Recognitions 1.72–2.20

“While we were staying at Jericho, devoting ourselves to prayers and fasts, James the bishop sent for me and sent me from there here to Caesarea, saying that Zacchaeus had written to him from Caesarea that a certain Simon, a Samaritan magician, was subverting very many of our people, asserting that he was a certain ‘Standing One’, that is, by another name, the Christ, and the supreme power of the high God, who is above the creator of the world; and that by showing many marvels he had made some doubt and others turn aside to him. He reported everything, carefully learned from those who had earlier been his companions or disciples and had afterwards been converted to Zacchaeus. ‘There are many, then,’ said James, ‘Peter, for whose salvation you must set out, refute the magician, and teach the word of truth. Do not delay, and do not be saddened that you set out alone, knowing that God is your companion and helper through Jesus, and that soon, by his grace, you will have many companions of one mind with you. Take care, however, to send me in writing each year the chief of your sayings and doings, and especially every seven years.’ Dismissed by him with these words, I arrived at Caesarea in six days.”

“As I was entering, Zacchaeus, our dearly beloved brother, met me and, embracing me, brought me to this lodging in which he was staying, asking me about each of the brethren, but especially about our honored brother James. And when he heard from me that he was still lame in one foot, he at once asked the reason, and I related to him all these things that we have now set out to you: how we had been summoned by the priests and the high priest Caiaphas to the temple, and how James the archbishop, standing on the top steps, for seven continuous days demonstrated to all the people from the Lord's Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ, and how, when all were now consenting to be baptized by him in the name of Jesus, the hostile man brought about all those things that we mentioned above, so that we need not say them again.”

“When he had learned this, Zacchaeus in turn told me what Simon was doing; and meanwhile Simon himself, having somehow learned of my arrival, sends word to me: ‘Let us dispute tomorrow in the hearing of the people.’ To him I said: ‘Let it be as you please.’ And this promise of mine became known to the whole city, so that you too, who had arrived that very day, learned that I was to hold a contest with Simon the next day, and, having asked for our lodging according to the directions you had received from Barnabas, came to us. I rejoiced so much at your coming that, moved I know not how, my mind hastened to set out everything to you quickly, but especially what is greatest in the faith, concerning the true Prophet, which alone, I do not doubt, can suffice as the foundation of the whole teaching; and then I also disclosed to you the more secret meaning of the written law, chapter by chapter as the reasoning required, not hiding from you the good things of the traditions either. What remains you will hear day by day, beginning tomorrow, from what will be raised in the questions with Simon, until, God favoring, we arrive at the very city to which we believe our journey must be directed, Rome.” And when, in reply to what he had said, I professed that I owed him all thanks and promised that I would most readily do all that he commanded, after taking food he told us to rest, and himself took rest.

When the day appointed for the debate with Simon was dawning, Peter, rising at the first cockcrow, woke us too; for we were all sleeping in the same room, thirteen in all: first after Peter was Zacchaeus, then Sophonias, Joseph and Michaeas, Eliesdros and Phinees, Lazarus and Eliseus; after these I, Clement, and Nicodemus; then Niceta and Aquila, who had formerly been disciples of Simon and had been converted to the faith of Christ by the teaching of Zacchaeus. Of women there was none at all present. While the evening lamp was still burning, we all sat up; and Peter, seeing that we were awake and attentive to him, greeted us and at once began to speak: “I confess, brethren, that I wonder at the power of human nature, which I see to be fitted and adapted to everything. It comes to my mind to say this from what I have experienced in fact. For as soon as midnight has passed, I wake of my own accord, and sleep no longer comes to me at all. This happens to me because I made it my habit to recall to memory the words of my Lord which I had heard from him, and out of longing for them I commanded my mind and thoughts to be roused, so that, waking to them and recalling and going over each one, I might keep them in memory. From this, then, since I desire to turn over the Lord's sayings in my heart with all sweetness, the habit of waking has taken hold, even if there is nothing I want to think about. So in an inexpressible way, when another habit is introduced, the old habit is changed—provided you do not force it beyond measure, but only as far as the measure of nature allows. For it is not possible to go wholly without sleep; otherwise night would not have been made for rest.”

