cheenc03a.pdf

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SIMON MAGUS
cannot prove that Simon really did make an appearance
in Rome without any conHicl with Peter.
In the writings of thc church fathers the first mention of
this conflict occurs in the Phi/or#hummn, about zli ~.o.
(ree stmoli PETE", 1 ,?dl. Amongst the romcer ofthis wart,
however, mu\t unquertlunnbiy he reckoned ths mivr.y,'a rrp3r
dn&.r rar aipi.,r of Hippolyrur, written about zca A.D.
even if Hippolycui m?y not he held tp have been the author d
the Phi~ora#hummo ltrclf; lind Lxps,ur har,made xt probable
(/PT, 1876 p. 697) that this dviaypa of Hlppolytur. now no
Iangex exta.r, already cqnrained the conflicr beween Peter and
Siman. If thir be so. II can no longer be arrerted that the
tradition of the conflicr is later than the opposite tradition ot
Terrullian and 1renasur Moreover, it cannot be milntained
that thsretwo authors had any urgent occ-ion, in the particular
connectionr in which ,hey were wziting, to mention fhlr conflict
if they had known ir.
(f) In the care of Justin such an occasion undeniably
did exist: and, moreover. Justin nr being
the earlier labout irz A.D.! is also the most imoortant
,vitness. He, however, as already pointed out, known
nothing of Peter's presence in Rome. Thur what he
snvs about Simon admits of exolanation without an"
difficdty, even if a tradition war already in existence
before hie time to the effect that Simon had been
controverted by Peter in Rome. One part of this
fmdition-that about Simon's presence in Rome-he
found himself able to accept (in fact he held it to be
confirmed by the statue, which he brought into connection
with Simon ; see above, § nn), the other-that
ahour Peter's presence in Rome-he war unable to
accept. Why he could not, is a mutter of indifference ;
what ir certain is that one who, as Justin does, regards
all the twelve original apostles as having engaged in
missions to the Gentiles, and ir completely silent about
Paul (MIN~STRY, 36n) would have had no difficulty
in accepting the presence of Peter in Rome, if he was
in possession of credible information to this effect. One
nruzt reflect that the circles from which the traditions
relating to the controverting of 'Simon' by Peter
emanated enjoyed small repute in the church, and
certainly no mistake will have been committed if we
ruppore that it was Justin's knowledge of the Roman
tr;l,lilion, which he acquired on the spot, that prerented
him from believing in the presence of Peter
there (cp SIMON PETER, $ 40 d).
(8).4s soon a the later hypothesis of Liprius, which
as we have seen (above, sloe) has most to recommend
if. is adopted-viz., that the entire anti-Pauline polemic
existed, in the first instance, in oral tradition-we are
all the less in a position to doubt that from the beginning
it formed a unity ; and sayings of churrh-fathers about
a presence of Simon in Rome without any conflict with
Peter cannot, on the other hand, be reg.zded as proving
anything, if only because they are all of them much
later, since the oral tradition just referred to must have
come into existence during and shortly after the lifetime
of Pnul.
(h) Nor can the fact that in the HorniLier and
Re.ognitions only the eastern conflicts are dealt with.
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and in the Aoocrvohal .
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Acts onlv the Roman be held as
hnvine force arainst this conclusion, even if we are not
able iO explaiRit.
At the same time, we ma certainly that the red.
dence and the geogriiphia.irhori.onof the v=rnour author3 had
a determining influencr on the relect~on ofthe places which they
made rhersenes of their romance. Otherwise, the fr##"i/i~~ and
Rriopiiions would certainly not have confind themrelver to
Palenine and Syria, but would hare included Asin Minor and
cven Alrcedonir and Greece as well, where =lro Paul had exer
cired his misrivnary activiticr. Moreover neither the fromi/irs
SIMON MACiUS
Tiibingen school, followed by Nbldeke (in ~ipsius.
Brganeungihefi, p/:) and Liidetnvnn (belox-. 5 15). as
also at an earlier date bv Lioriur.
, ,
of Paul, calls in the Cyprian magician Simon. who
stood high in favour with Felix because of his services
" r , 1. 1 1 , I.. t . 1 ; . I l,".,.l, 1
cc,:r.#cmu%n. . .s#.J t. mwr.~m .e ?vt.l the JL, i~tn~n, cs ,cm.< I
A>:; Ie of them in the same degree) errhibit not necessary to bring the Simonians into direct historical
unify of conception in their prcrcnf form. We cannot fell
whelher alder forms of rhem would not give us. clearer insight
connection with Simon ; they seem to have marked him
into the original oneness of this whole body of literature. out as the representative of their ideas only by an vfter~
Having now examined the Simon-romance in all its thought. Kreyenbiihl(rgg-201). in like manner, porturamifications,
our next question murt later a founder for the Simouinn sect. but placer him at
What
be : what element of hirtorical truth the beginning of the second century. since the Gnostic
(Or
(if any) is there attaching to Simon? contents of his 'Anb+oair Maydhq, which he accepts as
historical (a) Of the four Simon-figures genuine (above, 5 zc), do not fit in with the first century,
distinguished above [§ 8). the caricature of Paul in the and Justin himself rays that Simon was a pupil of
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PI, "dl
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wemake it easier tounderitand the bestowal of the name
of Simon upon Paul, and Justin's statement that Gittv
was the birthplace of Simon, a; well as the fact that
Simon passes not only for the father of all heresies, but
also nr therevelation of the supreme God, and thus ns zt
kind of Messiah (above, sd). If Paul was thc only
basis for the figure of Simon, then only the first of there
two predicates, not the second also. would have been
attached to it. Lipsiur adds, as a possibility, that this
Samaritan Simon may be identical with the Cyprian
Simon of Josephus.
lei Harnack, in his turn. also maintains the hirtoricitv
, ,
of the Samaritan Simon : not, however, as explaining
the caricature of Paul (above, 5 43). but because the
Gnostic sect of the Simonians murt have had a founder.
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