Note 618 — Chapter VI · PRE-CHRISTIAN GNOSTICS: SIMON MAGUS

Acts viii. 9, 10, only says that Simon bewitched the people of Samaria, giving himself out to be some great one (λέγων εἶναί τινα ἑαυτὸν μέγαν); and that it was the people who said of him: “This man is the so-called great power of God” (Οὗτός ἐστιν ἡ δύναμις τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ καλουμένη μεγάλη). He was therefore only in the same position as Paul and Barnabas in Phrygia when they were hailed by the populace as Zeus and Hermes respectively. Cf. Acts xiv. 12.