At the dawn of the Christian era, amid the spiritual ferment of Samaria and the broader Roman world, Simon Magus emerged as a figure of profound intrigue and theological peril—a sorcerer who dared to cloak himself in divine light, whose legacy would reverberate through the corridors of heresy as the forefather of Gnosticism and the archetype of spiritual imposture. His life, blending history and legend, became the foil through which the early church defined orthodoxy in contrast to the shadows of syncretism, magic, and false gnosis.
Sources and Scholarship
The principal source for the historical Simon Magus is the Book of Acts (Acts 8:9–24), where his encounter with Philip and Peter is recorded with vivid moral clarity. Justin Martyr, himself a native of Samaria, references him in Apologia I, sections 26 and 56. Further elaborations appear in the pseudepigraphical Clementine Homilies and Recognitions, and in the works of Irenaeus (Adversus Haereses I.23), Hippolytus (Philosophumena VI.2–15), and others.
Later historical and theological inquiry into Simon includes Simson’s Leben und Lehre Simon des Magiers (1841), Hilgenfeld’s article Der Magier Simon (1868), and Lipsius’ contribution to Schenkel’s Bibel-Lexikon (Vol. V, pp. 301–321), which presents a critical synthesis of older and contemporary views.
The Enigmatic Figure of Simon
Simon Magus emerges from the pages of Acts as a complex and enigmatic character. Described as astonishing the Samaritans with his sorceries, he had ensnared their imaginations and reverence by claiming to be “the Great Power of God” (ἡ Δύναμις τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ Μεγάλη). According to Justin Martyr, he hailed from the village of Gitthon in Samaria—a detail corroborated by the Homilies, Recognitions, and Hippolytus. This Gitthon, likely the same as the modern Kuryet Jît, lay near Justin’s own birthplace of Flavia Neapolis (ancient Shekhem).
Nevertheless, some scholars have speculated that he may be the same Simon mentioned by Josephus in Antiquities XX.7.2, a Jewish magician from Cyprus employed by the Roman procurator Felix to seduce Drusilla away from her husband, King Azizus of Emesa. This potential conflation remains speculative, though supported by figures such as Neander and Hilgenfeld. It is more probable that Josephus misidentified the Samaritan origin, given Justin’s direct familiarity with the region.
A Baptized Charlatan and the Origins of Simony
Simon’s encounter with the gospel occurs around A.D. 40, when he submitted to baptism under Philip’s ministry. However, his motives proved carnal: when he offered money to receive the power of bestowing the Holy Spirit, Peter sternly rebuked him with apostolic severity. This infamous act gave rise to the term simony, signifying the profane commercialization of spiritual gifts—a sin the Church would confront repeatedly in subsequent centuries.
This episode marks the first documented attempt to merge Christianity with magical syncretism, a pattern that would reappear in myriad forms. Hence, Irenaeus aptly designated Simon the magister and progenitor of all heretics, especially of the Gnostics. Samaria, steeped in a mingling of Jewish and pagan traditions, was fertile ground for such hybridized ideologies. Besides Simon, other contemporaneous Samaritans like Dositheus and Menander also gained reputations as heresiarchs, further testifying to the region’s theological volatility.
Simon in Legend and Polemic
While Acts offers a restrained historical portrait, later centuries embroidered Simon’s life with fantastic narratives—especially among Catholic writers and Ebionite sectarians. In the Clementine literature, Simon becomes the very embodiment of heresy: the false apostle who relentlessly follows Peter, the apostle of truth, from city to city. His consort Helena—once a prostitute in Tyre, now divinized as celestial intelligence—accompanies him as the feminine principle of his counterfeit gnosis.
These dramatic tales portray Simon as a dark mirror to Peter: engaged in public disputations in Caesarea, Antioch, and even Rome, culminating in his final defeat before the Emperor Nero. One tradition claims he simulated resurrection and ascension, only to fail spectacularly and take his own life in despair. Another holds that he attempted to fly but fell fatally at Peter’s prayer. Still another, preserved in the Apostolical Constitutions, describes him being buried alive in a failed imitation of Christ’s resurrection. Such legends, though varied, converge in portraying Simon as the great pretender, vanquished by apostolic truth.
Justin Martyr mentions a statue in Rome purportedly erected to Simon during Claudius’ reign, interpreting it as evidence of his Roman influence. However, a statue discovered in 1574 bore the inscription Semoni Sanco Deo Fidio sacrum, dedicated to a Sabine deity, Semo Sancus. This confusion, likely born from Justin’s unfamiliarity with Roman religious nomenclature, was echoed by Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Eusebius—but notably not by Hippolytus, who lived in Rome and remained silent on the matter.
Simon’s Gnostic Cosmology
The theological system attributed to Simon and his followers, as delineated by Irenaeus and Hippolytus, belongs to the embryonic phase of Gnosticism—more mythological than philosophical, and shot through with crude dualisms. Central to this doctrine is the notion of syzygy, or cosmic pairing: Simon as the active world-spirit, Helena as the passive world-soul. These archetypes represented the divine male and female principles through which creation proceeded.
Their theology was expressed in a book titled “The Great Announcement” (Ἀπόφασις μεγάλη), excerpts of which are preserved in Hippolytus’ Philosophumena. This text expounded upon the “Great Power” and “Great Thought,” through which the cosmos supposedly came into being. Such language and structures foreshadow the more elaborate systems of Valentinus and other later Gnostics.
The Simonians and Their Legacy
The Simonians, a sect that survived into the third century, claimed Simon as their redeemer and elevated him to a place of divine honor. In line with the Cainites, they often embraced the biblical villains—Cain, Korah, and others—as misunderstood or enlightened figures. Their moral code was correspondingly lax, even antinomian, justifying libertinism under the guise of spiritual enlightenment.
Nevertheless, the term “Simonian” was applied rather broadly and loosely by Church Fathers, often encompassing a range of early Gnostic or proto-Gnostic groups. Despite its eventual dissipation, the movement’s influence was immense: it provided the template for future heresies, both in structure and in content. In Simon, we find the Church’s first great shadow, against whom the light of apostolic doctrine burned brighter.
Critical Reflections on Simon and the Acts
Modern historical criticism, particularly from the Tübingen school, has challenged the historicity of Simon’s portrait in Acts. Scholars like Baur, Zeller, and Volkmar interpret the account as an anti-Pauline polemic cloaked in allegory—Simon standing in for Paul as the “heretic” who opposes Peter. Lipsius carried this hypothesis further, suggesting that Simon’s biography is a distorted parody of Paul’s life and doctrine.
Yet this thesis strains credibility. The Book of Acts, traditionally ascribed to Luke, is demonstrably favorable to Paul, portraying him as a divinely chosen instrument and faithful apostle. To suggest that its author embedded a veiled attack against Paul would undermine the entire narrative and its coherence. Thus, even if certain later traditions about Simon are legendary, the foundational account in Acts remains historically credible and theologically significant.
