Docetism

Deriving its name from the Greek word dokeein, meaning 'to seem,' docetism was a heretical tendency rather than a clearly formulated doctrine often found in the Church in the 2nd Cent which considered that Jesus only appeared to have suffered on the cross. Some forms of docetism suggested that Jesus miraculously escaped death on the cross by his place being substituted by, e.g., Judas Ischariot or Simon of Cyrene, a legend still propagated by some Muslim sects.