When I heard this, I said: “You have spoken excellently, Peter, in saying that one habit is changed by another. For I too, when I first went to sea, was upset, and everything within me was turned over, so that I seemed to be bruised and could not bear the roaring and discomfort of the sea; but after a few days, when I had grown used to it, I began to bear it tolerably, so that I was glad to take food with the sailors early in the morning, whereas before I had not been accustomed to take food before the seventh hour. Now, then, from that habit alone, around the time I used to eat with the sailors, hunger reminds me; yet I hope to drive it away again when another habit has been taken up. I believe, then, that your habit of waking was also formed as you say; and you were right to want to explain this, so that we too may not be reluctant to cast off and drive away a little of our sleep, in order to receive the instructions of the living teaching. For when food has been digested and the mind has received the silence of night, what is taught settles in most fittingly.”

And Peter, glad that I had understood the reason for his preface as offered for our benefit, praised me—no doubt to encourage and spur me on—and began to set out the next part of his discourse: “It seems to me fitting and necessary now to discuss some things about what lies ahead, that is, about Simon. For I should like to know his character and conduct; if anyone knows, let him not hesitate to tell me, for it matters to know these things beforehand. For if we have it among our commands that when we come to a city we should first learn who in it is worthy for us to take food with him, how much more is it fitting to know who and what sort of man he is to whom the words of immortality are to be entrusted? For we must be careful, very careful, not to cast our pearls before swine.”

“But it is useful for me to know about this man for other reasons too. For if I know that in those things which cannot be doubted to be good he is reformed and blameless—that is, if he is sober, merciful, just, gentle, and humane, which no one doubts are good—then it will seem to follow that one who possesses the goods of the virtues should also be given what is lacking of faith and knowledge, and that his life, praiseworthy in other respects, should be corrected where it seems to be stained. But if he remains entangled and defiled in sins that are manifest, I ought not to tell him anything of the more secret and hidden things of divine knowledge, but rather testify to him and confront him, that he may cease from sinning and correct his conduct from vices. And if he thrusts himself forward and provokes us to say what a man who acts wrongly ought not to hear, we must parry him prudently; for to answer nothing at all does not seem useful, for the hearers' sake, lest they think we are avoiding the contest for lack of an answer, and their faith be harmed because they do not understand our purpose.”

When Peter had said this to us, Niceta asked permission to say something, and when Peter granted it, he said respectfully: “I beg you, my lord Peter, hear me, for I am very anxious for you and afraid that in your contest with Simon you may seem to be overcome. For it often happens that one who defends the truth does not always prevail, when either the hearers are prejudiced in some respect, or they take no great care for the better opinion. Above all this, Simon himself is a most forceful speaker, trained in the dialectical art and the snares of syllogisms, and, what is most serious of all, very practiced in the magic art too; and therefore I fear that, so strongly fortified on every side, he may be thought by those who do not know him to be defending the truth while he alleges falsehoods. For not even we ourselves could have escaped him and been converted to the Lord, had we not recognized, while we were his helpers and companions in error, that he was a deceiver and a magician.”

When Niceta had said this, Aquila too asked to be given leave to speak, and went on in this way: “Accept, I pray, the care that comes of my love for you also, excellent Peter; for I too am very anxious for you. And do not blame us for this, for caring for someone comes from affection, while neglecting him is no less than hating him. I call God to witness that I do not fear for you as knowing you to be weaker in debate—indeed I have never been present when you disputed—but because I know his impieties well, I am thinking at once of your reputation, of the minds of the hearers, and above all of the state of the truth itself. For this magician is forceful in whatever he wishes, and wicked beyond measure; we have come to know him thoroughly in everything, since from boyhood we have been hearers and ministers of his evils, and had not the love of God torn us away from him, we would still be engaged with him in the same evils. But a certain inborn affection toward God made his crimes hateful to us and the worship of God lovable. Hence I think it was the work of divine providence that we, having first become his intimates, should learn how, or by what art, he performs the wonders he seems to do. For who is there who is not amazed at the marvels he does, so as to think that he is God come down from heaven for the salvation of men? I confess of myself that, had I not known him inwardly and been present at his doings, I could easily have been carried away; hence it was no great thing for us to separate from his company, knowing that he relies on magic arts and criminal devices. And if you too wish to learn everything about him—who he is, what sort of man, where he comes from, and how what he does is accomplished—listen.”

“This Simon was born of a father Antonius and a mother Rachel, a Samaritan by race from the village of Gitthae, a magician by art, yet highly educated in Greek liberal letters, and desirous of glory and boasting above all humankind, so that he wishes to be believed to be the exalted power which is above God the creator, to be thought the Christ, and to be called the Standing One. He uses this title as one who denies that he can ever be dissolved, asserting that his flesh is so compacted by the power of his divinity that it can endure forever. Hence, then, he is called the Standing One, as one who cannot fall through any corruption.”

