Simon Magus (ca. 67 C.E.)

Founder of the heterodox sect of Simonites, often identified with the sorcerer mentioned in the New Testament (Acts 8) who was said to have bewitched the people of Samaria and made them believe that he was possessed of divine power.

He was born in Samaria or Cyprus and was among the number of Samaritans who came to Philip for baptism after hearing him preach. Later, when Peter and John laid their hands on the new converts, so that they received the Holy Ghost, Simon offered the disciples money to procure a similar power. But Peter sternly rebuked him for seeking to buy the gift of God with money (a practice afterward called simony) and bade him pray that his evil thought might be forgiven, whereupon the already repentant Simon said, "Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me."

Though we are not told in detail the sorceries with which Simon was supposed to have bewitched the people of Samaria, certain early ecclesiastical writers have left a record of his doings. They claimed that he could make himself invisible when he pleased, assume the appearance of another person or of one of the lower animals, pass unharmed through fire, cause statues to come alive, make furniture move without any visible means of imparting motion, and perform many other miracles. In explanation of his desire to possess the apostles' power of working miracles, he is said to have affirmed that his sorceries took a great deal of time and trouble to perform, owing to the necessity for a multitude of magical rites and incantations, while the miracles of the apostles were accomplished easily and successfully by the mere utterance of a few words.

The adept from whom Simon was supposed to have learned the art of magic was Dositheus, who pretended to be the Messiah foretold by the prophets and who was contemporary with Christ. From this person Simon was said to have acquired a great store of occult erudition, and owed his power chiefly to the hysterical conditions into which he was capable of throwing himself. Through these, he was able to make himself look either old or young, returning at will to childhood or old age.

It seems that he had not been initiated into transcendental magic, but was merely consumed by a thirst for power over humanity and the mysteries of nature. Repulsed by the apostles, he is said to have undertaken pilgrimages, like them, in which he permitted himself to be worshiped by the mob. He declared that he himself was the manifestation of the Splendor of God, and that Helena, his Greek slave, was its reflection. Thus he imitated Christianity in the reverse sense, affirmed the eternal reign of evil and revolt, and was, in fact, an antichrist.

After a while, according to popular legend, he went to Rome, where he appeared before the Emperor Nero. He is said to have been decapitated by him; however, his head returned to his shoulders, and he was instituted by the tyrant as court sorcerer. Legend also states that St. Peter, alarmed at the spread of the doctrine of Simon in Rome, hurried there to combat it. When Nero was made aware of Peter's arrival, he imagined Peter to be a rival sorcerer and resolved to bring Simon and Peter together for his amusement.

An account ascribed to St. Clement states that upon the arrival of Peter, Simon flew gracefully through a window into the outside air. The apostle made a vehement prayer, whereupon the magician, with a loud cry, crashed to the earth and broke both his legs. Nero, greatly annoyed, immediately imprisoned the saint, and it is related that Simon died of his fall. He had, however, founded a distinct school, headed by Merrander, that promised immortality of soul and body to its followers.

In the mid-nineteenth century, a sect existed in France and the United States that credited the principles of this magician.

French scholar Jacques Lacarrière viewed Simon Magus as one of the precursors of Gnosticism.

Sources:

Lacarrière, Jacques. The Gnostics. London: Owen, 1977. Reprint, San Francisco: City Lights, 1989.

Simon Magus [L, sorcerer]. Character of biblical origin whose persona attracted a huge body of medieval legends, many of which entered Celtic literature; his Irish name is Símón Druí. In the Acts of the Apostles 8: 9–24 he is charged with trafficking in sacred things; thus the ecclesiastical crime of simony. More often he is seen as a disputant of Sts Peter and Paul, promising that he has the power to fly up to heaven on his own. The encyclopaedist Isidore of Seville (c.560–636) recorded that Simon had died during the reign of Emperor Nero (AD 54–68). In Irish tradition Simon Magus is much associated with Mug Ruith, whose name may derive from his. Together they construct the fabulous flying-machine roth rámach [Ir., rowing wheel], later an object of fear. Simon's three sons rape Tlachtga, Mug Ruith's daughter; her delivery of triplets on a hill in Co. Meath prompted the annual fair [Ir. óenach] there.

Simon Magus. According to Acts 8: 9–24, a sorcerer, who practised in Samaria, was converted to Christianity and baptized; he was rebuked by St Peter for trying to obtain spiritual powers for money (hence the term ‘simony’). The Fathers of the 2nd-3rd cent. who opposed Gnosticism regarded Simon as its founder. St Hippolytus ascribes to him a short treatise, the Apophasis Megale. There is, however, dispute about Simon Magus' relationship to Gnosticism and, in particular, to the 2nd cent. sect of Simonians to whom, rather than to Simon himself, the Apophasis is probably to be ascribed.

Simon Magus A magician who held people spellbound in Samaria (Acts 8: 9 ff.). He was baptized by Philip (Acts 8: 13), after which he in turn was no less astonished by Philip's signs and wonders, and was filled with such envy that when Peter arrived Simon sought to obtain a similar power by a financial deal, which Peter repudiated (Acts 8: 20). Despite his repentance he acquired a bad reputation. He was regarded as a Gnostic leader and the offence of ‘simony’ is named from him.

Simon Magus. An opponent of St Peter, later identified as a heresiarch (see HERESY). According to Acts 8. 9–24 he was a sorcerer known as ‘that Power of God which is called Great’, who practised in Samaria. His career is elaborated in the Clementine Homilies and Recognitions, and also in other legends from which, perhaps, that of Faust evolved.

Simon Magus , Samaritan sorcerer who attempted to buy spiritual power from the apostles. From this comes the term simony . He is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. He was said to have founded a Gnostic sect.