Simon Magus

Uncommon card · No. 88904

Simon Magus (Greek Σίμων ὁ μάγος, Latin: Simon Magus), was an early-1st century AD Samaritan, likely born in Gitta, Samaria, a village not far from Flavia Neapolis, modern Nablus. He was a contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth, John the Baptist, and the early Christian apostles. Almost all information about him is from Christian sources, where he is depicted as a sorcerer or magician with a substantial following in Samaria, as the founder of heresies, and as an antagonist of the apostles. According to the Acts of the Apostles, Simon converted to Christ, and was baptised by Philip the Evangelist, later clashing with Saint Peter, after attempting to buy for money the power to invoke the Holy Spirit. Simon becomes the subject of fantastic legends regarding his opposition to the apostles in apocryphal Christian texts. He appears in 2nd-century texts of Church Fathers such as Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius, where he is often described as the founder of the sect of Simonians...

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