“For after John the Baptist had been killed, as you yourself know, when Dositheus had begun his heresy with thirty other chief disciples and one woman who was called Luna (so that those thirty seemed to be set in number according to the days of the moon's course), this Simon, eager, as we said, for evil glory, approaches Dositheus and with feigned friendship begs that whenever any of those thirty died, he might at once be substituted in the dead man's place. For it was not lawful among them to exceed the fixed number, nor to admit anyone unknown or not yet proved; hence the others too, striving to become worthy of the place and number, are eager to please in everything according to the rules of their sect, so that each of those who aspire to that number may seem worthy, when someone, as we said, has died, to be substituted in the dead man's place. So Dositheus, much entreated by him, brought Simon in when a place in the number fell vacant.”

“But not long after he fell in love with that woman whom they call Luna, and he confided everything to us as his intimates: that he was a magician, that he loved Luna, and that, being desirous of glory, he did not want to enjoy her ingloriously, but to wait patiently until he could have her honorably—provided we too conspired with him in all he wished. And he promised to give us as the reward for this service that we would be raised to the highest honors and believed by men to be gods, ‘only provided,’ he said, ‘that you grant the first place to me, Simon, who can show many signs and wonders by magic art, through which both my glory and our sect may be established. For I can make myself invisible to those who wish to seize me, and again, when I wish to be seen, be in plain view; if I wish to flee, I bore through mountains and pass through rocks as if through clay; if I throw myself headlong from a high mountain, I shall be carried down to earth unharmed as if borne up; when bound, I shall loose myself and bind those who put the bonds on me; shut up in prison, I shall make the bars open of their own accord; I shall make statues alive, so that those who see them think they are men; I shall make new trees spring up suddenly and produce sudden shoots; I shall throw myself into fire and not burn. I change my face so as not to be recognized, and I can even show men that I have two faces. I shall become a sheep or a goat; I shall make a beard grow on little boys; I shall fly up into the air; I shall show much gold; I shall make kings and depose them. I shall be worshiped as God and publicly endowed with divine honors, so that men will set up an image of me and worship and adore me as God. And what need to say much? Whatever I wish to do, I shall be able to do. For many things have already been accomplished by me by way of experiment. Once, indeed,’ he said, ‘when my mother Rachel told me to go out to the field to reap, I saw a sickle lying there and commanded it to go and reap, and it reaped ten times more than the others. I have already produced many new shoots from the earth and made them grow strong and appear in a moment of time, and I bored through the nearest mountain.’”

“But when he said this about producing shoots and boring through the mountain, I was dumbfounded that he wished to deceive even us, to whom he seemed to commend and entrust himself; for we knew that the things he claimed to have done recently had been there since our ancestors' time. Hearing these crimes from him, and worse, we nevertheless followed his wickedness ourselves and allowed others to be deceived by him, even telling many lies on his behalf, and this before he did any of the things he had promised, so that, though nothing had yet been done, he was already thought by some to be God.”

“Meanwhile, at the beginning, while he was still counted among the thirty disciples of Dositheus, he began to disparage Dositheus himself as one who did not teach soundly or perfectly, saying that he did so not from envy but from ignorance. But when Dositheus perceived that Simon was disparaging him, fearing that his reputation might be obscured among men who thought he himself was the Standing One, he was moved with fury; and when they had met at the school as usual, he seized a rod and began to beat Simon; and suddenly the rod was seen to pass through his body as if through smoke. Astonished at this, Dositheus said to him: ‘Tell me if you are the Standing One, that I may worship you.’ And when Simon answered, ‘I am,’ Dositheus, seeing that he himself was not the Standing One, fell down and worshiped him, yielded his leadership to Simon, and ordered the whole rank of thirty men to obey him; he put himself in Simon's place, and not long after he died.”

“So after the death of Dositheus Simon took Luna, with whom he goes about to the present day, as you see, deceiving the crowds and asserting that he himself is a certain power which is above God the creator, and that Luna, who is with him, has been brought down from the higher heavens; and he asserts that she is Wisdom, the mother of all, for whom, he says, the Greeks and barbarians fought, and were able to see her image in some part, but were wholly ignorant of her as she is, since she dwelt with that first and only God of all. Uttering these and other similar things with pomp of words, he has deceived many. But I must also point out this, which I remember seeing myself: once, when that Luna of his was in a certain tower, a vast crowd had gathered to see her and stood all around the tower; and she was seen by all the people to lean out and look out through every window of that tower. And he has done and does many other marvels, so that men, amazed by them, think that he himself is the supreme God.”

