Helpful Saints Corpus Reader
Ethiopic Didascalia
XXXII
Reading display
Text size, spacing, and the sepia or night theme stay on this browser when storage is available.
Resume in the Library keeps only your last public work, edition and passage on this browser.
Saved Places
Saved only on this browser. Places do not synchronize between devices. Only work, edition and passage identifiers are kept; passage text is not stored.
Remove all Saved Places from this browser? Resume reading and display preferences will stay.
Chapter XXXII, printed page 141
CHAPTER XXXII. How Satan introduced divisions and enmities into the Church even as he did of old in the case of the people of Israel. Behold, then, see and understand the craft and deeds of Satan, the enemy of all good, how he caused divisions and unbelief and ungodliness in the midst of the people. [vi., 7.] The first division which he caused was with Simon in the city called † Gitthae † ¹ Now this man was a sorcerer, and by his own impure craft, he clothed himself with Satan as with a garment, and served him as a slave, performing all the evil of his will.
Study this passage
Chapter XXXII, printed page 142
And Philip the Apostle our brother wrought mighty works and great signs, and healed the sick in the city of Samaria by the grace of the Lord and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. And when the men of Samaria saw all his deeds, they became strong in their faith, and believed in God, and were baptized into the name of Jesus Christ. And when Simon the sorcerer saw the signs and wonders which were not done by magic art, amazement seized him, and straightway he believed and was baptized, and after that he fasted and prayed. And when we heard this, we gave thanks to God for that the men of Samaria had believed by the preaching of Philip. And then we arose and came unto them, and taught them carefully the word of admonition; and on all those who had received baptism we laid hands; and bestowed on them by prayer the gift of the Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw that when we laid on our hands the Holy Spirit descended on those who believed, he came to us, bringing bribes (and) saying, Give me also this authority, that when I lay on my hands the Holy Spirit may descend on them. For Satan desired to seduce those who desired to believe, even as he seduced Adam—and he ate of the tree, and (God) put him forth from the garden and brought on him the judgment of death. And in like manner he laid a snare for us that we might take bribes. And if we had taken (them) we should have been deprived of the Holy Spirit, which we had received without price, (and should have had) in exchange the wealth that waxeth old and perisheth. Then we feared and were troubled. And when † I, Peter, saw † ² this evil deed, I said unto Simon, Thy gold and thy silver be with thee unto perdition. Dost thou think that with gold thou mayest purchase the gift of God? For thy heart is not right before God. Turn from the evil of thy deeds, and pray to God that He pardon the sin on
Study this passage
Chapter XXXII, printed page 143
which thy heart hath thought, for I see that thou art as bitter gall in doing evil. Then Simon feared exceed- ingly, and said unto us, Pray ye for me to the Lord that there come on me nothing of all this that ye have said unto me. [vi., 8.] Then we went forth to preach in all the world the word of life, but Satan sent after us false apostles, and he raised up also those that caused the preaching of the Gospel to cease, and that wrought lies and vanity. Then they set up one from among them whose name was † Cleobius,† ³ and they joined him with Simon, and these became disciples of † him † ⁴ who was called Dositheus, and they removed him from his place. And moreover they took counsel with others, and made a place, and assembled together therein to do what was full of blasphemy. These were Cerinthus, Marcus, and Menander, and Basilides, and † Saturnilus † ⁵ And again there are others who say that there are many gods,” and others that (there are) three orders; [and others that they are gathered together ’ and are at variance among themselves] ; and there are some who worship many gods whom they know not, and some who teach, saying that marriage is not from God; and others who despise and abhor the union of the sexes; and others who commit fornication without shame; and others who deny (?) the law and their teacher is † Nicolas. † ⁸ [vi., 9.] Moreover (it was) I, Peter, to whom Simon came in Caesarea, the city of ® Cornelius, the faith- ful in Jesus Christ. But Simon took counsel to seduce the blessed and holy children, Zacchæus, who was once a publican, and Barnabas, and Nicetas, and Aquila, the brother of Clement, who was ordained bishop in the
Study this passage
Chapter XXXII, printed page 144
city of Rome, (and) who was the disciple of Paul the righteous in the doctrine of the holy Gospel. And I spake unto him before them thrice by the word of prophecy, and overcame † him † ¹⁰ by the power of the Lord. Then he fled away, and went into Italy. And when he came to the city of Rome, he disturbed the Church, and destroyed the faith of many, and perverted the Gentiles, and turned them to himself; and taught them to use sorcery and (do) the work of accursed demons. And after this he went to the house of their gods at midday, and made an oration unto them looking up into the skies, and all the people did reverence unto him. Then he was carried up by the demons and flew up into the air. But I, Peter, stood, and prayed, and beheld him flying in the air; and he said, I will ascend into heaven, and he promised the people every (kind of) benefit. And they believed (him) and accounted him as a god. But I stretched forth my hands and prayed to God with all my heart to bring him down to earth, and to break the power of the demons, who were seducing and destroying the people. And again I prayed to God not to kill him, but to break him as a potter’s vessel.11_ Then I turned to Simon, and said unto him, If thou art a man of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, and teachest His command- ments and His truth, come not down; but if thou art a seducer and a destroyer, O Simon—I command you demons '3 that bear up Simon the Sorcerer, be ye far from him, and forsake him that he may fall down, and be made a mockery before those whom he hath seduced. And when I had spoken thus, the unclean spirits fled away and forsook Simon. Then he fell to the earth, and was bruised with a great [amazement] ; '® and his limbs were broken. Then all the people cried out with
Study this passage
Chapter XXXII, printed page 145
a loud voice, and said, There is one Lord, the God of Peter, whom he hath preached to us in truth. And forthwith the people forsook Simon, and from that day the ungodliness and divisions amongst the Simonians were increased. Then Satan entered into the hearts of the false prophets who led men astray, [vi., 10] and caused them to utter words of blasphemy against God Almighty, (saying) that He is not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover, they said that He is not the Creator of the world, but that He is invisible and unknown and unnamed,'' and not begotten.'® And again, they said that it was not He who had sent down the Law and the prophets; and they believed not in the resurrection of the dead, and (said that) there shall be no retribution at the last day, and that the soul will return to its nature; and they take pleasure in (their) lusts, and turn to evil habits. And there are others who say that there are many gods, and say that there are three orders, and others that there are two orders. And others forbid to marry, and command to drink no wine, and count as impure and abhor marriage and the begetting of children, and the eating of fruits; and they make them- selves out as pure, and receive an evil wisdom, and feign to be righteous and faithful. And there are some of them who command (men) not to eat flesh, and say of the beasts [that they have no reason or soul] ;?* moreover they say that whosoever injureth a beast is as a murderer. And there are some who say that the flesh of a clean swine is not clean, but unclean, (and that) we ought to keep far from every such thing; but that men may eat of whatsoever was clean under the law. And there are some who practise circumcision, and believe that Christ was (but) a holy man, or as one of the prophets. And there are some who without
Study this passage
Chapter XXXII, printed page 146
shame openly teach lust, and do the pleasure of the flesh, and are completely given over to every deed of uncleanness. Now these are as instruments (whom) the devil hath led captive,'? and children of wrath.
Study this passage
XXXII · All reading sections
Choose an edition
About this edition
Ethiopic Didascalia — J. M. Harden 1920 English, OCR lexical first pass
Unverified edition
Reading language: eng · Original language (catalog): Ancient source language(s)
Recorded completeness: Identified historical body pp. 1–188, all 43 chapters and separate translated colophon. All 188 main-body pages received a first visual lexical and completeness pass against the exact approved Cornell scan. All 861 proposals were independently checked; 860 high-confidence changes are applied and one p. 32 proposal is withheld. This is not exhaustive diplomatic punctuation, superscript-callout, apparatus or fine-diacritic collation, a zero-error guarantee, or full critical-text acceptance. Native review state remains UNREVIEWED. Harden's inherited omissions are preserved, not filled.. Available reading sections are listed below.
Limited body coverage in this view · eng
44 chapter/reading unit(s) · 225 nonempty passage record(s).
Fewer reading units or passage records than another edition of this work shown here. Editions may divide text differently.
Supported chapters & passages
- I · 6 passage record(s)
- II · 4 passage record(s)
- III · 4 passage record(s)
- IV · 13 passage record(s)
- V · 4 passage record(s)
- VI · 11 passage record(s)
- VII · 11 passage record(s)
- VIII · 6 passage record(s)
- IX · 7 passage record(s)
- X · 13 passage record(s)
- XI · 2 passage record(s)
- XII · 12 passage record(s)
- XIII · 3 passage record(s)
- XIV · 8 passage record(s)
- XV · 1 passage record(s)
- XVI · 1 passage record(s)
- XVII · 7 passage record(s)
- XVIII · 1 passage record(s)
- XIX · 2 passage record(s)
- XX · 2 passage record(s)
- XXI · 4 passage record(s)
- XXII · 1 passage record(s)
- XXIII · 1 passage record(s)
- XXIV · 2 passage record(s)
- XXV · 13 passage record(s)
- XXVI · 2 passage record(s)
- XXVII · 1 passage record(s)
- XXVIII · 3 passage record(s)
- XXIX · 9 passage record(s)
- XXX · 7 passage record(s)
- XXXI · 6 passage record(s)
- XXXII · 6 passage record(s)
- XXXIII · 21 passage record(s)
- XXXIV · 3 passage record(s)
- XXXV · 5 passage record(s)
- XXXVI · 4 passage record(s)
- XXXVII · 2 passage record(s)
- XXXVIII · 5 passage record(s)
- XXXIX · 3 passage record(s)
- XL · 2 passage record(s)
- XLI · 2 passage record(s)
- XLII · 1 passage record(s)
- XLIII · 3 passage record(s)
- colophon · 1 passage record(s)
Body coverage is separate from textual verification. Counts do not establish complete chapters or textual completeness.
Evidence Intelligence
Know what kind of evidence you are looking at.
Helpful Saints keeps direct biblical text, language evidence, ancient witnesses, historical context, research models, and open questions visibly distinct.Direct Biblical Text
The explicit wording and literary context of canonical Scripture.
Original-Language Evidence
Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, morphology, lemmas, semantic range, and textual comparison.
Ancient Witness
Septuagint, Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Jewish literature, and early Christian writings—clearly classified.
Historical Context
Geography, material culture, chronology ranges, institutions, customs, and reception history.
Research Model
A configured chronology, theological synthesis, typological pattern, or proposed relationship.
Open Question
Evidence is incomplete, debated, or insufficient for a settled conclusion.