Eusebius Book 2, Section 13

2.13.1

XIII. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ τῆς εἰς τὸν σωτῆρα καὶ κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν χριατὸν εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἤδη διαδιδομένης πίστεως, ὁ τῆς ἀνθρώπων πολέμιος σωτηρίας τὴν βασιλεύουσαν προαρπάσασθαι πόλιν μηχανώμενος, ἐνταῦθα Σίμωνα τὸν πρόσθεν δεδηλωμένον ἄγει, καὶ δὴ ταῖς ἐντέχνοις τἀνδρὸς δεδηλωμένον γοητείαις πλείους τῶν τὴν Ῥώμνη οἰκούντων ἐπὶ τὴν πλάνην σφετερίζεται. δηλοῖ δὲ τοῦθ’ ὁ μετ’ οὐ πολὺ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐν τῷ καθ’ ἡμᾶς διαπρέψας λόγῳ Ἰουστῖνος, περὶ οὗ τὰ προσήκοντα κατὰ καιρὸν παραθήσομαι· ὅγ’ δὴ ἐν τῆ προτέρᾳ πρὸς ’Αντωνῖνον ὑπὲρ τοῦ καθ’ ἡμᾶς δόγματος ἀπολογίᾳ γράφων ὧδέ φησιν·

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XIII. Seeing that the faith in our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ was already being given to all men, the enemy of men’s salvation planned to capture the ruling capital in advance, and sent there Simon, who was mentioned above, and by the man’s tricky sorcery won over to error many of the inhabitants of Rome. This is told by Justin, who was an ornament of our faith not long after the Apostles, and I will set out the necessary information about him in due course. In his first Apology to Antoninus for our opinions he writes as follows: “And after the ascension of the Lord into heaven the demons put forward men who said that they were gods, and they not only escaped persecution by you but were even vouchsafed honours. There was a certain Simon, a Samaritan, from a village called Gittho, who in the time of Claudius Caesar worked miracles by magic through the art of the demons possessing him; he was reckoned as a god in Rome, your capital city, and honoured as a god among you by a statue on the river Tiber between the two bridges, with this inscription in Latin — SIMONI DEO SANCTO, that is, to Simon a holy god. And almost all Samaritans and a few in other nations as well recognize him as the chief god and worship him, and they say that a certain Helena, who travelled about with him at that time but had formerly lived in a house of ill-fame in Tyre of Phoenicia, was the first idea from him.”

2.13.2

“Καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάληψιν τοῦ κυρίου εἰς οὐρανὸν προεβάλλοντο οἱ δαίμονες ἀνθρώπους τινὰς λέγον· ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι θεούς, οἳ οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἐδιώχθησαν ὑφ’ ὑμῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τιμῶν ἠξιώθησαν· Σίμωνα μέν τινα Σαμαρέα, τὸν ἀπὸ κώμης λεγομένης Γίτθων, ὃς ἐπὶ Κλαυδίου Καίσαρος διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐνεργούντων δαιμόνων τέχνης δυνάμεις μαγικὰς ποιήσας ἐν τῇ πόλει ὑμῶν τῇ βασιλίδι Ῥώμῃ θεὸς ἐνομίσθη καὶ ἀνδριάντι παρ’ ὑμῶν ὡς θεὸς τετίμηται ἐν τῷ Τίβερι ποταμῷ μεταξὺ τῶν δύο γεφυρῶν, ἔχων ἐπιγραφὴν Ῥωμαϊκὴν ταύτην· SIMONI DEO ” ὅπερ ἐστὶν Σίμωνι θεῷ ἁγίῳ. 1 “καὶ σχεδὸν μὲν πάντες Σαμαρεῖς, ὀλίγοι ’δε καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις ἔθνεσιν ὡς τὸν πρῶτον θεὸν ἐκεῖνον ὁμολογοῦντες προσκυνοῦαιν. καὶ Ἑλένην τινά, τὴν συμπερινστήσασαν αὐτῷ κατ’ ἐκεῖνο τοῦ καιροῦ, πρότερον ἐπὶ τέγους σταθεῖσαν ’’ ἐν Τύρῳ τῆς Φοινίκης, “ τὴν ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ πρώτην ἔννοιαν λέγουσιν.”

