the mainstream arm of the Christian church saw the lustful cult as a threat to their power, and to their souls. As a result, they fought back: The Gnostic Gospels were destroyed. The groups outlawed; leaving history only with the lurid tales of the anti-Gnostic Christians. (Im assuming this refers to the same instance.)
http://www.metahistory.org/KundaliniForce.php, Metahistory Quest: Beyond the Tyranny of Beliefs:

By some accounts, which are usually condemnatory, Gnostics engaged in ritual orgies that involved the ingestion of sexual fluids as sacramental substances. By far the most scandalous account of this kind comes from Epiphanius (376 - 403 CE), There is no doubt that some Gnostic sects were ascetic and practiced total abstention from sexual intercourse.: The arcane material in the Books of Ieou includes a brief condemnatory outburst against other sects who practice sexual magic. The Gospel of Philip contains the scandalous passage that describes Jesus french-kissing Mary Magdalene. It is also the one text from Nag Hammadi that gives the most explicit description of the sexual orgia, but in symbolic language, or insider jargon, if you will. The text asserts that all harm on earth is due to the conflict between the sexes, but this problem can be overcome by a corporal rite of re-union.(See commentary by the translator, Wesley W. Isenberg, in The Nag Hammadi Library in English, 1990, p. 139ff.) The act of sacramental coupling occurs in a bridal chamber called the nymphion, or perhaps it produces the nymphion. The ritual involves light, and Kundalini is also associated with a soft blaze of milk-white light that produces an electrical surge of ecstasy up the spine. The text explicitly says that the light veils and protects the partners joined in sacred sexual union: The alien powers do not see those who are clothed in the perfect light, and so they are not able to restrain them. By the rite of sacramental union, one is ensheathed in this light. (Gospel of Philip, passage 70)
http://www.enemies.com/html/newtestament/BARB_epiphanius_intro.html, Oral Majority: The Barbelites (12-27-01):

Like the Heaven's Gate cultists in San Diego, the fourth-century Barbelite Christians Unlike the Heaven's Gaters, however, the Barbelites didn't practice celibacy or suck sown poison in an attempt to hitch a ride on a comet; insteadthey held wife-swapping orgies in which they sucked down semen and menses in an effort to thwart the malevolent creator "god" and return to the timeless source of spirit above him.

Seeds of Light: The Gnostic-Tantric Connection

"A common accusation of Epiphanius and other Chruch Fathers against the Gnostics were that they engaged in various sexual practices. Usually these were orgies, in which semen, or the semen and menstrual blood, are held up and eaten.
The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth, John M. Allegro, 1992, pp. 122-123, The Love Feast:

Possibly the earlier eucharistic infanticide claims were just embryos, not babies.
Pp. 131-132:

John M. Allegro was one of the original scholars who worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Gnostic Scriptures: Ancient Wisdom for the New Age , Layton, 1987, p. 206, The Gnostics: According to St. Epiphanius of Salamis, Against Heresies: Chapters 25-26 | Against the Gnostics Also Known As Borborites | III. Practices of the Sect | Promiscuous religious services:

P. 207:

Its a sexual eucharist thing.

P. 206, footnote:

Apparently the Gnostics are married and still practicing the agape feast:
http://books.google.com/books?id=K22xQJbzdUIC&pg=PR5&sig=dxaXa8lZKbxZmGpThn7DEzxPMcg#P PA84,M1, The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis Google Book Result, by Epiphanius, Section II | 1 26. Against Gnostics, or Borborites. Number six, but twenty-six of the series, p. 84, 3.1 3.4:

P. 85, 3.4 4.4:

P. 86, 4.4 5.6:

This infanticide just tells me that I have yet to find the perfect religious group to follow. Im just saying that if we can get free sex supported by our churches, then much more people will become religious; and, if the main tenet is never hurting an innocent person or face Fair Afterlife Punishment, then this will be a much, much better world. Pascha means Easter represents Passover.

P. 87, 5.7 7.2:

P. 88, 7.2 8.4:

P. 89, 8.4 9.8:

If Christ told them to eat semen, then thats just to make it easy for me today to have this open sex support. If things dont become outstanding, then they probably wont get written, and if they dont get written, then I wont have my needed evidence of just the sex outside of marriage part. Like pushing for 365 instances of copulation

sure does help me with my diversity of sex partners teaching. I bet the gay community would like to know about this eating of semen.
P. 90, 9.8 10.8:

P. 91, 10.8 11.5:

P. 92, 11.5 12.2:

Grow ardent for each other sure sounds the same as Jesus love one another.
P. 93, 12.2; 13.1:

Pp. 95-96, 15.3:

Any word, like lust, that has to do with evil sex gets used when the opposition puts down holy sex. The word lust means strong desire / passion, like what causes true monogamy. But, the writer is saying that strong is distributed sex. Its like if one is a glutton and eats all the food in the house, that would be bad for the others who need to eat, but if the food was shared in fairness, then that would be the proper good. Same with sex: when sex is shared, it neither becomes passion for one, nor heartbreak and other problems when it breaks up / divorces. Its that heartbreak, favoritism, and what can become rather boring, as what is in need of improvement; and, a / the slightest sexual desire for everyone, can make this a whole lot friendlier world. If you look in the Table of Contents of the above book The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, starting on page v, youll see that Epiphanius seems to be against a great number of Christian sects.

Other:
http://www.freerepublic.com/~polycarp/, Some history of Christian thought on Birth Control:

375 AD - Epiphanius of Salamis - Medicine Chest Against Heresies: "They [certain Egyptian heretics] exercise genital acts, yet prevent the conceiving of children. Not in order to produce offspring, but to satisfy lust, are they eager for corruption" (26:5:2 ). Like wheres a long dialogue from the other side? Dont tell me our honest surviving church suppressed all those documents.
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/ukraine/231/dionysian/orphism.html, From Orphism to Gnosticism:

Similar Gnostics, such as the Egyptian Stratiotics, who share traits with both Archontics and Ophites, allegedly specialized in a form of ritual Orgiasm, said to combine both Eastern Tantric and Dionysian magico-sexual arts. This occurred at the Agape, or Love-Feast, a drinking party, decadent banquet and passionate sex orgy. A belief in deliberate taboo breaking was also ascribed to sects like this.
http://web.archive.org/web/20101227055653/http://goldenrule.name/Orgy_EpiphaniusPhibionites.htm