Magicians and false teachers

Third, even after Christ’s ascent into heaven, the demons put forward certain men who said that they themselves were gods. You not only did not persecute them, but even considered them worthy of honor. One was a Samaritan named Simon, from a village called Gitthon. In the reign of Claudius Caesar, through the art of the demons working in him, he performed magical powers in your royal city of Rome, was considered a god, and was honored by you as a god with a statue. The statue was erected in the Tiber River between the two bridges and bore this Latin inscription: “To Simon, Holy God.” Nearly all the Samaritans, and a few among other nations as well, confess him as the first god and worship him. They say that a certain Helena, who traveled with him at that time and had previously been stationed on a rooftop, was the first Thought generated by him. We also know of a certain Menander, likewise a Samaritan from the village of Capparetaea, who became a disciple of Simon. Worked upon by the demons, he came to Antioch and deceived many through magical art. He even persuaded his followers that they would never die, and there are still some who derive from him and confess this. There is also a certain Marcion of Pontus, who is even now still teaching those persuaded by him to believe that there is another god greater than the Creator. With the assistance of demons, he has caused many among every race of humanity to speak blasphemies, to deny that God is the maker of this universe, and to confess that another, as being greater, has made greater things than he. All who take their starting point from these men are called Christians, as we have said, just as people who do not share the same doctrines as the philosophers nevertheless have the common name “philosophy” applied to them. Whether they actually do those infamous deeds told in stories—the overturning of a lamp, promiscuous intercourse, and eating human flesh—we do not know. But we do know that you do not persecute or kill them, at least because of their doctrines. We also have a treatise composed against all the heresies that have arisen; if you wish to read it, we will give it to you.