Simon Magus | |
|---|---|
Σίμων ὁ μάγος | |
.jpg) Relief of Simon Magus at the gate of the Basilica of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse. | |
| Title | Magus |
| Personal | |
| Religion | Gnosticism |
| Nationality | Samaritan |
| Known for | Founder of Gnosticism |
| Organization | |
| Founder of | Simonianism |
 |
Simon Magus (Greek Σίμων ὁ μάγος, Latin: Simon Magus), also known as Simon the Sorcerer or Simon the Magician, was a religious figure whose confrontation with Peter is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.[1] The act of simony, or paying for position, is named after Simon, who tried to buy his way into the power of the Apostles.
According to Acts, Simon was a Samaritan magus or religious figure of the 1st century AD and a convert to Christianity, baptised by Philip the Evangelist. Simon later clashed with Peter. Accounts of Simon by writers of the second century exist, but are not considered verifiable.[2][3] Surviving traditions about Simon appear in orthodox texts, such as those of Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius, where he is often described as the founder of Gnosticism,[4][5][6][7] which has been accepted by some modern scholars, [8][9] while others reject claims that he was a Gnostic, maintaining that he was merely considered to be one by the Church Fathers.[10][11]
Justin, who was himself a 2nd-century native of Samaria, wrote that nearly all the Samaritans in his time were adherents of a certain Simon of Gitta, a village not far from Flavia Neapolis. Irenaeus believed him to have been the founder of the sect of the Simonians.[12][13][14][15] Hippolytus quotes from a work he attributes to Simon or his followers the Simonians, Apophasis Megale, or Great Declaration. According to the early church heresiologists, Simon is also supposed to have written several lost treatises, two of which bear the titles The Four Quarters of the World and The Sermons of the Refuter.
In apocryphal works including the Acts of Peter, Pseudo-Clementines, and the Epistle of the Apostles, Simon also appears as a formidable sorcerer with the ability to levitate and fly at will. He is sometimes referred to as "the Bad Samaritan" due to his malevolent character.[16] The Apostolic Constitutions also accuses him of "lawlessness" (antinomianism).[17]
- ^ 8:9–24
- ^ Knight, Kevin (2012). "Simon Magus". newadvent.org. Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
it is difficult or rather impossible to extract from them any historical fact the details of which are established with certainty
- ^ "Simon Magus | Samarian magician". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
- ^ "CHURCH FATHERS: Against Heresies, I.23 (St. Irenaeus)". www.newadvent.org.
- ^ Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea (5 May 1894). "The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus, Bishop of Caesarea, in Palestine". George Bell & Sons – via Google Books.
- ^ Hippolytus: Refutation of All Heresies can be found in Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers (1919; reprint ed., Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1971), 5:74–81, for the part we need about Simon.
- ^ Ferreiro, Alberto (5 May 2018). Simon Magus in Patristic, Medieval And Early Modern Traditions. Brill. ISBN 978-9004144958 – via Google Books.
- ^ Rudolph 1977, pp. 312 ff.
- ^ Haar 2003, p. 306.
- ^ Antonia Tripolitis Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2002 ISBN 9780802849137 p. 125
- ^ Alberto Ferreiro Simon Magus in Patristic, Medieval And Early Modern Traditions BRILL, 2005 p. 53
- ^ "Catholic Encyclopedia: Simon Magus". www.newadvent.org.
- ^ "Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Justin Martyr". www.newadvent.org.
- ^ Dictionary of Christian Biography, Vol. 4, p. 682.
- ^ Hastings' Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, Vol. 2, p. 496.
- ^ Mark J. Edwards "Portraits: Biographical Representation in the Greek and Latin Literature of the Roman Empire" Clarendon Press, Oxford (1997) page 69
- ^ Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, vi. § 4, 16.