“For once, when Niceta and I asked him to explain how these things could be done by magic art and what the nature of the matter was, Simon began to explain it thus, as to his intimates: ‘I have made the soul of a boy, undefiled and violently slain, summoned by ineffable adjurations, stand by me, and through it everything I command is done.’ And I said: ‘Is it possible for a soul to do these things?’ He answered: ‘I want you to know this, that the soul of a man holds the second place after God once it has been stripped of the darkness of its body. Indeed, it at once has foreknowledge too, which is why it is summoned for necromancy.’ And I answered: ‘Why, then, do the souls of the slain not take vengeance on their slayers?’ And he said: ‘Do you not remember that I said that when it has left the body it also has foreknowledge?’ ‘I remember,’ I said. ‘For this reason, then,’ he said, ‘when it leaves the body it at once foreknows that there will be a judgment, and that each will pay penalties for the evils he did here; and therefore they do not wish to take vengeance on their slayers, because they themselves too suffer torments for the evils they committed here, and they know that heavier punishments await the others in the judgment. Above all this, they are not permitted by the angels who are set over them to go out or do anything.’ And I answered: ‘If they are not permitted by the angels to come here or to do what they wish, how do the souls obey a magician who summons them?’ ‘When the souls themselves wish to come,’ he said, ‘the angels do not permit it; but when the angels set over them have been adjured by their superior, they have the excuse of our violence, we who adjure them, to let out the souls we summon; for those who suffer force do not sin, but we who impose the necessity.’ At this Niceta, no longer able to bear it, answered too hastily—as I too was going to do, but I wished first to draw him out on each point; but, as I said, Niceta, forestalling me, said: ‘And do you not fear the day of judgment, you who do violence to angels, summon souls, deceive men, and buy divine honor for yourself from men? And how do you persuade us that there will be no judgment, as some of the Jews profess, and that souls are not immortal, as many think, when you see them with your own eyes and receive from them the proof of the divine judgment?’”

“When he had said this, Simon turned pale; yet after a little, recollecting himself, he answered thus: ‘Do not think that I am a man of your race. I am neither a magician, nor a lover of Luna, nor the son of Antonius. For before my mother Rachel came together with him, she conceived me while still a virgin, since it was in my power to be either small or great and to appear as a man among men. For the sake of testing you, then, I took you first as friends, so that, when I have proved you, I may place you first in my heavenly and ineffable places. So I told lies about myself as a man, in order to prove more clearly whether you keep your affection toward me intact.’ But I, hearing this, judged him wretched indeed, yet wondered at his impudence and blushed for him; and at the same time, fearing that he might contrive some evil against us, I signaled to Niceta to pretend with me for a little, and said to him: ‘Do not be angry with us corruptible men, you incorruptible God; rather accept our affection and our mind that wishes to know who God is; for we did not yet know who you were, nor did we perceive that you are the one we were seeking.’”

“As we went through these and similar things with faces suited to the occasion, that vainest of men believed we had been deceived, and, all the more elated, added this too: ‘I am now gracious to you, for the affection you bear toward me as God; for you loved me without knowing me, and sought me without recognizing me. But I do not want you to doubt that this is truly to be God: to be able to become small or great as one wishes; for I could appear to men in any way. Now, then, I will begin to open to you what is true. Once by my power I turned air into water, and water again into blood, and solidifying it into flesh I formed a new human being, a boy, and produced a work far nobler than God the creator. For he created man from earth, but I, what is more difficult, from air; and dissolving him again I returned him to the air, but I placed his likeness and painted image in an inner chamber as a proof and memorial of my work.’ We understood him to be speaking of that boy whose soul, after he had been slain by violence, he was using for the services he wished.”

Peter, hearing this, said with tears: “I greatly wonder at the immense patience of God, and on the other hand at the audacity of human rashness in some people. For what reason can any longer be found to persuade Simon that God judges the wicked, when he persuades himself that he uses the obedience of souls for the service of his crimes? In reality he is mocked by demons. Yet, since he is certain from these very things that souls are immortal and are judged for what they have done, and since he thinks he sees in fact what we believe by faith—though, as I said, he is mocked by demons, he yet thinks he sees the very substance of the soul—when, I say, will this man confess either that he acts wickedly, placed in so great an evil, or that he is to be judged for what he has done, he who, knowing God's judgment, despises it, shows himself God's enemy, and dares to commit such abominable things? Hence it is certain, my brethren, that some oppose the truth and the religion of God not because the reasoning of faith seems to them in no way established, but because they are either entangled in an excess of sins, or prejudiced by their evils and puffed up with pride of heart, so that they do not believe even what they think they see with their own eyes.”

