Docetæ

Docetæ (from the Gr. doketō, 'I appear or seem') was the name given in the early church to those heretics who held that the human nature of Jesus Christ was a semblance and not a reality. The docetic tendency originates in the oriental and Alexandrian notion that matter is as such imperfect and impure; and the Gnostic and Manichæan heretics found it impossible to conceive the essential union of the divine nature with a body composed of matter. The difficulty was got over in one of three ways: the body of Christ was either considered a real earthly body, but not belonging essentially to his nature, and only assumed for a time; or it was declared to be a mere appearance or illusion (as by Marcion, the Ophites, the Manicheans); or, finally, it was believed to be a heavenly body, composed of ethereal substance, though having the appearance of being material (as by Basilides, Bardesanes, Tatian, Valentine). Clement of Alexandria and Origen are most free from traces of Docetism; the Priscillianists and Bogomiles may be reckoned amongst the Docete. See GNOSTICISM, and the works on the History of Dogma.