Reading the New Testament, sometimes you wonder: why did so few of his contemporaries believe in Jesus? He not only proclaimed the truth but also performed real miracles! But if you take a closer look at the stories about those times, you can find some wizards doing amazing things.
Some, like Apollonius of Tyana, simply wanted to help people. Others were eager for power and even declared themselves gods. The most famous of these was Simon the Magus, aka Simon Magus. His witchcraft power was surpassed only by his ambition.
How much is the Holy Spirit now?
Simon the Magician and the Apostle Peter
The role of Simon the Magus in the Bible is not too great. He participates in only one episode, which can even be called comic.
In the Acts of the Apostles, Simon is described as a certain man who amazed the people of Samaria with his magic tricks. At the same time, Deacon Philip was preaching in the city, while granting baptism to everyone.
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Simon was unexpectedly among those eager to join Christianity. However, his interest was most likely purely scientific, because along with sermons, Philip healed the sick and cast out demons, as befits a decent saint.
After a while, hearing about Philip's successes, the Apostles Peter and John arrived from Jerusalem in order to finally conquer Samaria. They laid hands on the baptized people, and the Holy Spirit descended on them.
It is not known for certain exactly how this procedure influenced the newly converted Christians, but it is quite obvious that the sight was incredible. Simon Magus, seeing this with his own eyes, realized that such a chance should not be missed. Being a wealthy man, he decided to make the apostles an offer of unprecedented generosity: they say, you will give me power over the Holy Spirit, and I will give you a couple of carts of silver.
Peter just burst out laughing in response and said that the blasphemer should go far away with all his silver. Simon shrugged his shoulders, asked for forgiveness and prayer, and that was the end of the incident. Only a little later, the term “simony” will come into use, meaning the purchase and sale of church offices, clergy and relics.
A wizard by vocation
Simon Magus is also mentioned in other Christian literary sources. In general, the life of Simon and his image are so connected with the apostles Peter and Paul that some researchers at different times even identified Simon with one, then with another, or even with Jesus himself. The word "deceiver" is also heard not less often in stories, but his magical abilities are everywhere described as more than outstanding.
At the word of Simon, the statues came to life, starting to laugh and dance, the fire did not harm the magician, and the strongest chains and ropes flew from him in a matter of minutes. Like Christian saints, he was famous for the healings of the sick and the afflicted, and even for the resurrection of the dead. The sorcerer's crown trick was levitation - both not high above the ground, and when falling from a height.
Simon was very fond of demonstrating his capabilities to the general public, while declaring his Divine origin. Either he proclaimed himself the Son of God, like Christ, or even God the Creator Himself, authoritative over all things. They say that Simon the Magician brutally dealt with especially stubborn unbelievers, using terrible poisons. But there were hardly many of them: try to express distrust when a revived statue laughs at you …
On top of that, the sorcerer clearly loved to joke - having bought a harlot named Elena in Tire for a lot of money, he called her the divine mother of all angels and archangels, only through the fault of an absurd accident locked in a human body. Oh yes, she was also Helena of Troy - in one of the previous reincarnations.
It is impossible to say how serious Simon was in declaring such a heresy, but people poured in droves just to look at his companion. The adventures and sermons of Simon continued for quite a long time, but once his glory came to the ears of the Apostle Peter, and he decided to put an end to it.
Peter's rival
Information about Simon, to the greatest regret, is few in number, fragmentary, some are clearly biased and contradict themselves. For example, in one story, the magician is presented as a brilliant orator and master of rhetoric, able not only to confront Peter in a verbal duel, but also to win.
And then he is caught on some ridiculous mistake, and the audience immediately begins to extol Peter. Nevertheless, in the main, the chronicles agree that the future keeper of the keys to paradise took up the eradication of the false teaching of Simon the Magus firmly and reliably.
Everywhere, wherever Simon appeared, demonstrating magic to all comers, Peter steadily walked on his heels, exposing his spell and performing his own miracles. It would seem, what does it cost Simon, being a self-proclaimed God, to rein in an oversized apostle, but … the strength was clearly not enough.
And the great sorcerer, belching out curses and accusations of witchcraft, Peter retreated further and further. Between them periodically flared up fierce verbal battles about the essence of religion and the human soul, then magical competitions in the spirit of "who actually knows how to raise the dead", then comic moments.
The latter include the case when Simon locked himself in his house, telling the gatekeeper to answer Peter about his absence. Peter, however, removed the yard dog from the chain and asked him to go straight to his master, in order to call him a liar in his face. The dog was not slow to carry out the apostle's order, which greatly humiliated Simon. Finally, the sorcerer went to his last frontier - to Rome, where he was awaited by the patronage of the powerful emperor Nero.
Interrupted flight
In Rome, by chance, two saints, Petri Paul, acted against Simon at once. The magician and the apostles staged a familiar magical duel in the center of the city, but they were interrupted by guards sent by order of the emperor. All three were immediately taken to Nero to find out the truth.
The fall of Simon the Magus
It should be noted here that although Nero went down in history as a tyrant and a madman, and Simon in the past managed to prove himself well in Rome, the trial of the magician and the apostles, according to legend, the emperor performed fairly fairly.
After patiently listening to the stream of mutual accusations, Nero asked the disputants to get down to business. Simon agreed and created two huge black dogs out of thin air, rushing at the hated Peter.
But Peter was ready, hiding the previously consecrated crust of bread in his sleeves, waved his hands, and the dogs disappeared. The apostle immediately caught the magician in alliance with the devil, but Simon reasonably objected that Peter had been persecuting him for more than one year and only because of this he learned to resist the miraculous power.
Nero asked no less reasonably: "Why do you think you are omnipotent, but cannot properly punish these two?"
Not in the least embarrassed, Simon replied: they say, he walked the earth for too long, handed out holiness to the people, was worn out. But tomorrow I will soar into the sky from the highest tower, I will be charged properly in the Divine kingdom and I will erase the false apostles with my power. And you, emperor, I will bestow great power. Nero had no choice but to agree.
In the early morning, Simon kept his word - took off in front of the emperor and half of Rome from the highest tower.
Yes, only the flight did not last long: Peter politely freed the angels of Satan, holding the magician in the air, from their duties, and he literally fell from heaven to earth. Remembering that Simon had already demonstrated the ability to resurrect earlier, Nero waited three days, ordering not to bury the body.
After making sure that the sorcerer was dead, the emperor sighed and ordered the execution of Peter and Paul, just in case. In the end, you never know what anyone said, witchcraft is witchcraft in Rome. Peter, at his own request, was crucified on an inverted cross, Paul's head was cut off.
Thus, a man who became famous primarily for his amusing attempt to buy the Holy Spirit contrived to take two great Christian saints with him to the grave. Of course, the memory of Peter and Paul will remain much longer than that of Simon the Magus, but we must give him his due - he really knew how to fly.
Sergey EVTUSHENKO