“But since the inborn affection toward God the creator seemed sufficient for salvation to those who loved him, the enemy strives to pervert this affection in men and to make them enemies of their Creator and ungrateful to him. I call heaven and earth to witness that if the enemy were permitted by God to rage as much as he desires, all men would long ago have perished; but for mercy's sake God does not allow it. And if men turned their affection to God, all would without doubt be saved, even if they seemed to be chastised for some offenses for justice's sake. But now very many men have become enemies of God; the evil one has entered their hearts and turned toward himself the affection which God the creator had implanted in them to have toward him. Others, who seemed to be somewhat watchful, he has nonetheless made to wander in mind and soul from the true God, appearing to them in a fantasy of glory and splendor and promising great and immense things; yet he is permitted to do these things for a certain just reason.”

To this Aquila answered: “What fault, then, do men commit, if the evil one, transforming himself into the brightness of light, promises men greater things than God the creator himself?” And Peter said: “I think nothing is more unjust than this; and hear how unjust it is. If your son, whom you have carefully educated and brought up and led to manhood, were ungrateful to you, and, leaving you, went to another whom he perhaps saw to be richer, showed him the honor he owed you, and in hope of greater gain denied nature and fled from his father's rights, does it seem right to you, or impious?” Aquila answered: “It is plain to all that it is impious.” And Peter: “If, then, you call this impious among men, how much more toward God, who deserves honor from men above all men? Not only do we enjoy his benefits, but by his help and power we began to be when we were not; and if we please him, we shall deserve from him to be eternal in good things. So, in order that the unfaithful may be distinguished from the faithful and the godly from the ungodly, the evil one is permitted to use these arts, by which each one's affection toward the true parent may be proved. And even if there really were some other god, would it be right to leave the one who had created us and had been our father and creator, and go over to another?” And Aquila said: “Far from it!” Then Peter: “How, then, shall we say that the evil one is the cause of our sin, when this happens by God's permission, so that through him those may be proved, and convicted in the day of judgment, who, enticed by greater promises, have abandoned devotion to their true father and creator, while those who have kept faith and love toward their own father, even in poverty, if it befalls, and in tribulation, may enjoy heavenly gifts and immortal rewards in his kingdom? But we will explain these things more carefully another time. Now I wish to know what Simon did after this.”

And Niceta answered: “When we perceived that he understood that we had found him out, we talked among ourselves about his crimes, left him, and came to Zacchaeus, telling him these very things which we have now told you. And he received us most kindly, instructed us in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, and added us to the number of the faithful.” When Niceta had said this, Zacchaeus, who had gone out a little earlier, came in, saying: “It is time for you to go out to the debate, Peter; for a great crowd gathered in the court of the house is waiting for you, and in their midst stands Simon, supported by many followers.” Then Peter, hearing this, told me to withdraw for the sake of prayer (for I had not yet been washed from the sins I had committed in ignorance), and said to the rest: “Let us pray, brethren, that God through his Christ, of his ineffable mercy, may help me as I go out for the salvation of men, who were created by him.” When he had said this and had prayed, he went out to the court of the house, in which a very great multitude of people had gathered; and when he saw them all attentive to him in deepest silence, and Simon the magician standing in their midst like a standard-bearer, he began thus:

“Peace be to you all who are ready to give your right hands to the truth; for all who obey it seem to themselves to confer some favor on God, but in fact they themselves obtain from him the gift of the highest reward, walking in the paths of his righteousness. Therefore the first of all things is to seek the righteousness of God and his kingdom: his righteousness, that we may be taught to act rightly; his kingdom, that we may know what reward is set for labor and patience, in which there is for the good a recompense of eternal goods, but for those who have acted against the will of God a fitting requital of punishments according to each one's deeds. Here, then, that is, while you are placed in the present life, you must recognize the will of God, where there is also room for action. For if anyone wishes, before correcting his actions, to inquire into things he cannot find, such an inquiry will be foolish and ineffective. For the time is short, and the judgment of God will be held on account of deeds, not questions. And therefore before everything let us seek this: what we ought to do, and how, so that we may be found worthy to attain eternal life.”