Christian Cyclopedia

(from Lat. magus [from Gk. magos], magician; simon the Magician; Simon the Sorcerer; 1st and/or 2d c. AD). Probably a native of Gitta (or Gitthon), Samaria; regarded by some as an exponent if not founder of gnosticism*; teacher of Menander also a Samaritan (cf. Irenaeus,* Adversus haereses I, xxiii, 5); identified by some with the Simon of Acts 8:9–24 (who offered to buy the power to give the Holy Spirit; see Simony), by others with a Jewish magician of the same name, a native of Cyprus and friend of Felix, procurator of Judaea.