George the Monk, Chronicle 1.373.13-1.374.3
created: This entry is taken from Chronicle 1.373.13-1.374.3 written by George the Monk i
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: grc; grc
availability: Except for materials quoted from other sources, this entry is copyright 2023 by the contributors (Joseph L. Rife, et al.) and the Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project. It is licensed under the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Some texts quoted in this entry may be in the public domain in the United States. No copyright is asserted for these quotations. Some texts quoted in this entry may have copyright restrictions and are reused under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/347

Καισαρείᾳ τῇ Στράτωνος

, and

Straton’s Caesarea

are directly attested at George the Monk, Chronicle 1.373.13-1.374.3. This passage was written ca. 845-865 C.E. possibly in Constantinople. We know little about George the Monk (Monachus, or ὁ μοναχός)—who called himself “the sinner” (ὁ ἁμαρτωλός)—or the circumstances of his writing, only that he served the Church in Constantinople during the reign of Michael III (842-867). He wrote a chronicle of the world from Adam to the emperor Theophilus (842), drawing from many earlier sources. In this passage from the third part, on Roman history, George discusses Simon Magus (“the magician”) and his encounter with Peter in Caesarea.

περὶ οὗ ἐν ταῖς ἀποστολικαῖς διατάξεσιν ὁ μέγας ἀπόστολος Πέτρος οὕτως φάσκει· “Ἡ δὲ καταρχὴ τῶν αἱρέσεων τῶν νέων γέγονεν ἀπὸ Σίμωνος τοῦ μάγου, ὃς καὶ ἐν Συρίᾳ πολλὰ διαπραξάμενος ἄτοπα καὶ ἐν Ῥώμῃ γενόμενος, πολὺ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ἐσάλευσε διὰ μαγείας καὶ διαβολικῆς ἐνεργείας καὶ ἐμπειρίας. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ Καισαρείᾳ τῇ Στράτωνος ἐμοὶ Πέτρῳ συντυχὼν ἐπειρᾶτο διστρέφειν τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ, συμπαρόντων μοι τῶν ἱερῶν τέκνων, Ζακχαίου τοῦ ποτε τελώνου, καὶ Βαρνάβα (καὶ Νικήτου), καὶ Ἀκύλα, ἀδελφοῦ Κλήμεντος τοῦ Ῥωμαίων ἐπισκόπου τε καὶ πολίτου, μαθετευθέντος [δὲ] καὶ Παύλῳ τῷ συναποστόλῳ ἡμῶν καὶ συνεργῷ ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ …”

[Ed. de Boor 1904 [cited by volume-page-line]]

Concerning (Simon), the great apostle Peter claims this in the Apostolic Constitutions: “The beginning of the new heresies came about from Simon the Magician, who not only perpetrated many bizarre acts in Syria, but then, when he was in Rome, blasphemed the Church through his sorcery, satanic energy, and experimentation. For in Straton’s Caesarea he met with me, Peter, and tried to toss aside the Word of God even as the holy children had gathered to me, Zacchaeus the former tax collector, Barnabas (and Niketos), Aquila, and our brother Clement, bishop of the Romans and citizen, once a student to Paul, our fellow apostle and collaborator in the Gospel …” [Trans. J. L. Rife]

Works Cited

[...] 1 373.13-374.3

[Acts 8:9-24

Apostolic Constitutions 6.7-9]

[Rome

Syria]

[Aquila

Barnabas

Clement, Bishop of Rome

Niketos

Simon the Magician

St. Paul

St. Peter

Zacchaeus]

[Christianity

Christianity Bible

Culture and Society

Education (sacred)

Paganism

Roman History

Theology]