Simonian

plural Simonians

1. historicalOne of the followers of Simon Magus.

   Simonians used sex to pollute women in imitation of their founder .

   2021, Alberto Ferreiro, Simon Magus in Patristic, Medieval and Early Modern Traditions

   2 more examples

   It is no coincidence that the Gospel of John portray's Jesus in terms analogous to the Simonians' depiction of Simon. Could the first converts among the Children of LIght have been Simonians who transferred their Gnostic mythology from Simon Magus to Jesus?

   2016, April D. DeConick, The Gnostic New Age

   The church fathers who attacked heresies took this up and made Simon Magus not only the founder of the Simonians, but of gnosis as a whole

   2003, Hans-Josef Klauck, Magic and Paganism in Early Christianity, page 16

2. historicalAn adherent of an early Christian heretical sect that worshiped Simon of Samaria (Simon Magus) as divine.

   He considered the Simonian veneration of Simon to be blasphemy. He never seems to have examined why Simonians honored Simon's reputed icon.

   2022, M. David Litwa, Found Christianities

   2 more examples

   The Simonians did not truly follow the Roman gods, but instead venerated their order's founders—Simon and his wife, Helena—in the guises of Zeus and Minerva.

   2016, Mark Latham, The Cthulhu Campaigns: Ancient Rome, page 25

   Simonians associate Helena, Simon's consort, with Athena, who sprung from the head of Zeus, just as Thought, particularly associated with Helena, emanates from Mind..

   2022, Daniel B. Glover, Patterns of Deification in the Acts of the Apostles, page 113

comparative more Simonian · superlative most Simonian

1. Pertaining to the legends surrounding and teachings of Simon Magus.

   The amalgam of paganism and Christianity, especially obvious in the Simonian system , is readily explicable in the teachings of Simon Magus.

   2024, David K. Hebert, A Kingdom of the Truth or Deception?

   2 more examples

   The Justin account is the nucleus of the huge Simonian legend which was mainly developed by the cycle of Pseudo-Clemenine literature of the third century, based on the second century Circuits of Peter.

   1906, George Robert Stow Mead, Fragments of a Faith Forgotten, page 167

   If we agree that HSim was not a forgery, it remains to ask whether it is actually Simonian. For this question the identity and teachings of the historical Simon Magus — in any case irrecoverable —are not important.

   2020, Frank Williams, Mental Perception, page 243

2. Pertaining to the heretical sect that worshiped Simon of Samaria (Simon Magus).

   Luke's choice of words appear to be subtle but also sharp and effective critiques of Simonian claims to Simon's divity.

   2022, Daniel B. Glover, Patterns of Deification in the Acts of the Apostles, page 115

   2 more examples

   Yet it must be acknowledg'd, that although a Pagan-like Mundane Magistracy of the Holy Angels was entertain'd by several of the Learned Theologers of the three first Ages of the Church, yet no such thang as Church-Demonolatry appeareth in those early Days, save only amongst the Simonian Gnosticks and the ancient Angelici or Angelits condemn'd by S Paul (Col. 2.18), which I suppose to have been a distinct sort of Gnosticks from the Simonian, who had their origin from Simon Magus.

   1706, Richard Brocklesby, An Explication of the Gospel-Theism and the Divinity of the Christian Religion, page 46

   He considered the Simonian veneration of Simon to be blasphemy. He never seems to have examined why Simonians honored Simon's reputed icon.

   2022, M. David Litwa, Found Christianities

3. Pertaining to the theories of Herbert A. Simon.

   On the other hand, Simonian entrepreneurs are non-alert individuals who search for alternatives that are good enough for them.

   2018, Shinji Teraji, The Cognitive Basis of Institutions, page 162

   2 more examples

   Suppose you are a serious Christian and you come to recognize that Simonian science endorses conclusions incompatible with certain Christian beliefs; and suppose you also hold science in high regard.

   2011, Alvin Plantinga, Where the Conflict Really Lies, page 168

   The result is a prism providing a spectrum of Simon's work and offering the reader a glimpse into how their own ideas can be seen through a Simonian lens.

   2024, Gerd Gigerenzer, Shabnam Mousavi, Riccardo Viale, Elgar Companion to Herbert Simon, page 3

plural Simonians

1. A surname from Armenian.