I thought he was just a minor character from the boom of acts but apparently there are more stories and legends about himIs there any evidence he actually existed?
>>16537717No, or rather the stories and legends about him are pretty clearly an invented tradition. Particularly the claim he founded Gnosticism, which wasn't even a real sect, but a label applied to multiple groups, usually by their opponents.
>>16537779Did gnostics consider Simon Magus to be a sort of hero?
most stuff about biblical characters are medieval legends
>>16538218Not that I know of. Most "Gnostic" groups considered themselves Christian.
>>16537717Simon Magus was Simon Peter
>>16538218Simon Belmont in real life?
>>16537779>>16538249>doesn't know its all real
>>16537717Simon is great to read about since its a big rabbit hole. I'll drop this since this is seems to be seldom known about.>In his article "The Origins of the Gnostic Demiurge" relates the occurrence of the Demiurge to the notice of the Xth-century Muslim writer al-Qirqisani, who ascribes to the Jewish, pre-Christian sect of the Palestinian Magharians the idea that the world was created by an angel of God. The Magharians appear to be Jewish fundamentalists, who arrive at this solution in order to reconcile God's non anthropomorphism with the many instances in the Tanakh in which God as Creator is endowed with human features (speech, craftsmanship, and so forth). The Magharians transfer all these instances to the angel, thus clearing God of humanness. Quispel believes that the Magharians influenced Simon Magus, who believed in one God and in inferior deities who created humans. The god of the Jews was one of them, and he was dispatched to create the world. Cerinthus would hold a similar view, and other gnostics would identify the Demiurge with an angel.From the book Tree of Gnosis
>>16539401When was Tree of Gnosis written
Gnostics are basically Christian sufis
>>16541577That pic reminds me of the claim that Mario 64 is a freemason ritual.
>>16541610What?
>>16538218Yes he was allegedly the first man to achieve gnosis, but the stories are coded / allegorical / symbolic
>>16543836Did these stories come before or after the council of nicea
