DeConick A.D

149
JOHN AND THE DARK COSMOS
historical integrity. It is no coincidence that the Gospel of John portrays
Jesus in terms analogous to the Simonians’ depiction of Simon. Could
the first converts among the Children of Light have been Simonians who
transferred their Gnostic mythology from Simon Magus to Jesus (see Fossum
1985, 152–55)?
It is not difficult to imagine that, before the Jerusalem missionaries
came into their city, the first Johannine converts were people who were
devoted to worshipping Simon the Great Power of God, the potent healer
and miracle worker who had trumped the religious master Dositheus. As
we saw in chapter 3, they believed that the Great Power Simon had descended
into the lower regions of the world from a lofty place where he
once lived with the unknown Father.
They identified Simon with God as the Father’s manifestation on earth,
as the Son who descended with knowledge of the unknown Father, and as
the Holy Spirit sent to the nations (Irenaeus, Against the Heresies 1.23.1–2,
5). He was known to say, “I am the Word of God, I am the Paraclete, I
am the Almighty, I am all that is God’s” (Jerome, Commentary on Matthew
24.5).
Simon’s mission was to save the Father’s Ennoia (Thought), which
had descended into the world and consequently was suffering embodiment
(Irenaeus, Against the Heresies 1.23.3). Simon taught that Ennoia
was the fallen Spirit, incarcerated and subject to the rule of rebellious
angels (Epiphanius, Panarion 21.2).
This mythology was played out by Simon in the real world, when he redeemed
Helena by buying her out of prostitution and marrying her. This
real-world event appears to reflect otherworldly events; when Simon freed
Helena from the whorehouse, it was believed that he saved all humans
from their enslavement to the evil world rulers. Helena’s lowly condition
was the condition of all humankind. When Simon redeemed Helena, he
was universally redeeming the spirit of God imprisoned in all humans. So
the Simonians professed that Simon had saved them by the Father’s grace
(Irenaeus, Against the Heresies 1.23.3; Hippolytus, Refutation 6.14).
This universalism was one of the features that distinguished Simonianism
from other Samaritan sects. Whereas Dositheus’ movement had targeted
only Samaritans, Simon, Helena, and their successor, Menander, appealed
to the broadest audience possible. They taught that although Simon
had descended in Samaria, he had in fact come to save all nations—and