Anti-Carpocratian symbolism in the Arrest of Jesus

Ancient authors, contemporary with Clement, stated that the Carpocratians marked their members with a scar or tattoo on the ear.

Irenaeus:

Others of them employ outward marks, branding their disciples inside the lobe of the right ear. (Against Heresies, 1.25.6)

Hippolytus:

Certain, likewise, of these (heretics) brand their own disciples in the back parts of the lobe of the right ear. (Refutation of All Heresies, 7.32.8(7.20))

Irenaeus' claim is also repeated in Epiphanius, two centuries later, but Epiphanius appears to be copying Irenaeus almost verbatim. (The same could be said, btw, of Epiphanius' information about Carpocratian homosexuality.)

Now note the incident during the arrest of Jesus, where the high priest's servant's ear is cut off (Mt. 26:51, Mk 14:47, Lk 22:50, Jn 18:10).

This seems plausibly related to Marcionite practices of ear-branding. I find the incident to be a narrative problem in the passion narrative; exegetes usually interpret it as an example of pacifism by Jesus, and indeed that does seem to be the lesson of the text. But is that really all the text represents? We have the detail of the severed ear to explain as well, but no really good text-critical explanation has been provided for it. Jesus doesn't seem to be protesting violence in general, but rather a specific kind of violence.

So, if it was originally intended to represent attacks on Carpocratians, with their ear-branding practices, that would make a lot of sense. In the original version (wherever it was written), a disciple of Jesus cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant--symbolically representing the proto-orthodox's hatred of the Carpocratians. Hence, the high priest and his men represent the gnostic opponents of the proto-orthodox church. This would be an interesting insight into the symbolic uses of the Passion Narrative in the early church.

And notice a detail: both Luke and John add that it was the servant's right ear that was cut off. It just so happens that the Carpocratians branded the right ear! This can hardly be coincidence. So, the best evidence for anti-Carpocratian symbolism is in Luke and John.

But, I admit, not Matthew and Mark. If the Luke-John version of the capture of Jesus goes out of its way to drive home the anti-Carpocratian message...what about the Matthew-Mark version? Doesn't this seem to cast a bit of doubt on their anti-Carpocratian symbolism? Why would Luke and John need to add this extra detail, if the symbolism were already there?

On the other hand, maybe canonical Mark simply dropped the detail, thinking it was superfluous, and Matthew copied Mark's version.

I'm not here to sort out this particular synoptic issue, but I do make the claim that the version in Luke and John, at least (and, possibly, all four gospels), is anti-Carpocratian symbolism. I'd be intrigued to learn if anyone else has noticed.

While I'm at it, this is a passage that Epiphanius singles out in Panarion as "falsified". It remains unclear what Epiphanius means when he calls a Marcionite passage "falsified"--absent? replaced?--but it's intriguing that the Marcionite version is different in some significant way from the Lukan one.