the iĄaculty oÍ' Graduate Ątudies April, L96[ - MSpace at the ...

44"
that is pertinent to i;'his stu"d5r' -l-n rhís regard it must
be noted that their departure frora recogni-zed norms
appealed bo the folk imagination in such a way as to
register censure by allegeO association with magic and
the devil,
The case concerning sirnon i"{agus in the itcts of
Äpostles (¿uthorized l(ing Jarnes Versíon) is limited to
very fern¡ details. Äs seL forth in the text, he t'Ias a
great pov¡er of
sorcerer knoi.üïr by the populace as 'tthe
Godîl who practisecl his arts in Samaria at the tir-ne of
ihe Apostles, Having professed ChrÍstiariity ancj- having
and having been baptised, he was later rebuked. by
St" Peter for trying to obtain spiritual poiters frorn the
.r\pos-r,les for rßoney. .l3eyoncÌ the su-bstance of this
nar.rative, a gnostic sect is purported- to have originated
from hirn about t,he third. century AD, and st. Flippol-ytu-s
referrecl. to sirrron the magician-god by saylng that he
agaín carne into confl-ict rvith st. Peter in Rome and
perished dramatically bhrough a failu-r'e of his magic
32"
Ðovliers. 't'he centre of focus in this situation is
that of the ciichotomy cast upon an emotionatly aopealing
historical- figure by legend- and tradition'
some 900 years later anoiher figure distinguished
himself by breaking away from the main stream of society,
there'oy becoming the epitome of the self-sarne dicl:otomy