Simon and Helena (1)

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The main ideas of the tractates Exegesis on the Soul and the fall of Sophia as told in the Apocryphon of John are again found in the Simonian myth of Simon Magus and Helena (Helen) of Tyre. Justin Martyr (died in 167 CE) confirms that Simon Magus worked in Samaria in the time of the emperor Claudius (41-54 CE) and was allegedly worshiped by his followers as the “first god.” Justin also says, that “At that time a certain Helena went about with him, who had formerly plied her trade in a brothel. Of her it is said that she was the ‘first thought’ (ennoia) begotten by him. According to Irenaeus of Lyons, who lived in the second century CE, Simon Magus also claimed to be a Christ figure. He bought out the harlot Helena in Tyre (Phoenicia). She was considered to be the “Mother of All” and proceeded from him as the “first thought” (ennoia) and descended to the lower regions and created the angels and powers. These created the world and kept Helena captive for envy’s sake, in order to inflict on her every outrage so that she could no longer return. Enclosed in a human body, she had to wander throughout the centuries from “vessel to vessel” in ever changing bodies (including the body of Helen of Troy) until she ended up in the brothel from which Simon, who had descended as the unrecognized redeemer, delivered her.

Simon Magus’ teachings belong to an early form of the so-called Barbelo-Gnostic system, according to which the supreme god goes into action through his first emanation (ennoia), the world comes into existence, and the soul falls into servitude. Simon appeared as the redeemer of the human soul which was, among others, also in Helena; he brought the revelation necessary for its delivery, the “call.” Thus he was, in the eyes of his followers, the embodiment of the “supreme power,” i.e., of the unknown God, the Father.

Bibliography

Pirjo Lapinkivi

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