Simon Magus
The sorcerer mentioned in the New Testament (Acts viii.) who bewitched the people of Samaria, and led them to believe that he was possessed of divine power. He was born in Samaria or Cyprus and was among the number of Samaritans who, moved by the preaching of Philip, came to him for baptism. Later, when Peter and John laid their hands on the new converts, so that they received the Holy Ghost, Simon offered the disciples money to procure a similar power. But Peter sternly rebuked him for seeking to buy the gift of God with money, and bade him pray that his evil thought might be forgiven, whereupon the already repentant Simon said, "Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me."
Though we are not told in detail what the sorceries were with which Simon bewitched the people of Samaria, certain early ecclesiastical writers have left a record of his doings. He could, they averred, make himself invisible when he pleased, assume the appearance of another person, or of the lower animals, pass unharmed through fire, cause statues to become alive, make furniture move without any visible means of imparting motion, and go through a long list of equally miraculous performances. In explanation of his desire to possess the apostles' power of working miracles Slade, Henry he is said to have affirmed that his sorceries took a great deal of time and trouble to perform, owing to the necessity for a multitude of magical rites and incantations, while the miracles of the apostles were accomplished easily, and successfully, by the mere utterance of a few words.
The adept from whom Simon learned the art of magic was one Dositheus, who pretended to be the Messiah foretold by the prophets, and who was contemporary with Christ. From this person he appears to have acquired a great store of occult erudition, and owed his power chiefly to the hysterical conditions into which he was capable of throwing himself. Through these he was enabled to make himself look either old or young, returning at will to childhood or old age. It is evident that he had not been initiated into Transcendental Magic, but was merely consumed by a thirst for power over humanity and the mysteries of nature. Repulsed by the Apostles, he is said to have undertaken pilgrimages, like them, in which he permitted himself to be worshipped by the mob. He declared that he himself was the manifestation of the Splendour of God, and that Helena, a Greek slave of his, was its reflection. Thus he imitated Christianity in the reverse sense, affirmed the eternal reign of evil and revolt, and was, in fact, an antichrist.
After a while he went to Rome, where he appeared before the Emperor Nero. He is said to have been decapitated by him, but his head was restored to his shoulders, and he was instituted by the tyrant as court sorcerer. Legend states that St. Peter, alarmed at the spread of the doctrine of Simon in Rome, repaired thither to combat it, that Nero was made aware of his arrival, and imagining Peter to be a rival sorcerer resolved to bring them together for his amusement. An account ascribed to St. Clement states that on the arrival of Peter, Simon flew gracefully through a window into the outside air. The Apostle gave vent to a vehement prayer, whereupon the magician, with a loud cry, crashed to the earth, and broke both his legs. Nero, greatly annoyed, immediately imprisoned the saint, and it is related that Simon died of his fall. He had, however, founded a distinct school headed by Merrander, which promised immortality of soul and body to its followers. As late as 1858 there existed in France and America a sect whichcredited the principles of this magician. Siradz, Count of: (See Dee.)