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This is what Justin says, and Irenaeus agrees with him in the first book against heresies, where he collects the stories about Simon and his unholy and foul teaching. It would be superfluous to relate this in the present work, since those who desire it can study in detail the origin and life and the false doctrinal principles of the heresiarchs who followed him and the customs introduced by them all; for they are carefully preserved in the above-mentioned book of Irenaeus. Thus we have received the tradition that Simon was the first author of all heresy. From him, and down to the present time, those who have followed, feigning the Christian philosophy, with its sobriety and universal fame for purity of life, have in no way improved on the idolatrous superstition from which they thought to be set free, for they prostrate themselves before pictures and images of Simon himself and of Helena, who was mentioned with him, and undertake to worship them with incense and sacrifices and libations. Their more secret rites, at which they say that he who first hears them will be astonished, and according to a scripture current among them will be “thrown into marvel,” truly are full of marvel and frenzy and madness; for they are of such a kind that they not merely cannot be related in writing, but are so full of baseness and unspeakable conduct that they cannot even be mentioned by the lips of decent men. For whatever foulness might be conceived beyond all that is base, it is surpassed by the utter foulness of the heresy of these men, who make a mocking sport of wretched women, “weighed,” as is truly said, by every kind of evil.

2.13.3

Ταῦτα μὲν οὗτος· αυνᾴδει δ’ αὐτῷ καὶ Εἰρηναῖος, ἐν πρώτῳ τῶν πρὸς τὰς αἱρέσεις ὁμοῦ τὰ περὶ τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τὴν ἀνοσίαν καὶ μιαρὰν διδασκαλίαν ὑπογράφων, ἢν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος περιττὸν ἂν εἴη καταλέγειν, παρὸν τοῖς βουλομένοις καὶ τῶν μετ’ αὐτὸν κατὰ μέρος αἱρεσιαρχῶν τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τοὺς βίους καὶ τῶν ψευδῶν δογμάτων τὰς ὑποθέσεις τά τε πᾶσιν αὐτοῖς ἐπιτετηδευμένα διαγνῶναι, οὐ κατὰ πάρεργον τῆ δεδηλωμένη τοῦ Εἰρηναίου παραδεδομένα βίβλῳ. πάαης μὲν οὗν ἀρχηγὸν αἱρέσεως πρῶτον γενέσθαι τὸν Σίμωνα παρειλήφαμεν· ἐξ οὗ καὶ εἰς δεῦρο οἱ τὴν κατ’ αὐτὸν μετιόντες αἵρεσιν τὴν αώφρονα καὶ διὰ καθαρότητα βίου παρὰ τοῖς πᾶσιν βεβοημένην χριστιανῶν φιλοσοφίαν ὑποκρινόμενοι, ἧς μὲν ἔδοξαν ἀπαλλάττεσθαι περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα δεισιδαιμονίας οὐδὲν ἧττον αὗθις ἐπιλαμβάνονται, καταπίπτοντες ἐπὶ γραφὰς καὶ εἰκόνας αὐτοῦ τε τοῦ Σίμωνος καὶ τῆς σὺν αὐτῷ δηλωθείσης Ἑλένης θυμιάμασίν τε καὶ θυσίαις καὶ σπονδαῖς τούτους θρησκεύειν ἐγχειροῦντες, τὰ δὲ τούτων αὐτοῖς ἀπορρητότερα, ὧν φααι τὸν πρῶτον ἐπακούσαντα ἀπορρητότερα, καὶ κατά τι παρ’ αὐτοῖς λόγιον ἔγγραφον θαμβωθήσεσθαι, θάμβους ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ φρενῶν ἐκοτάσεως καὶ μανίας ἔμπλεα τυγχάνει, ὄντα, ὡς μὴ μόνον μὴ δυνατὰ εἷναι παραδοθῆναι γραφῆ, ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ χείλεσιν αὐτὸ μόνον δι’ ὑπερβολὴν αἰσχρουργίας τε καὶ ἀρρητοποιίας ἀνδράσι σώφροσι λαληθῆναι. ὅ τι ποτὲ γὰρ ἂν ἐπινοηθείη παντὸς αἰσχροῦ μιαρώτερον, τοῦτο πᾶν ὑπερηκόντισεν ἡ τῶνδε μιαρώτερον, αἵρεσις, ταῖς ἀθλίαις καὶ παντοίων ὡς ἀληθῶς κακῶν σεσωρευμέναις γυναιξὶν ἐγκαταπαιζόντων.

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