Simon Magus
<p ><b>Simon the Sorcerer</b> or <b>Simon the Magician</b>, in Latin <b>Simon Magus</b>, (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language" title="Greek language" >Greek</a> Σίμων ὁ μάγος) was a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritans" title="Samaritans" >Samaritan</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magus" title="Magus" class="mw-redirect" >magus</a> or religious figure and a convert to Christianity, baptised by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_the_Evangelist" title="Philip the Evangelist" >Philip the Evangelist</a>, whose later confrontation with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter" title="Saint Peter" >Peter</a> is recorded in <a class="external text" href="http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=Acts&verse=8:9%E2%80%9324&src=1000" >Acts 8:9–24</a>. The sin of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simony" title="Simony" >simony</a>, or paying for position and influence in the church, is named for Simon. The <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolic_Constitutions" title="Apostolic Constitutions" >Apostolic Constitutions</a></i> also accuses him of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinomianism" title="Antinomianism" >lawlessness</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Magus#cite_note-1" >[1]</a></sup> According to<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudo-Clementine#Overview" title="Pseudo-Clementine" class="mw-redirect" ><i>Recognitions</i></a>, Simon's parents were named Antonius and Rachel.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Magus#cite_note-2" >[2]</a></sup>
Surviving traditions about Simon appear in orthodox texts, such as those of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irenaeus" title="Irenaeus" >Irenaeus</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Martyr" title="Justin Martyr" >Justin Martyr</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippolytus_of_Rome" title="Hippolytus of Rome" >Hippolytus</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphanius_of_Salamis" title="Epiphanius of Salamis" >Epiphanius</a>, where he is often regarded as the source of all <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_heresy" title="Christian heresy" class="mw-redirect" >heresies</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Martyr" title="Justin Martyr" >Justin</a> wrote that nearly all the Samaritans in his time were adherents of a certain Simon of Gitta, a village not far from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavia_Neapolis" title="Flavia Neapolis" class="mw-redirect" >Flavia Neapolis</a>. Irenaeus held him as being one of the founders of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism" title="Gnosticism" >Gnosticism</a> and the sect of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonians" title="Simonians" >Simonians</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Magus#cite_note-3" >[3]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Magus#cite_note-4" >[4]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Magus#cite_note-5" >[5]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Magus#cite_note-6" >[6]</a></sup> Hippolytus quotes from a work he attributes to Simon or his followers the Simonians, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonians#The_Great_Declaration" title="Simonians" ><i>Apophasis Megale</i>, or <i>Great Declaration</i></a>. According to the early church heresiologists Simon is also supposed to have written several lost treatises, two of which bear the titles <i>The Four Quarters of the World</i> and <i>The Sermons of the Refuter</i>.
In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocrypha" title="Apocrypha" >apocryphal</a> works including the <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Peter" title="Acts of Peter" >Acts of Peter</a></i>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudo-Clementines" title="Pseudo-Clementines" class="mw-redirect" >Pseudo-Clementines</a>, and the <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_of_the_Apostles" title="Epistle of the Apostles" class="mw-redirect" >Epistle of the Apostles</a></i>, Simon also appears as a formidable <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magician(paranormal)" title="Magician (paranormal)" >sorcerer</a> with the ability to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levitation(paranormal)" title="Levitation (paranormal)" >levitate</a> and fly at will.</p>
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