Simon Magus (XVIII)

XVIII. SIMON Magus, or the Sorcerer; he was, as they say,¹ of the Village of Gitton, in the Country of Samaria. St. Philip the Deacon coming to preach at Samaria,² converted several Persons there, and among others this Simon, who believed and was baptized. He seeing the Miracles perform’d by St. Philip, was in the utmost Amazement. The Apostles St. Peter and St. John then coming to Samaria, to lay on their Hands, and communicate the Holy Ghost to such as had been baptized by St. Philip; Simon was full of Admiration, upon seeing the wonderful Effect of this Imposition of Hands, and offer’d Money to the Apostles, saying; Give me also this Power, that on whomsoever I lay Hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said to him in great Indignation; Thy Money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the Gift of God may be purchased with Money. Thou hast neither Part nor Lot in this Matter, for thy Heart is not right in the Sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy Wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine Heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive thou art in the Gall of Bitterness, and in the Bond of Iniquity. Simon made answer; Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.

Acts viii. 9, 10, 11.St. Luke adds, that Simon had addicted himself to the Use of Magick Arts before St. Philip came to Samaria, and that by his Impostures and Enchantments he had seduced the People of this City, and would fain pass for some extraordinary Person, so that they all follow’d him from the Highest to the Lowest, saying among themselves; This Man is the great Power of God. But after St. Peter had reproved him; and had rejected with Horrour the Proposal he made to him, of selling the Power of imparting the Holy Ghost; Simon fell into much greater Errors and Abominations, applying himself to Magick more than ever, taking Irenæ. l. 1. c. 20.Pride in withstanding the Apostles, and infecting a great Number of Persons with his impious Errors. For this Purpose he left Samaria,³ and travell’d thro’ several Provinces, seeking out such Places where the Gospel had not been yet preached, that he might prejudice the Minds of Men against it.

When he was at Tyre in Phenicia, a he there bought a publick Prostitute call’d Selene or Helene, and carry’d her every-where along with him, committing all sorts of Crimes in secret with her. He pretended this was the Hellen who had been the Occasion of the Trojan War. Having run through several Provinces, and made himself admired by a vast Number of Persons, for his false Miracles and Impostures; he quitted the Eastern Parts of the World, and came to Rome in the Time of the Emperor Claudius, about the Year of Christ 41. ‘Tis said⁴ he was honour’d as a Deity by the Romans, and by the Senate itself, who decreed a Statue to be erected for him in the Isle of the Tyber, with this Inscription; To Simon the holy God.⁵ This Fact however is disputed by several able Criticks, who think Justin mistook a Statue dedicated to Semo Sanctus, a Pagan Deity, for one erected to Simon Magus. And indeed within this hundred and twenty-five Years there has been found a Statue in the Isle of Tyber, with this Inscription, nearly approaching to that mention’d by Justin. Semoni Sanco Deo Fideo Sacrum Sext. Pompeius Sp. F. Mutianus —— donum dedit. We shall not here enter upon a Scrutiny into this Difficulty. The Reader may peruse those that have expresly treated on it; as Baronius, ann. 44. . 55. Salmasius, Notes upon Spartian, p. 39. F. Halloix in his Life of Justin, M. du Pin, Mr. de Tillemont, Not. 1. upon Simon Magus, t. 2. p. 521, 522, &c.

When St. Peter came to Rome,⁶ some time after the Arrival of Simon Magus, he soon reversed all that this Impostor had been doing there. Yet Simon however did not quit this great City, where there was so much Room for spreading his Errors; and under the Reign of Nero, he again acquired a great Reputation by his Inchantments. He pretended to prove, that he was the Christ,⁷ and, as the Son of God, that he could ascend into Heaven: And in Reality, he caus’d himself to be rais’d into the Air in a fiery Chariot, by the Assistance of two Demons, having recourse to the Power of magical Inchantments. But St. Peter and St. Paul at the same time betaking themselves to Prayer, the Impostor was deserted by his Demons, fell down upon the Ground, and broke his Legs. And being carry’d to Brindes, for very Grief and Shame, he threw himself headlong Dio Chrysost. orat. 21.from the Top of the House where he lodg’d. ‘Tis reported, he had this Fall in the Presence of Nero; and hither is referr’d what is said by Dio Chrysostomus, that Nero kept a long while at his Court a Man that pretended to fly in the Air: And also Suetonius, l. 6. c. 12.what is said by Suetonius, that in the Publick Games, a Man undertook to fly in the Air, in the Presence of Nero; but at his first Flight he fell down upon the Ground with such Violence, that his Blood spurted up to the Gallery where the Emperor was sitting. He died, probably, in the 65th Year of the Common Era.

Acts viii. 10. Irenæ. l. 1. c. 20.As to the Heresies of Simon, besides those which are imputed to him in the Acts, wherein he asserts himself to be the great Power of God, and where he thought the Gifts of the Holy Ghost were venal, and to be purchased with Money; the Fathers accuse him of pretending to be the great Power of God, and that he came down as the Father in respect of the Samaritans, as the Son in respect of the Jews, and as the Holy Ghost in respect of all other Nations: but that it was indifferent which of these Names he went by. St. Hieron. in Mat. xxiv.Jerom quotes these blasphemous Expressions out of one of his Books; I am the Word of God, I am the Beauty of God, I am the Comforter, I am the Almighty, I am the whole Essence of God. H was the Inventer of the Eons⁸, which were as so many Persons, of whom they composed their fantastical Deity. His Hellen⁹ he call’d the first Intelligence, the Mother of all Things; he sometimes gave her the Name of the Holy Ghost, or of Prunica, or Minerva: He said, that by this first Intelligence he had at first a Design of creating the Angels; but that she knowing this Will of her Father, she had descended lower, and had produced the Angels, and the other spiritual Powers, to whom she had given no Knowledge of her Father: That these Angels and Powers had afterwards made Angels and Men: That Hellen had passed successively into the Bodies of Women, and among others, into that of Hellen the Wife of Menelaus, who was the Occasion of the War of Troy; and that at last she had descended into the Body of this Hellen of Tyre, whom he had with him.

He did not acknowledge Jesus Christ as Son of God, but look’d upon him as a Rival, and pretended himself to be the Christ. He believed neither Salvation, nor the Resurrection of the Body, but barely a Resurrection of the Soul. He taught, that Men need not trouble themselves¹⁰Jos. Antiq. l. 17. c. 12. p. 607, 608.about good Works, for all Actions were indifferent of themselves; and that the Distinction of Actions into good and evil, was only introduced by the Angels, to bring Men into Subjection to them. He rejected the Law of Moses, and said, he was come to abolish it. He ascribed all the Old Testament to the Angels; and tho’ he every-where declared himself an Enemy to the Angels, he paid them an idolatrous Worship, pretending, Men could not be saved, without offering to the Supreme Father abominable Sacrifices, by the Means of the Principalities that he placed in each Heaven. He offer’d them his Sacrifices, not to obtain any Assistance from them, but to prevail with them that they might not oppose Men. Simon form’d a Sect of Hereticks, which were call’d Simonians, of whom we shall speak presently. Concerning Simon, such Authors may be read as have treated about Hereticks, particularly M. de Tillemont, Hist. Eccl. t. 2. . 5. p. 37, &c.

Read this article in its place on the printed pages