12. A Pharisee in whose house a penitent woman anointed the head and feet of Jesus (Luke vii, 40). A.D. 28.
13. A resident at Bethany, distinguished as "the leper," not from his having leprosy at the time when he is mentioned, but at some previous period. It is not improbable that he had been miraculously cured by Je- sus. In his house Mary anointed Jesus preparatory to his death and burial (JIatt. xxvi, 6, etc. ; ftlark xiv, 3, etc.; John xii, 1, etc.). A.D. 2!). Lazarus was also present as one of the guests, while Martha served (John xii, 2). The presence of the brother and his two sisters, together with the active part the latter took in the pro- ceedings, leads to the inference that Simon was related to them ; but there is no evidence of this, and we can attach no credit to the statement that he was their fa- ther, as reported on Apocryphal authority by Nicejilio- rus (//. E. i, 27), and still less to the idea that he was the husband of Mary. Simon the leper must not be confounded with the preceding. — Smith.
14. A Hellenistic Jew, born at Cyrene on the north coast of Africa, who was present at Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus either as an attendant at tlie feast (Acts ii, 10) or as one of the numerous set- tlers at Jerusaletn from that place ( vi, 9 ). A.D. 29. Meeting the procession that conducted .lesus to Gol- gotha as he was reluming from tlic country, he was pressed into the service {>)yydptvnm', a military term) to bear the cross (Matt, xxvii, 32; Mark xv, 21 ; Luke .xxiii, 2(;) when Jesus himself was unable to bear it any longer (comp. John xix, 17). Mark describes him as tlie father of Alexander and Kufus, perhaps because this was the Kufus known to the Roman Christians
SIMON
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SIMON
(Rom. xvi, 13), for whom he more especially wrote. The Basilidian Gnostics believed that Simon suifered in lieu of Jesus (Burton, Lectures, ii, ()4). — Smith.
15. A Samaritan living in the apostolic age, distin- guished as a sorcerer or " magician" from his practice of magical arts ({.laytvior, Acts viii, 9) — A.D. 30 — and hence usually designated in later history as Simon Ma- gus. His history is a remarkable one. He was born at Gitton, a village of Samaria (Justin Mart. Apol. i, 26), identified with the modern Kiinjet Jit, near Nablus ( Robinson, Bib. Res. ii, 308, note ). Some doubt has been thrown on Justin's statement from the fact that Josephus [Ant. xx, 7, 2) mentions a reputed magician of the same nauie and about the same date who was born in Cyprus. It has been suggested that Justin bor- rowed his information from this source, and mistook Citium, a town of Cyprus, for Gitton. If the writers had respectively used the gentile forms Kithvq and rirri6Wf, the similarity would have favored such an idea. But neither does Josephus mention Citium, nor yet does Justin use the gentile form. It is far more probable that Josephus would be wrong than Justin in any point respecting Samaria. Simon Magus was prob- ably educated at Alexandria (as stated in Clem. Homil. ii, 22), and there became acquainted with the eclectic tenets of the Gnostic school. Either then or subse- quently he was a pupil of Dositheus, who preceded him as a teacher of Gnosticism in Samaria, and whom he supplanted with the aid of Cleobius (Const. Aposf. vi, 8). He is first introduced to us in the Bible as practicing magical arts in a city of Samaria, perhaps Sychar (Acts viii, 5: comp. John iv, 5), and with such success that he was pronounced to be "the power of God which is called great" (Acts viii, 10). The A. V. omits the word KaXovfih'r], and renders the words " the great power of God." But this is to lose the whole point of the desig- nation. The Samaritans described the angels as Svvd- fieiC (Cp'^n), i.e. uncreated influences proceeding from God (Gieseler, Eccl. Hist, i, 48, note 6). They intend- ed to distinguish Simon from such an order of beings by adding the words " which is called great," meaning thereby the source of all power — in other words, the Supreme Deity. Simon was recognised as the incarna- tion of this power. He announced himself as in a spe- cial sense "some great one" (Acts viii, 9), or, to use his own words (as reported by Jerome, on Matt, xxiv, 5), " Ego sum sermo Dei, ego sum Speciosus, ego Paracle- tus, ego Omnipotens, ego omnia Dei." The preaching and miracles of Philip having excited Simon's observa- tion, he became one of his disciples, and received bap- tism at his hands. Subsequently he witnessed the ef- fect produced by the imposition of hands as practiced by the apostles Peter and John, and being desirous of acquiring a similar power for himself, he offered a sum of mone5' for it. His object evidently was to ajiply the power to the prosecution of magical arts. The motive and the means were equally to be reprobated; and his proposition met with a severe denunciation from Peter, followed by a petition on the part of Simon, the tenor of which bespeaks terror, but not penitence (Acts viii. 9- 24). The memorj' of his peculiar guilt has been per- petuated in the word simony (i\. v.) as ajiplied to all traffic HI spiritual offices. Simon's history subsequent- ly to his meeting with Peter is involved in difficulties. Early Church historians depict him as the pertinacious foe of the apostle Peter, whose movements he followed for the purpose of seeking encounters, in which he was signall}' defeated. In his journevs he was accompanied by a female named Helena, who had previously been a prostitute at Tyre, but who was now elevated to the po- sition of his u'i'oia, or divine intelligence (Justin Mart. Apol. i, 26 : Euseb. //. E. ii, 13). In the ivvoia, as em- bodied in Helena's person, we recognise the dualistic ele- ment of Gnosticism derived from the Mauicha>an sj's- tem. The Gnostics appear to have recognised the Svva- fiig and the ii'voia as the two original principles from