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    Simon Magus

    Birth: unknown

    Death: unknown

    Birth Date Prefix: fl. 1st Cen. AD

    Death Date Prefix:

    Nickname: Simon the Magician

Biography

"Simon Magus was a practitioner of magical arts who probably came from Gitta, a village in biblical Samaria. Simon, according to the New Testament account in Acts of the Apostles 8:9–24, after becoming a Christian, offered to purchase from the Apostles Peter and John the supernatural power of transmitting the Holy Spirit, thus giving rise to the term simony as the buying or selling of sacred things or ecclesiastical office. Later references in certain early Christian writings identify him as the founder of post-Christian Gnosticism, a dualist religious sect advocating salvation through secret knowledge, and as the archetypal heretic of the Christian Church."

Citations

Biography and Citation Information:
Biography: 
"Simon Magus was a practitioner of magical arts who probably came from Gitta, a village in biblical Samaria. Simon, according to the New Testament account in Acts of the Apostles 8:9–24, after becoming a Christian, offered to purchase from the Apostles Peter and John the supernatural power of transmitting the Holy Spirit, thus giving rise to the term simony as the buying or selling of sacred things or ecclesiastical office. Later references in certain early Christian writings identify him as the founder of post-Christian Gnosticism, a dualist religious sect advocating salvation through secret knowledge, and as the archetypal heretic of the Christian Church."
Citation Notes: 
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Simon-Magus
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Biography: 
Frances writes in fragment 21 where she paraphrases "The History of the Church of Christ," : "Simon who was rebuked by Peter was the father of the Gnostics or Docetal who disbelieved the Humanity of our Saviour."
Citation for Birth Info:
Citation Notes: 
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Simon-Magus
Citation for Death Info: