Editing Simon Magus (section)

====Myth of Simon and Helen====
Justin and Irenaeus are the first to recount the myth of Simon and Helen, which became the center of Simonian doctrine.{{Citation needed|date=May 2015}} [[Epiphanius of Salamis]] also makes Simon speak in the first person in several places in his ''[[Panarion]]'', and the implication is that he is quoting from a version of{{clarify|date=December 2022}} it, though perhaps not verbatim.<ref name=EB1911/>

As described by Epiphanius, in the beginning God had his first thought, his ''[[Ennoia]]'', which was female, and that thought was to create the [[angels]]. The First Thought then descended into the lower regions and created the angels. But the angels rebelled against her out of jealousy and created the world as her prison, imprisoning her in a female body. Thereafter, she was reincarnated many times, each time being shamed. Her many reincarnations included [[Helen of Troy]], among others, and she finally was reincarnated as Helen, a slave and prostitute in the [[Phoenicia]]n city of [[Tyre (Lebanon)|Tyre]]. God then descended in the form of Simon Magus, to rescue his ''Ennoia'', and to confer salvation upon men through knowledge of himself.<ref name=EB1911/>

{{blockquote|"And on her account", he says, "did I come down; for this is that which is written in the Gospel 'the [[Parable of the Lost Sheep|lost sheep]]'."|Epiphanius, ''Panarion'', 21.3.5<ref>[http://www.gnosis.org/library/grs-mead/grsm_simon_magus.htm#FNanchor_48 Epiphanius, ''Panarion'', 21.3.5]</ref><ref>Williams, vol. 1, p. 60.</ref>}}

For as the angels were mismanaging the world, owing to their individual lust for rule, he had come to set things straight, and had descended under a changed form, likening himself to the Principalities and Powers through whom he passed, so that among men he appeared as a man, though he was not a man, and was thought to have suffered in Judaea, though he had not suffered.<ref name=EB1911/>

{{blockquote|"But in each heaven I changed my form," says he, "in accordance with the form of those who were in each heaven, that I might escape the notice of my angelic powers and come down to the Thought, who is none other than her who is also called [[Sophia (Gnosticism)#Prunikos|Prunikos]] and Holy Ghost, through whom I created the angels, while the angels created the world and men."|Epiphanius, ''Panarion'', 21.2.4<ref>[http://www.gnosis.org/library/grs-mead/grsm_simon_magus.htm#FNanchor_45 Epiphanius, ''Panarion'', 21.2.4]</ref><ref>Williams, vol. 1, p. 58.</ref>}}

But the prophets had delivered their prophecies under the inspiration of the world-creating angels: wherefore those who had their hope in him and in Helen minded them no more, and, as being free, did what they pleased; for men were saved according to his grace, but not according to just works. For works were not just by nature, but only by convention, in accordance with the enactments of the world-creating angels, who by precepts of this kind sought to bring men into slavery. Wherefore he promised that the world should be dissolved, and that those who were his should be freed from the dominion of the world-creators.<ref name=EB1911/>

In this account of Simon there is a large portion common to almost all forms of [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] myths, together with something special to this form. They have in common the place in the work of creation assigned to the female principle, the conception of the Deity; the ignorance of the rulers of this lower world with regard to the Supreme Power; the descent of the female ([[Sophia (Gnosticism)|Sophia]]) into the lower regions, and her inability to return. Special to the Simonian tale is the identification of Simon himself with the Supreme, and of his consort Helena with the female principle.<ref name=WaceBio/>