The answer
The Gnostics believed that there is a dualism in the creation. They believed that the creator of spirits is the good god, while the creator of physical matter — especially the body — is an evil god. This impelled them to discard the stories of the birth of Christ and His ascension, for they believed that He came to save humanity from the evil physical body. The Holy Bible affirms the story of the ascension (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9–11). Some scholars — influenced by Gnosticism — claim that the story of the ascension is merely spiritual, for the Savior has no body. That is why the Fathers of the early Church felt it important to insist upon the incarnation of the Word, the resurrection of His body, and His physical ascension.
Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty