Continued from post 1.
To sum up the significant themes I will sometimes paraphrase and sometimes repeat the words of Walter Schmithals on pages 39 to 40 of Gnosticism in Corinth.
The Gnostic system described in the previous post is attributed to Simon (i.e. the Simon Magus of Acts 8:9ff).
Hippolytus tells us that all of this was written out in a work attributed to Simon, the “Apophasis Megale” or Great Revelation.
In this Revelation Simon speaks with divine authority: “To you then I speak what I speak and write what I write. The writing is this.”
“His authority is of the great power in general, which he himself is as well.”
Now we know from Acts and other early sources that Simon is infamous for having claimed to be the great power. Continue reading “Pre-Christian Christ Gnosticism: 2”