Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| Chapter XXIII.—Doctrines and practices of Simon Magus and Menander.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Chapter XXIII.—Doctrines and
practices of Simon Magus and Menander.
1. Simon the Samaritan
was that magician of whom Luke, the disciple and follower of the
apostles, says, “But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who
beforetime used magical arts in that city, and led astray the people of
Samaria, declaring that he himself was some great one, to whom they all
gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This is the power of
God, which is called great. And to him they had regard, because that of
long time he had driven them mad by his sorceries.”2934
This Simon, then—who feigned
faith, supposing that the apostles themselves performed their cures by
the art of magic, and not by the power of God; and with respect to their
filling with the Holy Ghost, through the imposition of hands, those that
believed in God through Him who was preached by them, namely, Christ
Jesus—suspecting that even this was done through a kind of
greater knowledge of magic, and offering money to the apostles, thought
he, too, might receive this power of bestowing the Holy Spirit on
whomsoever he would,—was addressed in these words by Peter:
“Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the
gift of God can be purchased with money: thou hast neither part nor lot
in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God; for I
perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of
iniquity.”2935
He, then, not
putting faith in God a whit the more, set himself eagerly to contend
against the apostles, in order that he himself might seem to be a
wonderful being, and applied himself with still greater zeal to the study
of the whole magic art, that he might the better bewilder and overpower
multitudes of men. Such was his procedure in the reign of
Claudius Cæsar, by whom also he is said to have been honoured with a
statue, on account of his
magical power.2936
| 2936 Comp. Just. Mart., Apol., i. 26.
It is generally supposed that Simon Magus was thus confounded with the
Sabine god, Semo Sancus; but see our note, loc. cit. [And mine at
end of the First Apology. Consult Orelli’s Inscriptions
there noted.] | This man, then, was glorified by many as if he
were a god; and he taught that it was himself who appeared among the Jews
as the Son, but descended in Samaria as the Father while he came to other
nations in the character of the Holy Spirit. He represented himself, in a
word, as being the loftiest of all powers, that is, the Being who is the
Father over all, and he allowed himself to be called by whatsoever title
men were pleased to address him.
2. Now this Simon of Samaria, from whom all sorts of
heresies derive their origin, formed his sect out of the following
materials:—Having redeemed from
slavery at Tyre, a city of Phœnicia, a certain woman named Helena, he
was in the habit of carrying her about with him, declaring that this
woman was the first conception of his mind, the mother of all, by whom,
in the beginning, he conceived in his mind [the thought] of forming
angels and archangels. For this Ennœa leaping forth from him, and
comprehending the will of her father, descended to the lower regions [of
space], and generated angels and powers, by whom also he declared this
world was formed. But after she had produced them, she was detained by
them through motives of jealousy, because they were unwilling to be
looked upon as the progeny of any other being. As to himself, they had no
knowledge of him whatever; but his Ennœa was detained by those powers
and angels who had been produced by her. She suffered all kinds of
contumely from them, so that she could not return upwards to her father,
but was even shut up in a human body, and for ages passed in succession
from one female body to another, as from vessel to vessel. She was, for
example, in that Helen on whose account the Trojan war was undertaken;
for whose sake also Stesichorus2937
| 2937 A lyric poet of Sicily, said to have been
dealt with, as stated above, by Castor and Pollux. | was struck
blind, because he had cursed her in his verses, but afterwards, repenting
and writing what are called palinodes, in which he sang her
praise, he was restored to sight. Thus she, passing from body to body,
and suffering insults in every one of them, at last became a common
prostitute; and she it was that was meant by the lost sheep.2938
3. For this purpose, then, he had come that he might
win her first, and free her from slavery, while he conferred salvation
upon men, by making himself known to them. For since the angels ruled the
world ill because each one of them coveted the principal power for
himself, he had come to amend matters, and had descended, transfigured
and assimilated to powers and principalities and angels, so that he might
appear among men to be a man, while yet he was not a man; and that thus
he was thought to have suffered in Judæa, when he had not suffered.
Moreover, the prophets uttered their predictions under the inspiration of
those angels who formed the world; for which reason those who place their
trust in him and Helena no longer regarded them, but, as being free, live
as they please; for men are saved through his grace, and not on account
of their own righteous actions. For such deeds are not righteous in the
nature of things, but by mere accident, just as those angels who made the
world, have thought fit to constitute them, seeking, by means of such
precepts, to bring men into bondage. On this account, he pledged himself
that the world should be dissolved, and that those who are his should be
freed from the rule of them who made the world.
4. Thus, then, the mystic priests belonging to
this sect both lead profligate lives and practise magical arts, each one
to the extent of his ability. They use exorcisms and incantations.
Love-potions, too, and charms, as well as those beings who are called
“Paredri” (familiars) and “Oniropompi”
(dream-senders), and whatever other curious arts can be had recourse to,
are eagerly pressed into their service. They also have an image of Simon
fashioned after the likeness of Jupiter, and another of Helena in the
shape of Minerva; and these they worship. In fine, they have a name
derived from Simon, the author of these most impious doctrines, being
called Simonians; and from them “knowledge, falsely so
called,”2939
received its beginning,
as one may learn even from their own assertions.
5. The successor of
this man was Menander, also a Samaritan by birth, and he, too, was a
perfect adept in the practice of magic. He affirms that the primary Power
continues unknown to all, but that he himself is the person who has been
sent forth from the presence of the invisible beings as a saviour, for
the deliverance of men. The world was made by angels, whom, like Simon,
he maintains to have been produced by Ennœa. He gives, too, as he
affirms, by means of that magic which he teaches, knowledge to this
effect, that one may overcome those very angels that made the world; for
his disciples obtain the resurrection by being baptized into him,
and can die no more, but remain in the possession of immortal youth. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
