SIMON MAGUS. A character who figures briefly in the New Testament, and at greater length in the writings of the early Christian Fathers. According to the New Testament ac count (Acts viii. 5-24). he was a sorcerer of much repute in the city of Samaria and was con verted by the preaching of Philip. When the gift of the Holy Spirit was conferred upon the con verts in Samaria, through the imposition of hands by Peter and John, Simon sought to pur chase from Peter, by the offer of money. a like power. Peter rebuked him sternly and charged him to repent; whereupon Simon displayed a penitent temper, and the narrative closes with his petition for the Apostle's prayer in his behalf. With Justin Martyr the legend of Simon Magus takes its first form outside the New Testament. He says that Simon Slagus was a Samaritan of Gitta : that lie went to Rome. worked miracles there by magic, and became so famous that a statue was erected in his honor, inscribed. "To Simon the Holy God." He was honored as God, above all other power and authority. He was the originator of heresy and the source from which all subsequent error was derived. The details of the later elaboration of the legend are often grotesque and the philosophy at the basis of the heresies is obscure or absurd. The centre of interest is the conflict between Simon Slagus and Peter in Rome. The climax is reached when Simon asserts that he will take his flight to God at a certain time before them all All Rome is gathered to witness the scene. Simon appears
flying over the city. Peter then prays and Simon falls to the ground with his leg shattered. The people stone the impostor and follow Peter. The legend of Simon Magus received fresh attention when the German historian Baur asserted that Siinon was not an historical character, hut a name of reproach invented for Saint Paul, and that the conflict between Sinon Peter and Simon Magus represented in the legends was in reality the original conflict between Peter and Paul. The theory has been tint elaborately by Baur, Lipsius, and Ililgenfeld, but is not main tained widely at present.
For the most valuable early reference to Simon Magus, consult Ensebius, Church History, ii. 13, 14. For the later elaborations, consult the Apostolic Constitutions, vi. 7-9; the (Wm( ntine lio-mities, where note especially ii. 22-26, the dis cussions with Peter in the homilies following, and xvii.: and the Jets of Peter and Paul f in the Ante-Nicene Christian Library, vols. xvi. and xvii., Edinburgh. L870). The articles "Simon in the Hastings Bible Dictionary (by Ileadlain) and the Eneyelopaqia Bibliea (by Schmiedel) represent the opposing points of view mentioned above.